The Associated Press

" Will yon direct me to the office of the Associated Press?" li ii stningcr should ask tlas questioii in one of our larger American cities, the chances are as twenty to 00 e Uiat he would not l)e enlightencd by the chance pasKN by. lf lie asked OÍ a newspaper niaii he would stand oi.ly iboutan even chance of setting exact information. A business man who had piobably played the same game on ethers of my craft once said to me : " How is your paper gatting ílongí 1 take it; oli.yes, wccouldn't 'e along witliout tlie Associated lJress in The family." And tliis untruthful llatterer lias his doublé in ignorance on this subject among the best informeel Americans. Aye, amon" the oracles of Congi ess themselves, as was very recently proved by the questions they put, the stateuieuts they made and the theoiies they advanced during the examiuation of the General Manager of the Associ'ited Press, by a Congressional Conituittee which liad undcrtakeu to regúlate the Press of tlie country; in fact the very owners of the papers whtch constilute the Associated Press are sonietimes painfully ignorant concerning the workings of that great but qnitt engine of enlightenment. And yet the Associated Press is an oragnization vhose influence'extends to the remotest corners of civilization. Every dhy in the year it carries the world's news to nearly every home in America; it involves rights and franchises to the value of many millions of dollars ; its busy, tireless eyes and flngers and feet are employed in China, Australia, Brazil, Eussla, Egypt and New Zealand; on mountain observatories, in ocean light-housea - where you will. It has used It) turn stagecoaclics, canal-boats, carrier-pigeons, signáis, sailing-vessels, steamsliips, landwires and cables to transmit its intelligence ; and yet so quietly and unassumingly has it done its miglity work tliat it is almost unknown to the people who share Is bounty and its benent?, and scarcely a inajority of those whose linancial interests are closeiy bound lip with it, can glibly teil where are its headquarters in their own city. Such modesty is as rare as t is commendable. The Associated Press, although it lias no rivals worthy t'ie name, is not a monopoly ; neither is it a stock company ; it is a nioney-síiver, not a money-maker. It is siraply an association compoaed of the reputable, established daily papers througliout the land, who agree to furnisli each other with the news of their respective localities. The newspapers themselvfis are therefore the Associated Press ; they liave a personal, individual interest and proprietorship ín t. As to the news itself, it must be fresh, it must be of general interest, it must be non-partisan, it must be impirtial; without these qualities it Is unfitted for the Associated Press inarket. Given these conditions and a strict ob sei vanee of theiu; giveu enturpnsing aewspapers, discreet and able management, trustwortliy agents In the cities whose iluty it is to receive, digest and prepure for tlie wire the news of their districts, and you have a system aere perenmus no theoryot news service can be inore correct; and speed in transnns.ir. tlioroughness and good judgment in the executive and subordínate departments will make its practical workings a success. Let us look into its liistory and workings. When time was young in American news work, and when all the old-fashioned slothful methods were cmploycd to secure and convey information, the New York Associated Press was fonned. This was away back in the " thirties," but the organization continúes today via;orous, respected, and witli its meinbership practically unchanged. At that time the great Vest was almost a terra incógnita, but ta growth was rapid, and in 1805 the Western Associated Press reared its head as a conveyancer of news. These two powerful bodies had manya tilt, although cooperating with and working through each other as well as they could under different managements; but one day in 1882 the Western Association, conscious of its power, and scrong in its belief that it should have a voice in the council whieh determiued the character of Eastern news furnished to be sent West, liuding that its claims were not regarded, orgauized a lusty rebellion in the shape of an independent service, and in a very brief time secured what it wanted and what a part of the New ï'ork Association bad favored from the start, a vote in the management of the news. This being accomplished, the two associations were, about the first of January 1883, merged into one compact powerful organization, under a joint executive committee, who named Vm. Henry Smith, General Manager, with head quarters at Xew York and Chicago. Their selection of an executive head was a happy one; it was in fact tlie only possible one. Mr. Smith had built up the Western A-wociation from ts puny infancy to its vigorous manhood; had organized its strong agencies, pushed its enterprises, fostered its sometimes scanty resources, and had made it the grand ma chine t is. It was this unerring foresight, wtich saw that either a unión between the two associations ora completedivorce was iuevituble; it was his keen wit. wise discretion, mature judgment and diplomatic metliods tblit liad guided and shaped the dcliberations of both sides and tliat while avoiding Oimibdis had steered clear of Scylla. But for his invaliiable work at this ciisKs the newspaper interests of the country might have suftered untold injury- for o news, co-operation more tha competition is the life of trade. The singular fact of the coalition ia tliat whereas some of the New York menibcrs, led by thcir Geucral Agent, a capable but headstrong man, had opposed the change as boinir surely destructive of their valuable righti, and