The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-02-10
A MORE SERIOUS OBJECTION.

But even this is not the most serious Oh
lection from a newspaper man $ point of
view. The mere suspicion that news had
been subjected TO government inspection or
censorship would reduce by at least one-half
the value of that news to newspaper pub
fishers and To the general public. A memor-
able illustration OF the public resentment at
IA suspicion that news had been doctored
was furnished in connection with the elec-
tion returns of the Associated Press
at the Presidential election i'll 1884
Whether rightly or wrongly-wrongly
as the speaker beileved--a belief gained
credence that the Associated Press and
Western Union had doctored the returns
from New York State in the interest of
Blaine. If the feeling aroused by this was
so intense in New York city that
it came near leading to the
mobniug of Jay Gould, and even
in Jacksonville, where the speaker
published an Associated Press newspaper,
the feeling ran SO high as for a time to
endanger the value of the franchise what
value would the public attach to news IN
emergencies of this kind if they knew that
its transmission was through the medium of
government employees, which, under exist
ing political methods, means employees of
the party in power.
NOT A FAIR COMPARISON
1t is no argument to say chat there is no
complaint against the government mail
service in this respect. The contents of
letters cannot be made known without vIo-
latiOn of the law and without serious risk
of detection. On the other hand, with the
telegraphic system under its control the
government officials would have every OPP
portunity to become acquainted with every
detail of the business of trims, corporations
and the secrets of political parties and party
leaders. To say that officials would not
utilize this opportunity if they possessed
it, is TO exhibit the guileless innocence
of the heathen Chinee, and moreover it is
contradicted by the facts, and experience
in other countries where the telegraph
system IS nder government control. In
Continental Europe TINS espionage is so
notorious that every man who sends a tee-
gram assumes, as matter OF course, that
1t will be scrutinized by the government
| officials, if its contents are important, or i'm
the least suspicious. Even in England the
| same condition of affairs exists in a modi-
fed sense.
HEAVY HANDICAP.
A fair inference from these facts is that
in the case of the most useful and valuable
news that is obtained by a newspaper pub-
| Usher or editor, the supply would at once
be cut off; that it would enormously cOmpli-
| cate difficulties in running political cam
| paigns III this country, no one can doubt
| that it would put an enormous advantage
| into the hands of the party in power, no
one will question.
| In conclusion Col. Jones said: "That it
would put into the hands of politicians a
| deadly weapon against the press, which
they would be constantly tempted to use, is
too indisputably true to be denied. The
public confidence in the trustworthy
character of that news is per
haps the chief element of its
value Anything that would tend to
| impair that confidence would by so much
impair the commercial value of the news.
! Speaking for myself, as a vender of news,
| say unqualifiedly that | want no news
that has been subjected to even a suspicion
| of government supervision or partisan es-
pionage."
MR.. RoSEWATER BELIEVES DIFFERENTLY.
| The paper was commented upon by Mr..
| ROsewater, of the Omaha Bee He favored
the idea of the government taking control,
and thought political considerations would
| not enter into the transaction Of business as
| had been suggested.
Messrs. Prescott Bcknell and others also
participated in the discussion.
j. A. Butler, of Buffalo, read a paper on
advertising directories He deemed
| them a burden to publishers, and thought
the association might issue one of its own,
calling attention to the valuable medium at
| its disposal.
The report of the New York office was
read by j. s. Metcalf, Secretary, and the
general report of the association by W. II.
Bearley, of the Detroit Journal.
Officers were elected as follows: William
NJ. Singerly, President; C. IL. Jones, Vice
| President; i. L. Morgan, Secretary; Will
liam Bryant, Treasurer; Executive Com
mittee-S. n. Kaufman, J. H. Farrell, w.
j. Richards, each for three years, and E. p.
Call, and Col. Scott, for one year.
The meeting closed tonight with ban.
| 0uet