MALICIOUS GOSSIP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 71, Issue 218, 14 September 1928, Page 7

MALICIOUS GOSSIP

A FACTOR IN AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CONTEST [ By Telegraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright ] [ Australian Press Assn. 1 Received Sept. 13, 10 p.m. NEW YORK, Sept. 13. A social whispering campaign, through a system of malicious chain letters and word of mouth, has been spreading throughout the country malicious gossip about Governor A. Smith’s religion, morals and personal life, has suddenly taken a dramatic turn to-day with a statement by the Governor which recounts the efforts made to track down the slander, that upon a recent occasion he was so drunk that he was unable to make a scheduled public address. A letter written by one woman to ant other in West Virginia, gave this incident as coming from an eye witness—a well-known citizen of that State. Tht was brought to the attention of the Democratic National Committee, which in turn secured a statement from a noted Republican who had been with Governor Smith that day, showing that the report was a lie. The Governor has made a personal effort to secure retraction from the writer of the letter, but thus far without success. The Republican National Committee recently issued a statement deploring the whispering campaign, and saying that both candidates were being subjected to it. Governor Smith’s statement, however, with its consequent publishing of names, forces the whole matter into public attention, and puts •‘mudslinging” and so-called ‘‘bigotry talk” into the ranks of an important presidential issue.