news is superintended at London by Mr. A. C. Wilson, an educated American gentleman, whose long experience in journalism, and liberal acquirements as a linguist, peculiarly fit him for his position. With the aid of the Continental Telegraph Bureau of Berlin (generally known as Wolff's Bureau), assistants at the several European capitals, and careful market reporters at prominent commercial centres, he collects at London the news of the Old World, and forwards it to the central agency at New York, per cable, to the extent of about a column of printed matter per day, and sometimes twice that amount.

The Associated Press is governed by a set of bye-laws, which answer as articles of copartnership. The only one of these rules of interest in this place, forbids the members of the Association taking news by telegraph exclusively for any individual journal, except from the national capital or the capital of the State of New York, or unless the news relates to political conventions, sporting matters, or executions. But either member of the Association may order, through the General Agent, any special news which he may require, and use it alone, unless other members of the Association see fit to share it; in which event, the cost of obtaining the news is divided between those papers which elect to publish it. Any special despatch received by any one paper of the Association (unless it comes within the excep. tions above noted) must be promptly sent to all the other members of the Association, to be paid for by whoever sees fit to use it. It will be seen that the purpose of this regulation is to prevent useless competition between associated papers, at the same time that each is left free to obtain for himself any news which other members of the Association may not care to have.

Thus the news of the world is concentrated at New York primarily for the use of the Associated Press journals in that city. But the Association, having thus obtained the news, supplies it for a percentage of its cost, in such quantities as may be desired, to a vast number of journals all over the United States-from Maine on the North Atlantic to Texas on the Gulf of Mexico, and to California'on the Pacific. With slight exceptions the news is all sent to New York first, and thence distributed in every direction, according to the wants of each section; the Association agents collecting the assessments (generally fixed in amount per week, and graduated according to the importance of the city or town where used), deducting local expenses therefrom, and remitting the balance to the General Agent at New York. The chief exception to this plan is that of the Western Asso

ciated Press, which collects the news of the North-western States, from Ohio to the Missouri River, and delivers the same to an agent of the parent institution of New York, located at Cleveland, Ohio. The Western Association, too, receives the news of the rest of the world at New York, where its own reporter condenses the same for transmission to the West.

The Press of New England, and the interior Press of New York State, also have their reporters at the Central Agency, to make up and forward the news to their respective employers. The California Press have an agent of their own at Chicago, and the Press of the South have one at the central point, Washington, to perform similar service for their respective sections.

By arrangement with the Telegraph Companies, the distribution of news from New York, Washington, and Cleveland, is made simultaneously to all points desired to be served in a given section. Take the New England service as an illustration. At a regular hour, agreed upon by contract, a main wire between New York and Boston is put in telegraphic communication with every city and town in New England which is entitled to the report; then, by a single manipulation in New York, the same message is sent simultaneously to all of them; an operator at each receiving station taking it off for local use. The same plan, substantially, is pursued throughout the country.

All this involves an expenditure of a considerable sum of money. The total disbursements of the New York Associated Press may be estimated in round numbers at 500,000 dollars per annum. The expenditures of the Western Associated Press, in their connection with the New York Associated Press, probably amount to 150,000 dollars per annum more. This, be it remembered, is for the single item of collecting and distributing telegraphic news of the Associated Press. All the great dailies of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the larger cities of the North-western States, supplement the Associated news with "special" despatches, upon which each journal expends a sum probably much larger than its share of Associated Press bills. The charges on such "specials" are settled directly between the offices using them and the Telegraph Companies, and therefore do not appear in the expenditures of the Association. It should have been stated in an earlier paragraph of this article, that the Associated Press agents are rigidly restricted to reporting simple facts; always distinctly giving as "rumor" anything deemed of sufficient importance to notice at all, unless it is well authenticated. Opinions, by telegraph, are religiously tabooed; and the agent who ventures to put them

upon the wires is sure to repent of his rashness as soon as his superior officer has time to communicate with him. The special correspondents -each catering for the particular journal to which he is attached-are restricted by no such rule, but travel unfettered in the realms of fancy, speculation, and gossip. The total cost of telegrams to a leading journal in New York city may be estimated at from 75,000 to 100,000 dollars per annum.

The Associated Press machinery is necessarily quite complex; nevertheless, so well organized is the system that, when in competent and trustworthy hands, it works very satisfactorily. Its superintendence requires for success decided executive ability, and much journalistic taste, experience, and tact, coupled with quick perception and great industry. The General Agent must be a good judge of news, that he may know how to direct its judicious collection for the innumerable journals of diverse sentiments and wants which the Association undertakes to serve. He must also be a good business man, to manage satisfactorily the financial affairs of the Association. Without ready energy and decision, he would inevitably become involved and lost in the intricate machinery which he manipulates, and which frequently must need a prompt and steady hand for its adjustment to new conditions and necessities. With these qualities in the General Agent, the Associated Press system operates as regularly and smoothly as that of a well-directed post-office department, which in some respects it resembles. The present General Agent, Mr. J. W. Simonton, is a graduate of the New York "Times" establishment, a journalist of large experience, who has been successful both as editor and publisher, and is still, we believe, a stockholder in the New York "Times," and half owner of the "Bulletin," the leading paper of San Francisco, California.

