Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1849-06-27
Editorial Convention.

A late number of the Shreveport journal rec
ommends an Editorial Convention in Louisiana
and forcibly illustrates its necessity by judicious
and truthful remarks. We are clearly in favor o.
the idea-or any idea that will tend to bring before
The people in the neighborhood of every newspaper
in the State, in some direct and pointed manner
the great moral and peeuniary bensft which well
conducted journal extends to every community
Deeply engaged in the alI>absorbing occupation Of
personal emolulnens and enterprise, so Characters
tic of this age and of this county. our people neg.
lect entirely to glance at the grand lever which
turns the wheel of their prosperity and happiness,
and it is suffered in many instances 10 rust and to
60 into corruption. The Press is this great lever
and although in every neighborhood, there are some
pure, enlightened and generous minds, who know
and appreciate its importance. the great mass look
upon it with an Indifference which can only result
from the inattention and lack of thought hitherto
given 10 it for it seems to us that the most ignorant.
and unenlightened citizen cannot but appreciate the
importance of a heightened journal in every point
view If an unprecedented and unbiased judgment
is allowed to be exercised respecting its utility. But
orr countrymen are so jealous, and so utterly detest
anything that seems to approach egotism, that when
an editor. as a duty to himself, to society, and to
the age in which he lives, is forced TO speak on this
as upon other subjects connected with the interests
and moral advancement of bis kind, which is pecu-
lany his province, he is at once accused of sinister
motives, and all the good which his reasoning, his
candor and his truths might have produced, is en-
tirely lost upon those who, swayed by narrow and
selfish feelings, lose sight of the benefits which such
topics advance.
A Convention, then, could do a grea, deal to.
wards establishing journalism in Louisiana upon a
firm and legitimate footing. As a class of men,
apart from their profession, we will venture to say
editors of newspapers are not surpassed by any
other in The lberality of their sentiments, the gen.
of their hearts, and the purity of their i'm
They are far from being selfish and par
simonious, and their most inordinate ambition looks
no farther than a home for themselves and families
and free from pecuniary obligations-and when. as
is frequently the case in the country, the editor
obliged to toll at the case and the press, for the sake
Of economy, sending forth weekly the result of
mental and physical eforts-a trade acquired by
long s~ervitude, and talents secured by study and
diigence-few can appreciate properly the im-
mense labor he accomplishes, can realize the feel.
ings Of his worn and jaded frame, where intellect
and muscle have gone hand in hand, nor believe,
alas! the straits to which be is often subjected to
procure the commonest necessaries of life for his
dependant family.
We ~reiterate the sentiment of the Journal in con-
c~lusion, by stating tina. if We are seconded in the
above ~objectby any of our contemporaries, we will
again recur to this subject, and enter more fully
the benefits to be derived by the profession, the
people, and the State, by a Convention of Editors
in Louisiana. a..