had eventhreatened to avert the supposed dtautw by legal meiins, theoe very men are now the most enthusiastic bikI gratitied supporteis of the uew rcyimc. IIow does the Associated Press work The two parent orgnnizatious are responsible for collecting the uews of the country, and they assume by far the greater portion of the expense; the organiz:itions which rork with them and which in ai' cases, save those of the European association?, pay tribute to them, are: The Reuter Agency, of Qreat Britain and parts of Europe; The Havas Agency of France and Southern Europe; The Wollf Agency of Germany a;id Russia; The Australian Press Assoeiation; The State Press of New York State; The New England Associated Press; The Southern Associated Press; the Philadelphia, .Baltimore and Washington Associations; The Kansas and Missouri Associated Press; The Texas Associated Press; Tl. e Colorado Associated Press; The Ohio Associated Pre3s; The California Associated Press; The Chronlcle Press Association of California; The Canadian Associated Press; The Associated Press of Havana, Cuba; The Mexican Associated Press; The Panama Associated Press and a fen' otliprs of minnr annoiinf.. The chief collecting and distributing agencies are at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, Galveston, New Orleans, Milwaukee, Detroit, St. Paul, Kansas City, Meniphis, Denver, San Francisco and Toronto, with several in Europe. The agents at these distributing polnts furuisk each paper or set of papers in their divisions witli the news which it requires and can afibrd to pay for. They are carefal to select news suited to the section to whicli it is telegraphed. They would n ot send to San Francisco the news of the appointment of a postmaster for Galesburg, Illinois, but they would send that news to Galesburg, as a matter of prime interest. In tliis sifting prof cess the paying capacity as well as the need of each city is considered; so that while Chicago may receive forty thousand words of report on a glven day, Des Moines might receive but eighty thousand, and Piockford two tliousand. The amount and quality of the news is deterinined directly by the agent in charge; he receives general instructions from the General Manager, vrho, in turn, seeks to learn from the papers themselvcs just what they want. The difflculty of suiting all may be Illustrated by an incident connected with the Kpublican National Convention of 1880; tlie speech of an eminent man lately candidate for president was reported by the Associated Press at some lengtli; the next day tliere arrived at the general office two letters; one from a radical Republican, coinplained that the speech liad nt been reported verbatim, the other froui a thorough-paced Democrat, complained at its having been sent so fully that it curtailed the hog market. The General Manager enclosed to each complainant tlie letter of the other, and the next time the trio met they had a hearty laugh. Tlie benefleence of the system of news distribution is apparent: besides giving each paper the kind of volume of news it wants and can pay for, itgreatly cheapens the expense; each paper gets European news, that costa originally fifty cents per word; Chinese news that costs ?3.00 per word; Pernambuco news that costs $7.00 per word; Atrlcan news that costs $3.75 per word, and domestic news of every kind, political, commercial, flnancial, roligioua; for all this It is ohurged but nn insignificant fraction of a cent per word. Should the entire expense of a cablegram, such as is not infrequently printed in the smaller country daily, be assessed agaiust that paper alone, the sheet would go into liquidation without parley. No fallacy is more common amo g those who have an indefinite idea of the Assaciated Press, than the notion that it makes inoney; its sole financial aim and purpose is to reduce the cost of securing news. The papers are assessed for cur. rent expenses- the larger ones paying an amount many times greater than the smaller ones pay. It is the policy of the Association to aid the weaker papers, and help them, which it does frcquently at a eonsiderable cost to itself. The Associated Press is a monopoly only in so far as it does not deern it jut and wise to admit to full partnership and without consideration papers which have had no part in building up its business, or papers whicli f admitted would simply besuperfluous. Thus if a paper can barely live in Oskosh, the Associated Press would not encourage another paper to go in and occupy the field in which both would eventually starve. One more fallacy there is: that the Western Uuion Telegraph Company and the Associated Press constitute one joint concern: "Strange things arise of quarreling kind; The forepart lion and a snake behind.'1 Horace's whim realized would not be more absurd than a unión between a telegraph company and a news business. Gentle reader, you are as much a partner of the Western Union as the Associated Press is - perhaps more so. The Association pays the bilis which the Company presente; but neitlier organization has the least control of, or voice in, the business or policy of the other. They are oftener in dispute than friendly. The past two years have witnessed great progresa in the development of the Aïsociated Press. It has enlarged its expenditures in many Uirections, has made new and valuable combinations and has now come to be recognized by niuetenths of the papers of the land not as a necessary evil, but as a generous friend and indispensable ally through whom they may secure what they can obtain in no other way; and the public will yet come to know it better and to regard with gratitude the unobtrusive, noiseless machine which does such giant work and deserves such universal comineudation: