Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-20
ASSOCIATED PRESS
IDEALS DEP|t'gED
BY|TSPRES|DfN7
Frank B. Noyes Makes ALS
dreSS-DirectorS to
Be Chosen.
BY the Associated Press.

| BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. April 20.-Members of
! the Associated Press met at the Wal
dorf Astoria Hotel here today to elect
five directors. four advisory boards and
auditing and nominating committees.
| At luncheon in connection with
the meeting. President Frank B.
Noyes of The Washington Star pro-
posed toast to President Wilson.
saving. In Offering a toast. the formal
significance. With US this year, in
our only toast it is our custom to
offer. the case is profoundly differ
ent. FOR. very earnestly, very hope
fully and very sincerely. we drink to
| the health. the full restored health, Of
the President of the United States"
Critics Busy All the Time.
Every season of the year is an
open season for the critics of the
Associated Press" said Mr.. Moves. be-
ginning his address to his associate
officers and directors.
w" ale accustomed. through long
experience. to the railing against our
service of the uninformed. the no.
torictN-Seeker and the common or
| garden liar. who charges bias or sup
preston in the report of the Asso-
ciated Press
Every newspaper man, every inform
ed person. knows how preposterously
untrue these charges whoever
may make them. To you l need not
explain that our very organization was
in response to the demand of the news
papers that their news service should be
owned and controlled by themselves and
themselves alone: that il should be their
servant and not their master; that it
should give an adequate and truthful
record of the days world happenings
free from bias and from opinion or pro-
paganda. While laying no claim to in
errantcy. our service has been singu-
larly successful in attaining the objects
We sought. and the line, by Associated
Press has become a hallmark of ac
curacy. whether the event recorded is
the election of a President, the signing
of an armistice. a decision of the Su-
preme Court or the death of the Pope.
Outbursts to He Expected.
Secure in our knowledge that our
agency is serving us faithfully and COM
bursts against US Of radicals and reac-
tionaries with good-natured tolerance
when their attacks are due to ignorance
and contempt when due to malice. .
While at all times this open season
continues, every four years comes 3
special period Of tribulation. When the
presidential campaign rolls around every
candidate for the nomination and the
resulting presidential caslffiates and
every manager of every such candidate
finds clear evidence in our report of bias
against every candidate mentioned
until after the election. and then all
agree that the Associated Press has
been conspicuously fair. This has been
our experience in the past. and there is
every indication that the present cam
paign will be no exception.
IT say this for there is q measure
Of truth in the charge, for. on the the
DRY that He who is not for us is
against us, the Associated Press is
against every candidate. for 1t surely
is not for any one of them"
Plays Ne Favorites.
Mr.. Noyes explained that while
every one of the candidates will have
the support Of individual members the
Associated Press will continue Sc
renely Indifferent as to the outcome
of the nominating conventions and
felecttons. contenting itself to supply
ing IT'S members with the news as it
happens. playing no favorites and
furnishing no enemies
does not grow or simply come into
being without effort" continued Mr..
Noyes, Every line. every word is
the product Of an individual worker
OF whom hundreds toll and adven-
ture daily to- supply fair picture
Of you, know that at bottom these
charges Of bias are charges against our
anonymous workers, who. II we are be-
trayed, are the betrayers, who. il these
charges are true, are recreant to the
trust we have placed in them.
You know them. you know them all
division chiefs, bureau chiefs. editora,
correspondents. reporters. operators-
working tirelessly, faithfully, efficiently
intelIisently Yon know that these men
our profession. and neither your opinion
nor mine can be fifty expressed on an
occasion Of this sort Of the ignoramuses,
the blatherskites or the liars who de-
fame them"
introduces Vice President.
Mr.. Noyes. in introducing Vice
President Marshall, principal speaker
at the luncheon. said:
Some men shrinls in stature on fur
Their acquaintance, while few grow.
AS the people of the United States
have observed one Of the chief of
their servants from day to day and
from year to year, there has been
day and each year not only OF his
delightful personality and Of his great
tact in a very trying and difficult po-
sition. but of his resolute cheerful
ness and sturdy good sense-and that
is saying a great deal in these days.
ana especially oi 1nAn VINO mas DseH
in his precise geographical position.
TT gives me great pleasure to pre-
sent to you the Vice President Of the
United States. Thomas r. MARSHALL
Directors Reelected.
The five retiring directors were ne
elected by reclamation. They are:
Frank B. Noyes, Washington Star:
w. l.. Mclean, Philadelphia Bulletin;
Adolph s. Ochs. New York Times; A.
&c. Weiss, Duluth Herald, and John r.
Rathom, Providence Journal.