America’s World News Service

WHEN we first set about the creation of a news machinery to carry American facts to the world a natural reliance was placed upon cables, the one established medium for international communication. The cables, however, were virtually all foreign owned, the rates were prohibitive, and, what was even more conclusive, all were so overburdened as to endanger vital war business by their delays. Forced to look in some other direction, our eyes fell upon the wireless, taken over by the navy some time before and lying idle for a good part of the time. Without more ado, we placed our problem before Secretary Daniels, who, understanding and co-operative as always, put the wireless stations of the United States at our disposal, and likewise the expert navy personnel.

The next step was an organization, and in the very moment of need a gangling, youngish, Lincolnesque type walked into my office with a burst of conversation about "world communication." Others may collect stamps or coins, play golf or polo, but Walter S. Rogers of Chicago, as far as I know, is the only living man whose hobby is "news transmission," and it took a world war to get him his chance to ride it. It was his belief, and a sane one, that peoples best understand each other through the exchange of news, and he had just returned from a world tour devoted to a study of cable rates, press agencies, distributing machinery, etc.

Mr. Rogers was made director of the newly established Division of Wireless and Cable Service, and as his associate we were fortunate in the securement of Perry Arnold, cable editor of the United Press, and one of the ablest and most experienced men in the newspaper profession. Another piece of good luck was Capt. David W. Todd, Chief of Naval Communications, for aside from his brilliant specialized ability he gave a co-operation that was as helpful as it was enthusiastic.

Offices were taken in New York, a news force gathered, and in September, 1917, "Compub," as its code address soon advertised it to the world, commenced business. The first service was from Tuckerton to the wireless station at Lyons. From Lyons by arrangement with the French government it went to our office in Paris, and after translation and distribution to the press of France, Mr. Kerney relayed it to our offices in Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

The next step in the world dissemination of news came through arrangements heartily entered into by the British government. The same wireless report sent to Lyons was intercepted by navy operators at the American naval base, and relayed to London, where the representatives of the Committee received it, and distributed it to the English press.

The London office, in turn, relayed the service to the Committee's representative in The Hague for the Dutch press, a highly important operation in the machinery, as many Dutch papers managed to get past the German censorship. A further relay was to our offices in Copenhagen and Stockholm for translation and distribution to the newspapers of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and here again, particularly in the case of Copenhagen, we had a chance to beat the German censors. In Switzerland, too, we scored heavily against the Germans in the same fashion. The service also went from London to Saloniki and other Greek points, for not only was Greece to be considered, but it was good ground from which to shoot into the Balkans.

Our first effort to serve Russia was by wireless, and after much experimentation under the direction of Captain Todd we were actually able to reach the Russian station at Moscow. When the Bolsheviki overthrew Kerensky, however, one of their first actions was to grab the wireless stations. The one at Moscow, either intentionally or through ignorance, they put out of operation. Cut off in this quarter, the Committee's representatives managed to obtain permission for a cable service, and this went from New York direct from three to five hundred words a day. When the President spoke or when some major action was taken, we shot it through as a "special."

With Europe accounted for, attention was next given to South and Central America. At first glance it seemed a simple enough proposition, for virtually every South and Central American country had a wireless station and each government agreed instantly to take our news service out of the air. Our representatives would then attend to the business of translation and distribution. It was not even the case that dependence had to be placed on the one wireless leap from Tuckerton, for there was our own high-power station on the Isthmus of Panama to act as a relay. What seemed easy in theory, however, proved impossible in practice. Only Brazil " made good," the other South American stations falling down completely. As a consequence Compub had to inaugurate a cable service from New York to the Argentine, but, fortunately enough, we were able to arrange a "drop copy" plan that gave the matter to Lima, Santiago, Valparaiso, and all other cities touched by the cable. Buenos Aires distributed to Uruguay and Paraguay, the Brazilian wireless took care of the north, and so in a few months South America was thoroughly covered.

Mr. John Collins, "borrowed" from the Panama Canal Board, handled Central America from Darien, broadcasting it for interception by the wireless stations of the United Fruit Company. There was also a special cable service circulated gratis through co-operation of the Haiti Cable Company. It consisted of a summary of the day's news, approximating four hundred words daily, which was prepared by this office and sent over cables of the Haitian Company to all their offices. By these offices it was posted in various Central American and Caribbean cities or sold by the cable company's agents to various newspapers, etc. In this way many cities and xjommunities otherwise totally cut off from news of the world received adequate news summaries of the day's happenings and true news of America.

On studying Mexico, a distinct problem, we discovered that while the Associated Press served the Mexican morning newspapers, the afternoon press was not reached by any American agency. Compub, therefore, undertook a special service of its own, sending three hundred words daily to the City of Mexico for national distribution by Mr. Murray's office. A duplicate was generally sent to the American consular services along the Texas border, and very effective use was made of it.

