The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-03-17
NO GROUNDS FOR GOVERNMENT 10 ACT AGAINST ASSOCIATED
 PRESS, IS CRECORY'S STAND.
Sends Letter to Counsel for Sun Publishing Company and
 Holds That the Federal Authorities Should Not
 ceed- Says Sun May Begin Suit If It So Wishes.

 for the Sun Association, disposing of the complaint against The Associated Press for alleged violation of the fed- eraI antitrust act made by the New York Sun Printing & Publishing Asso- citation.
 z The attorney-generaPs letter., dated March 12 makes known that there is no ground for action by the federal authorities against the Associated Press under the antitrust act. The opinion of the attorney-generaI is as follows: Sir: have given conside atien to the complaint against the Associated Press for alleged violations Of the fed- era1 antitrust act presented to my predecessor by you as counsel for the Sun Printing and Publishing Assoriae ton sssla 4eThe Associated Press was orgarl- ized under the membership corpora ton law of the State of New York. to it's certificate of incor- poratIon 1t is
 an association of certain persons
 who, owning or representing g cer-
 tain newspapers, unite in a mu- <
 tuaI and cooperative organiza-
 ton for the collection and inter-
 change, with greater economy and E
 efficiency. of information and in
 te1ligence for publication in the
 
 by them.
 Objects of Association.
 The objects of the association, as stated in the certificate, ares
 to gather obtain and procure by
 it's own instruEnenta1ities, by ex-
 change with it's members and by
 any other appropriate means, and
 all kinds Of information and intel
 Hgence, teIegraphic and otherwise.
 AI414R s,- !,
 bers and to furnish ana suppl the
 same to it's members for pgab1Ica
 ton in the newspapers owned or
 represented by them. under and subject to such regulations, condI-
 tions and Limitations as may be
 prescribed by the by laws; and the H
 mutual cooperation, benefft and s protection to its members
 The certificate further provides that:
 The corporation not to make
 profit nor to make or declare
 dividends and is not to engage in
 the business of selling intelligence,
 nor traffic in the same hose eligible for membership are IL. section l.:
 The sole CT the part owner of ;
 newspapef. or an executive officer
 of "a. corporation limited liability company or Joint stock or other
 association which is the owner Of
 a newspaper. shall be eligible as
 member of this corporation,s in
 the way and upon and subject to
 the conditions and limitations
 hereinafter specified, provided
 that not more than one person at
 a time shall be eligible by reason
 of connection with any one news
 paper. No other person shall be
 eligible Election Of Members
 Members may be elected by the affirmative vote Of not less than four hfths of all the members of the cor poration 1by-IaWs, Art. III, Sec T 5 Members may also be elected by the board of directors. when no meet ing of the members of the corpor- stiou is in session, but no applicant for membership can be elected by the sdi- reetors over the opposition Of any member entitled to the right Of pro- test fArt. HI, Sec. 9. The right of protest is the right to object to tlle admission of new members from a given territorial district 6zAnt, IIT., Sec. 5. It can only be conferred by the affirmative vote Of seven eighths of a + the members 11Art. III. Sec. 649 s
 he right of protest has no apIIi- cation to the election Of appIica nts 5y q four-HftIs vote Of the naeIlshers themselves.
 Each member is entitled to one vote by virtue Of his membership (Arf. VII. Sec. and also vote for each $25s of the bonds of the association provided he waive interest on the bonds Art. XIII. Sec. 8.
 The affairs of the corporation are managed by fifteen directors, who are elected by the members of the corpo- ration and must themselves be mem pers Art Secs. I. ?, A
 TT he cost of maintaining the news service of the corporation and all other expenses or the corporation are apportioned among the members. by the board Of directors in such man. ner as 1t may deem equitable 1Art, IK..s Sec. 1s
 News Comes in I.tvo Ways.
 Broadly stated the news distribut- ed by the Associated Press comes to tin two ways: First, from the re- ports made to it by the various rnent- oers Of happenings in their respective and second from corres- cies employed by 1t directly The news of the world t4aus brought to- gethea is then distributed by the As- sociafed Press to it's members rrirl- cipa11y of course, by te1egraph. To that end it leases and operates in tho Of so,eoo3 miles Of tele- graph lines ss1sae principal grounds ef con1plaint are:
 ts1.-TF1at the members of the As sociated Press are prevented or at least seriously hindered from obtain ing news by purchase or otherwise from any rival agency.
 74zs &I-E sociated Press are prohibited from furnishing the news collected By them to any newspaper which is not a member.
 s.3.+That through the operation of the right of protest above described a newspaper ina given locality apply ng for membership cannot be elected without the consent Of the members in that locality
 Assuming that the kind of service n which the Associated Press is en- gagged is interstate commerce "a 4uea-