The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1858-11-10

Time was when books did all this but
that is past The Newspaper is the lite
nature of the land now, and triti:ng with
its character is tr;hing with the character
of the Nation fora full generation to come.
In that good time which is always rep
resented as coming" we hope to see the
Editors better bestowed than they are
now. We hope to see some of that Value
which they invariably bring to the real
estate of their several localities, some OF:
that prosperity which they draw to trade
and commerce, and some Of that case and
wealth which tEey aid their neighhors in
amassing, transferred to themselves, We
shall expect to see them escape from what
some writer has well expressed it, tho
dead-hcadsrn of corporations, societies.
and individuals; of the pulpit, the bar
and the stage. We shall hope TO see it
have done giving strength to weak insti-
tutions, covering up inFssm.ties, hiding
weaknesses, hera ding quacks, bo>terlng
up dull authors and fattering the vain;
in Short lubricating the wheels of society,"
without fee or reward. We shall expect
to sec the Press well clear of beg ging pol
tieians, of corrupt Office holders, of unscru-
puluous spectators, and all tho horde of
leeches who crowd around it now, cryinI
Ncivc, give" The Editor, in that grand
which we can sec in the minds eye, will
be round and rudy gentleman. sitting
with his wife and little ones under his OVID
vine and fg tree. He shal! look around
the comfortable lomst al and fair acres,
and say, ''these are the fruits of my IN
bors." He shall be man of indepcn-t
dence, of great patience, and pass"b'e
honesty; but the greatest of these viii be
independence. He shall long for no Of
fee, receives no presents, and be the
mouth-piece Of no man or number OF men
He shall look his ncigibor full in the
face owing him nothing. He will, as
Southey describes such an one, be "a man
of robust and healthy intellect, who gath
ers the harvest of literature into his brain
,hreshes the straw, winnows tho grain,
crinds it in his own mill, bakes it in his
own oyen," and then gives it abroad a.
lneng his neighbors, the truo bread OF
knowledge.
With Editors Ike these, tho power of
the Press, already 50 great aud ovorweln,-
ing will purify, strengthen, and become
the great arm Of the uation. 1t will never
wane and decay as fcuda rude, dcspotism,
priestcraft, and superstition; but as ~
house which is built upon the rock, tho
floods may come and the storms may
beat upon it, bat it will not be washed
away. And in after ages, if the Union
is numbered with the Roman Republic
among the things of the past, as having
tottered and fallen of sappen and cor
ruptod foundations, let us hope that lis
tory will bear record that the Press was
the pillar of strength which upheld it to
the latest hour. God forbid that there
shall ever be history Of fallen Repab
lie on this soil; but may the American
people and their free institutions grow
and be perpetuatcd with succe olng ages,
until when the great trump is sounded,
there shall be but one nation, which,
starting with The morning sun, gathered
breadth and force as it swept along in its
westward march of empire, and circling
the globe reached its eastern shores ngain
with every tongue and every people for
med together lnder its glorious banner,
as the one free and enlightened Christian
Nation Of the Earth.