The next link in the world chain was the Orient. Compub opened a branch office in San Francisco, and Mr. W. B. Clausen, "loaned" to us by the Associated Press, commenced the preparation of a daily service of particular interest to China, Japan, the Philippines, and Hawaii. The navy wireless station at San Diego flashed this to Pearl Harbor for distribution to the Hawaiian press, and from Pearl Harbor it went to the Philippines. Our original theory was that the Chinese and Japanese stations would receive from Manila, but owing to many mechanical difficulties it became necessary for our own station at Guam to take the service out of the air and put it on the cables to Tokio and to Shanghai. In China Mr. Crow, the Compub representative, distributed the service through a specially organized chain of newspapers, and in Japan we worked through the Kokusai and Nippon Dempo, the two principal news associations. Mr. Crow, in Shanghai, also relayed the service to Vladivostok, where our office gave it Siberian circulation. Distant Australia picked the service out of the air and used it. As the importance of the work became apparent, and as results were proved, the service increased its output. The regular wireless "report" was doubled and trebled in size, the navy's splendid efficiency in radio transmission permitting this expansion, and utilization was also made of the cables. Where some important official statement was released and publication desired abroad, Compub, with the co-operation of the foreign press associations and correspondents, sent such statements for simultaneous delivery and release.

This, then, was the ground-plan of America's world news service. When its strength and efficiency had been tested thoroughly, the machinery was augmented and improved at every possible point. Mr. Rogers and Mr. Arnold, selecting slowly and carefully, had gathered about them such newspaper men as Herman Suter, R. R. Reilly, Frank S. Gardner, Theodore Wallen, R. J. Rochon, E. F. Wilson, and Lieut. F. E. Ackerman and Lieut. P. S. O'Reilly (borrowed from the navy), constituting a force ready for any expansion.

Continued pressure upon the Italian government finally resulted in wireless improvements to such a degree that the station in Rome was able to receive directly from Tuckerton. This did away with the necessity of relay from Paris and enabled the New York office to pour a daily stream of news straight into Italy, an immediate contact to which the Italian press responded enthusiastically.

As Spain became more and more of a battle-ground, the relay service from Paris became insufficient, so a special cable service was sent to New York direct to Mr. Marion in Madrid, who worked out a splendid co-operative arrangement with Fabra, the official Spanish news agency, as well as serving Madrid papers directly, and issuing a news bulletin of his own.

The installation of Compub at Vladivostok, Harbin, Irkutsk, and Omsk in Siberia enabled us to send a direct Russian service from the wireless station at San Francisco. The naval vessel Brooklyn relayed the service at Vladivostok until a land wireless station was erected there. From London, in time, also went out several hundred words a day by cable to the American consul at Archangel, which were distributed to the American soldiers in that region as well as to the press.

London's importance as a clearing-house was recognized by the addition of a "localized" service of some six hundred words to the regular daily wireless. This included specialized news for England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Holland, Scandinavia, Greece, and other nations. The Field, a British periodical of large circulation, was induced through representatives of the Committee on duty in London to arrange for an "American Department." In this department the division furnished a great deal of American publicity matter, including, generally, a special cabled article weekly. Aside from the publicity obtained in this magazine, the editor, Sir Theodore Cook, a great admirer of America and of Americans, took a keen interest in circulation of American news, and through wide personal acquaintance with British editors and journalists got them frequently to reprint the American articles appearing in his periodical.

The National News organization was a British propaganda agency operating throughout the British Isles and particularly in Ireland. Many special news articles were prepared for this agency by Compub, and it proved a very effective medium of distribution. The Y. M. C. A. also gave a daily bulletin circulation among rest houses, camps, and clubs.

As the maintenance of Allied morale was one of Compub *s fundamental purposes, naturally enough Compub was called upon to assist in the work of keeping up the morale of American soldiers in France. What the doughboys missed most, and wanted most, was news of home and home folks. What news was printed was mostly of national affairs or of the war. There was no newspaper in Europe which could afford the expense of cabling items of purely local interest to the boys from Helena, Mont., or of Milwaukee, or San Francisco, or Cincinnati, or scores of other American cities. What was wanted was tiny bits of "home news" for the soldier — little items which would keep him in touch with conditions in his home town, just as a letter from his chum, or his mother, brother, sister, or sweetheart, or wife would do.

To meet this need, Compub inaugurated a "home news" service, sending it by wireless to France in addition to the regular daily service.

