TRADE UNIONS AND OURSELVES.'

Evening Star, Issue 8231, 31 May 1890, Page 2

TRADE UNIONS AND OURSELVES.'

We have received from Mr R. Slater a letter in which he puts certain questions to us, and comments on some observations made by Mr E. S. Mantz as to the attitude of the Trades and Labor Council towards ourselves._ Mr Slater is, of course, entitled to hold his own opinion as to the course we have followed and shall continue to follow. His questions we shall answer categorically. Was the letter which appears in Monday’s ‘Herald’ signed by the president, secretary, and treasurer of the Shag Point branch of the A.M.L.A. offered to the Star and refused insertion or not?— The letter in question was never brought to our editorial department for insertion; and we neither saw nor heard of it until after its publication elsewhere.

Has the Star not refused to publish letters from the secretary of the Operative Bakers’ Union?—We are not aware that any letter, complying with our well-known conditions, from the source mentioned has failed to find a place in our columns. Was not a letter referring to the action of a large drapery establishment in regard to the Easter holidays refused insertion ?—Yes; we considered it not a proper letter for publication, and must remain the judges of what shall or shall not be published by us. Is it not a fact that when the Tailoresses and Pressera’ Union was formed, and the rules adopted, the representatives of the Press were asked not to insert the names of any employes who spoke at the meeting, and that a promise was given by the subeditor of the Star to Mr Millar that the names should not appear in his paper, but they did appear in the Star that night?— None of our representatives are empowered to make such a promise, without reference to the editor, and the subject was never mentioned to him. Our sub-editor has no recollection of any conversation of the kind with Mr Millar, nor can he recall any interview with that gentleman on the subject. The meeting appears to have been a public one, which the reporter attended in the discharge of his ordinary duties, and our duty to the public was to report the proceedings in the manner we did.

The Stab will continue to be cenduoted on tho lines that have been followed by us for the past twenty-one years, and which we feel sure commend themselves, Mr Slater notwithstanding, to our readers, of whom we are proud to think the great bulk are working men and women.