CHAPTER LII
THE PRESS AND THE SOCIALISTS
The particular kind of radical who is most disliked by our
newspapers is of course the Socialist. The Socialist meets the
class-consciousness of the newspapers with another class-consciousness,
almost as definite and aggressive. The Socialist
is noisy; also the Socialist has a habit of printing pamphlets
and leaflets, thus trespassing on newspaper profits. Every
newspaper differs in the names it puts on its "son-of-a-bitch
list," but every newspaper agrees in putting the most conspicuous
Socialists on its "son-of-a-bitch list." The Hearst
newspapers pose as friends of the people; they print a great
deal of radical clamor, but there is a standing order in all
Hearst offices that American Socialism shall never be mentioned
favorably. All newspapers have a rule that if any
Socialist get into trouble, it shall be exploited to the full;
when Socialists don't get into trouble often enough to suit
them, they make Socialists out of people who do get into
trouble. Says Max Sherover:
When the King of Greece was shot by an insane and irresponsible
man, the "New York Times" and hundreds of other papers ran the
headline: "King of Greece Assassinated by a Socialist." And
although it was proven conclusively that the assassin hadn't even
heard of Socialism, none of these papers saw fit to retract their lie.
When the great novelist, David Graham Phillips, was shot by one Goldsborough, every paper in New York knew that Goldsborough not only was not a Socialist, but had often spoken against Socialism. They also knew that the latter had a personal grievance against the author. Notwithstanding these facts, the "New York World" and other papers came out with headlines: "David Graham Phillips Shot by Socialist." None of the papers retracted that lie.
When Theodore Roosevelt was shot at in Milwaukee, the Associated Press sent broadcast the news that a Socialist had assaulted the Colonel. Though it was proven by the evidence of the assailant's own statement that he was an affiliated member of a Democratic organization in New York, that he had always voted the Democrat ticket, the "New York Evening Telegram" ran the headline: "Roosevelt Shot by Socialist." This the "Telegram" never retracted.
Perhaps the most tragic illustration of this kind of thing
was the "Chicago Anarchists." There were one or two
