Des Arc weekly citizen., 1868-02-22
The supremacy or the Press.

of the Caesars or the Pope's, yet only
 in its infancy. It is the empire of the
 press. The army is at the best mere
 brute force; the law is now nothing
 but an umpire in disputes; but the
 newspaper is everything. It takes the
 place of the parliament, of the courts,
 of the church. There is no method of acting upon mind, of revolutionizing
 the convictions of nation, of inspi-
 ring new ideas and directing popular movements, which compares with it
 in rapidity, .directness and extent. All
 other methods are clumsy or orimperfect :;
 but this is almost like the light of the sun, so swift, electric and universal is
 its influence. Yet how young and un- developed is the new empire. Jour- nalism as profession is creation of the last thirty years; as great profess sion it is no older than the telegraph.
 But to-day it is the supreme power of the world. Thirty years ago the ora tors ruled America; to-day it is ruled
 by the editors. This sway will become
 far more absolute than any of us can realize. See what has already been done. We have put newspaper into the hands of every man who reads in the United States. For mere trifle the news of the whole world is spread out before him, day after day. Can the pulpit or the forum do as much? They
 at the most, can but proclaim absolute truths, which were the same three hun dred years ago. but the newspapers give the facts. We have brought the telegraph, the steamboat and the rail- road into our service, and with other inventions will come more varied means of obtaining information and distributing it rapidly and cheaply. This secures us the entrance to every household, and then follows the use of the opportunity. The orator and the preacher have not this invaluable ad- vantage. They must ask for a hearing i; we obtain it by force. The people can avoid the lecture room or the church, but they cannot avoid the newspapers. Thus we compel our audience, and may say to il what we please. And though the speaker has none of our advanta- ges, we have all of his. The uewspa- per can be as eloquent as the orator, naI nrroch ct oS thp clergyman. We duplicate all their functions as teachers of mankind, and have others of our own which they are forever denied. Henry Clay or Daniel Webster, in the days when their names were on every tongue, did not exert one third of the influence over men that the newspapers of New York do to- day. Why? What is the ambition of the orator now? Not to make his speeches, but to get them published Mir. Colfax and Mir. Seymour cared very little for the audiences their vol ces reached at the recent meetings in this city. for behind the few thousand people there they beheld the million readers of the Tribune and the Herald. The office of the speaker as the leader of men has perished forevor. Demos themes is dumb; in his stead is the "pale and silent man who, writing alone at midnight, holds the fate of empires upon the point of his pen"
 There is class of men among bank CTS merchants and lawyers who affect a condescension towards the journalist which is intensely amusing. The wri- ter for the newspaper appears to their blinking eyes kind of literary ad- venture, who is to be tolerated for his genius, but not to be trusted in busi- ness. They are ignorant that the news paper sells their goods, furnishes all their facts and presents them gratuit- oHsly with their opinions. They do not know, as Jay Cooke does, that the newspapers of America sold two thou sand millions of national bonds. They do not know, as Edwin M. Stanton knows, that the newspapers of Ameri- ca sent five hundred thousand men to the war. They do not know that the newspapers of America will nominate the candidates for the presidency, de- termine the election, dictate the legis- lation of Congress and decide whether Andrew Johnson is to be impeached
 Newspapers lead them by the nose wherever they go but they do not feel the pressure, which is the particular reason why we give this especial tweak. We write this for the good of our pro- fession. That it will be read by the public is something we cannot help, nor do we care, though the argument may appear too much of a boast. But we are in earnest in the declaration that journalism is the greatest of all pro- fessions, the most powerful in the fu- ture. Its destiny in America is espec- ially noble, for this is nation of read CTS. Journalism would be a tyranny were it not for the impossibility of q monopoly. The independence of thought and the rivalry of journalists make it the permanent ally of progress and freedom. It moves with the peo- pie, and as it influences them is influ- enccd in return. Thus, it will grow with the nation. Every man who ed- it's a paper, even though it be an ob- scure sheet on the borders of civiliza- tion, should know his responsibility.
 He should remember the dignity of
 his profession and sustain 1t. We
 make public opinion, and the. men who
 make the laws and execute them are
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