The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-04-02
SECOND DAY.

SENATE CHAMBER, |
New Orleans, March 2, 1881.
The Association met at IL 25 a.. M,
President McCranie in the chair.
The Secretary called the roll; 81 mem
bers present, IA absent.
The Executive Committee, through it's
chairman, reported favorably upon the
applications of Messrs. A. J. Padron, of
the St. Bernard Eagle, and Drayton B.
Hayes, of the Claiborne Guardian, and
those gentlemen were unanimously
elected members of the Association.
The President stated that the Associa-
ton, being without order of business OF
rules Of procedure, he would be obliged
to the members for any suggestions OF
counsel relative thereto.
On motion of Gen. Jastremski it was
resolved that the order of business be
left entirely to the judgment Of the
President.
The Chair then asked for a report from
Mr.. 81. J. Hyams, who had been desig-
mated the historian Of the session. Mr..
Hyams excused himself by saying that
he was unequal to the task, and that
some one should be selected from New
Orleans, which was the central point OF
State affairs, historical and otherwise,
and suggested the appointment of Judge
Alexander Walker in his stead as his.
torian.
The President then introduced Mrs.
NJ. r. Field, Of the New Orleans Times,
who read the following:
ESSAY ON PROGRESS IN JOURNALISM.
Our honored President, himself a
veteran and thorough journalist, has
seen fit to call upon the youngest and
citation to discuss the livest question In
the literature Of the day" Progress in
Journalism"
NY own experience in the profession
warns me at the threshold OF the magni-
tude of the task assigned me. Standing
as I do upon the verge of the realm OF
journalism, my inspirations are not
unlike those Of a child beholding for the
first time q half-explained, half-under
stood pageant. In this moment of intel
lectual doubt, not to say forgetfulness
I scarcely know in what direction to cast
my eyes. In all emergencies of thought
| we instinctiyely retrospect; we seek the
instruction Of precedent; we look to see
what has been, hoping to prospect there
from what is to be. This retrospect
while it can claim no recital from me or
this occasion, nevertheless glides with
an unseen force into all my thoughts
From the receding past Journalistic
giants, like 'sChristopher North,' Add
son and Steele come into view as the
highest types of English classic writer's
along with the more modern men, some
| of them scarcely less renowned, such a:
Greeley, Leggett, Mansfield, Emerson
Curtis, Gallagher, Shreve and Prentice
But it is not in the line of my argu
| ment to discuss these men, however
| the quality and method of moder1
| journalism.
In all this [ cannot adhere to the text
given me, and if [ assume the pros
| pective, I find myself quite as much a
fault, and so for want of better counsel
! must content myself without the philoso
phical deductions that might be draw
from the history of our profession.
| Renan, somewhere in his works, say
cit is only the sceptic who writes histor,
| ad narrandum; that ''the authority o
| chronicles must give place to medals
maps or authentic letters" II there i
conclusion is irresistible that the mos
! important doctrines Of history are thos
which possess in the least degree tn,
| historic form.
It has often occurred to me that, apar
from medals, maps and authenti
letters,'' there is very little authenti
history prior to the rise of the printin,
press and the newspaper. If these hav
too frequently given place to mere sus
picions, and what Renan calls a carpin1
and defiant criticism, there has Away
been found in the multiplicity o
journals an ample field of contradiction
Of facts, or inGulcation of erroneou
! ideas in respect to morals.
Notwithstanding the learning and ex
| perience of our honored President, [ fea
| he did not duly,consider theimpossibilit
| in brief address Of portraying the pro
| gress which has been made in Journalism
| TO do so would carry me back full fou
| hundred years to find the first substan
tai initial of this grand movement
Looking across these long centurie
| there appears, what would now be los
to recollection except for Journalism, thu
| musty and repulsive recesses of West
ki11l1otCl, do. NSSCI1DSA Wy III. OCIIl1C1
where stood crazy building of wood am
plaster, three stories high. Its pointed
| roof and wooden balcony were seldom
free from poor futtering rags of cloth
ing. hung out to dry by the wretchet
tenants. The very sunlight grew sickl,
! when it fell into the poverty-strickel
street, where slipshod women, unshaven
lounging men and pale stunted children
skunk hopelessly about. Foulness
gloom and wretchedness were the promi
nent features of the place, around the
| frail timbers Of the house in which the
and wrought There, amid such dismal
and repulsive surroundings appeared
Caxton, the SsFather of the English
press, who combined in himself all thu
qualities and duties ofauthor, maker
compositor, pressman, corrector, binder
publisher and bookseller.
It would be interesting on this occa
sion, if time allowed, to ramble through
Cations workshop. The writer, whose
words I have already quoted, thus de
scribes the scenes that meet Us as W.
enter the Almonry Of Westminster
ssTwo h11oa frames of wood SupnOrt fh1