Evening star., 1942-11-02

Henry McLemore. edition man,
with printers ink instead of blood
hopping through my veins. There
wasn't a single occupation on that
questionnaire that I knew anything
about, and it listed just about every
thing, from asbestos artwork to
zebra restriping.
There were some I could learn, OF
course, but not blessed one that
I could move right into without
having the foreman shoot me before
noon as Inadequate. incompetent
and wholly without talent.
All of the foregoing, it is now safe
to disclose, is windup for discussion
of the Governments suit against the
Associated Press. AS you doubtless
know, the Government, through
Trust-buster Thurman Arnold, has
charged the A. P. with being a mo.
nopoly. Both sides have had theil
say by now, so it is time that out
siders came galloping in with their
10 cents worth.
In my 10 cents worth I will not
discuss the rights or wrongs of the
case (not that I haven't an opinion:
In times like these the Government
has a lot to do to start attacking an
organization that has never done
anything but serve the country and
serve it welD but will tell Mr.. Ar
mold that he has tackled a tough
baby.
7 speak from experience.
learned about the A. P. the tough
way. I worked in direct opposition
to it. AS a handsome, dashing en-
ploye of the United Press for some
II years, the A. P. was my enemy.
Everything I did was measured, for
success or failure, against what an
A. P man did.
I can tell Mr.. Arnold right now
that he can't afford to take time to
eat or sleep when he is working
against the A. P. If he does, he'll get
his pants beaten off. used to try to
sleep and eat (those are habits OF
mine) against em, and I always
wound up peeking none too grace
fully from behind the ball marked
"8"
There was that time at the Ken
lucky Derby when Stagehand was
the winter book favorite, with hum
dreds of thousands of dollars bet
or him. Stagehand developed a
crick in his neck or gout Cor some
thing else that horses have) a few
days before the Derby and the
Nation craved to know how the
equine patient was doing.
I stayed with Stagehand so much
he started calling me Henry, but
the day before the Derby, when it
looked as if he would be all right
to run, left the barns of Churchill
Downs for a nap in hotel. The
A. P. man acted as if he were going
to the hotel too, but he didn't. He
circled the barns twice and resumed
his sick watch at the bedside of the
ailing thoroughbred. A few hours
later he was declared out of the race
by his trainer, Earl Sande, and I
learned about it in an A. P. dis
patch.
My superiors were very nice about
it all. Only so words of their 5l-word
message to me were censored by
the Western Union.
Mr.. Arnold, if he ever wants any
information on the A. P. won't have
to take more than a few steps to
find an A. P. man to question. There
are thousands of them.
The A. P. believes in smothering q
story with manpower. I've covered
a Poughkeepsie regatta and arrived
at my rendezvous on the Hudson
with the whole story to do to find
the banks of the river crowded with
A. P. 'ers. often wondered how there
was any room left for spectators or
how the spectators managed to see
through the blanket of A. P. men on
the banks and the bridges and hang
ing from cliffs and peeking from
bushes.
Mr.. Arnold needn't question the
A. P. facts. used to pray for some
of their staffers and assistant staff
ers and general handymen to make
mistakes, but the fellow they said
had red hair always showed up with
red hair, the discus they said trav-
eled so many feet always Travelled
the number of feet mentioned and
when they said mans middle name
was Istobaxux it was Istobaxux.
One of the quiet prides that I al
low myself to enjoy is based on the
fact that for more than a decade
opposed the A. P. and somehow did
well enough to get paid each Friday.
Give me decent odds and I'll bet
Mr.. Arnold finds out how his suit
comes out by reading an A. P. dis
patch. Don't let 'em scoop you on
your own story, Mr.. Trust-Buster.
Distributed by McNaueht Syndicate, Inc.)