The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-17
HISTORY. x
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 i-s;t. tesa,istss, Frsm Pass one, <. eflted Press and its news they sold tS the papers in the hinterland al these papsrs developed. It was a close cor p3rntioa. a; s.,s fp .s
 A time vent on and the newspapers in the country. increased, small tribr- tAry, organizations were formed. In 1893 this. central group of a few papers ifl New York passed under the control of three menApne a Chicago banker, afiother a, telegtsph operator and the third asibusineas manager of a New York paper. ' f1 These. men were .respon- sibie to; no one and were bent only oa money, making. The menace was obvious. Not only were the. news pArers. dependepts upon the caprice, or worse, fof, these men, but saway be- yond that the .pubIi subject to any sort Of n,isinformation. s Y
 / {.Thiss was the inaaediate cause of the revolution Of 1885, It began in Chicago. The newspaper mon served by the Western Associated Press, mindful as well eof our public duty, as of our private duty, rcvolted against this sort of control There followed a struggle of four sears duration. It was revolutionary. $ Wsssts News Service From: PYofitsers The western ;,nen set out to form c., national svrganization, refusing auy arrangement with subordina te,, associa- tfons. ',l It was to he an association that should wrcst, the whole business from the hands of profiteers and place it. .if the hands of a purely co-operatiye organiza tion-afi& organization that should sell no news. make no profits, declare no dividends, but should be the agent or joint {. reporter of its members. 'I- '. '. E, s,5 'f' r ''-&f
 }ttIe was believed that if ,,the people of thef country were capable of self soSefnment a presentation of the facts would enable them to form their own opinions. Therefore, any attempt to introduce opinion upon any event was sttennousiy forbidden.
 QsThe expression of opinion. respect ing any facts presented by the Associa- ted Press. is left to the newspaper receiving the service. It is there; that it'helongs.l =, 'es
 sHs.rhere are about 300 daily news papers in the, organization. They rep resent every conceivable point of view respecting politics, religion. and eco nomics. However sprejudiced these members are, they are one, in their desire and demand that the organi. zStione furnish unbiased news and do it as truthfulfy as human frailties will permit. '. 's. nsss.w ,% T
 The privately owned ,, organiza tion went down in defeat and bahkruptcy in, 1S97. The wisdom of the plan: of the founders of the Associated Press in refusing to- deal with tributary, or sectional organizations was apparent. The bitterness growing out of onr Civil war had not altogether disap- peared. But when, under the rerolu- ti6nary body. the Yankee editor and the Rebel editor met they saw, that neither was as bad as he had believed.
 t5.: Cemented The Nation
 iS And, so, a year after the close of oar regolutionary contest, Joe Wheeler, the gallant ex-rebel chieftain, marched side by side with his old time Yankee opponents to do battle for the. republic in the Spanish, war And, in the great war of 1914 we went in as "a united nation, knowing no north, nor south, nor east, nor, west. ..s <
 :, This, ISbelieve, was largely, the out SVA2c Ots luz fefOIuttOH or 1oSO. AS a feature of the oreanization,.it was ex- pseted and, desired that 1t should be the subject of criticism. 1t was con trolled by. as board of directors elected by the members and I know of. no in. stitution; that has been so fully self governed. 95>,,s 5<s s1 s..;.t,
 y,.To those of us. who have been en- gagged in the work. it seems strange that there should be any doubt as tee either its usefulness or its integrity. All of it's activities are carried on in the daylight. under a blazing sun. There are no secrets about it, in fact there can be none. The news, which it ttfurnishes to the newspaper member ship. is furnished in the phrase of Mf Lincoln, with malice toward none with, charity for all.',st, =. =.
 There has been no trick about the business. For over thirty years direc- tors have come and gone, lived and died. They have been of every conceivable religious, political. and economic affilia- tibn. Yet, all :, of them have borne their part in the effort to make the A!Asssociated Press worthy of public con fidenes as a, source and distributor of truthfulf and unbiased news. Every man, who sat on it's board ana has participated in its nagement. can look F0u fully in the face sarid tell you te