Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-06-06

WASHINGTON, June 3.-The-sen-
ate committee on rules is reported
to be making a quiet investigation
| of leaks of news from sources OF
government information. This is a
recurring activity which on n or
two occasions has brought to light
unethical handling of information
by newspaper correspondents, a
practice heartily condemned by the
profession as a whole. However,
It is the usual thing for investigat-
ing committees to fail in their
search for organized leaks.
l. A leak is the obtaining Of adj
vance information of important gov
eminent activities and h furnish
ing of the information either to
money out Of the early knowledge
or to newspapers which will de-
| rive the advantage of beating their
rivals. The word leak is meant TO
imply that the information is OBJ
tanned as the result of some unethi-
cal or downright unlawful CONN.,
vance between the man obtaining
the information and some govern
ment employee.
The most famous recent leak was
the Peace Leak, which it was al
legged, resulted in several million
dollars being made by Wall street
spectators who came into posses
sion of advance information that the
President intended writing Ger
many a note seeking TO induce peace.
The investigation revealed that
some information had emanated
from the White House prematurely.
Even more recently. a leak was dis
covered from the Supreme Court of
the United States.
However. most advance publica-
tons of information, which appear
on the surface to result from leaks,
have no such explanations. News
in Washington which is of particu-
lar value, both to stock exchange
spectators and TO newspapers de-
string TO Guido their rivals in early
publication is the news of decisions
in big cases before such bodies as
the Supreme Court, the Interstate
Commerce Commission, the Federal
Trade Commission or special COM
mittees.
How Advance News is Secured
Here is the way advance news of
decisions not infrequently is pub
lished. The big press associations,
cOIilC VI liz 4llAPOA IdlAI quo RoRNA
and newspapers have been assigned
to particular work who are espe-
cially equipped for it's responsible
ties. 1t is recognized by news man
ayers. for instance. that an advan-
tage lies in having a man familiar
with railroad matters covering the
news of the Interstate Commerce
Commission. A big case is filed.
Hearings are held at which wit
nesses for or against the proposed
rate change in question are heard.
Lawyers argue the points before the
commission. This is all public and
any newspaper man or any men,
Der of the public car hear the testi-
mony and the arguments.
Now a conscientious correspon-
dent covering the Interstate Com
merce Commission will be familiar
with the general provisions of the
Act to Regulate Commerce. He will
know the merits Of the pending
case. He will hear and study all
the testimony and the arguments.
He will know personally the men,
bers of the commission who decide
the case. with all their prejudices
and pet theories of regulation.
As the members of the commits
sion study the case. the reporter
will study the S Then men he
| thinks. or hears through gossip,
that the decision is about ready TO
be announced. he wifi write his
! own decision, following the law and
the force of the testimony and argu-
ment. The members of the COM
mission are made of the same gen.
eral flesh and blood that the re-
porter is made of. In many cases they
are no more careful and p~ainstakins
than he. Actually in some case
they are not as we'll informed on
the law and precedent. 1t is not
at all unlikely that the members OF
the commission and the reporter
will arrive at the same conclusion
The reporter will write a news arti-
Gle fo~recasting the decision. Wher
the decision down IL will be
found that. with minor differences
the conclusions are the anne Some
one. usually some less enterprisins
competitor. will claim a leak.
This can happen with any num-
Der of situations. To be sure the
reporter takes a chance. but II he IL
conservative arIl painstaking he viii
be right in a surprising number o.
forecasts. The same procedure car
be followed in stories about policies
by studying the policy OF such I