The morning times., 1895-08-18
HOW THE NEWS COMES IN
Wonderful Machinery of the Two
Great Press Associations.
EXPERT LOCAL MANAGERS
The Mystery and Magic of Collect
Ing News From City, Town and
Hamlet, and the Strange Scenes
and Sounds and People of the
washington Offices.

Fully ninety-five per cent of those who
read the great daily papers do not have the
remotest conception as to how those items
which bear an out-of-town date are OBJ
tanned, transmitted and delivered to the
journal which prints them. A few people
seem to believe that this class OF news is
latent in the atmosphere and comes float
ing in at an opportune time, when some
alert editor lassoes it and throws IL III
the hopper, after appropriately embel-
fishing it with a head.
a large proportion Of readers have
vague, indefinite idea that telegraphio
matter comes TO a newspaper by some
species of grapevine wire. In other words,
they appear to imagine that some paper
has published this information, obtained
in what way they know not, and that the
others scissor it and push it along as an
expeditions way OF filling space. And there
be many well-informed readers who fancy
that each paper ha all the matter appear
| ing in its columns sent by telegraph for its
especial benefit and a its own private ex-
pense
But all those who keep thoroughly posted
by taking a wide-awake metropolitan jour-
nal like The Times, are perfectly aware that
the press associations, thoroughly equipped,
| entirely reliable, with ramlllcations in
| every remote quarter of The world and tire
less in their efforts to discover something
new under the sun, supply the newspapers
with a large portion of that matter which
| bears a date line.
TWO GREAT CORPORATIONS.
There are two OF these ws-gatheriPS
associatious-Tbe United Press and The
Associated Press Both have been estab-
! lished for many years, embrace among their
| clients all the leading dailies printed and
have agents in every principal city on the
| globe aud representatives at each cross
roads in the United States ia woodshedis
| destroyed by fire at some village consisting
| OF Que house and located seventy miles
from a railroad station, the information is
nevertheless speedily transmitted to the
nearest distributing office OF the press
| associations.
These associations lease their wires from
the telegraph companies, furnish their own
expert operators, keep things humming for
| twenty-four hours out of the tweDty-four
| and then cannot rest peacefully for fear that
something viii occur while they have their
| four rhouriutermissioD. The work performed
| during the day must necessarily be put
| through with rush ,assome ofthe afternoon
| papers go to press shortly after 10 O'Clock
in the morning and every possible effort is
| made to get in all the news, but in more
or less condensed form, in order to be not
| altogether left on any one item. But the
| night forces OF the press associations are the
| ones that have an opportunity of spreading
| themselves, as they say out IN Indiana.
| They have ample facilities for carrying
| heavy reports of current events and plenty
| of time in which to transmit and deliver
| matter for publication in the morning
| Journals" The boys on night duty rush,
and work hard and keep everlastingly at it,
| but they do not actually reach the hack
| breaking stage and the results OF their
labors are by al lodds more apparaut and
| consequently more encouraging than that
of the day men.
Washington, is of course, o ne Of the prin-
cipal cities so far as the origiuation of news
matter is concerned aud both associations
maintain large bureaus here aud also make
| 1t distributing point. The day forces,
from the office boys TO the chief repre-
senatives, consider that days salary has
been earned at 6 O'Clock in the evening
aud turn themselves loose for rest aud
recreation.
Observation-Disclosures.
The managers alone are an exception to
this rule Mr.. P V DeGraw is in charge of
the United Press as general southern man.
ager and Mr.. G. A. Boyntou is the Wash
iugton agent Of the Associated Press. Both
| are the most SOciabIe and comma niO M Ile
men imaginable. They are meu of ex-
ecutive ability, resources aud experience
aud are thoroughly conversant with every