Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1859-06-23
PROCEEDINGS OF THE
EDITORIAL CONVENTION
:. OF NORTHERN INDIANA. q
REPORTED By ". II. DRAPER, OF SOUTH BEND.
HELD AT PLYING UTH, IND, JUNE IA, 1853

hLIVhlLD DI W. Ia DhifiEh, Uf NUUfh BEND.
Agreeably to an understanding between
them. a number of Editors and Publishers
residing in the Northern portion of the
State of Indiana, assembled in Wester-
velt's Hall, at Plymouth, the county seat
OF Marshall County. on Tuesday, June Ia,
1859, at one o'clock, p. m.
The Convention was called to order by
|. MATrINGLY, Esq, of the 3iarshall
County Republicon, upon whose motion
Col. JOHN G. WALKER, of the Lee Porte
Times, was chosen President of the body.
Col. WALKER was then introduced to the
audience, and, upon taking the Chair,
spoke In substance as follows:
GENTLEMEN OF THE PREss:-Accept, if
you please my sincere thanks for the honor
conferred upon me in your selection of a
President of this Convention.
We have coms together, fellow editors,
as you all know for the purpose of discuss
ing and adopting such measures as may be
calculated, in our opinion, TO further the
material interests of the newspaper publ
cations of northern Indiana. We have as
sembled here on this occasion, not simply
/ for this purpose, but to form a personal
acquaintance with each other and to engen-
der and to cultivate g. social sentiment
among the brethren of the Press, the ten
dency OF which must be to smooth down
the sharp angles of newspaper intercourse
and elevate the standard of editorial eti-
quette. However inadequate the measures
we adopt may be to the accomplishment of
the one object had in view by this Con-
vention, the other, it will be conceded, is
easy of attainment, and would in fact, be
natural outgrowth Of a repetition of
such genial and harmonious assemblages
as this promises to become.
/ The career of an editor is attended by its
peculiar and numerous responsibilities and
cissitudes--respons which involve
the interest not only of himself, bu. of the
community in which he labors-vicissi-
tudes, physical and moral, which carry him
through ten thousand varying lights and
shadows and wreck him too frequently nn
the strands of disappointment. Yet in the
midst of its embarrassments and its embit-
terments--in the midst of its trials and
its tribuations, the profession. levies it's
tribute on the best talent in our midst, and
enists in an involuntary idolatry at its
shrine too much, | had nearly said of the
genius and the enthusiasm of the country
The youthful devotee is lead forward in
his career and bound to his idol by a fasci-
nation which he cannot explain; and if
years of care, and toll, and strife shall sub
due his spirits and cripple his fancy, and
pull down his ambition, and with one ef-
! fort break loose from the servitude which
has for awhile cnchained him, his freedom
comes too late for enjoyment, and like a
liberated bird or a truant lover he returns
again to the cage of his mstress-to the
arms of his first love-and resigning him
self to his fate asks for no further deliver
ance. f
When we bring ourselves. gentlemen, to
realize the facinating bondage an editorial
existence, reflection will justify the conclu-
sion that there is, after all, real and sub
stantial charm in the pursuits of the pro
fession--a charm which has its origin in
deep seated impulses of generous, phi
lanthropc and praiseworthy character
The journey of our editorial lives may be
bears us onward may bedashed from shore
to shore or tossed upon the raging pillows,
yet there are green islandswhere we all NAV
anchor there are still waters where we all
may rest-there is an atmosphere which we
all may reach, where the hungry soul may
feed and the spirit find its home. When the
storm of politics sweeps across the land
when champion meets champion and army
meets army in the battle for principle or
justice, real or imaginary, the editors of
the country, in the discharge of duty, come
boldly forward with their batteries unmask-
ed, and discharging the shots which decide
the victory receive the wounds and carry
away with them the scars of the conflict.
Yet, when that conflict is over and the
combat decided, our mission brings us a.
gain, side by side, to labour for. the good
of man and the elevation of the human
mind Our profession leads us into con-
tin = Gus communion with the men and the
women. and children of the country-we
give character aud tone to the social, NOR
, al, intellectual and political sentiment oi
the public-we hold in our hands ths lever
which controls the active minds anil mat
ters of the world--we feel the great heart
throbs of the people and minister to the re
lief of the vital fabric which surround us.
How importantit is, then, that the edi
tors of every section should, at once, appre
ciate the responsibilities of the position the,
occupy and understand each other we'll
: that they may be the better enabled to make
the proper allowance for the foibles of each
and in the main work harmoniously to
! gether in common cause. Believing tha
r the system of Conventions which this i
g designed to .inaugurate, is destined to eff
feet much good to ourselves and more t,
our country-that we will all rernnem be
this occasion with pleasure, with interes
e and with proit-that we will go hence re
e membering each other, not as enemies an,
aliens, but as friends and brothers-co
workers in the vineyards of human progress
it is, gentlemen, with much pleasure tina
I accept the position and the duties yo
have sought proper to assign me. E g
: On motion of DR.. CAMERON, of the Val
pariso Republican, PETER P. GALLEY, of til
4 n