Reuters was no less one-sided in its devotion to British interests, and the national agencies of the smaller States were doubly handicapped. On the one hand they were mere creatures of Reuters-Havas; on the other, they were bound out to the service of their own State. The mere listing of the national agencies dancing to the Reuters-Havas tune establishes the political significance of the cartel. They were: Amtliche Nachrichtenstelle, Austria; Agence Telegraphique Belge, Belgium; Agence Telegraphique Bulgars, Bulgaria; Bureau de Presse, Czechoslovakia; Ritzaus Bureau, Denmark; Agence Telegraphique Esthonienne, Esthonia; Finska Notisbyran, Finland; Athena, Greece; Nederlandsch Telegraaf Agentschap, Holland; Agence Telegraphique Lettone, Latvia; Agence Telegraphique Hongroise, Hungary; Stefani, Italy; Kokusai, Japan; Avola, Yugoslavia; Agence Telegraphique Lithuanienne, Lithuania; Norsk Telegram-Bureau, Norway; Agence Telegraphique Polonaise, Poland; Rador, Rumania; Rosta, Russia; Fabra, Spain; Tidningarnas Telegrambyra, Sweden; Agence Telegraphique Suisse, Switzerland; Anatolie, Turkey. These agencies were financially controlled by Reuters-Havas-Wolff, but they could not have been independent even if there were no financial control. In the first place, the cables were British and aside from direct restrictions imposed by Great Britain on users of the cable, manipulation of rates could determine the profit or bankruptcy of a stubborn agency. On top of that, Havas and the smaller agencies were not only news but also advertising agencies, monopolistic ones. Newspapers, in Europe and Asia alike, got Reuters-Havas news service free--in effect, and they had to use it if they wanted the advertising by which they lived. This dominating position gave the European agencies a haughty and clumsy attitude toward transmission of news. They could delay or garble the most important events. It also gave them no incentive to technical advance. Havas was still using the stylus instead of the typewriter in the 1920’s. So long as and wherever Britain and France remained the ruling powers, the agencies could get away with it. But wherever and whenever some other power could challenge Anglo-French rule, a challenge to the news agencies would follow. South America was the “where” and World War I was the “when.” Conquest of South America Havas was boss of South America according to the cartel contract. As soon as World War I started, therefore, Havas decided exactly what South Americans could be permitted to learn about the war. It goes without saying that only the Allied side was to be reported. But such was the inflexibility of the official agencies, that Havas was unwilling to transmit even the German war communique when asked to do so by leading South American papers. It could not unbend that much to head off the obvious danger of losing South America to some American rival agency.