Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-10-29
APP. WILL FLASH"
ELECTION RESULT
Greatest NeWs-Gathering Or
ganization to Signal Name
of Winning Candidate.
PREPARING FOR 2 YEARS

NEW YORK, October 2S.-F-l-a-s-h.
Is Elected! On the night of Tues
day, November Z. the missing name in
the foregoing sentence will be supplied
by the Associated Press.
In the business of news gathering. as
developed by this worldwide organiza-
tion. the first word sent over the wires
telling of any extraordinary event IS
Flash 1t is the signal of thrill.
The ordinary routine of the Associated
Press bureaus and their hundreds or
newspaper members is often punctuated
with the "F-l-a-s-h." Operators from
Bangor to San Diego. from Tampa to
Tacoma. tighten their tagging nerves,
and editors come scurrying to the wires
to hear Pope is dead, Titanic sunk,
another country at war. Lusitania
torpedoed. battle won, king deposed
or q President elected.
This latter thrill has a recognized
periodicity. like the passage of a comet.
and the experience of it Is again immi
uent. Within few hours after you
have scratched your ballot. the Asso-
ciated Press will have flashed the ver-
dict which. you and 16.o0oo00 fellow
voters have rendered-will have flashed
IT perhaps within a few minutes after
the last of these $1,000, 900 ballots has
been dropped in it's box in some of the
western states, where three hours diff
ference in time makes late the closing
of the polls.
How, in this brief time, anything ap-
proXimating an accurate accounting of
these 100000 votes can be achieved.
the returns assembled and the result
made known throughout the land is
eli m a I
is true. of course. that all of those 49,,
100000 votes are not counted. but when
the Associated Press announces the
election that announcement will be
as trustworthy as if they were.
The gathering and distribution of re-
turns this year will mark one of the
greatest cooperative efforts that has
been made on any similar occasion to
accomplish this purpose. In previous
elections the Associated Press. relying
more largely on its own resources, has
done notable work in the prompt and
accurate reporting of the election fig
ures. In the Roosevelt-Parker con-
test OF 1904 the organization was able
not only definitely to announce the re-
suit, but also to indicate the full ex
tent of the victory as early as s
o'clock of election night. Equally re-
markable service has been rendered in
other elections. and the value of the
Associated Press figures has been such
that defeated candidates themselves
their 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 ''comprehen-
siveness.'' speed" and accuracy" with
which the work has been done. This
year it Is possible that all records will
has for the coming election enlisted
the cooperation of its members from
coast to coast in a more concerted ef-
fort than ever before.
Preparations Cover Two Years.
More than two years ago prepara-
tions were begun, under the direction
Of the general manager of the Assoc
ciated Press, to cover" the news
which will be served to the public on
the night of November Z. Election ex-
perts of the organization have during
these two years canvassed every state
in the Union and arranged with the
papers Of each state to work together
on a cooperative basis under the su-
pervision of the established Associated
Press bureaus. Thousands of special
forms have been prepared for the sys-
tematic conduct Of the service. thou
sands of typewriter sheets distributed
listing candidates and showing votes
four years ago as a basis OF coinpari,
son, special correspondents appointed
and special wire facilities arranged Tor
this particular work.
In the collection of returns. the county
is everywhere made the unit, and IL is the
purpose of the system to hear definitely
from every election district Of the more
important states. In New York state
alone these districts number 300. In
Illinois there are more than 1000 ana IN
other states a proportionately large num-
Der of districts TO be heard from. Taking
Ma IN "a 70
that will be followed in principle at least
by other states. the service there is work
ed out broadly as follows:
Having arranged for some competent
man TO take charge OF each county up
state and for cooperative effort with the
New York City News Association for the
collection of the metropolitan returns, the
New York headquarters of the Associated
Press is made the center Of tabuation.
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 re-
turns.
For the special work in hand twenty
five extra wires are strung into the As
ISOLATED Press offices in New York. CIV
ing direct and exclusive connection with
the principal cities. Before the operators
Is stacked a varied assortment of print
. ed forms. whose blank spaces await the
figures that tell the story. There
pink forms. blue forms. buff. green. yell
pilations of the vote for President, gov
crnor, the Senate, House of Representa-
tives and the two house of the state
legislature.
In an adjoining room there has been
assembled a staff of hundred men TO
serve as tabulators. Previous to the
election. the Associated Press has ar
ranged with some OF the best banks in
the city to furnish expert accountants
tor this work They work In relays. the
first crew reporting at the close of the
polls at o'clock, compiling the figures
until O'Clock in the morning.
Lass tblccs tel minutes after the clos
ID u the polls the work begins The first
returns in New York are invariably
from some Of the upstate cities where
voting machines are employed. There
are. however, some localities on Cape
Cod and down in Maine which for
years have prtdsd themselves on being
the frst In with their vote. In such
email places the law permits the open :
ing OF the ballot boxes soon as II
has been made certain that the full
vote Of the place has been polIed, and
the result is then made known.
Comes in Driblets at First.
II is only by driblets that the first
figures come in. but once the avalanche
is started there is no iet-up to the tick
Of the telegraph saunders. and a swarm
of the colored blanks is kept flying
from the receiving operators TO the
tabulators. The figures are first en-
tered by the tabulators and passed
along to the designated chief. who