Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-01-25
Dailu kennrbrr Journal.
THE MAN WHO MAKES A NEWSPAPER.
BY HOW ARD OWEN.
An Essay, Delivered at the Annual Meeting
of the Maine Press AssOcintiOn, held at
Augusta, Friday, Jan. ~, 1870.

An Essay, Delivered at the Annual Meeting
of the Maine Press AssOcintiOn, held at
Augusta, Friday, Jan. ~, 1870.
1t will not be to glorify or sound forth the
praises of "'rhc Man who Makes II Newspaper
that these lines are written or these words
spoken--not n glowing culogy of a profession
that ranks foremost among the agencies en-
, throncd at the metropolis of the mind, touch
ing the hidden springs that send forth streams
of knowledge. gushing rils of thought, and
the clear, swiit-ilowing rivers of power; but
my pleasant duty at the present time shall be
to deal with facts--to speak somcw hat of the
experiences, the qualifications, the duties and
,lcadhcads, the ups and downs, the hopes and
fears, the duns and dander, the sorrows and
sw indies, the burdens and blunders, of The
Man who Makes Il Newspaper"
Newspaper men, like poets, are born, and
not made If failure comes to any new spapcr
man in the legitimate profession. the blame
must not be laid at the door of the Great Proof
Reader above lie sends out his work without
nm error. The trouble IS some c0if-JoUnd
edition has found its way before the public,
not authorized by the Great Author. Like
the Young minister who ran mheR The Lotd
caiied somejody else. they have mistaken their
calling, and if disaster comes no one is to
blame but themselves All the modern
schools of journalism" with their nice APP
pianccs and delicate adjustments cannot
make an editor or publisher, no more than
the smooth gloss on a shirt bosom can put Il
lcntleman behind it. You can't grind ont an
editor at any such mills. There NAV he never
80 many fnc-spun theories, and the air hung
a. thick with glittcrng castles as the editors
,anctum with cob-webs but it takes the
| rough and tumble VI actual and absolute ex
perience t. test whether one j. TO the manor
| ,l,.t,l |. t4I.l
dear friends aienated because their
| names are on the back of notes YOU cannot
pay: your landiaIy standing over you with
vengeance in her eve and plw corn broom
in her hand: your landlord with a r.pt bill
in his pocket and You Il rent in the coat !:
Vour printers from, tso boss down to the shiny
imp of the hcll-boN. unable To recall the last
payday but think it was beyond tho flood !;
your subscribers having dwinilcd down 10 II
few dead-heads, and they all finding fault a.
dead heads are the most outrageous tault-iind-
crs and YOU. yourself. apparently left to the
dread alternative Of a gray e-yard or patent
oatsi3e, not knowing exactly which is the
more desirable ;-thesc are some Of fhp .iurdy
disciplnes that test II. Us to wilrthet he
long to the true apostolic newspaporial line.
Enduring these. and still holding your temper
and maintaining Your ground, and prc>crN ing
your grit are hopeful signs that you belong
To the elect. You have seen one of those
plants whose name cannot now remember
in the shadee Of Gight and under the dews of
heaven. expand and stretch ana spiead itself
IA though il would outdo and outgrow all tS
fellows in the garden. But let the sun come
up, and ii willis AMI is A. flahby as last years
lish-cloth thawcd out of March snow drift.
80 | have seen II literary genius, whose rare
talent, had suakpned the highest hopes wilt
and droop and die, because b. had met with
single failure, and an article hjci he 60
tccmcd his best holt had been rejected by the
village editor.
No intentional detracton is this from the
value of culture or scholarship or any Of
those agencies which give polish and beauty
and synimots ~ tltr character and all the pow
ers of the man. The pet5on who hacks all
these furnishings. i the last one to d.aS tiicu,
to others. | never think of the little old
unpaintcd school house, on the banks of the
Andro,coggin, out from whose solitary side
indow the most attractive view wa, that of
Il wccd.grown graveyard. and ont through the
crevices inthc walls, could bc seen the twink
ling stars on spelling school night, but what
| am more ready than ever To vUlu tur 4le
largest appropriations for schools. | never
think of those roastings ] got, sitting on the
front seat between two pretty girls for punish
mcnt(? y e0pftm punishment, it was, and how
nay teeth chattcrcd with cold ON the high back
seats but what ] am thankful that the boys
of the present generation haye better OUT
look. SO in this interesting field 80 which our
attention is called to-day; the helps 10 sue
ces -ful journalism are none too many. but
the truest fitting for the work is that which
comes from the discipline of actual expert
encc. have known even u unkhcad after
wears of grinding. perseNering, uphill en-
dcayor, 10 DO fair work but let an apt, bright
fellow pass through the same experience, with
similar helps, and that which seens dfddgeFy
to the former, is only pastime and an in-pr-
alton to him. The one is II newspaper man
bv birth and instincts: the other suffers per
pctual mariyrdom all the time he is following
it: he drags through miserable existence
because he is ont of his sphere, and his mild
est imaginings of the internal regions is of
one vast new, paper pan l;monium.
Natural adaptation, pluck and tact, will win
in thi, fpld. while the pale studen, with his
midnight kerosene will fall to the rear. The
London fines, in its inception, employed on
itS editorial columns the best talent, of the
Cnivcrsiiies-mcn OF the most profound
thought and the broaac>t scope of scholarship,
and il came near dying ycaring. 1t had To
come down from it, high horse" and employ
men who were of the people, AMI knew the
wants of the people, ,-men quick Of thought
| and prompt to act-before the paper took tho
advanced stand which it has steadily main
| taned. The unlcttercd Horace Greeley,
,ccking for situation from the door of one
printing ofAce to another, with the little bun
die on the end Of staff thrown over his
shoulder-the very picture Of II ninlcrn tramp
is the same who in the years follow wing bp-
came the high priest of American journalism,
| Is a newspaper man he was success; a- an
or gan grinder he was a deplorablc failure.
| The newspaper man was IN him, and ii came
| out. il was not his old white coat and hat.
but what Was under that old white coat and
hat. Benjamin franklin has always been rcck-
oned fairly successful in the newspaper
business; he married the girl Who stood in
her fathers door laughing at him as ie s8ii-
dcred through the streets Of Philadelphia,
with rolls of bread under his arms, and his
pockets filled with dirty clothes. And the
man who had the courage to do that, could
draw chain lightning from passing cloud or
run newspaper
Good Judgment and careful management
| brought Il fuf,unp % the Golfers of Geo W.
| (hillS of tlp phitadplnLia / alupr Robpr ri