The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-04-30

| ltrom the annual report OF the board o
directors of the Associated Press)
"Of our men abroad We gratefully
acknowledge our appreciation. Torpe
does and mines at sea and shot ant
shell on land have held no fears fol
them. Their escapes amid dangers
have been countless. One frank M
America) was knocked down by 9
Zeppelin bomb in London, but worked
all that night as usual-merely an
incident Of the days work in an Office
building which has itself been hit by
such shells; another (Robert T.
SmalD fell into the icy Somme, but
rode thirty-fve miles to cable the
story of the first American in Pc
rome.
Another (Charles T. Thompson)
was on the highest rampant of the
Castle of Gorilla when a shell buried
it and him under earth, but on that
afternoon he wrote story which
thrilled the press of Europe as we'll
as of the United States; another
walter Whiffen) was shot in the knee
on Russian observation post; anoth-
er (Charles S. Smith, after a bayonet
and fist encounter at Harbin, escaped
with painful lacerations; another
(James Hickey was blown through
glass door by the Halifax explosion,
but before dressing his wounds was
resourceful enough to find in a de-
mOlished building the terminus of the
cable to the West Indies and by way
of Bermuda and Havana to New York,
send the first direct message out of
Halifax. Such incidents are not un-
usual in the service of our organiza-
tion.
Accuracy Always Maintained.
Through the years the Associated
Press has, by maintaining its stand
ards of accurate reporting preserved
the best traditions of journalism. The
good name of the Associated Press
has not been impaired. The public
confidence in our dispatches has
steadily grown, until millions of read
ers now hesitate to give credence to
many published reports until assured
that they were carried by our associa-
ton.
"The sensational Zimmerman note.
with its report of diplomatic intrigue
in Mexico, was universally accepted
as genuine because the Associated
Press said it was. The bombardment
of Paris at long range was ridiculed
by other press associations and by
ordnance experts, but the Paris bureau
of the Associated Press, which for
two days alone reported this startling
development of the war to American
readers, convinced the skeptical quite |
as thoroughly as did the official con-
firmation of its report
when the governments action In |
taking over the Dutch ships in Ameri- |
can harbor was reported in Europe |
several chancellories inquired in Eur
Opean capitals whether the Associated |
Press announced this fact. This repu-
tatiOn for telling the truth on the part
Of the Associated Press is recognized |
now quite as generally throughout
diplomatic and journalistic circles
abroad as it is in the United States,
and it is an asset of membership in
his organization that is of the utmost
value
War Has Taken Many Men.
During the last year the war has
drawn heavily upon our
'taff. 1t has been the policy of the
not only not to seek ex-
,mption from the government service
IN behalf of its employees, but to en-
courage. such service Men who a year
go were serving this organization are
low by hundreds in the military md
laval or other service of the United
states. Our operators, in particular,
lave been able to render valuable
ervice for which their training has
'eculiarly fitted them. Within a year
We have thus lost more than one
ourth of our staff, and many more
re soon to leave us.
in this period of war as the activi-
les and responsibilities of our serv-
ce have steadily increased it is a