Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-01-27
ORIGIN OF PRINTING.
The First Newspaper in This Country and
Burope-Its Growth and Present Condi-

gether with the public generally, met at the
hall of the House of Representatives last
evening to listen to the address of Major T.
NJ. Newson. There was large and apprccia-
tive audience present, who listened with
marked attention and profit to the address.
X. e. Mitchell, Esq, first vice president, pre-
sided. Major Newson spoke as follows:
THE ORIGIN OF PRINrING-THE FIRST NEWS
PAPER IN THIS COUNTRY AND IN EUROPE
Its GROWTH AND PRESENT CONDITION.
Ladies and gentlemen:-I am not unmind-
full Of the fact, that l stand tonight in the
presence of men whose mental forces have
been exercised in the creation of invisible ed
ifices; who have reared by their brains lofty
ETHEREAL palaces: who have uttered noble senti-
ments; who have made grand intellectual
achievements, and whose generally quiet, I'm.
obtrusive yet effective efforts, will reach the
confines OF eternity, for everything upon
which the material eye rests, everything
worldly, perishest, While everything invisible,
unseen, lives forever. The startling idea. the
beautiful conception, the silent thought the
charm of oratory, the inventive genius of man,
belong not to this but to another sphere, and
he who builds with the mind, builds for all
time, while he who grovels AMONG the mate
iiai oiOiuoHtS VI lilcj uleS Win The elements
that surround him. And as mind has control
over matter, so the editor from his position
above the material elements of the world, acts
upon the masses, not with the roar of cannon
or the glitter of the sword, or the movement
OF the plowsharc; not with the rant and yipor
incident to worldly strife, or by the ponderous
blows OF our commercial, utilitarian ham
mer, but by the silent powers of the brain,
whose influence moulds the elements of
nrpo tac fhn -
which the material house is built So he who
lives, and moves, and acts among the invisible
forces; who seeks to exalt the human
race by pure and noble sentiments:
who yields his pen in defense
OF higher and a nObler purposes whose ambi.
tton is to elevate the people above the groveI-
ing instincts born of ignorance and degrade
ton, occupies the very highest pinnacle upon
the intellectual mountain, that lifts its lofty
head far above the material world and it's
busting, eager, money getting and money.
making plOclivities.
Nor am l unmindful of another fact, that
the men address tonight are men of culture.
men Of thought, men Of brans-whose mind,
training fit them to justly criticize any efforts
may make to instruct or advise them in the
paths OF duty; and knowing, as many of them
40, that In years and in experience have
climbed the mountain and am slowly moving
towards its base on the other side, ticv natur
ally enough expect of me something more
than passing thought of the rise progress
and present position of their noble profession,
with, perhaps, some incidents and some rem
lniscenses Incidental to thirty-four wears of
brain work among the editors Of America. In
deed, my editorial career commenced in the
year 1S1. and during that time have seen
great changes, not only in the art of printing,
Dut IN the editorial and newspaper profession,
and to some of these changes shall be pleased
to refer during the delivery of nv address.
In recurring to the past, 1t seems almost an
unDrOken desert from the advent of our race to
the period of the invention of printing. A
pail OF intellectual darkness covers the earth.
and we grope in the dead past look.
Ing for some evidences of the intelligence
OF the nineteenth century, but we look in vain.
Nearly four thousand years were thrown away
before mankind could gather the first correct
idea OF the purposes of life. War and con.
quest were the predominant clements, Brute
force prevailed. What there was of science
or education, or even religion, were made
subservient to success in arms, and the better
aims of our higher life gave way to the
baser passions of nature
The first evidence We have of printing OF
any kind, as narrated in the sacred SCRIPTURES
is, when the Lord came down on Mount Sinai
ana printed on stone the decalogue, the foun.
dalton of all law and the ethics of all inst
government. 1t is true it was not printing IN
the sense in which We use the term, and VET
1t is the earliest evidence of anything which
approached it, and out of this grew the adage,
The art OF printing is DIVINE" If it be
true, That the Lord did, with his own finger
print on stone those grand laws which have
been the guidance of our lives, then We arc
forced to the conclusion, that the art OF
printing Is really DIVINE, and must advance
to the highest perfection of ALL art.
Job, who in prophetic vision, as it were
looking forward in the vista of time TO tbe
period when printing would become known
exclaimed, 1,52O years before the birth OF
Cnrlst, ", That my words were now written
y! that they were printed in book.-that
they were craven with an iron Den and lead
in the rock forever" 1t is not to be supposed
that job had any very vivid conception OF the
magnitude of the great book establishments in
New York or Boston, or those that were to be.
but it is reasonable to suppose that he had 4
clear conception that some time in the future
great thoughts of great men would be perpet.
uated in book form, which would live
forever. Pliny informs us that writ.
ing on lead was of high antiauity
and came in practice next after writ.
ing on the bark and leaves of trees, and was
used in recording public transactions. The
sculptured column and the pictoria sar.
cophagus of Thebes and Memphis were only
faint efforts to retain the records Of the age il,
which they were made, but these and the PEG.
pie who made them have passed to oblivion.
Athens was the seat of learning and taste and
literature. She was celebrated for her science
and her great men, and all this
is attributed, in great degree.
to her partial substitute for the newspaper
press. She not only had written orac!es. but
she had living oracles, who travelled from
place to place and from street to street, and
made 1t their business to convey to the people
news that had occurred during the day. It is
to this spirit of inquiry and Investigation that
have made the Athenans the most learned
and the most renowned among the ancient ma.
tons of the world.
Away back in the days of the Caesars, man
uscript sheets with news, were circulated by
the Romans. quote from the Acta Diurna
the following:
ION the Goth Of July, thirty boys and forty
girls were born at Trimochi's estate at Cuma. j.
AT the same time slave was put to death
Tor uttcrinS dls'espectful words against his
lord"
"The same day a fire broke out in Pompev's
gardens, which began in the night in the stew.
arts apartment
The credit of originating the first Man
usc,'ipf newspaper. is given TO the Venetians.
OF course ] now refer to written
manuscript papers and not 10 printed
ones. History Would seem to in
dictate that the Venetians took their hints of
manuscript newspapers from the custom of
the Romans, while the Romans became news
mongers from the example OF the Athenians.
Certain it is, that in the earliest ages, agencies
such as ] have mentioned, were used 10 dis
seminate news. and il is matter of great sur.
prise to me, that the Romans, with their yd,or,
the Italians with their songs, and the Atheni,
ans with their great learning, did not conceive
the IDEA of printing on wood or type, but
were content to grope along with their print.
tive mode OF communication one with sother,
and yet, probably, they did not discover the
art because it was not to be so.
The Chinese and our American Indians have
species of hieroglyphic writing or printing.
which must be very old. in some of nv trav
els have seen books written by the Indians on
tanned skins or barks Of trees, and this char.
acter of writing is very peculiar. For instance