The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1871-07-08

DuSt1DI6 clues, leIG ucSeIt Waoooe.
Their achievements were mere changes
of physical force, and can hardly be
considered in the light of human I'M
provements. The result was the flow
of human blood, and devastation-the
mere abrasion of physical torces-the
weaker yielding to the more powerful.
But how unlike, and how much more
qLorious and utihtarian, the victories
won by the press; where by the still,
quiet, vet powerful magnetic force OF
It's campaigns, it attacks the fortress OF
despotism, batters the walls Of super
stition, shells the camps Of ignorance,
Charges y the lines of usurpatlon,
leads irresistible assaults against the
dens of crime and the cinques of dlssl-
patton, and wins its victories, not by
bloodshed and wars crimson carnage,
but by the peaceful and effective wea-
pons of truth and reason
Napoleon conquered armies and sub
dued States, and compelled all Europe
to kneel at his feet; but his victories,
though brilliant as August meteors,
were ephemeral and transitory. The
ground he won has been more than lost
by his degenerate successor. Thus it
is with all purely physical force, unsus-
tanned by common intelligence and not
based on the granite walls of justice.
These were only victories while the
force was applied. Withdraw the
strain, and victories, like appartiions,
disappear, and in turn become defeats,
often terribly cruel and relentless, as
France and Spain now so bitterly ex-
perience. Not so with the intellectual
victories of the press. A victory once
gained by it, though for time fortuit-
ously obscured, is and will be victory
to the end of time, for the reason that
int allectual achievements are sustained
by the onward progress of mind over
matter.
Science and art are indebted to the
press for the wonderful progress they
have made in dispelling the clouds of
superstition, which were wont to OBJ
| scure the dawn of almost every import
ant discovery. Calico, in the secret
chambers of his laboratory, discovered
the elliptical and rotary motions of the
earth, and was penetrating the occult
mysteries of the whole solar system,
| but as he had no press to stand as a
bulwark between his genius and the
worse than midnight gloom of super
.stition, and to spread the light of his
newly discovered science amid the
chilling fogs OF superstitious Europe,
he was compelled to yield to the sum
mons of the inquisition, and to save
| his head by forswearing a great astro-
nOmical truth-now in the first rank
| of the sciences-as heresy, not to be
repeated at the peril of life. From the
same cause, geology was taught in Sc
cret Tor two centuries, and was not per
mitted to occupy a niche in the galaxy
of sciences, until the press paid its
ransom by instalments Of just indigna-
! ton.
In 1923 the celebrated VIM. Harvey
discovered the circulation Of the blood,
but Ignorance and religious fanaticism
rose up like monsters from the oceans
gloomy depths, and forbade the pro
mitigation of the great philosophical
truth; nor was it enthroned among the
sciences until reinforced by the intel
lectual artillery of the Press.
In like manner, at the dawn Of the
18th century, when DR.. Jenner discov-
cred vaccination as preventive Of a
loathsome disease, superstiti IL as
serted itself prerogatIve to strangle
the newborn truth; but the press,
coming to It's rescue, 1t survives as
tixed fact in physiological science
l 10 not assert that it would not have
survived had the press not existed,
but it is clear the struggle would have
been greatly prolonged. Some idea
may be had of the virulent char
acter of that struggle by extracts
from the early copies of Ben. Eranklin's
Boston papers. Phrenology, also, and
that within our own memory, was vio-
lently assaiIed, but the power of the
press being SO well established, that
the struggle was as short as ii was de-
clsive. Columbus, aided by ambition
and a genius of no ordinary type, dis
covered the new world, but had not the
press subsequently, advertised the
geographical, typographical, mineral
oglcai and other great and tempting
truths pertaining to the discovery, it is
safe to say it would have taken many
centuries more to have brought this
great land to its present status.
The press, like everything material,
has it's period of growth From small
beginnings it has made prodigious
strides toward the goal Of its * manifest
destiny" The telegraph is the conduit
through which the record of great
events are transmitted at single pull
sation, and localized instantaneously
from the four quarters of the civilized
world. The press is the mouth-piece
of, and gives tongue to the otherwise
mute wires
The neaOs feature of the press is a
prodigy of this age of prodigies The
importer and iobber rise early, and
find flesh sheet from the press de
ivered punctually at their doors.
They sit down to determine the chances
of fortune, and e'er breakfast is called,
they have learned the fluctuations OF
steadiness Of the principal European
marts of the previous day. The bank
er and stock broker have posted them
selves on the rise or fall Of consols,
"Bourse," and the condition of the
entire European change" market,
down to few hours before,
and can govern their morning
operations con change accordingly.
The statesman has the epitome of the
acts and opinions Of all the European
cabinets and councils, as well as par
hamentary debates, to say nothing of
like passing events in his own land
down to the close of the previous day
The calendar of crime, and the opera
tons of the detective and punItory de-
partments of all realms, are mapped out,
SO that the general reader may see at a
glance the passing events of nearly all
the world, scarcely twenty -four hours
Of