Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-08-15

serve the membership. The organiza
lion issues 40 newspaper; it prints
nothing. AS a reporter, 1t brings its
copy to the editor, who is free to print
il. abbreviate il, or throw it away. And
to this reporters work, the reporter
and the members employing him have.
by law and morals, undeniably an ex-
elusive right.
The next question involves the in
tegrity of the Associated Press SER
vice. The instances of alleged bias
! he cites are unfortunate. Any claim
| that the doings of the progress:ves in
] 1912 were ''blauketed'' by the Associ-
ated Press is certainly unwarranted.
Our records show that the organiza-
! ton reported more than thrice the
number of words concerning the ac-
| tivities of the progressives than those
of all their opponents combined. There
were reasons for this. 1t was new
party in the field, and naturally awak
ened unusual interest. But also, it
should be said that Colonel Roosevelt
has expert knowledge of newspaper
methods. He understands the value
of preparing his speeches in advance
and furnishing them in time to enable
the Associated Press to send them to
its members by mail. They are put in
type in the newspaper offices leisurely
and the proofs are carefully read.
When one of his speeches is delivered,
a word or two by telegraph releases"
it, and a full and accurate publication
Of his views result While he was
president he often gave us his mess
age Z month in advance; they were
mailed to Europe and to the Far East
and appeared in the papers abroad the
morning after their delivery in con-
gress. Before he went to Africa, the
speeches he delivered a year later at
Oxford and in Paris were prepared,
put in type, proof-read and laid away
for use when required. This is not
an unusual nor an Unwise practice.
1t assures a speaker wide publicity
and saves him the annoyance of faulty
reporting. Neither Mr.. Wilson nor
Mr.. Taft was able to do this, although |
frequently urged to do so. They spoke |
eXtemporaneously, often late in the
evening, and under conditions which |
made it physically impossible to make
a satisfactory report, or to transmit |
it by wire broadcast over the country. |
AS to the West Virginia coal strike:
a magazine charged that the AssOci-
ated Press had suppressed the facts
and that as a consequence no one
knew there had been trouble. The
authors were indicted for libel. One
witness only has yet been heard. He
was called by the defense, and in the
taking of his deposition it was disclos-
ed that at the date of the publication
over $4,000 words had been delivered
by the Associated Press to the New
York papers. Something like 60 col
umns respecting the matter had been
printed
However. 1.-The point to be noticed"
says your writer, lis that it (the AS
ISOLATED Press) might color news if it
wanted to, and that it Goes exercise
certain monopolistic functions That
in itself is a dangerous state of af
fairs; but it seems to be one that
might be rectified." And as a remedy,
he proposes that Its service should be
open to al customers" This is most
interesting. If the newG service is
untrustworthy, it would naturally
seem plain that the activities of the
agency should be restricted, not ex-
tended. Instead of charging it's field
of operations, there should be- if pos
sible. a law scrtidding it to take in
any new memberc, or. indeed, summar-
lily putting it out of business. If the
Associated Press is corrupt, il is too
large row and no othe~ newspaper
should be subjected to its baleful in
fuence
Your critic adds that then ''if its
news we're none the less unfair, some
arrangement could presumably be
made for government restraint" Since
the battle against government control
of the press was fought nearly two
centuries ago. it seems scarcely worth
while 10 waste much effort over this
suggestion. Censorship by the kings
agents was the finest flower of
medieval tyranny. 1t is hard to be-
lieye that anyone, in this hour should
suggest : return TO it.
Under the closely censored method
OF this cooperative organization, not
withstanding the wide range of its OPP
erations and although its service has
included millions of words every
month, it is proper to say that there
has never been a trial for libel nor
have the expenses in connection with
libel suits exceeded a thousand dol
lars in the aggregate. This should be
accepted as some evidence of the
standard of accuracy maintained
AS TO the refusal of the Associated
Press to admit to membership. every
applicant, the suggestion is made that
this puts such a limit on the number |
nf 70 ir,l
the selling of news Thus. says your
critic. the Association is the mother. |
potential and sometimes actual, of
countless small monopoiies. In re-
ply, it may be said that we are in no
danger of a dearth of newspapers
There are more news journals in the
United States than in all the world
beside If the whole foreign world
we're divided into nations of the size
of this country. each nation would