Evening star., 1942-08-29
Continued From Preceding Page J

complete means for gathering do,
mestic news events of spontaneous
origin. These provisions have beer
and are an important factor con.
trlbuting to the unsurpassed meri
OF A, P.'s service as to coverage anc
speedy reporting of domestic new.
events. They supply a feature ot
A. P. service which is unique.
IL. The Importance which adheres
TO the exclusive-dealing obligations
resting upon AP members by reason
of their membership contracts is
evidenced by the following excerpt
from the annual report of its board
OF directors for the year 1915:
Each member binds himself in
asserting to the bylaws, not only
to pay his assessment, but to furnish
the Associated Press. and to it ex-
clusively, his local news. The latter
contribution is quite as valuable as
the weekly sum he pays As his share
of the expenses of the organization.
Wirephoto Picture Service
Furnished to- AP Members.
73 The restraints upon the inter-
state trade in news, and the circula-
ton, OF newspaper denied member
ship in the Associated Press are not
confined to those flowing from denial
of access to its daily news reports.
The Associated Press furnishes. ex-
clusively to its members, wirephoto
picture service, 1t has the only net
work of news photo wire transmits
sion in the world regularly main
tanned and transcontinental in char
acter. sending news pictures "to
member papers with telegraphic
speed over a circuit $4,000 miles
long" 1t owns picture transmitting
devices protected by letters patent.
In recent years picture news has
become major competitive factor
In the newspaper business. The
board of directors in its annual re-
port for the year 1887 asserted that
the AP picture service maintained
superiority in speed of delivery and
quality of photographs on every
major event during the year" APPS
general manager, in his report to
the directors for the year 1888, said
that the Associated Press was the
owner of the worlds greatest news
photo service and that with "a
hour news photo wire equipment at
hand, 1t is not likely that any COM
petltor can compete in any serious
way with the Associated Press news
photo service" The Associated Press
has also represented that it sup
plies the fastest known dispatch of
news pictures In mat form"
Complete Feature Budget
Is Supplied to Members.
"A. In addition to regular news
reports and news pictures, the Asso-
ciated Press supplies its members
with complete feature budget
comprising news feature stories with
and without illustrations, news car
toons, comic strips and full budget
Of departmental features
IS. The Associated Press claims
that "it is the greatest clearing
house for news in the world Dur
ing the past year it has, through
wholly -owned subsidiary, publicly
represented that it surpasses AL
other American news agencies COM
bined" in each of the following re-
spects:
(a) In number of words in its
daily news report.
(b) In number of miles in this
country of ceased news wires"
tc) In expenditures made for "the
actual gathering and diatribution of
world news"
I'd, In size of staff contributing,
directly or indirectly, to each days
news effort"
(e) In operating "the only State
by-State news circuits in existence"
% In volume of state and re-
gional news" furnished daily.
fg) In number of cities in this
country connected with LEASED news
wires"
(h) In operating "the only leased
news cable in the world"
Cd In being "ahead Of other news
agencies ION 80 per cent of all i'm
portant news events" during the
past year.
Huge Sums Offered
For A. P. Membership.
rs. If the services of all news
agencies were freely open to any
newspaper willing to pay the cost or
charge therefor. no premium would
be paid in order to obtain any par
ticular service. Since the sole value
Of an A. P. membership consists in
the right which it gives to obtain
A. P. service, the large sums which
have been paid or offered for such
membership evidence the great
competitive advantage conferred by
A, P. service, at least in the Judgment
Of many practical newspaper pro-
prietors, and the corresponding re-
straint and burden imposed by the
denial of such service Within the
last 10 years the controlling inter-
ests of a newspaper having an A. p
membership paid more than 100000
to acquire second membership and
suppress 1t. The sole purpose of this
transaction was to prevent the news
papers principal competitor from
obtaining A. P. membership and serv-
ice. Several newspapers have paid
or offered to pay s25000O or more to
obtain A. P membership. A special
committee appointed by A. P presi-
dent to recommend changes in the
A. p bylaws stated in its report,
mailed to all members shortly before
the 1912 annual membership meet
ing:
In the early history of the Asso-
ciated Press the limitation upon ad-
mission of additional members pro-
vided by the bylaws brought about
an enhancement in the values of
Associated Press memberships. In
metropolitan centers Associated
Press memberships were often car
ried on the books of member news
papers at values upward of mil
lion dollars, and in the early 20s.
transfers of such memberships were
made upon considerations well into
the hundreds of thousands.
TIE OFFENSES COMMITTED BY