Evening star., 1942-10-27
Press Answerto Government Monopoly Charqes
By the Assoeiated Rress.


By the Assoeisted Prsss. f,s t*5ss'f
NEW YORK, Oct. 27-Tert OF
the Associated Press dns,Der to
the United States Governments
charge OF rsolatton Of the anti
trust LaUs.:, s. -. -
District Court Of the United State.
Tor the Southern District of New
= York. United States sof America
& plaintiff; the Associated Press, et
= Al, defendants. Civil Action No
: ie-1e3. ssl 40 =,
ef Answer.
- To the honorable the Judges oi
the District Court of the United
States for the Southern District o,
New York q
Now come the Associated Press
Paul Bellamy. George Frlncls Booth
John Cowles, william Hutchinson
sCowles, Edward King Gaylord
Houston Harte, Josh L. Horne
Clark Howell, jr.;; Joseph Russell
Knowhnd, Robert Mclean, Leonard
kmball Nicholson, Frank Brett
Noyes. Paul Patterson, stuart HofY-
man Perry, Z. Lansing Ray, Edward
Hubert Butler, the Adrian Tele-
gram, the A. 8. Abel Co., Bulletin
Co. the Constitution Publishing Co.,
Cowles Publishing Co., Evening Star
Newspaper Co., the Kansas CITY
Star Co., the Oklahoma Publish
ing Co., the Register and Tribune
Co, Rocky Mount Publishing Co.,
Glove Democrat Publishing Co., San
Angelo Standard, Inc; the Times
Picayume Publishing Co., the Trib-
elne Publishing Co. and Worcester
Telegram Publishing Co.,, Inc, de-
PENDANTS In the above e-entitled ac-
tion, and BY their attorneys, Mil
bank. Tweed d Hope, for their an
ewer to the complaint herein re-
spectfully show upon information
and belief as follows
Competition Fostered.
!. The Associated Press (herein-
lfter sometimes referred to as "AP")
Is . mutual cooperative enterprise
dedicated to the maintenance OF q
complete, accurate and unbiased re-
port Of the news. It Is neither q
monopoly, nor has it tended to be-
some such. On the controry, COM
petition with A P has steadily
increased since A. P. was organized,
lnd such competition has been fos-
tered rather than hindered by the
very provisions Of A. P.'s bylaws
which the Government now chal-
lenges as constituting an undue and
unreasonable restraint Of trade.
Chief among such provisions are
the requirements % that applicants
for membership In a territory served
by an existing member be admitted
TO- membership only by the affirma-
tive vote Of not less than a majority
ef the members voting on the appli-
cation, and az that regular mem
bers Of A. p. furnish the news Of
their respective localities only to
A. p, and that A. P. serve no news
papers other than those owned by
its members. The bylaws Of A. P.
have contained such provisions for
the past ~ years.
From time to time. between 1900
and April 1912, applications Of vari-
Gus owners Of newspap pers were acted
upon by the. members of A. p. In
accordance with the first OF said
provisions. Some OF such applica-
tions were granted and some re-
lected. In 1915, the, then Attorney
General of the United States. rem
dered an ohicial opinion that the
said provisions were lawful:
I" It is no violation Of the
Antitrust Act for a group Of news
papers to form an association to
collect and distribute news for their
common benefit, and to that end to
agree to furnish the news collected
by them only to each other or to
the association; provided that no
attempt is made to prevent the
members from purchasing or other
wise obtaining news from rival
agencies. And If that is true the
corollary must be true, namely, that
newspapers desiring to form and
maintain such an organization may
determine who shall be and who
shall not be their associates.
Competition Increases.
This, Of course. Is not to say
that such an association might not
develop into an unlawful monopoly.
The facts, adduced, however, in my
opinion do not show that that has
happened in the case Of the Associ-
ated Press"
The complaint does not allege, and
1t 1t not the fact, that A. P. pre-
vents or attempts to prevent its
members from purchasing or other
wise obtaining news from rival
agencies. Instead of A. P. develop
ing into a monopoly since the At
torney General rendered his opinion
In 1915, the competition between
A. p. and other news agencies has
become increasingly severe.
2. For "a years, the Government,
well knowing the provisions Of the
bylaws now complained of and
the rejection Of certain applications
for membership in A.P., did not
bring to any court or governmental
body any complaint that the said
provisions, or any Of them, consti-
tuted an undue or unreasonable
restraint of trade, or that A. p. had
monopolized or attempted to monop-
Ollie the collection or distribution
Of news, or that A. P. had in any
way violated the antitrust statutes
Of the United States,
8. In December, 1941, one Mar
shall Field commenced publication
In Chicago, ILL.,, OF newspaper
called the Chicago Sun. At the
annual meeting Of the members OF
A. P. in April, l942, Fields applica-
ton for membership was rejected
by q vote OF more than two to one.
This action was instituted by the
Government shortly thereafter.
Right Challenged.
4. 1t Is the fundamental law OF
the land that no statute shall be
10 construed as to abridge the free
dom OF the press A free press
requires that newspapers shall be
free to collect and distribute the