Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1859-09-02
TEE NEWSPAPER PRESS.

No HISlitulIOH Vi SOcIelF CSln Dear mo
: ments comparison with this great engine-thi
= great organ of human mind. It is a universal
l and the only universal-lever of education
1t is an estate by itself, embracing within the
range Of its influence elements which enter int
E every relation Of human economy and life
e There is no hidden recess of society which i
does not penetrate. 1t is a statesman, a law
yer, physician, clergyman. a teacher, me
cHanic, a farmer, manufacturer, man of leis
Gre, of letters and science 1t controls the
| State and it controls the Church-it directs
the family, the legislator, the magistrate, anG
| the min ;ster. None rise above its influence
none sink below its authority. 1t is the most
pervading, powerful, and benefcent institution
| of ancient or modern society. 1t is more in
harmony with the Divine intelligence more
minute incomprehel. .sible, indescrutable, and yet
more simple, inteIligibta and influential in effect
ing the ends of human progress, in elevating
the character and securing the culture OF man,
than any and all other agencies combined
This may be regarded at first as an eXtrava-
CANT assumption. individuals may deride the
newspaper press press, may assail its integrity,
question its morality and deny its controlling
influence over the Will, Judgment and actions OF
men but such persons would measure the vol
ume of the sea by the rpples upon its surface,
bound the earth by the horizon of their own
visions, and estimate the economy of nature by
the gifts which have been strewn around their
| o Nn hearthstones.
| If the newspaper press is capable of almost
infinite good, by disseminating truth, by cor
recting falshOod, by giving character to na-
ticns, and of writing their history, We concede
it is also capable of doiHg tast mischief. It is
no part of our belief that it is anywhere in the
neighborhood of perfection. Nor is it possible
to WELD all engine so complicated and powerful
Ito drive a machine of such gigantic proper
tions-without violating some of the rights of
individuals, nor without offending moral prin-
ciples an sensibilities. We have few perfect
governments, lawyers, statesmen, mechanics, or
| teachers. Perfection is not stamped on mind
| or matter.
The newspaper press is democratic institu-
ton in its every feature, labor, and effect in
its free speech, opinions, and eeonof1ly; in the
mind that directs it, and in the Judgment ind
taste that patronize it. 1t is an element in the
social and political representa-
tive, deliberate, and peryading addressing
the citizen and the magistrate, upholding and
sustaining tic good, rebuking and condemning
the offender. 1t feeds and stimulates the mind
with perpetual means of action teaches the
ignorant to read, to spell, to write, to think
draws it out of channels and leads it into the
daylight of the worlds deeds; and thus liber-
| alzes, ehlarges; and expands it. The newspa-
per press of the United States has published
more valuable matter within a twelve-month
than the combined press of the world publish
ed i'll the first FIVE years of the present cettry.
Linked TO the electric telegraph, and facilita-
ted in its Transmission by the vast system of
railroads now in operation; it Is great me-
chanical organ of speetb, almost infhte IN its
scope its resources variety, capacity, and ra-
pidity of utterance. 1t is not Sc uiueh the pro-
duct as the promoter and author OF genius and
enterprise.
The aggregate matter thrown off daily and
weekly in the United States, nearlyaH Of nhich
is read By the people, is absolutely without com
putation That it is demanded paid for, and
perused by the American public: that it is rap
idly increasing in amount, influence and power,
are facts which point with significant prophecy
to the office it holds and the authority it is des
tined to yield over the mind of the nation. 1t
is the greatest power in the State, and from its
very nature, places every other, to greater or
less extent, in subsection to its laws. 1t is, too
a conservative, disinterested democratic power,
diffusing its blessings; eleyating and purifying
those it would govern.
The newspaper is the greatest leveller of the
age, on an ascending, not descending scale !;
because it opens to all the fountains Of knowl-
edge and provokes and insures universal III
ar,J That II hoe tod
error, immortality and vice; that it has been a
vehicle of slander and malevolente that it has
, fomented pride and vanity that it has blown
2 up human bubbles and prieked them into ri
: dicuous collapse that it has fostered speeuIa-
l tion, and been more or less subservient to
schemes of fraud and ambition, none can doubt.
7 No party could exist a year without it. To
2 strike it down would be to instate a Bable OF
infinite tongues-to paraize and confound al
existing order and action in the social and po-
D litical systems. We like to berate and t1l der
:, rate it, but we could do nothing without it.
e We dislike to praise it or acknowledge its
t power. Many habitually deny its influence
e and as constantly court its favor and its en-
d couragemerit. 1t has made tftore regulations
S for public men, more fortunes in business, ano
professional character for individuals, than have
Is ever been made otherwise by ability, energy
II and skill. 1t is great beneficiary for politici
r ans, their main reliance, and their only means
of acquiring public notoriety. 1t is the ordi
Of nance department of politics-the arsenal ant
n magazine from which small minds draw thei
a weapons and ammunition for political warfare
1t furnishes them with all their data, analyze
I'd their subjects, draws their conclusions ant
n confnre tInor them tho distinction of oStnnshI
a. authorship. 1t is, with its thousands of edit
ce ors, still an impersonality. The press speaks
70 we listen to it, not as the voice of one, but a
he the impersonal organ of many. 1t is assaile
tn by dwarfs and struts, who often affect to trea
Id it with dsdain, to the infinite amusement of il
p laborious conductors.-W Washington U1l.on.
tie
GA punctual man is very rarely poor ma