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We Would Print It--Bu nt-- For Y ourself! Replying to that portion of your letter in which you Ly: “We expect to see that The Journal will do what we [link it hasn’t done before,” for your information, I beg ; say that for twenty-four years The Journal’s circula- lon has been an open book to anybody who desired to Irify our claims. We-have been examined many times, U for a number of years past have been regularly audited 7 professional accountants* Within the last few years, st before you came to Atlanta and while you were still tively engaged in the patent medicine business in St. jouis, this paper was critically and exhaustivelyexam- led by an expert sent out from New York by the Associa- ion of American Advertisers, and we hold his certificate |lhe correctness of our claims. . Our acceptance, therefore, of your proposition is in ex- t accord with a policy adopted many years ago—long be- i you determined to leave your business in St. Louis enter the field of journalism, and faithfully pursued loughout the history of this paper. Since the truth is what we are trying to arrive at, I low demand that you permit Mr. Brown to proceed with le examination of your circulation, with the same fiedom from limitation and restriction as I have given , Bidwell. , Let us make this really and truly a “straightforward, jide-open proposition.” Let us get at the real truth of par circulation, as well as that of The Journal, without necessary delay, without quibbling, and in an honest, uthful manner. . ' .May I ask that you will again favor me with a reply, ating positively and finally whether or not you will per- |it Mr. Brown to proceed at once with his examination. Very truly yours, J.R.GRAY, General Manager Atlanta Journal. .. Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 5,1907. Ir. C. B. Bidwell, Resident Manager American Audit Company, City. Dear Sir: In the examination of the circulation of fie Journal, which you are about to make, it is my desire at this examination be thorough and exhaustive. I place no limitations or conditions whatever upon fur investigation. What you wish to ascertain is the lid circulation of The Journal. This is what I desire you | ascertain, and invite you to make the most careful ex- ainatinn and apply the most rigid test that you can se. The circulation records, books and other facilities of i office will be at your complete disposal. If any qm- jree has knowledge upon any subject pertaining to the ulation that you desire, I shall require him to give you ) full benefit of such knowledge. I shall furnish you every facility for making this in- tigation in the most thorough and complete manner, hout restriction or limitation in any way. All records 1 other sources of information will be submitted to you |once; and this letter will be your authority for requiring production of any document, book, record, or other dence in our possession that you may wish, and the nunication of any facts within the knoweldge of our ployees for your information. I will be pleased to have the examination begin at Very truly yours, (Signed) J. R. GRAY, General Manager Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 7,1907. J- R. Gray, General Manager The Atlanta Journal, Atlanta. Dear Sir: I have read your letter of yesterday, and i been unavoidably delayed in replying thereto. The extensive detail gone into by you, being almost lly irrelevant, will not be the subject of my reply. I simply hold your acceptance of my challenge printed aturday’s Georgian and News, no condition attached, your accompanying proposal as to our circulation 'fically says: “Without regard to the proposition h I have just made you in connection with our circu- i." Jo, Mr. Gray, if you insist upon a reason for our not ting from the agreement, I am frank to tell you that e no idea that The Journal expects to allow us to teU lets about its circulation, and I want no better proof your attempt to muddy the waters. Therefore, your Mr. Brown cannot come in until you have delivered the goods under your acceptance of our proposal which you distinctly made, “without regard to your counter propo sition.” So, you appear to be in the rather unenviable posi tion of having to show the public that you have 52,000 cir culation and do it to the satisfaction of The American Audit Company, or back down, v In your letter of yesterday, page 3, second paragraph you reckoned without your host—my company, through my instrumentality, happened to be one of the original and strongest supporters of the American Advertisers’ As socialion, and, at the time mentioned, I believe, I was chairman of the advertising committee of The Proprietary Association of America. I had a copy of the original re port of the expert you call as your witness in said para graph, and it is before me now, and you say: “We hold this certificate to the correctness of our claims.” The re port is No. 302; and, without going outside of its front page for information, it gives you 34,666 paid circulation and states that your statement to advertisers had been that you had 38,559. It, furthermore, states that your in crease on July 31 was 2 per cent more than on January 1st, or 4 per cent a year, and at this rate, you would have had on July 31, last, about 39,000. You may as well recognize the fact, Mr. Gray, that you are not dealing with a plaything, and if you have not been confronted with competition that could not be bluffed before, you have it now, and since The Georgian has no de sire to stoop to unkind, though unwarranted, methods, we know what confronts you, and you are now givena chance to come out and tell the facts about your circulation to the public yourself, or we will have to tell it. Pardon any unkindness; we preferred to have this matter go through pleasantly, but it must go through. Very respectfully, F. L. SEELY, Publisher. Atlanta, Ga., Feb. 8,1907. Mr. F. L. Seely, Publisher The Georgian and News, City. Dear Sir: I am this morning in receipt, by mail, of your letter dated the 7th, in reply to mine delivered to you by hand Thursday morning, the 6th inst. On the supposition that you were to get a lot of ad vertising out of this