up to the plaintiffs to prove just how and to what extent they have been damaged. The newspaper has the right to question their character and reputation, to examine them about every detail of their lives and opinions. Was Upton Sinclair justified in divorcing his wife? Does Henry Ford know how to read? If not, then it is all right to call them "Anarchists."
Also there is the problem of the Associated Press, the most powerful and most sinister monopoly in America. Certainly there will be no freedom in America, neither journalistic freedom nor political freedom nor industrial freedom, until the monopoly of the Associated Press is broken; until the distributing of the news to American newspapers is declared a public utility, under public control; until anyone who wishes to publish a newspaper in any American city or town may receive the Associated Press service without any formality whatever, save the filing of an application and the payment of a fee to cover the cost of the service. Proceedings to establish this principle were begun a year ago by Hearst before the Federal Trade Commission. Hearst had been barred from getting the "A. P." franchise in certain cities, and I venture to guess that his purpose was to frighten his enemies into letting him have what he wanted. At any rate, he found himself suddenly able to buy the franchises, so he dropped his proceedings against the "A. P." The attorney in this case was Samuel Untermyer, who writes me about the issue as follows:
If the prevailing opinion is right, the monopoly of the Associated
Press over the news of the world is complete. Unless the courts will
hold, as I think they will, when the question comes before them, that
news is a public utility; that the Associated Press is engaged in inter-*state
commerce, using the cables, telegraph lines and telephones and
that it is, therefore, bound to furnish its service on equal terms to all
who choose to pay for it. If that is not the law, it should be the law,
and can readily be made the law by Federal legislation. Until this is
done, the monopoly of the Associated Press will continue intolerable.
I have fought it for years and thus far in vain, but I shall continue to fight until it is broken. The little clique that controls the Associated Press is in turn under the complete domination of a few of the most narrow-minded and reactionary of the great capitalists of the country. If our Government fails to stand the strain of these terrible times and if revolution and blood-shed follow—which God forbid!—the responsibility will rest at the doors of men like Gary and law-*breakers like the U. S. Steel Company who lack all vision and sense of justice.
Also there should be a law forbidding any newspaper to
