The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1861-01-09
NORTH IOWA TIMES


AT the last meeting of the EDITORIAL As.
soc;AfloS OF Iowa, held in 1859, the Edito,
of this paper was instructed to prepare an
Address for delivery at Des Moines, on the
18th of January, 1860. The copy following
was sent to Des Moincs by Hon. S. MER.
RIL, and returned to US some weeks after.
wards by Secretary j. G. DAVENPORT, Of
the Cedar Valley Times. Mr.. D. informed
us by letter that the attendance Of the pro.
fession was small, that Legislative and other
business scattered the few who were there
on the 18th, and that no formal meeting ol
the Association was held at that time Since
then we have heard nothing Of the Associa-
ton, and we have now concluded to fill our
part Of the programme by publishing what
We ~ould hare said had opportunity been
given US 1t is near the birthday of Ben.
Franklin (Jan. l7th), Editorial Addresses
are in order, and being unwilling to lose the
labor Of preparing SO long piece Of copy,
we throwit into type, persuaded that it will
be a good many years before we undertake
the writing Of so long and necessarily so
prosy sermon. To escape the charge OF
placing it before the public without being in
vitcd, we would merely observe that every
editor in the world prints his own opinions
daily or weekly without comforting with
anybody. As we have no State assemblage
of editors, the publication of AN Address
(poor though it be- is an indication that we
arc all alive: H
Gentlemen Of the Press:
My limited acquaintance with the duties
of the Press would justify me in apologiz-
ing for the temerity implied in the accept
ance of so honorable position as the one
assigned me by the Editorial Association of
Iowa at its last regular meeting. Having no
practical knowledge Of printing, except that
which is necessarily picked up in small
Office where my role, for four years, has
been any part, from Editor to Carrier. am
unable to indulge IN extensive laudations Of
:" the honor Of being printer" the crafts
mans technicalities l am not convcrsant
with and hence can make but poor play
on the terms which usually are freely
punished in addresses Of this character.
The apology which would become one so
recently identified with you, would here
make, only that am addressing body Of
men who detcst apologies; you are so fami-
liar with the duties of brother quill driver
that you will kindly overlook the errors into
which he may fall Your business is to
lick the crudities Of young or old ambition
into shape for the public eye; your dailr
rortine is one Of correction, and hence
have no fear that the errors into which In.
experience may lead me, will meet less in
diligence at your hands than is accorded to
the humblest village "poet" who sets har
mony distracted by airing his ~ thm and his
nonsense in the good-naturcd columns of
the charitable press.
1t is usual ON occasions like this to travel
back some hundreds Of years and to spoil
several sheets of valuable paper--say moth.
ing Of the waste Of time-with carefully
documentary evidence relating to
the discovery Of Printing; its early history;
examinations Of the claims Ct Faust, the
Devil and the Chinese. as to priority
Of paternity; with proofs Of the intimate
association of the first-named worthless
Having exhausted the traditions of Ger
many and the patience of his hearers, the
orator crosses, very slowly. to England,
thence to our own shores, VIII re he again
stops the impatience of his auditors and
treats them to history Of the first
American paper" tells who founded it, how
large it was, where located, how much cir
culation it had, where the Editor was born,
who he married, how many children he had,
what became Of them all and how long the
paper was issued before it was obliged to
fall into the hands Of Sheriff for debts
contracted on account Of delinquent pat
troas! These details may have been pro
perly given when men read Livy, and Taci-
tus, and Josephus; but in this fast travel
ing age,-this time of Lightning Express
ed Thought, such comparatively ante-dilu-
vian matters have lost their charms. The
men of to-day want TO know ''what Of the
Nowl" What Jobs arc now b.fore US and
how shall wc "work them off, I"
The visitor to Telegraph Office, bearing
a message to be transmitted to correspon-
dent advising rise tr fall in the price of
pork or -four would not be greatly pleased
with the operator il that official should in
sist, prior to the transmission of the dis
patch, upon giving the sender succint
history Of the Leyden Jar, the Galvanic
battery, including Of course, the celebrated
Italians experiments on the nervous SEN
sibility of a frog,-the kite story Of the