In addition, the Associated Press keeps Europe and the rest of the
world informed of the news of the great Republic, gathered and
distributed by over 2,000 employees, who are supported on an annual
revenue of over half a million sterling.
The Associated Press was started about 1840, when seven of the New York
daily papers combined to reduce the expense of news by post-boys.
The organization at present consists of over 700 of the leading
American daily papers. Each paper has a vote whereby fifteen directors
are elected. These in turn elect officers. Through contract relations
2,300 other papers are granted the Associated Press News service,
making a total of 3,000 out of the 3,200 daily papers published in
America.
These 3,000 papers have a daily issue of 15,000,000, and each paper is
estimated by an impartial statistician to pass through the hands of
three persons; hence it is estimated that every despatch sent by the
Associated Press reaches 45,000 pairs of eyes.
The Associated Press is not in itself a profit-making concern,
being purely co-operative, and has nothing whatever to do with any
advertising. Its papers, which include those of all languages, creeds
and politics, are assessed according to the expenditure involved in
gathering and distributing the home and foreign news.
Over its own telegraph wires the Associated Press sends through its
own telegraph operators, east, west, north and south, the news of the
moment.