The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-04-28
The-J.ocal Press.

While the influence and Importance of
country papers have been steadily increas-
ing, very few have paused to realize how
much this has been the case, or the pow
er they exert in moulding public opinion
and swaying the destinies Of the nation.
To compare them with those of half 4
century since, is to show improvement so
great as to be next to wonderful. The
little, dingy, badly-printed, scissor-edited
sheets, lacking the elements of taste in.
composition and makeup, have been su-
perseded by those that even the watchful
eye OF the Cabinet can look approvingly
upon; for order has succeeded chaos of
type, and the artistic in arrangement the
crude conception of what should be,
They now look as the work OF finished
jours, not the Il don't know any better
of young apprentices, and the q guess it
will answer'' Of careless comps. Ink is
now used worthy of the name; old, bat
tered, irregular fonts have been thrown
aside and replaced by others pleasant to
the eye, attractive ana useful. Fitness
of combinations has taken the place of
incongruity, and good press work that OF.
poor, until the papers OF the country con-
test the palm with those of cities in ap-
pearance and ability, if not in size.
And with the better order of things in
the mechanical, so came one also in the
brain workshop. Competition forced i'm
provement; raising the intellectual status
demanded it. As good work as was done
abroad was required at home-as good
editors and as wide a range of subjects.
A higher place was prepared, and the
country editor fastened to occupy it, or,
failing, was thrust aside by others, The
idea once entertained that thinking men
were to be found only in the great cities
and among classic scholars was proven
preposterous. At the pillow, with an axe
in hand in the heart of great forests, at
the ringing anvil, in the Gathering mill,
surrounded by the flowers of the prairie,
and the rocks of the hillside, mind was
busy AMI worked out the great problems
of government and universal freedom as
they arose, plainly and forcibly, and in
the hour OF need arose in the majesty of
patriotism and wrote their names in blood
and in graves upon the pages Of history.
To them, and not to theorists, to the bone
and sinew Of the country, is Liberty most
indebted. From
"Mcn who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare
maintain,
are states formed and nations given
strength and stability and to such, more
than any other, the local newspaper
comes, sounding the note of warning, and
leading and controlling action.
This being the case, to home publica-
tions the eye is first turned. Each has an
interest in, is part Of it. Its ltterances
are the pulse beats of the neighborhood-
the changeful throbbing OF its heart. 1t
comes the living photograph of all in
which they are the most absorbed, and
which strikes deepest to the roots Of af-
lection and self-interest. And SO it be.
comes al instrument of. mighty power
one hundred fold to that exerted by dis
tant presses, for every feeling and sympa-
thy is enrdpport with it, while the utter
ances of the '.blanket sheets" are cues
toned and weighed with jealous distrust.
Besides, it reaches and Influences where
no s'city thunderer'' is ever seen, save by
accident. The reading of '.Inammoth''
dailies and weeklies is confined, as a rule,
to the counting house merchant, banker
and manufacturers. But the country pa
per futters in to every hearth-sto1e, is
seized upon with avidity, read with care,
treasured and discussed again and again.
Printers Cabinet.