Evening star., 1924-03-03
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHANGES QUARTERS
Intricate Mechanism of News
Heart of World. Shifted in
-. Few Seconds.
THIRD MOVE IN NEW YORK
Growth of Business Required
Larger Offices.
BY the Associated Press.

by the Associated Press.
NEW YORK. March 3.--The hum OF
news activity in the general offices OF
The Associated Press. 81 Chambers
street was hushed at O'Clock
yesterday morning. There was a
switching of wires at well worn
switchboard and in the twinkling of
an eye there was a cracking OF
resounding telegraph instruments in
the associations new home, 3s3 Madi-
son avenue.
s'as trarsfer involved the intricate
mechanical readjustment of the as
sociation's news heart and the artcr-
les of 10000 miles of telegraph wires
enough to encircle the earth nearly
-four times. So carefully had plans
been laid that when wires and cables
were switched there was not the
slightest interruptions in the VAST
system whereby hundreds of thou
sands of words Of news are daily dis
tributed on 120 circuits, among more
than 1900 newspaper members of the
worlds largest news gathering
agency.
Gives More Room.
The change to quarters that afford
double the floor space was necessary
10 keep pace with the constant eX-
Iansion of the service
The first organization under the
nam. Of The Associated Press was the
old New York association. founded in
1S4S, when news was carried from
incoming ships by carrier pigeons
and courier before the advent of the
telegraph. telephine, cable, wireless
and radio.
The present organization. incorpor-
ated in 1900, has twice outgrown its
home. Twenty-four years ago. when
the general ofGces were in the old
Western Union Building at 195 Broad
way. six or seven telegraph operators
handled the limited flow of news
over three circuits, and there were
about thirty-five employees. In 1914
1t was necessary to find larger quar-
ters and the offices were moved to
the Chambers street address, where
.the floor space was doubled and the
news facilities greatly increased.
The new Madison avenue home has
$4,000 square feet of floor space.
There are about $50 employees in the
New York headquarters. Forty op-
lerators on twenty circuits handle the
daily news output. which goes to
every state and territory in the union
the Central and South Americas and.
through allied agencies. throughout
the world. On four of these circuits
there is a twentyfour hour service.
& Worked for Three Months.
Experts of the American Telephone
end Telegraph Company and the
Western Union Telegraph Company
had been working for three months
installing new telegraphic and cable
equipments.
years and other necessary equip
ment were gradually moved last week.
iAt the instant "30"-the telegrapher's S
good night-was flashed over the
a1 - ntyrfy
and an uncanny silence settled over
the old offices, the task Of collecting
the next days news was Immediately
taken up in the new home.
The new offices are in a newly
Grand Central terminal zone. bound
ed by Madison and Vanderbilt ave-
nues, and by East 46th and Attn
streets. The offices occupy the sixth
floor.
Incorporated in 1900. it had approx
,mately four hundred members. In
1914, when the larger quarters were
taken at Chambers street, there were
500 members. Today the membership
totals over 1900 daily newspapers,
two score of which are in Latin
America
The newspapers which compris Sc
its membership are located as far
north as Nome. Alaska; as far east
as Rio de Janeiro; as far south as
Buenos Aires, and as far west as
Manila.
. The total number of salaried en-
ployes is LOO, OF whom 1000 are
telegraph operators. The total num-
ber of individuals. however, that
contribute news to make up its re-
port Is approximately $4,000. Of this
500 members. Today the membership
United States. The remainder are
scattered throughout the world.