Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-04-29
The Associated Press; Twenty
Years Furnishing World News

small amount of general news matter,
TO more than $4,000 words daily or
IS newspaper columns in the more
.imnortant cities. J /
The method of collecting foreign |
news has been greatly changed in re-
cent years. Formerly the Associated |
Press collected its foreign service in /
London, receiving the news there of
the Reuter- company, of the Wolf !
agency of Germany, and of the Havas |
agency of France with smaller affilia |
ed agencies in Italy and Spain.
The objtc tion to this method was
that the news as received in London
was alleged to be impressed with an
English bias-in any event it was
concededly not collected from an
/ American viewpoint
/ To meet this criticism the Associat-
ed Press has established regular bu-
reaus of its own in all the great news
centers, and now maintains Offices
and STATS in london, Paris, Berlin,
Rome, St Petersburg, Vienna, Toxic,
Picking, Mexico City. and Havana, in'
addition to hundreds OF individual
correspondents scattered through the
world.
1t is probable that in the foreign
news field the extraordinary genius
of Melville E. Stone, the general man
ager of the Associated Press, has been
most strikingly exhibited. Just prior
to the Russo-J Japanese war Mr.. Stone
secured from the car Of Russia the
abolition of the censorship, and news
paper men still remember the re-
markable frankness with which the
Russian government gave out the
news of Russias reverses in that CON
fiict
Orders expecting the rness ages Of
the Associated Press were issued at
his instance by the German, French,
Italian and Russian governments, and
as a result il has come TO be common
for European capitals to get the first
news of continental events through
Associated Press reports cabled back
from New York.
One beneficial result coming from
this more direct relationship is to be
found in the minimizing of the ill eff
feet of the occasional outbreak OF
some utterly inconseuuential German
French, English, or Japanese yellow
sporadically abusing the United STAKES
and its people.
= Formerly profound significance Nof
widespread hostility was attached
to such outpourings. With the closer
understanding that comes from more
intimate knowledge, We now under.
stand the relative importance of the
, newspapers of other countries as We
! are able to weigh and grade our own
I The disadvantage of lack of news
r touch is strikingly apparent in the re
lations of the United States with the
r Central and South American nations
These countries secure their news o.
D the United States by way of Europe
D and il consists mainly of murders
Iynchings and embezElements. The
e antipathy to the United States by the
= people OF these countries is undoubt
: eddy largely due to the false perspec
l tive given by their newspapers. Il
in truth we we're the kind of people
y they are led to believe we are the!
Q would be fully justified in their atti
3 tude.
@ II has been the aim OF those intrust
a ed with the management of the Asso
Il ciated Press to secure as its represen
p tatives both at home and abroad me-
n Of high character and attachments
S, and il may, think. be fairly assume
1t that the reputation for accuracy an
s fairness that its service enjoys
1t largely to be attributed to an unusl
T. al measure of success in this endea7
m or
,e While the Associated Press is gel
it orally held in good esteem, ] woul
IN not be understood as indicating ths
il has been exempt from criticisI
he and attack.
la II in a campaign all the candidate
s. or their managers or press agents di
IL not accuse the Associated Press {
II grossest partisanship as against tn
SIS particular candidacy in which the
al were interested. those bearing the r
D. sponsibilities of the service woul
feel convinced that something va
Is radically wrong and would look wit
IL suspicion on the report themselves
In This is but human nature Durir
vs. the last campaign for the PRESIDENT
is nominations every candidate, eth
o. in person or by proxy, expressed h
conviction that the Associated Pre-
m was favorable to somebody else.
st Mr. Wilson's press agent assert
&c that our service was pro-Clark, and
ag- the opinion of Speaker Clark we HI
m. sold out to the Wilson people N
of Taft's managers felt that he was n
100 being given a fair show and N
IS Roosevelt was firm in his convicti
Jus that the avenues of information h
up been choked TO his disadvantage.
of OF course later we know that n
he Wilson does not share the onlyf'
1ut publication views of his press age
and Speaker Clark is as emphatic
to his withdrawal as in his hasty cha
ON es MI Taft's managers realize I'll
sle- the Associated Press cannot rep<
t a speeches that he does not make, a