Evening star., 1943-07-08

tne arI OF FORWARD passing 10 "
Jim Coca of Durant, Okla.
as "the decres proposed would not
prevent the defendant from pub
fishing anything they desire and
the relief we seek Is in harmony
with the ideal of the First Amend
ment to the Constitution" Mr..
Levin said.
The Government has charged the
Associated Press with acting in re-
straint of trade by not making
available its worldwide news report
to all newspapers financially able to
pay their proportionate share OF the
cost of operations.
Membership Structure Defended.
The Associated Press defended its
membership structure on the pre-
mise that members have the right to
choose their associates In the news
gathering field and maintained that
without some degree of EXCLUSIVELY
news gathered by the organization
would lose much of It's asset value
built up over long years by the
members who paid for Its expansion
and improvement.
Filing of the antitrust charges
came after Mr.. Fields Chicago
Sun and Mrs. Eleanor Medill Pat
terson's Washington Times Herald
had been denied memberships by a
vote of the members at the 1912
annual meeting.
Throwing A. P. open to any news
paper wishing its service would de-
stroy the foundation upon which the
Cooperative enterprise has been
created" said the Associated Press
brief, which continued:
Permitting members to furnish
their news of spontaneous origin to
non-members would tend to lessen
the value of the A. P. news report
to members generally, but under
present conditions the effect would
be primarily psychological. = =
History has demonstrated that the
element of undivided loyalty of the
members to their joint enterprise,
even though intangible, Is basic
factor in the production of truly
comprehensive news report. -
Proof Of Monopoly Denied.
THE Government has neither es-
tablished that A. P. has monopolized
the gathering and dissemination of
news nor does it now contend that
such is the fact. 1t does argue that
A. P. Is dominant or 'predominate'
in the field, but if by this it means
anything more than that A. P. is the
largest news-gathering agency and
that in the eyes of many news
papers the service which it furn-
ishes is superior to any other, the
Government has failed to lay fac
tual basis for its contention
Others can freely undertake the
gathering of news and the publica-
ton of newspapers without the
benefit of A. P.'s organization or
facilities, and many have done
so.
"a. P. was organized as men,
bership corporation, but neither In
fact nor in law would A. P. con-
tinue within its charter powers II 1t
were obligated to admit as men,
ber' every newspaper owner who so
desired.
TRY as it will, the Government
cannot torture an anology from any
of the decided cases "a number were
cited in the Governments brief IN
its effort to convert A. P. into a
quasi-public utility. y 1t the A.
P) has not discouraged competl-
ton in the past and does not
threaten to discourage competition
in the future ~
Other Documents Offered.
Two other printed documents op-
posing the action, which was argued
before a three-judge Federal Dis
trict Court, were submitted by the
Chicago Tribune and by Richard
j. Finnegan, editor of the Chicago
Times and that papers Associated
Press membership representative.
Regarding the monopoly charges,
the Chicago Tribune's brief said:
Despite all the fanfare of mo-
nopoly in this case, the Government
has now confessed that the only
monopolization practiced by the de-
PENDANTS was the monopolization for
themselves of the beats and scoops
obtained by defendant A. P. in COM
petition with the other news agen-
cies: such monopolization, it Is
claimed, is wrongful. Compee, says
the plaintiff, but do not compete
hard. This paradox is equaled only
by the doggerel anent Daughter
clothes -limb-water.'
Finally. does this fantastic theory
of monopolization apply only to A. P.
or does it also apply to the other
news agencies? They, too, obtain
beats. If other news agencies are
not immune from plaintiffs mo-
nopolization theory, the absurd re-
suit is reached that they are free to
obtain and keep the fruits OF their
competitive endeavor tbeats and
scoops), while A. P. is debarred from
doing the same. II they are in
cluded in plaintiffs theory, then all
news agencies are debarred from
striving for excellence lest they per-
chance beat their competitors to q
story. ."
Editor Finnegan of the Chicago
Times submitted his document as
argumentative memorandum to the
Judges, in which he said he was not
lawyer, but had spent 40 years
gathering, reporting and editing
news for newspapers and presented
his views because he was member
of the Associated Press as repre-
sentative of a newspaper whose
rights and liberties are gravely in
volved"
Mr.. Finnegan said he had voted
for the admission of the Chicago
Sun into A. p. membership and
added that he would do so again
if the application should come up
for vote.
Mr.. Finnegan's memorandum said:
"The Judgment demanded by
plaintiff In this case can be granted
only on the premise that newspaper