The Cordova daily times., 1916-10-28

NEW YORK, Oct 28. - Flash: - -- - is elected: On the night of Tuesday. November '. 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 or ganiZation, the first word sent over the wires telling of any extraordinary event Is Flash" It Is the signal of thrill. The ordinary routine of the Associated Press bureaus and their hundreds of newspaper members is often punctuated with the Flash" 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 coun- try at war a Lusitania torpedoed, battle won. a king deposed. or a presi- dent elected.
 This latter thrill has s recognized periOdicity. like the passage of a comet, and the experience of it is again imminent. Within a few hours after you have scratched your ballot. the Associated Press will have flashed the verdict which you and sixteen mil lion fellow voters have rendered - will have flashed it perhaps within few minutes after the last of these sixteen million ballots has been drop ped in it's box in some Of the western states, where three hours difference in time makes late the closing of the polls.
 How, in this brief time, anything ap- proximating an accurate accounting Of of these sixteen million votes can be achieved, the returns assembled, and the result made known throughout the land is a process both simple and mar yellous. It is true. of course, that all Of those sixteen million votes are not counted, but when the Associated Press announces the election, that an nouncement will be as trustworthy as if they were.
 The garnering 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 previous elections the Associated Press, rely. ing more largely on its own resources. has done notable work in the prompt and accurate reporting of the election figures. In the ROOsevelt-Parker con test of 1904 the organization was able . not only definitely to announce the ' result, but also to indicate the full extent of the victory as early as eight . o'clock on election night Equally re markable service has been rendered 5 in other elections, and the value of f the Associated Press figures has been l. such that defeated candidates them F sent their telegrams of c0ngratulatiOH - to their victorious opponents. The Q service has been such that it has in e variably brought to the executives ot '- the organization flood of telegrams s on the day after in tribute to tho
 "cOmprehensiveness," speed" an(
 accuracy with which the work has
 been done. This year it is possible Il that all records will be broken, fol e the Associated Press has for the com
 ing election enlisted the cooperation
 of its members from coast to coas
 in more concerted effort than evel ). before.
 More than two years ago prepara \. tiOns were begun, under the direction d of the general manager nt the Asso t ciated Press, to "coveF" the new e which will be served to the public ol el the night of November '. Election ex
 perts of the organization have durini
 these two years canvassed every stat
 in the Union and arranged with paper