Evening star., 1942-09-02
Chicogo's S Press Bottles
And the A. P. Bylaws
An interesting PoroIIeI
Comes to Mind
In the Present Suit ..
BU Ben McKeIDnU.

~ Ben NICK etUdy.
In his extraordinary statement to the
people explaining the Governments suit
against the Associated Press, Mr. Mar
shall Field, the publisher of the Chicago
Sun, refers to the time that the Asso-
ciated Press fled" from the State of
Illinois in the face of an adverse ruling
by the Illinois Supreme Court and re-
organized as membership corporation
under the laws of New York.
But he does not tell all the story, and,
while it cannot be told in full here, there
is an interesting parallel between the
Illinois case to which he refers and the
present suit by the Government. Both
of them owe their origin to a newspaper
fight in the city of Chicago, and both of
them came about as the result of condi-
tions far removed from any highly tech
nical status, under antitrust laws, OF
the bylaws of the Associated Press.
1t may be hard for laymen-or for
laWyers-to understand the very deep
feeling of fear and resentment that has
swept over newspaperdom since this last
suit was filed. These are emotions that
have little to do with Mr.. Fields
sneering conclusion that the protest of
the press is merely the believing OF
many 'fat Journalistic OK" whose COM
petitive hide has been gored.
rational desire to protect field,
long and tenderly cultivated, is entirely
human and understandable and not dis
creditable. But the newspapers of the
country are not thinking of selfish desires
to protect themselves against competition
when they protest this suit. AS good as
the A. P. is. it takes more than the A. P.
to make good newspaper. The news
papermen are thinking of the long battle
that lies behind the Associated Press as
we know it today They understand the
grave implications of an attempt by the
Government to substitute something else
for what has worked so we'll They are
fearful of outsiders" who have no real
comprehension of the significance of the
A. P in a free country but whose legal
istic juggling might upset the delicate
balance of its operation They feel,
and it makes them boil, that the United
. States Government is making the by
laws of the Associated Press an excuse
for meddling in Mr.. Fields Chicago Sun
fight with the Chicago Tribune.
The Illinois case, based on complaints
in some respects comparable to those in
this present case, came at time when
the Associated Press of Illinois (not the
present Associated Press had just
ri, al
bitter fight with the old United Press
mot related to the present United
Press. Oliver Gramling's history of the
A. P. tells the story in fascinating detail.
The old United Press was a commercial,
and at one time very powerful and
wealthy news service controlled by few
men who were not averse to using it for
their own advantage. Under Victor
Lawson of the Chicago Daily News the
forerunner of the present Associated
Press had been organized as cooper
ative, nom profit-making news service. It
represented successful revolt by honest
newspapermen against controlled news
and the substitution of news service
that no man could control. 1t was a
fight against real news monopoly.
But the victory of the Illinois Associ-
ated Press left many sores unhealed.
In 1897 Charles T. Yerkes, wealthy
Chicago utility magnate, found himself
facing the opposition of the Chicago
newspapers in his efforts, aided by a
corrupt majority of the City Council, to
obtain without adequate compensation
to the city fifty-year extension of his
street railway franchises. Leading the
fight against Yerkes was Victor Law
sons Chicago Daily News. citizens
league was formed to oppose Yerkes and
all the Chicago papers were enlisted with
the league.
Mr. Yerkes then did what other rich
men have done. He bought himself a
newspaper. He brought to Chicago an
editor who had been actively identified
with the old fight against the young
A. P The fight singled out and CEN
tered on Victor Lawson. The paper
the old Chicago Inter- er-Ocean-changed
it's policies overnight and fought Victor
Lawson tooth and nail. The Associated
Press, in words curiously similar to
those employed by the person who pre-
pared Mr.. Fields recent statement to
the people. was assailed as trust" and
a monopoly" and other evil things.
The Inter-Ocean was an Associated
Press newspaper. 1t deliberately vio-
lated the rules of the Associated Press
as challenge to the A. p to do some
thing about it. The A. P. did The news
report was withheld from the "antag-
onistic" InterOcean, which promptly
filed suit charging restraint of trade (as
the present suit does. The two lower
courts in Illinois ruled in favor of the
A, p, but the Illinois Supreme Court
ruled against it after two years of liti-
CATION. About the same time similar
suit, in Missouri courts, was decided in
favor of the A. P.
The bylaws of the old Illinois Asso-
ciated Press had been hurriedly but
tightly drawn. The few members who
first formed the Associated Press were
on their guard against traitors who
might get in and set about fifth-column
work. Enemies were on all sides. And
there was fatal provision in the Illi-
nois charter which gave the A. P. per-
mission to erect, lease or sell telegraph
or telephone lines" which, though never
exercised, gave the A. P. the color of a
public utility. While editors all over the
land were mourning the destruction, by
court decision, of the A. P. of Illinois, the
A D al tfe 49,.