Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-02-23

| grade movement In, society, 10, to my
mind, the strongest proof Of an ad-
vance movement, and inspires me with
new hope for new and splendid achieve
ments. If man was satisfied with his
present success, hope for the future
would die instantly. When restless
activity ceases, the retrograde move
ment will begin, and not until then.
And as man is SO constituted that rest
less activity will never cease. 50 he will
never cease to advance towards moral
and intellectual perfection. The other
thing that causes US to look with re-
grets tB the past and disfavor upon TEE
present, is the bad of the past fades
from our memories while the good ia
preserved as we recede from it. Mem
ory erects rainbow and throws it
across the past, and as time bsars us on
with its resistless current, we fix our
eyes upon the scenes from which are
receding so rapidly, and there II an un-
defined longing to go back to those
scenes apain. The Arabian desert is
fit emblem of this feeling in us. AS
the rowing Arab pitches his tent, all
around and beneath is withered grass
and arid sand, but far in the rear and
tar in the advance is a semblance
Of refreshing waters. The Arab hast
ems forward and finds nothing but sand
where an hour before he had seen lake.
He turns his eyes and sees lake where
an hour before he was telling through
the sand. A similar illusion seems to
haunt man through every stage of the
long progress from poverty and barbar-
ism to the highest degree of opulence
and civilization. But if we chase the
mirage backward, we shall see it recede
hpfnreA int. fho .,f fah
antiquity. Another error we fall into
in comparing the past and the present
is, we fail to take into the account the
different standpoints from which we.
view them. Look at our facilities to-
day OF obtaining the news. The three
giants, Steam, Electricity, and the
Printing Press, have almost anihilat-
ed time and space. Even thirty years
ago, when [ shot the festive squirrel
from tree where now stand to ad-
dress you, the scream of the locomotive
whistle had not reverberated from the
arcade of hills surrounding your beau
tiful valley. 1t then took six days to
go to st. Louis from this place and re-
turn, and there was not at that time
single local newspaper in Southeast
Missouri. Sixty years ago there was
not mile of iron railway in the world
and the telegraph hal not entered in
to the imagination of man. Now we
have over one hundred thousand miles
Of railway in operation in the United
States alone. and the telegraph has
osp oapsaTssa migsy fzs1y saa asa s M a corner
ceased to say, I" Hereto shall thou
come but no further" Steam ships
now cross from New York.to Liverpool
in less time than it took sixty years ago
to go from st. Louis to Chicago. A nd
human thought is transmitted with
lightning speed beneath the dark wa
ters of the Atlantic by means of sub
marine cables. The commerce and
travel Of the world is carried by the
tireless arm of the engine. And the
printing press! What shall say of it:
This mightiest of this mighty trio!
King Charles II. thoughtiI expedient
to prohibit the employment of more
than twenty printers in his kingdom
at one time, and to place these under
censorship. But thanks to an enlight-
ened and advancing civilization, the
EN- barge has long since been removed,
and the click of the type-setter Is heard
in every town and city of the land to-
day. Can you form any estimate of the
that is daily turned off
Missouri Republican prints sc, 900 cop
les of its daily edition liz one hour
to make 100 octave volumes of
400 pages each. This is one hours
work for one paper. Now add to this
one hours work all that is done every
day by this paper and the other dailies
Of st. Louis and Cincinnati, Chicago,
New. York, Boston, Philadelphia, Bal
Washington, London, Vienna,
Paris, Berlin, st. Petersburg, and the
thousan of other cities in the civil |
lied world, and then add to these the
weekly paper, the magazines, periodi |
Gals and books that are printed and |
given as intellectual food to the masses |
of the people every day, and you can |
have some faint idea of the mighty |
powers of this great and monstrous |
giant. You here in Ironton sit down |
to-day and out of your daily paper read
of the crimes of Europe and America |
of yesterday. Is there a long list?
but remember that these re-
ported crimes are culled from pOpu- |
lation of over two hundred millions. |
The croak reads his paper and throws
it down in disgust, and straightway |
says: "These things were not 80 when |
[ was boy-the world is going fast to
the bad" And yet he is honest in this. |
He shut his eyes and compares the few |
crimes of his neighberhood of fifty per-
sons fifty years ago with the crimes of
and America of yesterday, and |
hence his error. But the most satis-
factory method of determining this
question, is to compare the present
Is it is with the past as it was. You
know what the present is. Now let US
AXE glance at the past. And again
take the latter half of the 18th GEN.
Jury for the comparison.
Macaulay says that in the reign of Charles
I. 166O to 1851 thieves and robbers piled
heir trade in London with impuisity. Itwas
favorite amusement of dissolate young gen.
lemen to swagger by night about the town,
reaking windows, upsetting sedans, beating
uiet men and offering rude caresses to pref
y women. The machinery for keeping the
'eace was utterly contemplate. At the cry
f ''rescue," bullies with swords and cudgels
nd termagant hags with spits and broom
ticks poured forth by hundreds, and the Of
Ger who had attempted to make an arrest.
vas glad to escape with his life. Even the
variant of the Chief Justice of England could i,
ot be executed without the help of a COM
'any of musketeers. This great historian