Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1884-12-20
ADDRESS OF PA. RoHRBAuGH, ESQ.
Gentlemen of the Press ASSOCIATIONS Of
West Virginia:

Gentlemen of the Press association Of
West Virginia:
In behalf of the citizens of Martinsburg.
l extend to you right hearty welcome
to the little city whose history has meas.
ured the falling sands of more than a
century. Welcome to the most fertile
valley in christendom, rich from the
hand of God in its golden harvest, laden
with the memories of our early national
life. full of recoliections OF the hloody
carnage which, near a quarter century
since. swept over its beautiful bosom
leaving death and devastation in its
track.
Welcome to the shores of the grand old
Potomac, whose waters lave this classic
SOIL where the great conflict of ideas be-
tween the citizens of a common country
in clash of arms shook the majestic fab
ric. this Union. and threatened to for
ever seal the doom of human liberty and
destroy the most benign institution, the
genius of man has ever conceived for
the government of a people.
Welcome for all is quiet on the Po-
toInae y and to-day we give you welcome
to the firesides of our PEACEFUL southern
home where the morning sunshine kisses
the sparkling dew drop as gladly as if it
hung shimmering from the most veneer
able oak on the towering hill top of our
western border.
Welcome with your ceaseless energy
and tireless brains to gather and record
the doings of our valley. every foot of
which has yielded to the pressure of the
strangers step. whose living waters have
fquenched the burning thirst of men from
every State in the Union. eli s ,ic for its
time, its men. and its measures. We
welcome you in the language of Cowper
as
:. The heralds of noisy world, with
News from all Nations numbering at your
backs"
Your presence will inspire us to our
good behavior. for in the art of news get
ting. there has been no lack of improve
ment since the time of Burns. that prince
of good fellows. and his reverence for
your profession was such in his time that
he felt called upon to inform the public
OF the editors approach. and hence he
sings
= Hear land o cakes and brither scots,
Frae Maidenkirk to JOHNNY Greats,
If there hole in your coats
| rede We ten t it.
A cheils amang you taking notes
And faith he ii prent it."
One can scarcely imagine the dilemma
in which Burns would have found him
self had he been surrounded by an army
of editors, The mob of gentlemen who
write with ease" Yet are we not sup
prised that he should have looked with
somewhat of suspicion on a class of men
whose busy brains and ready pens fired
the populace with thirstings for human
liberty. and thus became the explosive
that threatened to tumble the Monarchies
Of Europe into one indistiDguishable
mass and drew from the lawgivers of
those times the most exacting laws limit
ing and controlling the powers of the
press. 1t is instructive as well as anus
ing to look into some of these laws For
instance. by an old law amended as late
as Victoria S reign every person having
a printing press or types for printing was
required to give notice to the town clerk
where the same was to be used. and OBJ
tain certificate of registration under a
penalty of ego And SO type founders
were required 10 register under a like
penalty. and keep an account of sales to
be inspected by the Justice of the Peace.
and every printer was required to keep
a copy of each and every paper printed
by them for hire or reward. A striking
laws and our present restrictions on the
distillers of to-day-in those days the
government controlled the press. to-day
the reverse is true. But a century has
taught us that tie editor out side of the
sanctum is the most gracious and oblig-
ing of men. and we have no fear but
that you viii report our cause Alright. +"
So thirst we for your gleanings from the
! fast fitting circumstances of time, that
we scarce can wait until we have break
tasted to read the history of the Nation s
yesterday and in very eagerness we cry
with Shakespeare
/" Prythee friend.
Pour out the pack of matter to mine ear
The good and bad together"
= Ram thou the fruitful tidings in mine
ears
That long have been barren
This clamoiing for the news has been
thoroughly exemplified in the last few
weeks by the citizens of this great coun-
try throughout its full length and
breadth. If it were possible, men would
have pushed the gray old world more
rapidly around on its axis that the mas
sive cylinder of time might hasten the
morning paper with its budget of news
Just as the request Of the impatient
passenger when riding on fast train to
have a cow cetcher placed on the
rear car to prevent the cattle from run
ming over the train. was a foolish criti.
cism on the progress of the age. and in
dictated desire to rush through life more
rapidly than ordinary methods could
carry him. So this Impotence for news
by the greedy gormandizing public is
but morbid desire to peer into the fu-
nd CHI of
process of wiring his speech to the pub
lie press in advance of its delivery would
seem to satisfy this craving for the latest
1t is to be hoped however. gentlemen. if
in order to please an exacting public you
ShoulC determine to adopt Max Adder
plan. Your news will be more reliable
than his. for history tells us that his
speech proved an utter failure and was
never made as reported. 1t proved to
have been made on our congressional
plan = Printed by leave of the house -
If men pushed on by the whirligig of time
could stop for breathing spell. and
from the eminence of the present. scan
the field over which the clash of ideas
has strewn its victims and. built its mon
uments they w )uld observe that heaven 5
great law has obtained and " the fittest
have survived - that each day but inn
proves the methods for gathering. record
ing and proinulgating the ever-recurring
history of time.
The ancient Assyrian Nations are said
to have made impressions from blocks as
the Chinese still do. Yet this seems to
have given no infiatus to the methods of
communication so necessary to the human
family. and not until the years from 1920
to 143S was the discovery of movable
types made by Laurence Coster and
Johann Gansfleisch contestants for the
right of discovery and inventions. Both
were Germans and about four centuries
ago the first book. the Bible, was printed
in this way Among the many inventions
which followed each other in quick sue
cessiOn, was the Columbian press, used
! " hare limited t,,,raho,-