Evening star., 1943-04-19

truly as it has through lack of in
terest contributed to cause of war,
it can rise to this opportunity. It
must drop it's passive role. Its in
terest must be intensively active.
And as for the press of this country,
the strongest newspaper force ever
developed in any nation must give
to all the world the principles of its
idealism.
President Mclean Insists
Public Be Given Facts
The tert of the speech OF Rob-
ert Mclean of the Philadelphia
Bulletin, president of the Asso-
ciated Press, tollo,Ds::
Members of the Associated Press
and our distinguished guests:
We are Nation at war-a war of
vast proportions that will determine
whether this Nation and other great
peoples Of the world shall be slave
or free.
Every pound of energy of the
American people is engaged in the
prosecution of that struggle and in
bringing that war to a successful
conclusion.
Newspapers are doing their part
and consider it privilege as well
as duty, nor has this always been
an easy task. 1t has called upon the
exercise of restraint, of judgment
and of enthusiasm as never before.
Attendant Problems Tackled.
1t is our creed (and it is the creed
of democracy that in the people of
this country there exists wisdom
and a power of judgment that, given
the facts, enables them to reach
sound conclusions. Aside from mill
tary necessities-and I am not
speaking of military censorship that
Is censorship imposed by the
necessity OF war and voluntarily ac-
cepted by all newspapers-there
should be withheld from the people
nothing that hampers them In ferm-
ing judgments in matters OF legiti-
mate public concern.
AS never before, the newspapers Of
this Nation. in addition to reporting
the war itself. have tackled the
attendant problems-such as the
explanation of the problems Of the
Government to the people and OF
the problems of the people to the
Government; newspapers are help
ing in the effort to utilize our re-
sources to the fullest degree, to the
collection by the people of metals
and material needed for munitions
and equipment, to the better un-
derstanding of the problem Of the
use of the manpower and woman
power of the Nation, and to the
problems of national finance and
national borrowing.
Toast to the President.
AS newspapermen we may we'll
be proud of the record and we
hereby pledge anew our allegiance
to those intrusted with leadership
and pray God may grant them
wisdom and strength in full meas
ure in accordance with the vast
burdens they carry.
Gentlemen, at this luncheon 1t
has been our custom to drink one
toast. I ask you to rise and drink
the health of the President of the
United States, Commander in Chief
of the Army and Navy.
1t is fitting from time to time to
look back along the road on which
we have come to the present and
to mark the mileposts of our prog
ress. Among these mileposts is
one which records the event so years
ago OF the formation of the first
national organization under the
title of the Associated Press. =
There are mileposts of lesser i'm
portance.
1t is 1872 years since one Samuel
Topliff, jr., ferried his rowboat out
to meet incoming ships in Boston
Harbor to gather from them news
dispatches from foreign parts, and
thus became the forerunner of the
systematic collection of news.
First Associated Press.
1t Is slightly less than 100 years
ago that a group of newspapers
associated themselves together In
the city of New York to meet the
new problem of threatened control
of news by those who, controlling
the newly developed telegraph lines,
held a whip hand over those who
would send news and those who
would receive news. They thus
sought to keep in the hands of news
papermen the vital function of news
gathering and prevent news from
being reduced to- an unreliable COM
modify in the hands of commercial
and predatory interests.
They called their cooperative
organization the New York Asso-
ciated Press.
This event was followed, as it had
been preceded, by years of turbulent,
aggressive competition, flamboyant
in some cases, but vigorous withal.
As ever, energy and alertness were
rewarded and those newspapers
thrived that met the test OF reader
acceptance.
The new cooperative stood many
OSoSNos ~ VAAoe A16 1lCAk lew
decades there developed various re-
gional, loosely knit associations un-
der titles, such as the New England
Associated Press, the Southern AS
sociated Press and the Western
Associated Press. 4
Dominated by Commercialism.
1t is SO years ago this year that
the Western Associated Press awoke
to the fact that 1t had been be-
trayed by individuals it had trusted.
The New York association had come
under the dominance Of CONNER
cial organisation controlled by three
men, only one of whom could, by
any definition, be considered .
newspaperman.
( Since they thus controlled the
news arriving from foreign parts
and the news Of the Eastern sea-