Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-05-04
INT'L NEWS
Continued Hrnn Page Ofel

legal phases of the case, decia'
the question of property rlsh
news has been UP for consluei.''o
before the courts in nuhlpei
instances. He cited the So-calieu
bune suit in which the Chicago ~
bune endeavored Intellectually 10 pre-
vent The Associated Press from Ga
rying certain news items taken from
+ London newspaper during the
Boer war and efforts OF the New
York Times and London Times 70
enioin certain New York newspapers
from printing Rear Admlrai !
story of his trip to the North oie
n which exclusive rights had peeh
obtained. In concluding his arSu-
ments begun yesterday Saniuei -
termver of New York for the Hearst
Service denied that the questioh Oh
unfair competition entered INTO the
case.
Making the argument in the Su-
nreme Court today for The Asso-
ciated Press in its suit to enJoin the
international News Service from
pirating its news dispatches, FRED
erick w. Lehman of st. Louis con-
tended for the property right in news
and asked the court to make per-
manent the injunctions granted ey
lower Federal courts to end the prac-
/ tice. which he characterized as pl-
ratical and unlawful
| News. as disseminated by the
many journals Of the country" he ar
gued, lis powerful to shape pubic
conduct If its influence is to be on
the side of Good. rather than upon
the side of Evil, the business must be
in clean hands and conducted by
honest methods If it comes to the
public from tainted sources and by
tainted means, the news itself will
not escape contamination"
! Mr.. lehman presented argument
at length and referred to decisions
! TO uphold the contention that publ
cation of news did not relinquish the
property right in it.
5 News is unlike any material com
modify" he said. In the field of gen
/ cral news, whether it is gathered and
disseminated by a cooperative as
p
agency conducted for pecuniary prof
! it, it is obvious that the paper which
/ is permitted simply to appropriate
/ the news without payment of any
kind would have a great advantage
over its competitor who had paid
/ for it or had shared in the labor and
pains Of getting it.
"In the case Of newspapers pub
lished in the West, the conditions
outruns the apparent movement Of
the sun. We can clip the news APP
pearins in the New York papers and
send it to any paper in the Mississippi
valley or to the west of that in am
Pile time for publication in the reg
ula and even in the first editions.
Any person doing this would have
great advantage over the Asso-
ciated Press. What The Associa ted
Press got through the diligence and
daring Of its correspondence at more
than one battlefront and at the adj
ditional cost Of transmission by cable
across the Atlantic this man would
get sitting securely al a safe desk in
New York by the mere use of a pair
Of scissors.
MAY the product Of the news
gathering activities IF The Asso
ciated Press. intended SO far as con
Germs current publication in the daily
press. exclusively for its own mem
bers, he appropriated in the manner
suggested by the International News
Service and sold by it in the course
and conduct Of it's business as news
agency in competition with The As
ISOLATED Press
That is the question presented by
the case. and it IS answered by coun-
sci for the International News Serv-
ice boldly III the affirmative.
News. they say is an account of
facts and events, and in facts and
events no one can have any eXclu
sive right. This is conceded but the
fact and events themselves are not
news. The report of them is news.
Before the fact can be reported II
must lie ascertalned. somebody must
be where he can get knowledge of it,
and he must be a person of inteIli
sence and experience. competent to
determine whether what has hap
pened is Of interest and Importance
enough to constitute news and he
must provide for prompt transmission
or conveyance Of the information he
has gotten to the place where IL Will
be put in course of distribution for
publication as par of the days news.
The Associated Press does not
create the facts or produce the events
Of which ii endeavOrs to give first
information to its members. but II
does create. it does produce, the news
budget mich gives such information,
And to create, to produce this news
budget requires human effort of
every kind. from the hardest to'ls TO
the highest integrity. attended some
times by the gIavest perils. j re
ouires also the expenditure Of money
TO second aud sustain the human eff
fort.
The elements Of labor. skill and
capital thus essential to the produc-
ton of a news ,cport are themselves
elements of value and are property.
entitled TO protection as such. Why is
not that true IF the product itself?
1T is throughout the civilized world
the subject Of barter and sale. And
because news report, a. a news re
port. has value and pecuniary value.
the international News Service takes
that OF The Associated Press and