St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1856-10-09
lips thousands take truth or error.

lpS thousands take truth or error. L
!, lines the humblest cottages with it,
) cheap libraries: They will soon q
: without their breakfast as without tn,
daily paper I; and SO wide is it's scop,
, and SO rapid its movement that peopl,
half way up to Albany will read a re
port of this meeting before we ar,
: half out of bed. And if it engender,
evil, it is the only vehicle through
which the remedy can be poured int
the world. And then, sir, Just consid
er its power as a money interest W.
are hardly aware, many of us, of tn,
amout of capital which is employed
of the amount of wealth imbeded il
stereotype and electrotype plates alone
crowded in the vaults of our great
publishers, as a merchant crowds the
hold of his ship. .lag ~.
Why, sir, in this very city there is
hiddentreasure, treasure under ground
not diamonds, not ingots, but treasure
worth far more than any said to have
been hidden by Captain Kidd-Genii,
imprisoned in little boxes, that at the
beck of the publisher start out with a
power more potent than that of the
spirit described in the Arabian tale.
Surely, then, the press does indeed con-
stitute the Fourth estate )" and if we
are not, as have observed, so demo-
cratic, / should say that to it belongs
one Of the great diadems of the world.
And thus, Mr.. President, the third
phase Of the printing press in the age
of steam and electricity, assumes the
most momentous interest. For nobody
can study this wonderful instrument
without discovering that mainly, ch
the whole, it is an agent of great and
beneficent uses.
F. l shall not enter, now, into any alb
stract argument to- prove that this is
the case, by showing that freedom and
intelligence, and virtue and religion
are linked indissolubly together and
that old Milton was ri ght in what he
said about truth being left free to COM
bat with error. But priori, of steam
and electricity, must be the agent of
the highest uses the best ends, be-
|cause, sir, / believe that there is no
great action of the natural or social
world; permitted by Providence, without
these ends. There was truth in the
old conceit that the stars are mated
with human destiny, and that distant
planets reflected aspects of this earth
There is truth in the conception that
every great movement of being and ol
power involves the purpose Of God in
regard to humanity. g3, ,sss
Do you think all these splendid veh
icles Of communication mere matters OF
1 pleasure and profit, of commerce Of the
custom house? / see providential
purpose levying on these railroads and
telegraphs to do its work, and far out
on lonely seas it hangs it's signal Ian.
terms on the bows of your steamships
And almost the first thought--the com
prehensive and most glorious thought
which the printing press awakens
in your minds, and my mind, and in
the mind of every man, is that of great
and bcneficent uses. All of it's appur.
tenances are quickly translated into
this meaning. Human measures are
defeated, methods fail, but Gods own
purposes never; and the processes of
his eternal righteousness and truth run
in the iron grooves Of the printing
press. I'D ,r5 .lsy g.. Is ~
And so, Mr.. President, it is the NOR.
al interest of the great power that is
represented here to night, that lends
to the occasion its most suggestive
aspect. 1t is, a fact that the power
welded by the Publishers Association,
is 50 much power working, on the
whole. against the wrong and the
falsehood that are in the world. i look
upon these great printing Offices and
factories of books as so many moral en-.
campments, and upon these ranks Of
workipgmen and workingwomen as
indeed, a vast army arrayed against
huge Redans and Malakoffs Of evil.
Gentlemen of the New York Pulishers'
Association, I thank you for those mu.
nitious of war, those embattled hosts
and yonder glittering signals of sue.
cess. Women, bending over your
work, toll on, for it leads to result
well worthy the spirit and true mission
Of women: And you, my brethren
with rolled-up sleeves, remember it is
q moral, wide, a final conflict in which
| you are engaged. The rumble Of the
fpower-press is better than the roar o1
artillery. The click of composing
sticks is more inspiring than the clanl
Of armor; and every type, more sure
than a bullet, and shooting noiseless
as the summer air, shall it hit the
mark, though it be thousand years
ahead. Advance, battalions |! for will
every forward step the old wrong ant
falsehood Of the world grows weaker
and is made ready to pass away.
| Decision OF CHARACTER. Without i
no man Or woman is ever worth but
/ ton, nor ever can be. Without it MAJ
/ Pbccomcs at once q good-natured no
body the poverty-stricken possessol
of but ltiie solitary principle-that o
obhging everybody under the sui
merely for the asking. 'e II ag