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

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with equal claims to brotherhood by
Printer, Philosopher, Philanthropist and
Statesman-the invention of Morse and
the improvements of House, with liberal
splicing of information relating to the vari-
Gus suits at lew which have grown out OF
the wrangles Of these patcntees of Light
ming. We assume that the message bearer
would become considerably non-interested
in this detail il his dispatch were delayed
an hour by the ill-timed garrullity Of the
operator.
Plows are good things, and in this illimita.
BILE west there are many Of them used but
the farmer cares much less about where or
by whom the first or the second plow was
made than he does about the running excel.
lencc of the one his hands are put to. So,
indeed, with almost everything before US.
This age is eminently practical, and modern
taste places the seal Of Its disapprobation
upon all prosy investigations. They may
do in the cloister, in the study .room Of a
chancellor, or in the presence Of that mid.
night lamp" whose "oil'' has crisped the
brains Of so many into knots Of fogy i'm.
probabilities but among all the professions
which the sins of our Palestine parents
have made it necessary to practice, the Edi-
torial is one compelling the greatest Action.
However the balance of mankind may doze
the yves" of the world must move for
ward. The paper is due at such an hour
and the great jury of readers demands its
delivery. It is expected to be filled with
interesting matter. and its conductor must
improve his time in gathering rapidly and
condensedly, all the news he can beg, buy
or invent, 10 keep up his reputation as the
Know.All Of the neighborhood. Egotstic
as it may seem in you to accept this title,
it is fact that the world is so unkindly
complimentary as to credit you, as class,
with q sort Of Omnisciencc. If you fail to
advis" your readers of all the happenings,
moral and political, you are spoken of as
being vastly too dull to be seated on that
modern throne Of Jove, the Tripod. That
editors know anything may be debateable
question among ourselves-we often find
our DEFICIENCIES painfully annoying. and the
misfortune with US is that our work is SUBJ
mitted, daily and weekly, to the most dis
eliminating as well as to the least capable
Of judges; but, if the world insists that we
ought to know it all, !" let us scissor some
Of the supsr-abundant conceit that lies scat
tered among our human exchanges and
endeavor, by its appropriation, to convince
exacting outsiders that We really are the
repositories of all that is worth knowing
/ was saving that you, gentlemen, cannot
waste time with proSy investigations and
hence omit allusion to the history Of the
Art. You know all about it, know very
little about it, and have horror Of statis
ties where their possession does not enable
me to make better use Of the present hour.
The Press Of to-day, in its influence, its
usefulness, its indispensablity, has as little
to do with the invention Of a Faust or
Gutenberg as the spinning-whecls of our
srandmothers have with the Looms Of
Lowell. Then, but little was cXacted from
tho press aside from the publication Of
mus,y books, that were, with one Holy ex-
ception, calculated 10 cover the world with
a larger and darker pail of Superstition.
The nonsense Of the middle ages and the
schemes Of warrior priests and ambitious
kings were more generally diffused, and
those who controlled the mystic types in
their early infancy did so to secure the
personal advancement Of the already rich
and tyrannic and the universal abasement
of the already humble and degraded. The
Press, with all its boosted glories has been,
and vet is the most potent engine and ally
of power that human ingenuity has discov-
cred. It's excellencies, like the fable tongue
rcpast of ESop, are in exact ratio to its
capabilities for evil-the best dinner the
philosophic slave could find in market was
ngue--'Eloqucnce, Truth, Song and Love
were It's expressions'-the so0rst dinner
was also tongue, "becausc Malice, Hatred
and Slander travelled upon it." OF itself
the Press is nothing; but when put in
motion it makes or mars all the interests Of
Society. How important it is then to indi-
viduals and communities that those who
guido it should feel the duty devolving
upon them. 1t is the glory Of America
that the press is here FREE while throughout
continental Europe, with very rare exccp-
tons it is subservient to the ruling authori.
ty. While we boast its Freedom, We should
so conduct it that it may be Just. Let its
language be addressed to the better prin-
cipies Of the heart. Let it not alone reflect,
but elevate and instruct public opinion
II oS D" St40 0AAAiSSIOhs SnS PsSSS
is generally far below its duty in the stand
ard of debate. Vitupcrative language stains
its columns, and in the estimation Of CON-
munity it becomes the mere pander to the
animosities Of its editor or those who en-
ploy him. have no compliments for pro-
fessional brothers who sell their pens and
types to party or to social wrangles. 1t is
said that man, in apology t. Doctor john
son for selling liquor, remarked. 'you know
must live"-the reply Of the bluff old bear
Of Literature was, ~ do not see the neces-
sityg So with the editorial wrangier.
see no necessity for his existence, and the |
sooner he is starved out the better for the |
ocalty he infests.
An editor should be Independent, but
not arbitrary: faithful to the principles he
avows and in no manner subservient. He
must be industrious. for thousands are in.
1ucnccd by his opinions; prepared with
intelligent ideas on all questions in the field
If discussion, awake to the interests Of his
ocality, courteous to cotcmporaries and
to all. The Press is the utterer
II Public Thought, and when the lips Of the
led and the pldten are opcted the issue
should be such as will make men better and
ADVANCE Humanity on the road to Perfec-
ion. A newspaper office or press is q
machine, bearing as much resemblance to
hreshing machine as anything else now
occurring to me. One threshes grain from
he straw and chaff Of the natural field
yhile the other threshcs or evolves ideas
rom the fog and mist Of the mental world.
n comparing the value of grain with ideas
,ou get at the relative merits Of tho two
pieces Of machinery. II might be here
that the productions Of this idea
making instrument do not always bring
rain or its equivalent to the owner - on
he contrary he often receives ''more curses
han coppers."
Co lnnoe M mind is renardad aS snnerinr