The American press was combed by readers in the New York offices for "homey news," every effort being made to cover the whole of the United States, and a report of nearly fifteen hundred words daily was prepared from these small items of news, none of which in themselves averaged more than fifty words each. The wireless carried this, and, incidentally, the Paris edition of The London Daily Mail, and of The New York Herald, used this service daily.

In the distribution of this matter to the soldier overseas the Foreign Press Cable Service had the co-operation of all American welfare services — the Young Men's Christian Association, Red Cross, Knights of Columbus, Young Men's Hebrew Association, Salvation Army, and others— as well as the army authorities. The latter granted permission for transmission of these home-news items over army wires from Paris to the front. The welfare organizations received copies in the huts close to the front and posted them for the benefit of the soldiers. Several welfare organizations in London and Paris printed a daily "newspaper" composed of these items, and despatched copies by mail to all recreation centers, hospitals, canteens, huts, etc., within reach. American sailors received them, navy wireless operators copying them throughout the reach of the American wireless sending station.

Early in the summer of 1918, when American troops entered in the "great push," Compub was called upon to extend its services of information still farther. Perry Arnold was sent abroad to study methods of news distribution and to organize a "news from the American front" service. He inspected the Committee's offices in London, Paris, and Madrid, and employed Maximilian Foster, the well-known novelist and writer, as the Committee's representative at the front with the American army, after himself having started such a service.

This service from the front was cabled and wirelessed throughout the world, giving a daily analysis of what American troops were doing in the Great War. General Pershing's staff at American headquarters was at all times in full sympathy with a plan of telling the world exactly what American soldiers were doing, and Compub 's representative was accorded the fullest facility in visiting the front and in transmitting his despatches via army wires.

The formation in New York of the local foreign correspondents in an association, one of Mr. Rogers's ideas, resulted in the doubling and trebling of the descriptive and interpretative matter that went out from the United States to the other countries of the world. As a result, a new and keener interest in America was aroused, and many of the European papers established "American departments." To meet this demand, Compub commenced a biweekly wireless service that carried feature matter and specialized material susceptible to illustration and editorial treatment.

Another duty of Compub was to keep in the closest possible touch with the trend of enemy propaganda. Its agents abroad reported on conditions frequently, and in the New York office certain employees were detailed regularly to read and analyze all German propaganda material received here — a great part of it being wireless matter sent by the great German wireless station at Nauen and intercepted by the United States Navy Communication station. By a co-operative arrangement with the publicity offices in America of the Allies, Compub likewise distributed to the American press all of the official British propaganda wireless material (intercepted by the American wireless stations) and on occasion special announcements "broadcasted" by the stations of the French and Italian governments.

In this manner, and scores of other ways, Compub expanded and improved, swift to take advantage of opportunity, keen to see new needs, and growing in strength, certainty, and importance. At its peak no news organization in the world, or in history, equaled Compub in the sweep of its operations, for there was not a corner of the earth into which it did not flash America's message. What is more, it was a message that carried conviction, for at no time did Compub depart from its original purpose — the presentation of facts. It was not our idea to argue, but to inform, for such was the justice of America's case, the wonder of America's achievement, that we felt that information was in itself the most conclusive argument.

The most important of all Compub activities and the most dramatic was the universal circulation of the President's official addresses. From the day that he went before the Senate, asking it to recognize the existence of a state of war, the President was accepted by the Allies as the official spokesman, for his imperishable words cut through every confusion of controversy down to the very heart of truth and justice in human aspiration. Nevertheless, owing to the congestion of the cables and the enormous expense of cable tolls, the President's addresses were not printed in full in Europe, and in other countries of the world only trifling excerpts were given to the people. This opened the door to a double danger, for not only were the Allied Powers being deprived of an effective weapon, but the German propaganda machine took advantage of the situation to suppress, to distort, and even to circulate text, not alone in Germany, but in the neutral nations.

One of our first decisions was to give textual distribution of the President's speeches, not only to Europe but to every quarter of the civilized globe. This vast project could not have been carried through to success without the generous co-operation of the great world press agencies. Compub paid the cable and telegraph tolls on the speeches and messages plus a small overhead charge, but this only partially covered the immense expenditure of time and energy in the distribution.

Immediately upon the signing of the armistice, orders were given to close every division of the Committee on Public Information with the exception of the wireless and cable service and their necessary distributing offices. It was not only the case that there still remained the necessity of putting true reports of the Peace Conference before the people of the world, but the press of America itself demanded aid in telling the story of Paris to the people of the United States. The cables, already overburdened, became hopelessly jammed when an army of American newspaper men commenced to file daily despatches in Paris for quick transmission.

Mr. Rogers proceeded to France at once, and after conference with the Associated Press, the United Press, the International News Service, and the correspondents of metropolitan dailies, a plan was worked out that put Cornpub at the disposal of the newspapers of the United States.