Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-21
the treasury for which there appears to
be no substantial ground
oMAnA ANp TIE ASSncLATEp PRESS.

, ! Bee would 0nleCt 10 any reference TO TN
attacks made upon Omaha by the Carthag,
paper. for that attack was largely made vi
Of the slanders upon Omaha that have beer
sent out through the Associated Press from
the office of the anti-Omaha sheet-World
Herald.
The man who repudiates his honest
debts usually can say nothing too mean
about his creditors. The inspiration
for the persistent effort which the
orld-Herald has made for the past
two years to discredit and SANDER the
Associated Press can be nationally as.
cribed only to the same motive. Three
years ago the World-Herald with its
natural be 1t for brazen imposture, dis
played conspicuously at the head of its
editorial column the following inscrip-
ton:
The World Herald Is the only journal pub
lished in Omaha having both the Associated
Press and United Press franchises.
As Il matter of fact the World-llerald
never did own a franchise in the Asso-
ciated Press. And that imposition it
was obliged to disavow by the mana
gers of the Associated Press to avoid
! the risk of being prosecuted. On De-
cember 2T 1893. this bogus claim was
taken down and the following heading
was substituted:
EXCLUSIVE TELEGRAPH FRANCHISES:
United Press-Morning and afternoon.
| N. w. Associated Press.
This was equally false and mislead-
ing. The Omaha Herald once had
a membership in the Northwestern
Associated Press, an auxiliary of the
Western Associated Press, which sup
piled its members with an abridged
press report. After the consolidation
of the Evening World and Morning
Herald the hyphenated paper retained
the franchises of both. Its inability to
pay the monthly tolls of the North
western Associated Press finally resulted
in forfeiture of its rights to that asso-
ciation's press report. Since October,
1893. when it was $3T5 in arrears and
which amount it owes to this day, the
World-Herald has not received II word
of Associated Press report. In the face
of this fact it kept the brazen lie stand
twenty months after ii had ceased all
connection with the Northwestern Asso-
ciated Press. This explanation may
throw a little light on the attitude of
the World Herald toward the Associated
Press. e-...--.
The Associated Press needs no defense
at our hands. 1t is national news
gathering association whose member
ship extends from Nova Scotia to Puget
sound and from Duluth to the City of
Mexico. Neither its managers. nor its
members have any disposition to decry
Nebraska or disparage Omaha or any
other state or city. The charge that
reports derogatory to Omaha dnd Ne
braska have been transmitted by the
agency of the Associated Press in this
city is absolutely untrue. This charge
is as baseless as was the outrageous
attack, upon it last summer, when the
World Herald charged it with sending
police commission contest. The eXag-
gerated reports complained of emanated
from special telegraph correspondents
over whom the Associated Press has no
control and for whom it cannot be held
responsible. The Associated Press re-
stricts its agents to the most important
general news briefly stated. The special
correspondents endeavor to cover the
sensational features, and the more SEN
satiOnal the more likely are eastern
papers to accept what they offer. When
traced down, most Of the reports which
the World Herald howled about were
written by men in its own employ and
in its own Office. These facts are as
well known to the World Herald as they
are to us.
And now as to the alleged anti-Omaha
tendencies Of the Associated Press |
Who was it that sent broadcast through
the whole country the most damaging
and slanderOus reports concerning Ne
braska? Who sent the horribly eXag-
gerated descriptions of starvation and |
suffering, representing famshed chill
drenI freezing in the arms of their |
mothers and hundreds of families per
ishing for want of food and fuel in the |
heart of Nebraska? Not the Associ- |
ated Press. 1t was the World Herald |
and its special staff correspondent. !
Who was 1t that only few weeks ago |
sought to create sensation by pro
posing that Omaha should surrender its |
charter and ask the court to appoint a
receiver to wind up its municipal bust
ness? Surely not the Associated Press
or any one connected with it or with
The Bee. 1t was the exclusive work of
that great and extusive friend of
Omaha, the World-Herald.
BY the way, would it not be well
for that sheet to look into the glass and
see the beam in its own eye before
becoming distressed over notes in the
eyes of its neighbors?
Governor Bradley of Kentucky de