National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-08-19
TIE NEW YORK ASSOCIATED PREss-A
PARTIsAN NOU0POLY.

DtspotCH.
THE NEW YORK ASSOCIATED PREss-A
PARTISAN M0H0P0LY.
We have frequently alluded to the non
partisan character Of the dispatches from
Washington to the New York Associated
Press. and we believe we simply reflect the
opinion of every Journalist In the country
when we say thst they are the only dis
patches Of that kind that are furnished to
the press Of the country by that association.
While this distinction is all that saves the
association from being known as q thorough
and effective sympsthizer with the enemies
of the Republican party and President
Grants Administration, in whatever guise
they may present themselves, it does not
serve to relieve its managers from the re-
sponsibility they owe to the newspaper
reading public of furnishing more trust
worthy news from other localities. 1t was
organized years ago for the purpose OF sup
plying the Herald, Tribune, Times, Sun,
World, Evening Espress, Commercial Ad-
pertiser, and their associates with the news
of each day, prepared by competent agents
in every part of the country. Those agents
were instructed that the journals interested
were of different and conflicting political
creeds, and that, as o consequence, the
news sent 10 them should be strictly non.
partisan In It's character and unembellished
with comments of any kind. For years
these instructions were strictly adhered to,
and the information furnished BY the as.
ISOLATION regarding political. commercial
social and other current events was &C.
cepted er.eathsdra. No one pretended to
doubt Il even when liz character was I'M.
welcome or unfavorable, and while II was
natural that the agents should occasionally
make mistakes, the public, regardless OF
party or Individual predictions, was salts
fed that the motives governing them were
beyond reproach. This was at time
when the political influences In the associa.
ton were about equally balanced, and
when the Tribune, the Times and the Com
rssreidl AdDertiser were both powerful and
honest enough to preserve 1t from drifting
away from its non-partisan standard. At
the same time, the World and the EUsning
| EIDTctb WCIC "iuC-u"hhO w pAS'NAh ~
from becoming the biased representative OF
their political opponents, while the Herald
was satisfied with any arrangement that
| did not interfere with its characteristic
energy in excelling its competitors by the
publication of specials from the four cor
ners of the globe. This was in the days Of
the elder Bennett, Greeley, Raymond and
Beach. Gradually, with the extension Of
telegraphic facilities and the cooperation
of the Western Union Telegraph Com
psny, the association became self-suppoft
ing. and it was discovered that an arrange
ment originally intended to suppy
limited number of newspapers VIII
news could be made pfontaole
Its league with the Western Unon enabled
it to reach nearly all the daily newspaper
ia the country, and TIE privilege OF sup
nlvinu tha--- vim news, to the exclusion o.
any rival association, was finally guaran
teed by that company. The prices charged
to those dailies, being more than sufficient
to defrsy the expense of collecting and
transmitting the pews, were such as tt
enable the association to reap q consider
able profit. In this way the members o.
the New York Associated Press now OBJ
tain their news free of cost to them, and al
the expense Of journals in every section Of
the country, who are compelled to patron
ize the association because its contract with
the great telegraph monopoly of the coun
Try prohibits any other news agency from
sending dispatches at news rates over it:
wires. 1t requires no further explanation
than this to show how completely the as
ISOLATION now controls the agency for the
transmission of information regarding pub
lie affairs to the press of the country, and
through the press, the power to deceive
the public with false or prejudiced reports
And it should be understood that Bennett
senior, Greeley, Raymond and Beech have
been replaced in its management by the
proxy of Bennett, jr., Whitelaw Reid
Louis Jennings and Charles A. Dana. Tt
this change Of management, and to the
lack of honesty on the part of some of the
new managers, weNowe the unreliable anC
partisan change in the character of the dis
patches.
This, it will be admitted, is not mattel
in which the owners or directors of news
papers are alone interested. 1t strikes deer
into the very foundation of popular belle
and intelligence. 81 knew a very wis
man, wrote Andrew Fletcher to the Mar
quis of Montrose, away back in the las
century, "that believed if q man wert
permitted to make all the ballads, he neet
"not care who should make the laws of (
"nation." If he had lived in this country
and in these days of unparalleled newspa
per popularity, that ''wise man" would hav,
offered to WELD the fate of the nation
through the agency to which we now refer
Startling as this fact is, it is undeniable
Every day of our lives the poisoned dart
of prejudice pierce the tissues of the pub
lie memory, and leave behind them thu
venom of partisan malice. The child anC
the parent, the servant and the master, tn,
public official and the-private citizen, arr
alike infected. No wonder, then, tina
their inspiration being foul, the effect o
these dispatches upon the people at larg'
is to pervert the public mind, or TO destroy
all confidence in the incorruptibility ant
the independence of the press. In former
times this palladium of the people
liberty" was looked upon as a safe guide
and sought for as the source of all reliable
information, upon which intelligent ant
thoughtful men based their opinions. Blu
now the contrary is the invariable cas-
when any question connected, however re
motley, with the political situation is pre-
scented for consideration.
Each recurring issue of any daily news
paper is apt to be filled with illustration
of the truth of all this but in no one espe
cial regard is it exhibited SO plainly as in
the character of the dispatches sent anC
received through the association from tn,
Southern States. A late example of thu
deceptive character Of the news from thi
source, and showing the bitter prejudic,
which inspires it, may be found in the fac
that, aside from the special dispatches Il
THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN regarding
the North Carolina election, held as Ions
ago as the 9TH inst, not q single word ha