The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-07-04
INFLUENCE OF TIE PRESS

INFLUENCE OF THE PRESS.
Without vanity Imay say that editors
are peculiarly the pioneers Of civilization.
No Improvement is suggested in the me-
chanic arts no plans for the amelioration
of human suffering are pressed upon the
public mind, Until they pass through the
alembic Of some editors brain. The time
was when an individual, who had strug
gled lone years to evolve some improve,
ment for the benefit of mankind, had to
supplicate some emperor, king, or poten-
tate, fer aid to carry out his plans But
nowadays the inventor S more likely to
go to tia press and though that medium
to appeal TO the people for support in any
great enterprise likely TO add to the ma
terial or moral welfare OF the human
race.
There are editors present i'll this Con-
ventlon who were acting in that capacity
when Wisconsin was territory and
when they take an outlook upon the pres
ent f1ourishing condition of the state, with
population of over one million, with
sixteen hundred miles Of railway, with
neat school houses for the education Of
it's childreR dotting prairie and woodland,
with lofty churches rearing their spires to
the Deity, with vast workshops of iron,
extensive manufactures Of wool and lum
Der, and five hundred mills converting our
world famed cereals into the staff of life ;
and when they remember that scarce one
of these useful and civilizing improve
ments but was originally suggested and
encouraged by the press of their respec-
tive localities, then our brethren must feel
that they have done their full share IN
making Wisconsin what it ls to day.
Many of our associates have fallen by
the wayside. Many Of them have been
indifferently re Harded for their honest
toll for the public good, yet their efforts,
their trials and their sufferings form
part OF the historic monument which ed
itors are building in every country to-
prove that they are the pioneers OF that
grand modern civilization which seeks to-
level all men upwards. ,.
On this occasion / may pertinently al
lude to the Influence of the press in other
countries. Cavour, the prime organizer
of Italian Unity, and whose name to-day
is so sacred among the Italian people that
he is not inaptly termed their Washing
ton, not only began his political career as
an editor, but his whole after life as a
statesman was tinged by the comprehen-
sive views which he acquired in u profess
ion tending to enlarge his mind to cos
mopolitan view of every question
Theirs, the President of the French
Republic, acquired his early reputation
in the profession editorial; and il was OBJ.
servable that in the Franco German war
the men who were called to power in |
France, and who proved themselves to be
the clearest headed statesmen, had &C
quired their first distinction as Journalists.
The press in Germany, Austria, Russia
and Spain does not exert so potential an
Influence, because the governments are
more autocratic; and it is certain that
where the press Las the largest liberty
the natural tendency is toward republic. |
Hence vast standing armies are required |
to repress the instructive warnings Of the |
people for free, speech and q free press
DUTIES AND REsPoNsI.
81 "tt BILlTlES. e. 81 00t ts f4 Fl
If such be the power which the edlto-
rial profession Yields it becomes all and
each of us to bear in mind that we have
no right to use it thoughtlessly or reck-
Iessly. We have a stfeld for good and
we may likewise say, vast field for evil. +
Wecan demoralize and corrupt The public
mind and we can elevate it and refine it.
And when we remember that, in the pres
ent condition of the world, public senti-