Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-10-30
THE LONG ARM Of
THE ASSOCIATED
PRESS SYSTEM
This Organization VIII Send a
Bulletin That VIII Thrill the
United States on the Night
of Nov 7.

rsv -o.r,ra sou.n.l SPECIAL ls.ssO ~''s'

ling name in the foregoing sentence
viii be supplied by the Associated
Press.
In the business - news-gatherina
as developed By this Worldwide or
ganizatIon, the first word sent over
the wires telling of any eNtraordlhaIS
event is Flash" II is the signal OF
a thrill. The ordinary routine of th'
I &FsociNer> Press bureaus <h@ Ntl< y
hundreds Of newspaper members },
often punctuated with the W"ro
"F-l-a-s-h!' Operators from Bangor
TO san Diego, from Tampa TO Tacoma
tighten their tagging nerves, ana tu-
itors come scurrying to the wires 10
hear a pope Is dead, a Titanic sunk
another country at war, Lusltanla
torpedoed, "A battle won, king de-
posed, or a president elected.
Latter Thrill Periodical.
The latter tnnu mas recognized
periodicity, lake the passage OLA comet
and the experience Of IT rs again I'M
minent Within a few hours AFTER
you have scratched your ballot, the
! Associated Press Will have flashed the
verdict which you and sixteen mlllon
| fellow voters have rendered-Will
/ have flashed it perhaps within It."
minutes after the last of these SIX
teen million ballots has been dropped
! in its box in some of the western
states, whore three hours difference
! In time makes late the closing of the
/ polls.
How. in this brief time, anything
/ approximating an accurate account
| ing these sixteen million votes
! can lie achieved, the returns assem-
/ bled, and the result made known
! throughout the land is a process both
simple and marvellous. IT rs true, OF
course, that all of these sixteen mil
! lion votes are not counted, but when
/ the Associated Press announces the
/ election, that announcement Will be
/ as trustworthy as II they We're.
The gathering and distribution OF
returns this year will mark one OF the
greatest cooperative efforts That has
! been made ON any similar occasion
! to accomplish this purpose. In preVl-
Gus elections. the Associated Press,
/ relying largely on It's own resources
! has done notable work in the prompt
and accurate reporting of the cleo
! ton figures In the BOosevelt-PafkeT
contest of 1904 the organization was
| liable not only 20 definitely announce
! the result. but also To- indicate the fun
/ extent Of the victory as early as eight
o'clock ON election night Equally
remarkable service has been rendered
In other elections, and the value OIL
! the Associated Press figures has been
such that defeated candidates have,
on the strength Of them, sent theit
! kilograms of congratulation TO their
victorious opponents. The service has
! been such that it has invariably
| brought to the executives of the or
ganiZation a flood Of kilograms ON
! the day after in tribute to the com
prehensivencss speed and 'ac-
curacy" with which the work has
! been done. This year it is possible
/ that all records will be broken, for
| the Associated Press has for the COM
/ ing election enlisted the cooperation
of its members from coast to coast in
"a more concerted effort than ever be-
! fore.
Began Preparations Two Years Ago.
More than two years ago prepare
| tons were begun, under the direction
of the general manager of the Asso
Ciated Press to cover" the news
which will be served to the public on
the night of November z. Election
experts Of the organization have dur
ing these two years canvassed every
state in the union and arranged with
the papers of each state to work to
gethcr on a cooperative basis under
the supervision of the established AS
ISOLATED Press bureaus. Thousands
of special forms have been prepared
for the systematic conduct of the ser
vice, thousands of typewriter sheets
distributed listing candidates and
showing votes four years ago as a
basis of comparison, special CORE
spondents appointed and special wire
facilities arranged for this particular
work.
In the SELECTION Of returns, the
country is everywhere made the unit
and 1t is the purpose of the system TO
hear definitely from every election
district OF the more important states.
In New York alone these districts
number 500, In Illinois there are
over 5000 and in other states pro-
portionately large number of districts
to be heard from. Taking New York
state as typical of the system that VIII
be followed I'm principle at least by
other states, the service there Is
worked out broadly as follows
nav tlE al iHilktN III H'lAt' NNiAif
tent man to take charge Of each Coun-
ty M state and for cooperative of
fort with the New York City News ass
ISOLATION for the collection of the met
ropolitan returns. the New York
headquarters Of the Associated Press
is made thu center of tabulation. The
upstate county man is stationed at
the most convenient center usually
the county seat, from which he
throws out his net for the gathering
of his local returns.
Twenty-Five Extra Wires Strung.
For the special work in hand, TWEEN
ty-fiye extra wires are strung INTO the
Associated Press offices i'm New York
giving direct and exclusive connec-
tion with the principal cities Before
the operators is stacked a varied as
sortment Of printed forms, whose
blank spaces await the figures that
tell the story, There are pink forms,
blue forms, buff. green, yellow and
white to make the various Compila-
tons of the vote for president, gov
ernor, senate, congress, and the two
houses of the state legislature.
In an adjoining room there have
been assembled staff of hundred
men to serve as tabulators, Previous
10 the election the Associated Press
has arranged with some Of the best
banks i'm the city 20 furnish expert
accountants for this work. They
work in relays. the first crew report
ing mt the close of the polls at
o'clock compiling the figures until
o'clock in the morning
Less than ten minutes after the !
closing of the polls, the work begins.
The first returns in New York are /
.mNlnLa INV frnml anmnn ~ Lhn NM u !