Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-09-23
JAY GOULD.
WILL HE GOBBLE THE NEWS?
A Bugle Blast from the ''HeraId''-The
Great Stock JObber's Programme.

A Bugle Blast from the 'Herald''-The
Great Stock Jobber's Programme.
New YORK, September % To morrow's
Herald will have ar editorial, Of which the
following is an abstract: t'The turn which
affairs have recently taken In the conduct
Of the New York Associated Press can.
not fail to be of interest, as it
is of undoubted importance to
the general public. Having, aside from its
own membership. large clientage of jour
nails all over the land, l. is evident that the
Associated Press might, in improper hands,
prove unfaithful TO the public interests or
subservient to privste plans or interests, and
become very powerful engine for mischief.
1t might give, for instance, partisan color
ing to its political news, and thus seriously
mislead public opinion, or it might give
color to It's crop reports or other news af-
fecting finance and the stock markets
favorable to private Spectators but injuri-
ous to the general interest.
Fer many years the Associated Press has
worked under the direction of an Executive
Committee composed OF three Of the proprie-
tors of the leading New York journals, aud
1t Is very greatly to the credit of this COM
mittee and of the managers and agents It
employed that there has never, so far as we
noD REMEMBER been q coyaplaisst that this
Powerful agency has been misueed for pri-
Vate or partisan purposes. The uses to
which a shrewd and uusctupulous man
might put the Associated Press re-
ports have not, 1t seems, escaped
the notice OF one of the shrewdest
and most enterprising OF our wealthy citl-
Zens, Mr.. Jay Gould, who seems to have
determined to make this organization an
adjunct to his speculations. It is now un-
derstood that Mr.. Gould has control of three
OF the seven journals which compose the
Associated Press, the Tribune, World and
Mal and Express, ard as he con-
trolls at the same time the Western
Union Telegraph Company, which
years employed to transmit its news, Mr..
Gould has OF late began to show his hand.
His design is to obtain control of the AseO-
ciated Press, and to do this he proposes to
amslgamate the Western Union Telegraph
Company, which he controls, with the As
ISOLATED Press, to destroy the or
ganization OF the latter, and
make the employees OF the telegraph
company his own servants, that Is to say,
the collectors OF news for his papers While |
he could control but three of the Journals
forming the Associated Press, this scheme,
OF course, halted, but at the August meet
ing OF the association he was enabled by q
vote OF the one which had until then, In |
common with the Herald Z ines and Journal
Of Commerce opposed his plans to
strike bis first blow by dlschargiug the |
Executive Committee from further con-
siderAtion of its relation with the Western |
Union Telegraph Company. From this, |
therefore, 1t may apparently be fairly IN |
ferred that Mr.. Gould controls four of the |
seven papers that c0bstitute the association. |
Despite the evidence of facts, we say this in |
doubtful terms, because we are not pre- |
pared to believe all that this state of the |
case involves"
The Herald then, in series OF sarcastic |
personal illusions to Mr.. Dana, Mr.. Reid /
and Mr.. Hurlburt, gives Its reason why its |
statements should be considered doubtful, |
and then proceeds as follows: "It Mr.. Gould |
really does control all these papers, then |
the way is open to his scheme. That the |
news OF the country should be in the power
of single individual, and that indiFidual, |
Mr.. Jay Gould, is startling prospect.
"Mr, ,G0uldis purely speculative operator |
in shares of railway, telegraph and other |
stocks. His svowed profession is the |
manipulation OF solid and substantial |
property, solely for raising or lowering the /
prices of shares to increase his personal |
fortune. The impartial and accurate repre- |
sentation of the news of the day in the AS
ISOLATED Press reports must often, it is easy |
to see, have been bar to the success Of |
such speculations as those by |
which Mr.. Gould, and others
OF the same profession, seek to
increase their fortunes This obstacle 1t ia
which Mr.. Gould seeks to remove. He
wishes to give the country its news reports
II he succeeds, that which has hitherto
been read under the head of Associated
Press dispatches must thereafter be placed
by those who print 1t under the head of
Jay Gould's Dispatcher
"The HeYdli has been from the beginning
a member of the Associated Press. 1t has
watched jealousy the conducs ofIits agents,
because 1t has been our aim to give our
readers correct and unbiased reports. We
do not propose to abandon the organi-
zation, at least for the present,
with our readers. II Mr.. Jay Gould sue
ceeds in obtaining control OF the Associated
Press, which he seeks, we shall not refuse
the news he causes to be put in circulation,
but shall print it as honestly as our readers
will require under the head Of jay Gould's
dispatches ana we shall endesvor by an
increase OF our numerous corps Of special
correspondents to give also our own account
of important events
In the meantime we beg the public to re-
dect upon the matters we have stated above,
and consider whether 1t is not necessary to
the public security that the government
shall take possession OF the telegraph
lines in this country and make them an ad-
junct of the Post Office Department, as has
been successfully done In England and
other European countries. The audacity
of the spirit of speculation grows year by
year. This last scheme to enable great and
unscrupulous speculators to vitiate the
very foundations Of public opinion Is but
the nataral outcome Of what has been going
on under all mems eyes for years. A great
speculator manages to obtain control of
the telegraph communications of the eouu-
try, and not only of these, but also of the
cables which connect us with for
eign countries. Having crushed or
bought up all his teleglaphic
rivals he next copceives the idea of making
himself master of.the country's intelligence,
and thus Of its daily opinions on all sub
iects. At the present moment Mr.. Gould
seems likely toEsucceed. II only the Times,
Journal Of Commerce and Herald vote
against him they cannot prevent him, and
he will, in fact, have It In his power
to muzzle an important part Of the press Of
the country. To all, therefore, except the
seven New York journals which compose
that association, he may refuse the news,
unless they viii print It as he chooses to
send it, and that means ruin to them. VIII
any one say that, in view of this, 1t is not
high time for the government to assume |
control and management of the telegraph
as 1t has always controlled the post Officer"
The GallOws in Galway.
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