Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-03-03
The Euis of the Press.

AT the banquet given the Tennes-
see Dental Association in Nashville
on the night of Feb. %, Col. A. s.
Colyar made the following response
to the toast, 1.-THE Press"
The influence and power of the
press, and its great value in train
ing and elevating human thought,
all criticism on the toast just read.
A departure from this. though it
may lack the charm of the worlds
great wonder, in collecting and dis
tributing information, may possess
at least the freshness of novelty.
The evils of the press, like its bless
ings, have attracted the attention of
refined and thoughtful men in every
part of our common country and
while its blessings in this land are
bounded only by the line which
separates the school-house and the
Indians wigwam, its evils are as
general as the demands of ignorance
and vice require.
To the unretined bigot, sitting on
the editorial tripod, "the freedom
of the press" is the sword of re-
venge the license to assail private
character; the privilege to uncover
family secrets the duty to find the
delinquencies and obscure the vir-
tues of social life. Ignorance and a
vicious taste, when united, and sit
ting as mOnarchs over the morning
or evening daily, Will soon make it
the enemy of refinement and the
partner of vice. 1t is the most in
sidious of all enemies of refinement
and culture. Its very home Is the
family circle, and its title and kim
dred give it responsibility, and, ere
one knows ii, its vices become fas-
cinating associates. The remedy
for all this lies in the discriminating
acumen of the public mind.
Another evil of the press, less Of
fensive, but perhaps as perniciOus,
is to be found in the excess of party
fealty. Within the recollection of
our oldest men the education of the
people in party politics has been
transferred from the platform to the
press, and the people. in a great
measure, look to the party paper
pie are the power, and the party
10 AllC AOdu W AllC va AiAC NOl-
umn.
Vicious partisans, whether on the
platform or on the tripod, often
hide their own nakedneSs by taffy
for the people.
Devotion to the party and con-
Germ for its best interests do not
demand servility. They rather re-
quire respect for the party-the firm
advocacy of it's accepted creed-but
the courage, in respectful way, to
warn it of the dangers from its own
errors.
That the party can do no wrong. is
a fallacy taught by demagOguPs and
founded in cowardice, which de-
serves the severeSt censure from the
enlightened press.
The maxim that the liking can
do no wrong" has no application to
the consideration of party action. |
The party may do wrOng, and the |
whole people may get wrong for |
time, but the theory of our govern |
ment is that their final action will |
be right, and 80 it will under the |
influence of n courageous press, pre-
pared to endure condemnation for |
the good of the State.
Recently i'm ali the lines OF free |
thought and in all the departments !
of public life, vicious power has
struggled for the mastery over pub
lie virtue, and often successfully.
The press in this country has a
great work before it. Its influence
is only bounded by civilization.
Electricity collects in one day the
news from every civilized nation,
and the next day, being put in book
form at night, flying trains drawn
by steam, deliver the news at the
doors of 50,000,000 of people. In
the language of one of our modern
poets, to divide this great engine of
power, the people may well pray,
God give us men! A time like this
demands strong minds. great hearts,
truth, faith and ready hands:
Men whom the lust of Office does not kill;
Men whom the spOilS or office cannot buy;
Men who possess opinions and a Will
Men who have honor men who Will not
lie;
And damn his treacherous batteries with
out winkings
Tall men, crowned, who live above the
fog
In public duty and private thinking;
For, while they rabble with their thumb
worn creedS,
Their large professions and their little deeds
Wrong rules the law, and Justice sleeps.