Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1871-06-28
THE PRESS /; IT'S POWER AND IT'S
MISSION.

Il.
Gentlemen of the Wisconsin Press
Presuming that 1t is neither prope
nor necessary, on this occasion, to sub
nit observation, based upon statistical
data, relative to the material Press, as
substantive, ponderable thing, or t.
dllate upon the rise and progress of ths
] superlatlve art of expressing human
Ideas by Impressions on moveable
types, shall extend few reflections
on the intellectual superstructure thai
! genius rears on the foundation, which
was SO long ago planned and laid by
invention and art. In the light of his
! torical "reminiscences and speculations,
the field in which the rise and progress
of this wonderful cart of Arts . has
been exhibited, has already been worked
to exhaustion.
My object will have been fully ac-
complished if / succeed in advancing
useful suggestion relative to the moral,
SOCIAL. and political effects resulting
from the physical Press, as mechanical
means to Intellectual ends. Ib may, in
one sense, be said that this is the only
instance where ponderable materiality
becomes the direct agent in educating
and improving the imponderable ma
teriality of finite man.
True philosophy deals with all sub
jects in their negative as well as their
positive relations. Comparison is the
grand densimeter, or moral ometer Ito
coin a phrase) by which we separate good
from evil. Pleasure and happiness are
the offsprings of comparison. Without
cold we could not appreciate warmth.
We taste sweets with our finest palates,
because we have the contrast in acids.
Ii there was no such thing as evil, vir-
tue could not exist, for virtue is but the
antipodeal entity of vice. The miner
quarries the dross orthe Ffslag" with the
pure metal, for baseness and purity.
when viewed from our moral stand point,
are ever in proximity. Indeed, if there
were no grades-if all were pure and per-
fect-there would be no standard of ad-
jective qualification. The dross, because
of its worthlessness, isreleeted in the pit
of the refinery. We cannot the
offer of counterfeit money, but we have
the remedy in knowledge of rejection
Blgotry suggests 5oleration, as cold
prompts a desire for warmth. From
the ruins of debaucherv and crime
spring up benevolence and charity
Truth, II not the companion, is the
next door neIghbor of error, for that
virtue is ever present and ready to com
bat the vice of falsehood and decep-
tion though it is fabled as an oracle,
that " falsehood will run a mile while
truth is putting ON her boots. . Truth
may, indeed, be tardy, though when
mounted on the press, it is pretty sure
on the 'EHome Stretch y of the last
cheat
These, and kindred aphorisms,
though as plain as the rudiments of
proverbial philosophy, may seem to IL
lustrate the subject under considera-
ton, and to garnish old ideas with a
freshness that may tempt further in
vestigation.
The press, in its enlarged. moral
sense, IS not toy to be played with.
In its predicate and ultimate, it is a
power superior to all the mechanical
forces, because it is the archimidean
lever, whose fulcrum is human thought,
and gives to mind the power over mat.
ter-thus becoming one of natures
forces. We can appreciate it's power
for good by contrast with its compare
tive forces Of evil We may estimate
its momentum by analogical reference
to the inertia fthe dormant eras prior
to its advent. In it's infancy, it was
scarcely more than an advertising pla-
card, sandwiched with the Mrs. Grun-
dy literature of vulgar gossip. After
the wane of the first quarter of the last
century, it began to be medium for
the dissemination of news, though of
the most general and limited character.
Down to the period of 1740, it may be
said that the world knew but little or
nothing of the powor of the press that
then lay III the womb of Time, destined
to leap forth, as Jupiter sprang from
the brain of Minerva! The world had
not then dreamed of the intellectual
Sampson that was destined to raze and
rear temples, principalities, States and
Empires.
The agents who then controlled this
embryotic giant were generally ilIiterate
men of limited means, and in many in
stances of pernicious tendencies They
had no conception of the wonderful hui
manizing power of this gigantic agent
They used 1T as they would a sixpence :;
for convenience.
Monarchs and fiends feared not the
thunders of the press, for the press then
thundered mott was imbecile and i'm
potent for any considerable good or
harm. 1t was puerile and weak, because
men of tact and brains could not then
discover the leaven of wealth and fame
it contained. For whole century the
"press" eked out miserable existence,
and the only thing that can justify us in
employing the term as now being con-
sidered, is the comparison it furnishes
between the midnight darkness of that
period and the blaze of the present day
as an illustration of the wonderful pro-
gress the world has madein intellectual
development.
The fact of what the press has done
is no less important than the presump-
ton of what the press may accomplish
1t was no doubt the direct cause of the
overthrow of monarchial domination in
America. 1t has stimulated a hot-bed
growth OF free and enlightened ideas,
from which have sprung the scions of
an improved stock of religious dogmas
and governmental axioms, transplanted
in the subsoil of European despotisms.
It made odious the bloody inquisition,
and taught bigoted rulers that opinions
and sentiment were not the subject of
monopclies. 1t has exploded the doe.
trine that 'ethe King can do no wrong, y
and rendered nearly obsolete the dog
NAUTICAL Divine right of Kings" The
press tJught temporary rulers that the
ruled had rights which to withhold was
rank usurpation, and that the mass OF
mankind were not "born with saddles
on their backs, for the locomotive con-
venience of =" booted and spurred des-
pots to ride them " "legitimately by the
grace of God.
The press has not only taught that
the King can do wrong, but great
share of the wrongs inflicted on nations
are traceable to the "wrongs . OF
rulers. It has infused into all classes
lust for knowledge, and has educated
both the higher and lower orders OF