Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-09-15
INFLUENCE OF THE PRESS.
Lutte A. TAYLOR.

There are some things from which
the freshness never fades away
out OF which the wonder never dies.
Day by day we stand beside tele-
graph operator, but the mystery of
his performances never becomes
clear, and the sensation of surprise
is always fresh and keen.
Just so the Newspaper is con
stantly recurring miracle, whose
wonder never wears away. Whcth-
cr living carefully folded in the Of
flee, or invilingly open on the table,
whether wrapping cheese or cod
fish, or thrown discarded int the
street to scare horses and be tram
pied on, it is always invested with
II strange kind of awe.
The Newspaper! Look At it. 1t
seems empty and vacant. Perhaps
-"No;hing in the paper" You will
say; yet read, and y"u will find it
IN open letter from very many pco-
pie whom you have never known.
One offers You this commodity,
and another that; one happy man
sends you notice of his wedding,
another sorrowt'ully informs You of
Il death. Look over its contents
closely, lis news, its list Of acci-
dents, OF fires, of crimes; see how
sudden wealth has surprised some,
and sudden poverty others. Is il
in war time? look ut the list of
killed and wounded; see who has
been promoted and who diSgraced,
take int" your mind the lnrport OF
tnese things, and You will find that
YOU hold in your hand "thc ends of
mvriad invisible electric conductors,
along which tremhle the joys, sor-
rows, wrongs, trlumphs. hopes and
dlcSpairs OF aS many men and wo-
men, i'll as sensitive to pain and
pleasure as yourself.
Here you have the lore of the
scholar and the wisdom of the sage.
Here the divine breaches, the poet
sings. and the partisan lies. Here
the statesman proclaim> his princi-
pies, and the auctinncer offers his
wares. Here the Cardiff Giant and
Minnie Warren are put side by side,
and one is as long as the other
Here is the result Of the antiquari-
ans research; and through the very
next column throbs truthful tale
of present love, passion and ro-
nance. Here the Old and New are
brought into contact. Here
'Tradirion. snowy bearded, leans
On Romance. ever young.
This is but feeble portrayal of
what a newspaper is. Let us see
how it is made:
Come with me to the office. We
will pass that pile of paper. Yet
stop, pick up Il sheet of it. We
cannot wait to explain the curious
process of its manufacture, yet that
clean and Spotless sheet is the purl-
fled product of rags and filth. The
fibre which forms its texture may
have been stripped from Egyptian
mummies; it may have come from
city streets, or from great garrets
in country homes; it may have
wrapped the luxurious form of beau
ty, or been the scanty covering OF
want, but whether from the robes of
a queen or the rags of a harlot, it
gives no clue now to its former con-
diion. Like sanctitied soul it is
4 g., ! tn
Come into the composing room.
We have the forcman's permission,
grudgingly given. Do you hear it?
CHck. click. ciich.! What is that?
Why, that is the music Progress
marches to. Come here to this
"case." Look at this multitude Of
little boxes filled with pieces of met
al. What are they? They are the
Types. Look at them. They are
not dead, but sleeping. There is a
soul in every one of them. Collect
lively, they are Il dictionary reduced
to it's lowest denomination. There
is Il magic in these types. They
look duh enough, hut ali the gl"ri-
ons possibilities that the human
hear, can hope for are in their pos
scssion-you have but to learn the
secret so closely kept. If YOU hu,
knew how to pick out and properly
arrange II handful of those type, I'M
mortal fame would he yours. There
are finer strains there than Homer
ever sang: there is eloqucncc un-
spoken yet; there is kecncr wit,
more eloquent path"s, more pcrsua-
sivc PRAYER than tongue has altered
or ear has heard. Get it out if
you can. The types are here, and
are impatient of delay.
But the paper is being made
The types, one by one, have been
picked up by nimble fingers, and
placed in proper position. Every
error has been corrected. Every
puctuation point is in its place.
The scattered "columnS" are mass
ed together; the "lorm" or page is
securely "l"ckcd up" and sent to
the press room.
Let us go there. Here is where
the wondrous transformation is
wrought; here matter becomes the
exponent of mind. The "iorm>"
are properly placed; the great press
slowly moves. It's arms are reaching
for their strong embrace.
"Stop the prcss"'
The giant rests again. There is
an error of statement to be correct
ed, or an Objectionable article to be
withdrawn. The types are taken
out and borne away-corpscs Of
dead thought.
! Look now, again, at tn, mass of
| tvpe-,lead! inert aS the earth YOU
tread on. But see! The white sheet
has fallen upon their upturned faces;
the touch of the Press has baptiscd
them; the life that was in them has
passed upon paper; and the new
creation is pregnant with thonght
"a thing with n soul, for it can
move the souls of men. That sheet,
so blank before, is II living power
now. A change has passed over it
| as marvellous as if, in an instant,
the unwritten face Of the boy had
put on the furrows Of age, the lines
Of care, the impress Of manhood's