The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-09-18

press, but an appreciative reader OF the
news columns of the Morning Astorian
as they reach him every day, concluded
that he was not getting quite his share
of the current war and peace'conier'
ence data, and directed an inquiry to
the ad.quarter office OF the Associated
Press in relation to the shortcomings Of
that great purveyor OF worldwide in
telligence; and tor answer received a
letter referring him to the latest NUM-
Der of the Telegraphic Age, the organ
OF all the big news agencies of this con-
tinent, which contained comprehen.
sive story of the herculean task taken
ON by them in putting the news OF the
whole world at the doorstep OF every
American citizen at the dawn of each
succeeding day; and the curious Astor.
ian was satisfied that he was getting
his share OF the press povender And.
that his sense of compensation may be
made uniform and general among its
thousands of readers upon Il subject
in which they have a, definite an inter
est a the A,torian itself this paper
offers the findings of the Age referred
to. with the suggestion, that the Morn
ing Astorian pays its full share OF the
great bill OF cost in this valuable and
,unfailing supply of news. The Tele.
graphic Age has the following TO say in
tnis behalf:
For business reasons. ii for no others,
newspaper publishers should be lovers
of peace, because war news comes high.
Melville +. Stone says in the Century
that the Associated Press spent $4,000
for cable tolls alone to report single
naval battle The association spent
100000 in all to cover the Spanish war.
The meagre accounts received of the
great battles in Manchuria have cost
fortunes, and the newspapers obtain no
increase in revenue to counterbalance
the expenditure for war news Mr..
Stone in discussing the work of the As
sociated Press. describes the ordeals of
the war correspondent at the front, and
says: when the battle has been fought
and the correspondent, at great hazard
has written his story, his troubles have
only fairly begun, Much depends upon
the character and intelligence of the
censor. 1t is only fair to say we have
found the Russians very reasonable.
They have shown for more wisdom than
did the American censors during the
Spanish war. Next the messages must
be transmitted. The correspondent
must be first at the wire or his work
will all come to naught. Here, again,
he must exercise tact, otherwise a pet.
ty telegraph official, who is often very
monarch in his field, may spoil every.
thing. And all along the long line-for
the telegram is retransmitted half
dozen times before it reaches San Fran
=. NnNi. u. hlu f.tItainlg
must be friendly and pain,taking and
intelligent. or tine news will fail to
reach its destination promptly and in
the form in which ii was sent. Delays
in transmission are inevitable, and il
speaks volumes for the efficiency Of
modern telegraphy that they are 50 in.
frequent Russian operators, Danish
operators, japanese operators, French
operators-all handle and transmit
these messages, often in bad chirogra.
phy.. in language which they do not
understand, and they seldom make a
SellOu7 Hl1Ldhts
A member Of the Postal Telegraph
operating staff at the Portsmouth con
ference contributes the following:
The peace conference at Portsmouth,
y. H., brought together the largest and
most cosmopolitan aggregation Of jour
nalists that has ever met at one time
and place in the history Of the world
newspaper Representatives being present
from Toxic, st. Petersburg, Rome, Ber'
lin, Paris, London and other distant
places.
This great number of correspondents
neccssitated a large file Of foreign and
domestic press. The Postal Telegraph
Cable company's facilitie. were such as
to make it possible TO handle promptly
all matter fled with 1t. The Hotel
Wentworth, the point from which most
of the business was Transmitted, was
connected by an eighteen.wire cable to
the main Office in Portsmouth, thus Civ.