The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1870-03-18
DEATH or NEWSPAPERS.


Men succeeding in nothing else have
concluded it to e provid ntial indica-
ton that they should publish raper.
Many hundreds and thou.and of dollars
have been sunk, and every issue of the
majority Of the temperance, Sunday, re-
ligious and political papers Of the country
is plunge into debt from which they
hope some purchaser will lift them out.
II is a cons. ant question in tho communi.
ty where religious newspapers go to when
they die? We know where the bescly
partisan go TO without asking.
| The mania IL fearful. Many of our
literary friends are uneasy until they
have invested their last FIVE thousand
dollars in printers ink. Nine tcnths Of
them may whistle for their money; but
the dog will not come back, having found
out some other master. Why all this
giving up OF the ghost among newspa-
pcrs!
Some Of them died for want of being
anatbemized. Nothing ever succeeds 10
this country without being well cursed.
If a man or book, or periodical 90 forth
unassauted, ruin is nigh. There is roth.
ing that so decidedly lifts thing up be-
fore the public gaze as the end OF bay
onet. The neutral paper almost always
fails, because it clears the scorn of par
ties and churches. Kicks and cuffs are
an indispensable inheritance. The more
valuable the quarry the more frequent
the blasting. You cannot make wine with
out the crushing Of the cluster The most
successful periodicals OF the day are
those that have been most voioIently
bounded.
Some ofthe papers die for lack Of brains
A man may plead law or preach tie
Gospel with lcsc Intellect than is rcquir.
cd for tic conduc. Of paper. The edi.
tor must understand something of every.
thing. He wants more than scissors
and bottle Of mucilage. If he merely re.
tails the ideas of others, the public will
prefer to go and get the thing at the
wholesale establishment. He must be
able and strong with entertaining pen to
di cuss governments. religious, education
al enterprises, social changes, books,
amusements, men, institutions. every
hing. He must have strength to take a
thought on the end of his pen and fling
it thousand miles, till i. strikes within
an inch of the pom at which he aim
cd it,
Lack Of capit1l has thrown others.
Ink, paper. press, type, printers, editorial
salaries, contributors fees, postal cxpen-
3 cs, rent, machinery, necessary repairs.
are taking down many large fortunes
The literary enterprize is often crushed
under It's own cylinders. is drowned in its
own ink. is chewcd up with its own type.
is shrouded in its own paper, has its epi-
taph in its own columns. The wider the
circulation of the lily managed newspaper
the more certain the doom. He who at
tcmpts to publish paper without pockets.
full of ready cash publishes his own dis
comfiture. Call on the witness-stand the
hundreds of men who arc now settling up
the bills for their extinct newspapers
Every mail brings to US the parting bow
of retiring publishers, with pockets turn
ed wrong side out from which hungry cred.
itors are trying to milk out another shill-
ing.
We wonder not at the ambition that
aims for the editorial chuir. All other
modes Of affecting the public mind are
narrow aud weak compared with it. The
pen in the lever that moves the world,
and the ink-roller of the printing press
the battering ram that smiles into the
dust the walls Of ignorance aud sin. But
the press is strong team to drive; and
one must be sure OF the harness and the
wheels or, coming along a steep place,
there will be capslze, and wreck from
under which the literary adventurers will
not have strength to draw themselves.
Pheton's attempt to drive the chariot of
the sun ended in grand smash-up.-Rev.
T. De Witt Talmage, in N. Y. Indepen-
dent.