There is no necessity for any man being victimized by the "newspaper
beat." In the first place, no reputable newspaper ever puts a
damaging story in type before every side of it has been thoroughly
investigated. The very fact of a man exhibiting a "proof" is
evidence that he is a fraud and has no newspaper connection. It can
be said with truth that the repertorial profession of America has
fewer "beats" in it than any other profession or business that can
be mentioned. The majority of reporters are ambitious to gain higher
positions, and it is a rare thing to find a man regularly connected
with a newspaper descending to such trickery. If he is a genuine
reporter he will exhibit his credentials, and should he be assigned
to investigate a story that effects the standing of a respectable
citizen, and be offered a bribe, he would undoubtedly publish that
fact as an additional proof of the truth of what he has written. The
treatment for this kind of a blackmailer is to kick him out of the
house, and bid him do his worse. Depend upon it, the "scandal" will
never become public.