Evening star., 1884-08-02


". Fl. French has an interesting article in the
Chicago Current on the newSg gathering Of the As
ISOLATED Press, in which he says:
'The Associated Press, although it has no rivals
worthy OF the name, Is not a monopoly. 1t is sim
ply an association composed OF the reputable eS-
tabl1Shed daily papers throughout the land, who
agree TO furnish each other with the OF their
respective localities. The newspapers themselves
are therefore the Associated Press; they have a
personal, individual interest and proprietorShip in
IT. AS to the news itself, 1t must be fresh it must
be OF general interest, it must be nonpartiSan it
must be impartial; without these qualities it is un-
fitted for the Associated Press market.
The two parent organizations uhe N. Y. and
Westerly are responsible for collecting the news of
the country, and they assume by far the greater
portion OF the expense; the organizations which
work with them and which In all cases, save those
or The European associations, pay tribute to them,
are: The Reuter- agency. OF Great Britain and parts
OF Europe; the HavaS agency OF France and south
Russia; the Australian Press association; the state
press of New York state; the New England Asso-
clated press; the Southern Associated press; the
Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington associa-
tons; the Kansas and Missouri Associated press;
the Texas Associated press; the Colorado Asso-
clated press; the Ohio Associated press: the Caii-
fornla Associated press; the Chronicle Press aSSo
citation OF California; the Canadian Associated
press; the Associated press OF Havana, Cuba; the
press, and few others OF minor account
The chief collecting and distributing agencies
are at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washing
Orleans, Milwaukee, Detroit, ST. Paul. Kansas City,
Memphis, Denver, san Francisco and Toronto. with
several IN Europe. The agents at these GiStrtbut-
ing points furnish each paper or set OF papers In
lhelr DIVISIONS with the news which IL requires and
can afford TO pay for. They are careful TO select
news suited to the section TO which II is eegraphed
Iney would not send to san Francisco the news OF
tne appointment OF postmaster Tor GaleSDurg,
Ill, Out they would send that news 10 GalesDurg,
as matter OF prime interest In this sitting pro-
cess the paying capacity well as the need OF each
city is cOnsidered so that while Chicago may re-
celVe forty thousand words OF report on given
day, DeS MOineS might receive but 5000 and
Rockford two thousand The amount and quality
OF The news Is determined directly by the agent In
Charge; he receives general instructions from the
general manager who. in turn, seeks TO learn from
the papers themselves just what they want.
The difficulty OF Sutting all may be Illustrated by
an Incident connected with the republican national
convention OF 1885, the speech OF an eminent man,
lately candidate for PreSident was reported by the
Associated Press at some length; the next day
there arrived at the general office two letters one
from q radical republican, complained that the
speech had not been reported verbatim, the other
from a Thoroughbred democrat, complained al its
having been sent so fully that IL curtailed the hog
market The general manager enclosed TO each
complainant the letter OF the other, and the next
time the trio met they had hearty laugh.
The bcnencience of the system OF news dlstribu-
tton is apparent; besides giving each paper the
kind and volume OF news IL wants and can pay for
IL greatly cheapenS the expense; each paper gets
European news, that cost originally fifty cents per
buco news that cost s7.60 per word; African news
that cost 1878 per word, and domestic news OF
every kind, political, commercial, financial reirj
ouS for all this IT is charged but insignificant
traction OF q cent per word. Should The entire .sy
pense OF cablegram, such as is hot infrequently
against that paper alone, the sheet would 20 inc
liquidation without pdrley,