Lexington weekly intelligencer., 1883-05-12
THE OPPORTUNITIES OF JOURNAL.
- ISM"
AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY ALEX. A
LEsrEUR, EDITOR OF THE LExINa-
- TON INTELLIGENcER, BEFORE
..s THE MISSOURI PRESS Asso-
',' cIATIoN, AT CARTHAGE,
MAY 9. 1899.

MAY y, 1883.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Mis-.
suri Press Association I'm the liturgy
of the Anglican church its members are
taught to thank God that thev have
been created: it is common for us in
this country to thank God that we are
American citizens, and could we feel
sure that we would fully improve ali
The opportunities for good which our
1professiOn offers we might well thank
1odcth we are Journalists. 'Tis
here that uncertainty intrudes and we'll
may give us pause. AS we are told by
the preacher life is but a span. Back
through those ages of which we have
record extends the history of our race
before us lies, its future: with us are
the fewyears mwhich we must work ont
oar individual destiny and leave upon
the world the impress of our deeds for
good or III. In the few moments of
time Which have been placed at my dis
posai desire to say something, if ever
so inadequafely, fthe opportunities of
journalism. 10y
One of the weaknesses of the day. it
seems to- me, is an overweening pride
regarding the material wonders per-
formed In our generation. All epochs
Of time, no doubt, have been thought
BY the people who wrought their deede ,
as marvellous. The men who fashion,
Wnfhe stones and made the engines
cause to them in the n1ssi1 71ig genui-
ty of their day. The genius that con-
ceived and the tact which erected the
obelisks were no mean evidences of
enlightened thought. The artistic
hands which beantified the cities of
Ninevah and Carthage were certainly
guided by cultivated brains. The
Acropolis still stands as monument of
the. enlightenment Of the men who
gracedi the temples within its walls.
Everywhere over the earth are found
even now proofs of former civilizations.
If not q book were written we have in
imperishable inanimate objects o histo-
~ of the intelligence Of our race,
There are known to us arts whose
mysteries are lost, and results of science
which we cannot now explain. The
great yesterday Of mankind was filed
with grand and imposing works.
Considering time by ages it Il only to-
day that the minor improvements of
steam and electricity have added to the
comforts of the world. Agriculture.
the pursuit more or less crudely of half
,onr race, learns, unlearns and learns
again. Improved in methods its
great elementary principles are subject
of dispute. from century to century
We are told as an automatic fact that
the world moves. Does it on the
whole really, move ?, Where is the
proof? i, In immensity of undertaking
our era cannot compare its works with
many that are now hoary with age. In
the petty cOnveniences of life how do
we know that steam and electricity
have given us more than were enjoyed
by the mummes we see in our muse:
ums Certainly, if history can be
reckoned true, wealth is not now pos
sesscd in such vastness as it was when
pearls worth half-million dollars were
held cheaply enough to be DESTROYED
for caprice. The luxury Of our
times can hardly be compared to that
INDUCED in in the east, and as extrava-
giant as are many of our wealthy
men they would hardly embellish the
walls of their houses with gems, or erect
within them fountains Of 80 id silver
and gold. If we are to look, then, for
the superiority Of our times over the
past we must do so, not in the wonder
ofour aqueducts, in the miles of our
railroads or in the click ofour telegraph,
but rather in the amelioration of the
political condition of mankind. While
we owe much to our Fhltons, our
Frankline, our Morses and our Edisons,
while steam, the telegraph and the
telephone, are great conveniences and
comforts, there are, this moment, parts
of the world where all are accessible
and where still none of them are en-
joyed. 1t is the mission of the press to
extend to all mankind all the blessings
Of the world.
am talking principally to country
journalists whose respective fields of
work may be considered circumscribed,
but 1t is not presumptnous to say, that
in their nearness to the people, in their
quick reciprocity of sentiment one to
another, from newspaper to reader and
from reader to newspaper, that 1 am
addressing the men and women who
either mold the opinions of Missouri or
quickest reflect its sentiments. As a
factor in the political thought of the
day this is no mean field, but
it would be singular dwarfing of the
influence of a printed word were it at
tempted to contine it to the limits of
neighborhood. The bulletins of
Washington were printed in sheets
which would to-day shame most of our
smallest villages. The immortal
thoughts penned by Jefferson were
gwen to the public in newspapers of
humblest pretensions. And while ex-
tensive influence for good may be
doubted in the country press none will
venture to deny the evil which the
humblest print may do in the publica.
ton Of lewd allusion or a noxious
thought.
When the German boy in Mentz first
discovered theTus of movable types he
little understood the magnitude of his
invention. Evolutionists are to-day
advancing theories upon which they
propose to indefinitely extend the life
1 OF n&n. Reasoning man from the