ASSOCIATED PRESS, a organization formed to gather news for the daily papers. Even before the Civil War the New York newspapers realized that each was paying large sums of money for news that was accessible to all. Accordingly provision was made for a joint agency which acted as a sort of clearing house through which each paper gave to all other papers (members of the agency) any news that it might receive. This formed the nucleus for the later organization known as the New York Associated Press. In 1865 the western papers incorporated their agency known as the Western Associated Press ; and there were several minor associations which formed a general alliance centred in the New York association. In 1892 a general as sociation in the nature of a stock corporation was formed, and its stockholders, being news paper were not allowed to hold more eight shares of stock apiece, though, being a mutual organization in operation, it was not necessary that proprietors be stock holders in order to become members of the as sociation or to secure its news service. In 1900 the association was changed from a stock cor poration into a mutual association for such newspaper proprietors as were entitled to re ceive press reports. This was done 22 May
1900, when the present association was organ ized under New York laws. Proprietors of papers or executive officers of corporations owning papers entitled to reports constitute the membership, though only as representing their papers. The income of the association is de rived from members (of which there are about 860) by weekly assessment prorated according to the cost and value of the service. The asso ciation has its own system of leased wires for its more important service (about 22,000 miles of day wires and 28,000 miles of night wires), stretching across the continent from Saint John, N. B., to Seattle, Wash., and San Diego, Cal., and from Duluth, Minn., to New Orleans, La., Galveston, Tex., and Mexico City. The num ber of words received and transmitted daily at each of the more important offices is 50,000, equivalent to about 35 columns of the average newspaper. See PRESS AssociAnoxs.