Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1863-02-12
The Mental Pabulum Of People.

From the New Orleans Piesyune
Whether the printing press be or be not
blessing upon the whole it is too late to inc uire
It is. This cannot be disputed. Secondly, it
will be. That is equally certain. II it be an
evil IS soma appear disposed to think, it has 10
De endured, since it is utterly impossible 70 an
nihilate it. a Virgins member of Congress once
thanked God, so it ia said that there was no
newspaper published in his district The news
paper subsequently came, we believe, and the
honorable gentleman and all his successors
hereafter ia Congress OF elsewhere will be com
relied to get along with the evil as best they
may Il is certain that it viii not 81 down at
their bidding or at the bidding of any ma0 OF
combination of men That the printing press is
king-to adopt tho popular jsrgon--is shown ia
the fact that any cause which expects 30 sue
ceed, at once appeals to It's power, and finds it
impossible to stir an inch without It. lie was
not far wide OF the mark who said that we live
under government of universal suffrage ard
morning papers. What was etfsetsd by the
ponderous tome in the time of William and
Mary is now accomplished the most successfully
by the myrisd-iongued popular Journal. It's
great power as an operative agent in the per-
petuation or destruction of a government, or Of
a system of government, ard in working out
the problem of civilization is that it speaks IN
eeasingly and to everybody. ia this respect it
is like most Of the great powers Of nature.
These effect their purpose, not by auy
sudden convulsions, but by silent and eeaseless
operations, BY endless repetitiOns by minute
accretions The coral insect builds a continent
The steps of the progress it makes are perceived
only by the gigantic results which follow them
They are invisibls otherwise. So is the power
Of the printing press. Il operates unseen aud
everywhere. la the pTivats dwelling, IN the
public saloon, Gu the steamer, IN the stable, the
shop, the mandatory, in the field in the fisher
mans but, in the palace, in the baekwoO5s,
wherever there is 8 human being, this press Is
talking talking, talking, reasoning about fac s.
philosophy, history inditing fiction, painting
the world rose cclor or dyeing it black; pander
ing to the brute passions or advocating the
rights of man, instTuctng and elevating the
messes and teaching them how to double the
value of their farms and make two or three or
half dozen stalks Of wheat grow where ouly
one, and that u siekly one, grew before, This
is no fancy sketch. Make your demonstration,
| call in chemical science and show By actual ex
pertinent that old bones pounded up and spread
upon clay soil will make that which before
was worthless produce valuable crop, and un-
less you make known the discovery through
the printing press, of what use wilbe your dis
covery to the community at large
You might IS we'll cut a mans legs off and
then tell him to run, az to attempt to make
known fact q principle, discovery without
the printing press. This latter realizes the idea
of perpetual motion. It IS never st rest. It is
also universal adissolvent as well IS recon
struetor. It ct once demolishes and rebuilds
Its power IS every day increasing, because the
number Of readers and thinkers is always upon
the increase. AL modern nations that the light
Of civilizito has dawHed upon are becoming
reading nations. Every yeAr they are coming
more under the power Of the magic press. It
exercises greater aud greater influence over their
| opinions and feelings. The electricity of the
| printed page permesies them more aud more
/ thoroughly with every revolution of the earth
around its central luminary. Their pTejudiees
are battered down or chained up with ever aug
mensing force through the click Of types. Il is
one of those facts which cannot be helped. It
can no more be changed than the course Of the
/ seasons or the power of gravity. All that can
be done with It is to regulate it, 10 control IT,
i give It scope, direction, Momentum
The mental appetite "a mod rn tines aud IN
i enlightened States, or those comparatively So,
is as exactiug as the physical The one can no
mere be extinguished than the other. Both
mnst be satisfied, and viii be, with their appro-
pirate pabalum This can be varied indeh
nitely Itmay be wholesome and sireng gthening,
SO that it will be the means Of sending copious
supply Of the rich wine Of life bounding through
all iis channels, glow Of health AID vivacity
and beauty, or il may be Of such character as
will poison the whole being and make il sickly,
lean and shrivsled, so that it is unable to answer
It's proper ends, aud perform its normal iunc
tons
Il IS absolutely necessary that community
should read if It would lift itself above the
sphere Of baTbarism, bat what it reads IS a mat