Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1880-10-14
BY Mr.. Lataugue !:

BY Mr.. LafMgue:
Resolved, That the thanks of this As
ISOLATION be- rendered Gen. l.. Jastren
ski, Mayor of Baton Rouge, for the civ
ilities extended to the Louisiana press
By Mr.. Annis:
Resolved, That the President of TIL
Association be requested and authorize,
TO designate members to deliver at on
next session addresses, essays, poems
etc, as he may deem of interest to TIL
Association.
Mrs. NJ. A. Fields, of the New Orlean
Times, by request, read the followin.
address, which was received with ap
plause, and upon Major Burkc's motion
ordered spread upon tho minutes:
GsNrIEMES-I suppose that some of you vii
expect me to speak Of women in journalism OF
this occasion. That, however, is not tho drift o
my thoughts but rather to give you the view
ofa woman OH that subject.
The object of this Convention, take it, il
clearly an effort to improve the present method.
of journalism in our State.
| ~ "V"" w 'hC uo W lIiNU VHcSO ucluUNle
do not require improvement, for tho purposes o.
power so nearly unlimited as that which i.
exercised by the Press can never be made tot
exalted.
The time was, and it is not 80 very long ago
either, when the great laboratory of public Opin
ion was the stump and the pulpit but the swif,
march and progress of the world has snapped in
twain the circnmscribed limits of these pure but
tralnnelled agents, and now the great moral force
,k.s
the pen OF the newspaper editor. Much has been
sad and written about 1.-THE freedom of the
press, bnt it can safely be cOnten,ed that the
press possesses all the freedom that il necessary
IN country where the expression of honorable
sentiments, the defense of the grandest princi.
pies and a tolerant consideration of all religious
anu pOlltlcal questions are esteemed the Culnli
nations OF refinement, education and civilization
mat the drift OF the popular mind is upward and
increasing influences and ever extending facili.
ties OF knowledge afforded by the press.
MY practical experience AZ a journalist has
chiefly been that Of news.editor, and il were
asked to state as the result Of observation what
considered the deficiency of tho Southern press,
should say that not enough time or space il
devoted to the home interests and to the enco,r.
a.elncnt and deyelopmentof the mechanical, in
dustIlal and intellectual pursuits of the home
people.
=, Beyond doubt, the first great purpose of the
Newspaper is the news The news! How
seldom TO we stop to think how much is implied
III that one word 1t means Livingstone search.
! ing Tor the sources Of the Nile in the heart of
Afrlca-Livingstone dying and Stanley in a
| brave expedition for his relief 1t means Sir
John Franklin, the Englislmal, amid the etel-
| nal SHOWS OF the North, barred only by noun
Jams OF ice from the open sea beyond. It means
4
| the name of humanity searching for the lost
nohlelnan. 1t means the greed of the United
hlnsdom Tor dominion in India, its slow but
sure processes OF cODquests, and tho equally
SLOW but sure establishment of Western ideas in
the ORIENT 1t means tho chaos of tho Southern
hepn1l!cs-the incidents ofsuperstition and reli.
Slots bISotry which marks them az less peaceful
less prosperous, and therefore less happy than
the Aztec powers they supplanted II means
the steady drive of the railroad spike Oh the
longitudinal line towards Mexico and soon to
dilve ont the modern types of ancient cruelty
ano estaDilsh agriculture, commerce, laws and
peace. 1t means Prot. Crookcs estimating the
m"'lve power OF a ray of light. 1t means tho
electromagnetic measuring thought with the
same accuracy that the sensation of pain is
measured. 1t means Darwin with his pl,ioso
ply OF evolution which has startled the intel
lcctua world. 1t means the Nihilsts of Russia
irllsbe, but who attest the instructive revolt of
tl'e human mind at tyranny and oppression. 1t
means the suicide whose violent ending brings
INTO I!n Wow sometimes tho follics of a misspent
ne ana sometimes mans inhumanty to man.
It means the robbery and plumber of public Off.
'ials mat warn us OF the decay of private con-
clence, OF public morals and Of public laws. 1t
means all these and other events AZ endless as
human actions and the physical changes of the
80,
towards the still unseen pinnacle of excellence.
me greatest mistake that al editor can make is
mat OF running his paper in a mere partizan
groove. No man who talks at the end OF a pen
can afford to have this label or even a suspicion
OF it attached to his name. He must be free and
unbiased in his convictions or the power of his
differences, even with those whom he has to
serve, Is greatly diminished. The enthusiasm of
a partizan Is practically worth very little for
partlzanship is always blind, and arguments that
are stnltltic' by prejudice can carry very little
weight to the mind of any man who is indepen.
dent enough to think.
The strongest fight an editor has to make is
against popular preuGiccs The greatest victory
that ne has to win is to induce his readers to the
adoption of liberal opinions and the progressive
modes of thought.
might OF the printed work is almost incalcula.
BILE, and by an inverse process of reasoning I
conclude that an we recede from these centres Of
civilization and knowledge, the influence of tho
newspaper, because of the practically utter alb.
sence OF contradiction prOpOrtiOnately increases,
and beyond those States whose hills and valleys
and fertile meadow lands are ribbed with steel
rails and strung together with tho wires of the
telegraph, the isolated populations become in
almost an indefinite degree dependent upon their
nearest newspaper for their knowledge of cur
rent events and for the formation of their opin.
ions on current TOPICS
III tfe world does move in cyCles-as they say
this splendid tall0W State of OURS has made tho
turn. aud is slowly but surely on tho move TO.
wards better era and climax of peace, culture
and prosperity. At present, while the railroads
and telegraph wires that will some day lock her
in frequent towns and villages in long and
friendly chain are mostly only in the minds eye
OF the capitalist, the editors Of tho State have it
all their own way with responsibility resting
upon them that can hardly be ovelcstimated in
its importance.
The Louisiana editor has no mere partisan
mission to perform. His duties take a higher
range. He should exert his influence against tho
sectional prciudlccs that unfortunately, in a
measure, still exist in the minds of our people
Inc triumph OF freeing the popular mind from
prejudice Is within his grasp, and the editor who
rises above the influences of partizanship, whe-
ther 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 nletto that grand old
watchwold, 'Princplcs-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 enthusiasm in the Right, an elouucnce in
the Cool that all the unfortunate victories of tho
enemies of the right and the good have not sue.
cecded in crushing out of our people, and it il
with the right and with the good that every in.