Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1852-04-06
NEWSPAPERS.


recorded thought. What will not be found in
their crowded columns! History, speeches, po-
litical, forensic and theological, geography,
maps, discoveries, anecdotes, biography, statis-
ties, all the sciences, the doings of all nations
and the wants of all men, commercial interests,
adventures and prospects, and all the events and
thoughts that illustrate the age, arc here ar
ranged under their appropriate heads and stam-
ped on the ephemeral, yet it may be, an immor-
tai page. Each paper is Il volume-each issue
library. Perhaps there is nothing more char
acteristic of the time, marking its progress, its
energy, and shadowing forth its future, than the
intellectual wealth which is poured into the pub
lie mind, through the channel of the daily and
weekly press.
If wealth be measured by the true standard of
how much labor it will command, then is every
man in this country rich for, in the single news
paper, how much labor can his penny buy!-
More than the most opulent could have afforded
at former day. Important events are transpi-
ring in Russia, Austria, Turkey, France, Eng
land on the La Plata and San Joaq uim--indeed,
over all the world, which countless men, at the
places of their occurrence are laboring to ascer-
tain with particularly, arrange and record
They come TO this focal point through various
sources; by railroad, by stage, steamships, sails
and lightning, till they reach the sanctum of the
Editor. A thousand rlls are pouring into the
general stream. At home, Il hundred men are
diligently at work, through night and day, gath
erng knowledge and collating it for use. The
mills are turning out their spotless reams and,
when all is ready, the massive engine, as if in
spired by the living genius of the age, speeds its
myriad copies through the world. This is one
days work One cent represents it all.
1t were curious history to trace the art of
communicating knowledge, from the ancient
manuscript duplicated only by the pen through
tedious hours, to the ponderous printed tome,
and thence, through various degrees to the nm-
BILE paper of the present day Thousands Pc
ruse the daily issues, and are thus acquainted
with the current events Of the globe, who would
rarely open the lids Of book Dust is allowed
to gather on the huge volume. Men prefer the
newspaper, easily taken up and easily laid down,
ever at hand, ever fresh, and containing all that
is known; for into its columns is pressed the
essence of books, and much that books do not
contain. They are the worlds ledgers, and post
their readers up each day. Men do not feel
prepared to plunge into the tide of business till
they have seen what has taken place during the
previous day and night in their city and coun-
try, and what the last steamer has brought from
California, England, or the Continent. In
stances of valOr, great and good deeds, new
ideas, are collected from different countries, and
reach the general mind. When roguery shows
its head, it is branded, and the people worned.-
If an earthquake rumbles, if star is discover
ed ship launched or lost, mine uncovered
murder perpetrated, battle fought, a monarch
dethroned, lighthouse erected, n railway
opened, or an election concluded, the mails are
freighted with the intelligence, and
the tables of reading-rooms groan under its
weight.
Do men rehec. how many fervent brains are
necessary to forge daily paper! Look at one
or two instances: An ardent scholar pursues
his studies through years of assduous toll. He
ponrs out his ripened thought and rich expert
ence into the compact and wel-ordered lecture.
His best and richest suggestions are here con-
densed. He reads them to 4 few hundred adj
miring people, and, ere the words have left his
mouth the press catches the substance of his |
effort and wind and tide and steam are carrying |
it to the earth's ends. Thus, when Siiman |
opens the valves of his philosophy, Antisell un-
ravels the earth's history ofitself Mitchell scars
amidst the stars, Kane tells us Of the "pulse of
The ice" beyond the "recorded frontier" or EN-
erson, from his quiet home on the Concord, re-
'caiS W us VIC ucptnS Ol our OWL SOULS, the |
press seizes the revelations, and spreads them
inder the eye of the world. So Webster, the |
colossus of the New Word, addresses an audi |
,nce, and the next morning his majestic senten-
les inform the gladdened page. &c. Kossuth
he lofty intellect of the Old World, summons
he spirit of liberty TO the aid of the oppressed,
md, without delay, his burning words and gori-
,us thoughts traverse the nations.
Then, the deliberations of Legislatures, State
nd Federal, the lucubrations of distant cores
'ondents, the letters Of travellers, the specula-
ions of laborious Editors, the experience of far
lighted men of trade and commerce, the legal es-
avs of the Bench, the debates, the conventions,
he statistical compilations, and vast variety
# miscellaneous intelligence, throng the laden
columns.
But the advertising compartment shows, per-
APPS, most faithfully, the very age and body of
he time, his form and pressure" Here, new in
entions clamor for attentions the individual
wants of whole community demand gratifca-
on What every man has to sell, what every
IAN wants to buy, when steamers start, and To-
omotives tramp, what sights are to be seen,
lays enacted, books published, goods imported,
ividends declared, diseases cured, partnerships
,rmed and dissolved, estates settled, vessels tel
graphed, desires supplied, and host of notices
,fusing to be classified, contribute TO make the
,lumns of advertisements a daguerreo,ype of
le social life of the people.
y. r. 4