Show AS TO THAT MEETING A PLAIN ANSWER TO THE CHARGES i MADE BY DR MXIECE I There Wan Aro Breach of Confidence on the Part ot An > foody There Was a Memorial mid an Attempt to Oppose Statehood If Rev Dr McNiece of the First Presbyterian church was quoted correctly cor-rectly in a very savage interview in yesterdays Tribune and In a more moderate card in last nights News regarding a meeting of the Evangelical Ministers association of this city held on last Monday his position in the matter cannot be accounted for as when the question was put point blank several ministers whose veracity there is no reason for doubting assured the reporter that he had found out the facts in the case The published report re-port stated these faCts without coloring color-ing In the interview the Rev Dr endeavored endeav-ored to throw on the reporter the onus of having betrayed a confidence and then thinking perhaps that this position po-sition would prove untenable in view of the fact that the only conversation conversa-tion the reporter had with him on the subject was In relation to obtaining a copy of the memorial and In view of the further fact that the Doctor is not aware where the reporter got his information in-formation he endeavors to shift the blame for the breach of confidence on some of his brethren of the cloth by saying they have not acted in the man ner prevailing among gentlemen So that the Doctor may not suspect any of those who were at the meeting it will be said that the first Information I received that such had been the action of the association came in a roundabout I round-about way from a person who was entirely II en-tirely innocent of any Intention of putting put-ting the matter into print He had i come across it in a casual way and in a conversation unintentionally let I the cat out of the bag With such a plain clue to work upon the reporter was soon able to verify the information he I had thus gained not through any voluntary vol-untary aid on the part of any minister but by diligent Inquiry Therefore the Reverend Doctor need not accuse any of his associates In the interview Dr McNiece says that The Herald report of the meeting was a gross exaggeration and while holding back on account of a delicacy about speaking of what he considers a private matter makes charges that the reporter was wrong in his statements state-ments that there was any affort made to oppose statehood and that there was any memorial before the association In relation to the above charges against the reporter It is necessary only to quote the words of a minster who was present at the meeting and who when asked Monday for information infor-mation refused absolutely to give any When seen yesterday he said The charges made by Dr McNiece in his interview I cannot account for except on the supposition that the interviewer drew largely on his imagination for the details The doctor doc-tor must know as I know that your report was in the main correct There were one or two slight inaccuracies such as are likely to creep into any report made where information was so hard to get as it was in this case but they did not affect the value of the report re-port to any marked degree You were right in saying that the matter came up on an understanding that gained voice early in the previous week The matter has been discussed some at the previous meeting and it was expected that the committee would report when it did Then it is asserted that there was no attempt to commit the association for or against statehood state-hood and that there was no memorial to Congress before the meeting As to that I am not sure as to what is meant as I always supposed that when a committee reports to an association a paper which expresses the sentiment that it would be best for the people if statehood were staved off for a few years that that would savor of some kind of an attempt against statehood and I have no hesitation in saying that though in a strictly technical tech-nical sense the paper reported by the committee was not a memorial vet that to say it was not Is rather like begging the question There certainly was a paper before the association and it certainly was Intended to be brought to the attention of those who could oppose op-pose he immediate granting of statehood state-hood In relation to the statement that there was a surprise at the unexpected strength of the minority the reverend doctor says that the statement was all gammon A reading of The Herald will show that no attempt was made to quote those who like Dr McNiece voted for the memorial but quoted the other side on that matter Therefore the statement that that part of the article ar-ticle is gammon is rather farfetched and presumptuous There was one slight inaccuracy in The Heralds article which represented that a majority of the thirteen ministers minis-ters present were against the memorial memo-rial We are assured however by one who was present that the vote stood 7 to 6 in favor of it and that it was laid on the table by an unanimous vote because there was the strong opposition opposi-tion to it Those in favor of It wanted unanimity but had a strong majority major-ity of 1 only In justice to The Herald It should be stated on the authority of a minister who was there that the report in this paper wag absolutely free from bias and stated the contents of the memorial memo-rial in a manner that was as correct as could be asked for In a fifteen line synopsis of a five page typewritten paper The course of The Herald in saying that the paper was not bitter was spoken of highly The Herald wishes to assure its readers read-ers that entire harmony prevailed at the meeting that there was no bitterness bitter-ness in the debate or unpleasant feelings feel-ings as to the result That this was not stated In the original report is due to the fact it was considered unnecessary unneces-sary to speak of It in connection with such gentlemen as are in the association associa-tion As statehood te assured as the only formidable opponent af It the Liberal party has withdrawn Us opposition and as what may be done by the religious reli-gious associations of the east will now have but little effect The Herald Is content to let the matter drop with this statement of facts |