matter, you promptly accepted my proposition last Saturday, to show more than 25,000 paid circulation. You now virtually admit that you have no su'ch circulation. You were, of course, fully aware of this fact when you accepted my offer. You did not then intend to have your circulation examined by our auditor, and I am convinced that you do not now intend to have this ex amination made. It seems to suit your purpose better to try to deceive the public with misleading statements as to what you have when you well know that your claims are untrue. In the proposition which I made you on Saturday, 1 distinctly stated that the examination should be made “under the same conditions as those under which the ex amination of our own circulation is to be made by the American Audit Company.” This proposition you accepted. You now decline to allow that examination to proceed until after the expira- tin of an indefinite period. You indicate that at least thirty to sixty days must elapse before Mr. Brown will be allowed to begin. Such a procedure is not an examination —it is a farce. The obvious purpose of such a delay is to enable you to prepare records which do not exist now, and to furnish figures which will not speak the truth. Any in telligent person will so construe your effort to delay this examination. In view of your admission that you have not the circu lation which you have claimed, and your refusal to allow the examination, to which you have agreed to proceed, until after an indefinite delay, I now make you this propo sition , . The Journal will give $1,000 to any charitable institu tions in Atlanta, to be selected by Mayor Joyner, Rabbi Marx and Forrest Adair, if you can show an average paid circulation for the months of November and December, 1906, and January, 1907, of 18,000, provided you will give to these institutions $1,000 if you fail to show 18,000 paid circulation for that period, and upon the condition that you will permit Mr. Ralph Brown to proceed at once with his examination, with the same authority and freedom from restriction or limitation that I have given the Ameri can Audit Company in the examination which is to be made of The Journal’s circulation, the findings to be pub lished conspicuously in your paper within three days after the report is made. I sincerely trust-that this offer may tempt you into an examination of your circulation, so that the public may be furnished with a true statement of what you have. Every newspaper that has started up in Atlanta within the last five or six years has easily reached 18,000 circula tion in the first year/of its operation, except, possibly, yours and some of them have gone beyond it. I am cnvinc- ed that you have not this amount of paid circulation. You either have the circulation, or you haven’t it. If you have it, you are entitled to full credit. If you havent’ it, then the public is entitled to know it. I make this proposition so that the charitable insti tutions referred to may not lose the benefit of my offer and your acceptance, in consequence of your refusal to comply with the terms of your agreement. I expect to be called out of the city Saturday or Mon day; I will, therefore, be greatly obliged if you will furnish me with a reply to this Tetter some time during the day. Very truly yours, J. R. GRAY, * General Manager Atlanta Journal. Atlanta, Ga., February 11,1907, Mr. F. L. Seely, The Georgian, Atlanta, Ga. Dear Sir: Inasmuch as Mr. J. R. Gray, of The Jour nal, has asked me to take an examination of The Journal’s circulation for him, I write to ask if you have decided not to have the investigation made as per your instructions to me, or if not, if there is any reason why the two should conflict as far as you are concerned. Very truly yours, THE AMERICAN AUDIT COMPANY, Per C. B. Bidwell, Resident Manager. February 11,1907. Mr. C. B. Bidwell, Manager, American Audit Company, Atlanta, Ga. Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of this morning, would say that we have not changed our plans in any way, and, in view of the facts in the case, I am at a loss to un derstand why Mr. Gray should make such a proposition to you, unless he thinks an examination by you for him would bo unlike the one you would make for us. I am astonished at such procedure upon his part, but because of my absolute confidence in tho integrity of The American Audit Company and it manager. I have no fears of any influence being great enough to affect your findings in any case, and leave you free to serve Mr. Gray if you so desire. Very sincerely, F. L. SEELY, Publisher. February 11,1907. Mr. James R. Gray, General Manager The Atlanta Jour nal, Atlanta, Ga. Dear Sir: I have been delayed in answering your let ter of Friday, because I was preparing an extensive and final reply. However, I am just in receipt of a letter from Tho American Audit Company, the contents of which simply amaze me, and make unnecessary the reply I had pre pared. • The public will require no further evidence or com ment from me in tho light of your attempt to influence the jury in this case. The Georgian expects an absolute adherence to the proposals as they were made and accepted, or nothing, and, in view of this latest move on your part, I must con sider the correspondence closed. Yours very truly, F. L. SEELY, Publisher The Georgian. February 12,1907. Mr. J. R. Gray, General Manager The Atlanta Journal, Atlanta, Ga. Dear Sir: A letter from you enclosed in a plain en velope, addressed to Mr. Seely, has been opened by me and destroyed unread, in accordance with instructions from Mr. Seely, who informs me that he has returned one letter from you earlier in the day, He has instructed me to treat similarly.any further communications from you. • Very trulv yours, S. V.* BROOKS. Atlanta, Ga., February 13,1907. Mr. F. L. Seely, Care The Georgian, Atlanta, Ga. Dear Sir: We beg to notify you that Mr. J. R. Gray has advised us that inasmuch as he had decided that the examination of the circulation of The Journal as per our original agreement should not bo made, we have made arrangement with him to make such examination for The Journal. Verv trulv vnurs. THE AMERICAN AUDIT COMPANY, Per C. B. Bidwell, -Resident Manager.