Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 August 1907 — NEWS DISPATCHES ARE MEAGER [ARTICLE]

NEWS DISPATCHES ARE MEAGER

Strike Curtails All Memiseii, Even •ver ithe Tjeaaimk'ivfres. c - 7* ' Owing to the almost complete interruption of telegraphic communication between various parts of the country the news dispatches in the city dailies, both those sent out by the Associated Press and those received over special leased wires, were grra+ly curtailed; —When the command, was flashed to Chicago at midnight Thursday every union operator in the Western Uhion office stopped right inUhe middle of his dispatch, signalled "30,” closed his key and left His desk. Postal operators followed Saturday, and Chicago was practically isolated from the rest of the country, so far' as telegraphic communication was concerned. Many portions of the country were entirely cut off from the news centers and even the messages received from the larger cities were in many cases meager, showing the strain put -upon the available wires. Operators on the leased wires bomplained of frequent interruptions and the service showed the results of general de- z moralization. As a result, there was a sensible diminution in the bulk of outside news which reached the news centers. While the morning papers in all of the large cities suffered from this cause, the 1 real acuteness of the situation was best realized in cities of 25,000 and under. Most of the newspapers m these towns do not lease their own wires, but rely on the Western Union and the Postal Telegraph companies for service.