The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1875-12-30


Tale of Two Cities The Coming Together
Or Modern Civilization.
From the Nsw York Herald
The cable dispatches which we print
this morning from London and Paris
may be said to have Christmas sig-
niticance. They Indicate the progress
Of modern journalism, as shown In the
bringing together Of widely apart and
varying civilizations. The long post.
poned and ever vanishing dream Of
reAiblic Of nations and O confederation
Of races, where each man could sit
under his own vine and fig tree without
standing armies to exhaust or privi-
legged class to Cypress him, may be In
certain sense realized by tho advance
ment of the press. It Is In this sense
that journalism becomes, to use an Orb
entail figure Of speech, the asylum Of
the world. There are many things per-
tanning to Paris, London and New York
with which neither Of them have SYM
pathy, There are many events Of deep
Importance TO the people which are OF
little value to those outside. But there
are other circumstances and incidents
OF life and manners, the growth Of Gus.
toms and alnusements, opportunities
and achievements, I'm which, whether
we be Englishmen, Frenchmen or Amer
leans, we all feel an interest. Their
chronicle becomes the highest develops
mcnt OF news.
Some Of us feel an interest In what Il
taking place IN the French Assembly.
Others watch with eager eye the ever
increasing Importance OF the Eastern
question, the insurrection in HerzegO-
viDa, the purchase of the Suez Canal.
the paralysis which has fallen upon
Turkish credit. the triumphant tour OF
the Prince of Wales through the tiger
jungles and elephant kraals Of India.
and who see I'm 1t all the dawning phc-
nomena Of an issue that may III time
wrap the world In fire and battle smoke.
These great questions will never cease
to interest us as long as we have q COM
mon civilization. In their discussion
and solution are involved questions that
come home to the humblest life, TO the
dinner table and the days labor and
the wages at the end Of the week. but
these are not the questions which bring
the world together. War, when 1t comes
out Of them, we accept with amazement
and < ~, rs we would an earthquake
or q trricane. But our concerns In
the dal y life Of Paris and London are
with the humber things. What do our
| friends do across the sea-" What wan
dering American brother has eaten his
| Christmas dinner in the capital Of Eng
land or France2 What Is the latest SEN
sation on the Boulevard? What is the
name Of Offenbach's latest opera or
Sardou's latest comedy? What are the
whisperngs Of the club, the salon, the
cnfe? What was done In the Parisian
theatres on Chrstmas Eve? What pam
tomimes shall be played In London to-
morrow? What wonders OF toys and
fancy articles were turned out by the
tasty and skillful French workmen for
the delight Of children, grown up and
otherwise? What was done iii the
churches at midnight in Paris and Lon
don? Who preached at Westminster
Abbey? What new pulpit light strug-
the French capital? What the London
Times thinks Of Christmas In 1876?
These are the questions in which we
all have an interest They come
to our liresidc and our tea table.
Therefore, when the HevdM publishes,
rs 1t does this morning, its modest and
somewhat gossiping chronicle OF yes
terday's life across the sea, 1t must not
be supposed that we demean our Office
TO be chronicled these columns would
tell in full detail the sad and CHASTITY
story But we accept the fact that with
the cable ut our bidding our Office is To
tell today what took place yesterday,
be it love or hate, war or peace, u battle
or serenade. Thus 1t ID that journal
ism marks the progress Of our civiliza-
tion. Representing the people, 1t be-
comes our duty to respect their wishes.
messenger. ff Fifth avenue or the
Bowcry must know to-day what was
said or seen yesterday OH the Boule-
ward or Strand then IT, Ia nt1r
duty to crafty that wish. 1t il Of
no consequence whether these gos-
slpng dispatches cost u penny or a
dollar word. The journal must accept.
that cost as It's obligation to its audi
ence, which is the country. The pro-
gress OF modern journalism makes pos
siblc any achievement known to SCI
ingstone, the expedition to the poles.
the tracing out OF the Russian conquest
in Central Asia, may make more noise
throughout the world and obtain rank
among the loftiest trophiesOf the press
but what We do to-day Of its kind is as
much worthy Of attention as the more
ostentatious and brilliant successes OF
the HeyoH.
This we believe, because the time has
come when the representative journal
in New York must print its daily Lon
NV'i ehpt ~ oIoHsepth JuC1 sso VO ~ Ia
our daily dispatch from Washington.
Thirty years ago, when the wires weftss
first opened between Washington and
New York, the trifiiBg bit Of telegraph
that WAS sent from day TO day was look
ed upon as an extravagant and unusual
expense. The worthy men who then
presided over our journals viewed with
apprehension the increased cost which
these dispatches entailed. They coyIy
took bit Of news now and then, no
doubt wishing in their inmost soul that
such thing as the telegraph had never
been invented to disturb Washington
letters and add to the weekly bills. In
time the news gathercr well tho
news gatherer OF that generation knew
/ his work-compeIled the pubIica-
tion OF dispatches sometimes taking
whole pages. Now the telegraph Is AZ
much our messenger as the postoffice.
What we have done SO long with Wash
ington we find ourselves compelled To
do with London and Paris. The dis
tapce is greater, but there Is something
romantic in the thought Of this cable,
| lying fathoms deep in the bosom Of tho
sea, pulsipg and Beating as it does our
work. London and Paris are as near to
us by cable as Washington by tele-
graph, and, therefore, in recognizing
/ ~ ;e. rn1ati,r, and .rixyfpO cYprpa4iON tn IL