The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-02-22
VALUE OF NEWS SERVICE.

are the Record and Independent the
former as plaintiff and the latter as
defendant. The suit is brought for
the purpose Of compelling the indie
pendent to share its Geographic news
service with the plaintiff. In other
words, the Record asks the court to
decree hat the Independent shall sur
render its absolute control of the AS
ISOLATED Press franchise for the city
Of Helena and permit plaintiff to be-
come a sharer and part owner of what
is now a monopoly enjoyed by defen-
dant and forms one of it's most valua-
BILE assets The independent acquired
that monopoly when it became a men,
Der of the Associated Press and paid
it's proportion Of the expense necessary
to maintain the association, that pro-
portion being determined by the
amount of news it demanded.
AS indicated by its name, the AS
sociated Press is an organization COM
posed of newspapers combined for
the purpose of gathering and dis
tributing the news of the world to its
members. In order to make the SER
vice of greater value membership in
the association is restricted to certain
newspapers, usually one in a city,
especially in a city no larger than
Helena. 1t will be seen that to be a
member is of the utmost importance
to a newspaper. To further protect
the members the association, through
its manager, binds itself not to grant
a franchise to any paper in a field al
ready occupied by a member without
the consent or authority of that mem
Der. In a field so limited as that &C.
cupied by the litigating newspapers
under consideration this consent as a
usual thing cannot be obtained, for
although the salt of the earth, news
papermen are not so utterly devoid of
selfshness as to willingly surrender a
good thing. especially if by so doing
they incur the risk of injuring them
selves.
In it's complaint the Record charges
the Independent with being excessive
ly careful of the interests of No. / in
that it refuses permission to the as.
ISOLATION to supply plaintiff with the
same news that it itself now receives.
A similar suit was instituted a few
years ago by the Chicago Inter Ocean,
with the difference that the Inter
Ocean brought action against the AS.
soiated Press direct instead of an in.
, dividual member. Previous to the
J institution of that suit the plaintiff
had been a member Of the United
Press, an organization similar to the
Associated Press. The United concern
proved to be a failure and went out OF
existence. This caused the Int,
Ocean to ask for membership in the
Associated organization. The appli
: cation was denied and a suit followed.
which finally ended in a decision by
the supreme court of Illinois ordering
the Associated Press to grant the
request. At that time the defendant
organization was incorporated under
the laws of the state of Illinois. Tt
t circumvent the courts and the Inter
S Ocean it surrendered it's charter anC
S ceased to exist as a body, but immedi
ately reorganized under the laws of thu
S state of New York, where it's presen'
o headquarters are, thus placing itsel
+ beyond the jurisdiction of the Illinoi,
b courts.
. Seeing itself bafled, the Inter Ocea,
n organized a special news service Of it
h own and continued to depend upo1
9 that service until a short time az,
when it patched up a peace with tn
d Associated Press and beginning witt
the first of next month will become
member of that organization. An,
this is why the Record now finds itsel
q forced to sue the Independent. Whel
it was launched the Record entere,
into an arrangement with the Int
Ocean by which it received the bene
fits Of the latter's news service. Tha