The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-10-22

reAlei. 1t means Sir John Franklin,
the Englishnan, amid the eternal
SHOWS OF the North, barred only by
mountains of ice from the open sea
beyond. 1t means Kane, the Ameri.
can, on u like expedition and in the
name OF humanity searching for the lost
nobleman. 1t means the greed of the
United Kingdom for dominion in
India, its slow but sure processes O
fconquests, and the equally slow bu,
sure establishment of Western ideas ir
the Orient. 1t means the chaos OF tn.
Southern Republics-the incidents O
superstition and religious bigotry which
marks them as less peaceful, less pros
porous, and therefore less happy than
the Aztec powers they suppianted. II
means the steady drive of the railroad
spike on the longitudinal line towards
Mexico and soon to drive out the
modern types of ancient cruelty and
establish agriculture, commerce, laws
and peace. 1t means Prof. Crookes
estimating the motive power of II ray
OF light. 1t means the pleythemograph
measuring thought with the same ac-
curacy that the sensation of pain is
measured. It means Darwin with his
philosophy OF evolution which has
startled the intellectual world. 1t
means the Nihilists of Russia and Com
tnunists everyWhere-cruel and inde-
fensible, but who attest the Instructive
revolt OF the human mind at tyranny
and oppression. 1t means tho suicide
whose violent ending brings into view
sometimes the follies of II misspent life
and sometimes tsmnn's inhumanity to
man." 1t means the robbery and
plumber of public officials that warn us
of the decay OF private conscience, of
public morals and of public laws. 1t
means all these and other events as
endless as human actions and the ply
sical changes OF the earth, all showing
the progress man is making towards
the still unseen pinnacle of excellence.
The greatest mistake that an editor can
make Is that of running his paper in a
mere partizan groove. No man who
talks at the end of Il pen can afford to
have this label or even Il suspicion of
it attached to his name. IIe mast be
free and unbiased in his convictions or
the power Of his utterances, oven with
those whom he has to serve, is greatly
diminished. The enthusiasm of n par
tizan is practically worth very little,
for partizanship is always blind, and
arguments that are stultified by pre-
judice can carry very little weight to
the mind of any man who is indepen-
dent enough to think. Nt !.
| The strongest fight an editor has to
make is against popular prejutices.
Tho greatest victory that he has to win
is to induce his readers to tho adoption
of liberal opinions and the progressive
modes OF thought.
In the great trade centres of our land
the might Of the printed work is
almost incalculable, and by an inverse
process of reasoning 1 conclude that as
we rccedc from these centres of civiliza-
tion and knowledge, tho influence OF
the newspaper, because of tho practical
ly utter absence of contradiction pro-
portionately Increases, and beyond
those States whose hills and valleys
and fertile meadow lands arc ribbed
with steel rails and strung together
with the wires of tho telegraph, tho
isolated populations become in almost
an indefinite degree dependent upon
their nearest newspaper for their know
ledge of current events and for the
formation of their opinions on current
topics.
IL the world docs more in cycIes--as
they say-this splendid, fallow State OF
ours has made the turn, and is slowly
but surely on the move towards bet.
ter era and climax of peace, culture
and prosperity. At present, while the
railroads and telegraph wires that will
some day lock her i'll frequent towns
and villages in Il long and friendly
chain are mostly only in the minds
eye of the capitalist, the editors of the
State have it all their own way with Il
responsibility resting upon them that
can hardly be ovcrcstimatcd in its i'm.
pOrtance.
The Louisiana editor has no mere
partisan mission TO perform. His duties
take higher range. lie should exert
his influence against the sectional pre-
judices that unfortunately, in meas
ure, still exist in the minds of our peo-
pie. The triumph of freeing the popu-
lar mind from prejudice is within his
grasp, and the editor who rises above
the influences of partizanship, whether
in politics or in morals, who sees things
as they are, and tries to make them
what they ought to be, who adopts for
his motto that grand old watchword,
'Principles-not men," is bound to
acquire the leadership of the people
about him, and to carry them with him
into the realms of more exalted thoughts
and nobler actions. There is an en-
thusiasn in the Right, an cioqucncc in
the Good that all the unfortunate vic
tories of the enemies of the right and
l NHNfN al