The American Press have always resisted the establishment of anything akin to the Reuter system of Europe, which, they claim, leaves iournalism more or less at the mercy of a private corporation, with whom Press service, on behalf of the general public, is made secondary to the service of private speculators. About a year ago a former General Agent undertook to convert the machinery of the New York Associated Press to his own use, with a view to creating a private American corporation, similar to Reuter's, for the collection and distribution of the news of the world. So objectionable is that system in the eyes of American newspaper publishers, that the Associated Press waged vigorous battle against their former agent, until they had beaten him out of the field, at a cost for the war of perhaps £10,000.

The History of the Guards' Memorial.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BROADWAY."

SIR, The article by Mr. Palgrave, which has appeared in THE BROADWAY, on the "Public Statues in London," alludes to the figure surmounting the Guards' Memorial in Waterloo Place as that of "Victory." It is, however, intended as a representation of "Honour," which would have been evident had I been allowed to place, as part of the decoration in front of the Memorial, the appropriate inscription, "Honour to the Brave." But it is possible that a short account, by the artist himself, of the birth and parentage of a public memorial may be of some interest to your readers.

The Guards' Memorial was the subject of a limited competition which was held in St. James's Palace. My design, which was eventually selected, was simply the group of Guards-Grenadier, Fusilier, and Coldstream-in full marching costume, as they appear in Waterloo Place, in front of a granite obelisk, on which were to be inscribed the names of all those gallant fellows of the Brigade who had fallen in the Crimea. There was no surmounting figure in that design, which was the one whereby I obtained the commission, and which I now have in my studio, open for any one to see. After the design was chosen, there was much discussion as to the site for the proposed Memorial, and, for more than one reason, the Committee under whom I worked came to the conclusion to abandon the obelisk; and I was directed to substitute in its place a figure surmounting a pedestal. The reasons for this became more apparent when Waterloo Place was eventually fixed on for the site, where an obelisk would perhaps, as a tall form, have been too closely in competition with the Duke of York's Column. On this change of plan being adopted, I informed my employers that while the base of an obelisk was one thing, that for a statue was another, and that it ought to be much more decorative in the latter case. This was not at the time entertained by the Committee; and especially as the funds were limited, I was directed to put up a simple pedestal at the back of the soldiers, and it was suggested to me that the figure to surmount it should be that of Victory. But I had two objections to this being the subject-first, that among the other designs at the competition there had been one comprising a surmounting figure of Victory by Mr. Weekes, R.A., and I would avoid plagiarism; and another, that I preferred the idea of Honour as more logical, for we may retain Honour, although we cannot always ensure Victory. The figure of Honour that now stands in Waterloo Place is one of which I had made the design many years before for the centre of Trafalgar Square, when proposing the scheme of two monuments there-viz., of Wellington as well as Nelson, one on either side.

To resume: I said I would follow my instructions, but that I was quite sure that eventually the pedestal would have to be more deco

rated, and so it turned out. When it was put up in its baldness there was a public roar of dissatisfaction about it, and I attempted some economical additions of decoration at the sides which were quite inadequate, and eventually some more subscriptions were obtained which enabled me to mitigate the plainness of the contours with bronze shields and foliage at the sides, and with a trophy of guns at the back. Of course if the funds had been sufficient, I should have put another and varied group at the back, illustrative of the subject of the Memorial, where the guns now rest; but this was not the case, and, indeed, I received less for this large work than the late Mr. Gibson had for his single statue of Sir Robert Peel in Westminster Abbey. I quite feel that the Guards' Memorial might be better, although I should not be sincere in saying that I am ashamed of it. Had the funds been larger, I should have decorated it more all round; and, as it was, I certainly should have affixed in front, in bronze letters, the legend, "Honour to the Brave," if I had been so permitted. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge took no exception to this, but it was ultimately decided against by the authorities of the Brigade on the score that it might seem like self-laudation, and thus the figure is, even by Mr. Palgrave-and very naturally too perhaps thought to represent Victory instead of Honour. When trying the full-sized model in plaster up in its place, prior to its being cast in bronze, I recollect some discussion among the chance spectators around me, as to whether it was intended to represent Her Majesty or Miss Nightingale. The ancients, on their triumphal arches and other ornamental public monuments, made much use of inscriptions, not only as explanatory, but as decorative adjuncts; but a British sculptor is denied this aid. It is certain, that although I believe the group of the Guards has found some public favour, yet the back of the Memorial is inadequate. The best mitigation I can now imagine for that is that one day perhaps, some other memorial may be erected dos a dos to it, facing up Regent Street. Although I quite agree with the drift of Mr. Palgrave's observation, that bronze figures should have much outline, yet I do not see in this case how a smaller mass than that presented by the figure of Honour could have adequately surmounted the large pedestal beneath. Nor when it was first put up in bronze did the figure look heavy, as then in the subdued brightness of the metal the details could be seen. But now the atmosphere of London has made it black, and it tells only as a silhouette against the sky. When I first tried it upon the pedestal in white plaster, it had a vastly better effect; and, for my part, I wish all the bronze statues in London could be made white, and that some infinitely thin enamel might be discovered for them by our excellent chemists that would keep the surface pure, when perhaps we poor sculptors of England might be in more favour as compared with our brethren abroad, who have the advantage, even in their cities, of a clear atmosphere and a brighter sun. I am, sir, yours obediently,

15, Douro Place, Victoria Road, Kensington.

JOHN BELL.