The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1879-06-13
Y M. S. r. A.
In NCOnyentiOn at PascagOula,
Miss, June 4 to 6, 1879.
THIRD DAY.

the pTeSlutlll Nv ~ d'iH. cih.o''
present as on first day.
On motion of Ct. W. Harper a
committee of five was appointed
by the president to return thanks
TO the citizens of Pascagoula and
the various transportation cOmpa-
MES, etc, whereupon the following
were appointed q. w. Harper, +.
r. Cooper, j. S. Hoskins, j. w.
Buchanan, John Calhoon. ResO-
lntions published last week.
On motion IA letter and poem
from Col. j. Il. II. Claiborne were
received, read by Maj. e. w.
Harper, and ordered printed in the
DEMoCRAT-STAR and other State
papers, and filed with the archives
of the association.
The following is the letter:
NATCHEZ, June 6, 1879.
To Messrs. Mayors and Richmond, editors
Democrat-Star, P~ascagoula:
M Dear Sirs /: 1t was my intention to be
present at the reunion of the press. WAS
anxious to see old friends, and to make the
acquaintance of many to whom am under
deep obligations for the encouragement
they have given tony literary labors. But
circumstances forbid it, and l can only, in
this way, express my disappointment.
The press of Mississippi is now, for the
most part, in the hands of young and ac-
complished men, full of enthusiasm for the
South, devoted to their friends, proud of
the profession, and looking forward, ma
t~urally, to fame and fortune, to the graft
tude OF statesmen and the favor OF the
public. Permit an elder brother, who has
tried it, to say, you tread n slippery path
and should be prepared for d%isappOint-
ments and vicissitudes. The experiences
of your predecessors stand like mllestones
along the route and may be prottably T e
fcrred to by the young II aspiring. Dur
ing my long connection with the press in
Louisiana and Mississippi, l know but few
printers, publishers or editors that succeed
ed in realizing fortunes. In New Orleans
Joseph Beardslee, of the Bulletin, aud st.
Romes, of the Courier, made money. The
venerable Mr.. Dupre, who edited half a
dozen journals in New Orleans, and not
only wrote but fought men into office (tor
it was customary to write an editorial III
the morning and have a duel for it after
diuncr), never earned a dollar beyond IL
bare support, and from three generations
of politicians the highest reward he re-
ceiyed was al humble post in the custom
house.
jerome Bayon, the most labOrious man
| ever saw in Il printing office-tuiled thir-
ty years in the Louisiana Courier, the organ
Of the democratic party, and wound up
poorer than when he began!
Peter X. Wagner, in his time the strong
est political writer in the South, whose in-
v~ectives cut, it is said, like a butcher
knife sharpened on a brick-bat-who was
the aggressive writer of the party for
many ycurs-died poorer than C%incinnatns.
Sigur, II lawyer Of great acutencss, an en-
thuslast for progress, spent a fortune on
the DeIta. His coadjutors were Alexander
Walker, Denis CoTcoran and Joseph Brcn-
man.. The first an able lawyer, an orator,
with education, audacity, versatility and
talent enough for half Il dozen newspapers, |
never realized u tithe Of what he might
have made at the bar. The second, Il Wit
alrl sparkling paragraphs (; the Last the
most brilliant genius ever connected with
Orleans jouTnalism-both died as
poor rs church mice. Wharton tho raciest
writer of his day, ditto,
Walker, of the Cresccat-tle horo of
NItdhaSud- tuc SiRy-eScu HAL VI uSsll-
ny, =" as he was styled-lcft that paper with
only so in his poekcG. His predecessor
the Hon. j. W. Crockett, x-nember
Of congress from Tennessee, who lost in
hat office the money he had made in other
pursuits. His partner was Frost, of Con-
alawyer making 5000 a year when
he went into the Crescent. and when killed
N a duel left scarcely enough TO pay for a
'ottin. Thorpe, better known rs Tom
owen, the Bee Hunter" succeeded Frost /;
gave up his artist pencil for the editorial
luiil, and never realized eneGgh iii three
ears TO pay his bill at theSt. Charles.
There was Hardy, of the Bee, with tai
mt and scholarship to aforn a chair ia any
University Seymour, of the Bulletin, Killed
1t Shiloh at the head of his regiment;
laginnis, of the True Delta, all energy,
and system. In any other pursuit
ither of these would have realized u for
But there is something radically
wrong in the business-either because
our outlay is all cash andssso much of your
income creditor some other fatal defect
hat should be inquired into and rcmedied.
There IS a fascination about the voca-
ion, and though we often perceive the
low but certain approach of ruin, with
eckless desperation we still cling to it,
ike half-scorched bees about their smoth-
red hives.
My own experience is the same. / con-
Iucted in New Orleans first the jefferson
nv, the State paper, printer to, the con-
'ention and the legislature; next the
'tatesmdn, in English and German next
he Courier, in French aud English. Ihad
10 stock in these journals, but was booked
IS editor at a large salary. 1t cost me
5000 to keep these papers from dying dur
ng my connection with them, and | usual.
y paid my own salary at the end of the
week. Yet they were conducted by indus
riOus, practical men, and we were every
making by our labors great men out
i very small materials.
The pioneers of the press in Mississippi
we're Andrew Marschalk, an officer of
Nayne's army Timothy and Samuel Ter
ell, of North Carolina; Peter Isler of Penn
and DIR. John Shaw. They all
lied poor. Then there was James X. Cook,
# the Ariet, the handsomest paper ever
in Natchez, and the organ and
xpositor of the wing party in its palmiest
enjoyed and deserved it's entire con-
and yet never laid by adollar until
us patrons and the banks bursted, when
&c got q commission as notary aud made
oTtune by protesting bank paper.
There were the two Observation-Disclosures
Forbos-men of talent and education.
len. Price of the M~iSsissippian, Hagan,
enkins and Hickey of the Vicksburg Sent,
81, Stockton of the Port Gibson CORES
oRdent, VIM. NJ. 'Smyth, Of the Grand
huff advertiser and Jackson R~eformer, the I
eteran Warrington, Of the Columbus
Dtzaocra-a men of superior ability-they &
died poor. Z. Percy Howe, a man Of s
genius, a humorist and c~aricaturist, '
Tho on the London Punch would have t
cen a prominent figure at fifty dollars a S
eek, often lived, as he told Iae. on the i
iii Of "a maekerel, d
What fatal spell retards the progress of
ne printer and editor, when other men, i