Evening star., 1914-02-07
VIGOROUSLY DEFENDS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Service to Be Congratulated on At
tacks. Says New York
Evening Post,

From the New York Evening Post. Ieh. !. 1917
The Associated Press is TO be congratu-
lated upon the attacks made on 1t. Only
few weeks ago ii was libelled by the
Masses. for which tho editors are To an
swer In court; and today il is the sun
that has carried out its oft-rumored in
tention of asking for a prosecution under
the Sherman antitrust law. 1t has so
long been the habit of irresponsible" con-
gressmen to ass;iil the Associated Press
upon the ground that it il a news trust
or monopoly. that, as d member of tilr
Associated Press, the Evening Post
heartily welcomes a review OF its ac
tvities by the law officers of the gos-
ernnent. We do not know OF a Single
member of this association who would
Willingly violate the laW OF the land. or
who would not bc glad to br informed of
anything done In contraventior of the
statutes. If by these attacks the jutcS
ritE of its news service and its faithful
observance OF the law can be established
IN the minds of certain agitators and
ilbeierS, a great gain will have resulted.
II only by reassuring the public as to Il
chief source of its news supply.
Complaint Held Worthless.
SO far as the Suns complaint is con-
cerned. 1t does not Stem to us worth the
paper upon which it is written. Many of
the facts and letters 1t prints today re-
late to i totally different organization
an Illinois corporation. which has not
been in existence since 1850. The present
Associated Press. let it be said once
more. is a membership corporation, COM
prised OF certain papers banded together
for mutual cooperation. 1t is not a
profit-makins concern. for it seeks and
makes no profits: it has no stock upon
which to pay dividends, and does not
pay H.,t:cs. on the bonds which are
held by certain participating newspapers.
1t does not even sell news, but delivers
its news at cost to members and sub
scrlbers. No one can buy its news over
the counter: the Sun tried it. and was
informed that 1t must seek membership.
Ihat it has not applied for such MEM
oership ls u point of obvious interest in
connection with its present application
to the Attorney General.
The Associated Press officials are re-
sponSlble to the membership of more
than $40 newspapers; from them is
drawn the news of the country. If, as
the Masses charged the Associated
Press Is merely sewer into which are
poured lies. falsitications and misrepre-
sentations of conditions among the
working people of this country. then the
Indictment lies against the Sn associated
newspapers. AS matter of fact, it is to
the interest of every one of them to keep
the service accurate and fair
Has Stiff Competition.
AS for the Suns complaint that the
Associated Press is a monopoly, the sim
fective competition by the United Press.
IN yrh ini1 n;-t.
papers subscribe in addition to carrying
the Associated Press news There are
other services to which a newspaper own
er may turn for news. such as the sun.
or Lafran. and the Hearst services But
the Sun also complains that it and others
are unJust!E excluded from the Associat-
ed Press. If they are. it is plainly not
a complete monopoly; but should all
those not members be taken in. as the
Sun seems to desire. it could then be at
tackled as the perfect monopoly which
the Sun is SO anxious to prevent. AS a
matter OF fact, news is free. and can be
obtained by any one or any group of
newspapers with the means to seek it.
Who could monopoiize the sending Of
news from London or Paris 10 New York:
The thing is unthnka Bile so long as cable
companies are public service corporations.
compelled to accept any decent telegrams
offered to them.
Should the courts hold that a member
ship corporation must admit to its ranks
any one seeking entrance. there would be
an end to all clubs, cooperative and
mutual-beneit association. 1t NAV be
that the right of local veto which keeps
some applicants out of the Associated
Press has been too rigidly adhered to,
but in such case there is possible an ap-
peal to the whole membership at its an
nual meeting in April, and this appeal
has frequently been resorted to.
1t is hard to see how the Sherman anti
trust law applies in these premises
Lives by Its Honesty.
Not only can all who so desire organize
competition against the Associated Press.
but if they do so they can get telegraph
facilities from the companies at the same
rates as the Associated Press. into the
same towns and cities, through the same
territory. Moreover. anybody can with
draw from the association on six months
notice. and the public may be sure that
there would be Withdrawals I'm number if
one-quarter of the allegations against the
Associated Press were true. Again. any
newspaper which offends against accu-
racy and truth by imposing falsehoods
upon tho Associated Press can be ex-
PEELED from the association, or suspend
ed. the right to fine for breach of rom