The Livingston enterprise. [volume] (Livingston, Mont.) 1883-1914, 1885-08-22
ADDRESS
Delivered Before the Montana Press As
sOciatiOn.

Following we give the address of J
f. Hendry of the ENTERPRISE, as de
livered before the Annual Meeting OF
the Montana Press Association which
convened at Butte City on Thursday, the
Goth inst:
l find myself placed IN the peculiarly
embarrassing position Of being expected
to deliver an interesting and instructive
address to gathering OF professional
brethren many or all of whom are older
in years and in professional experience
than have the honor Of being and any
Of whom, am confident, could assume
this arduous tast with infinitely greater
success. But trust that my frequent
lapses from interest and instruction will
be regarded in a charitable spirit and
that you will attribute them to inability
and ineXperience rather than malicious
desire to be tiresome. ! would ask, too
that if / sometimes appear to be preach
ing what | have not practiced you Will
not be hasty to invoke the curse that
belongs to him who, knowing the path
Of truth, does not follow it. The errors
of the past have carried lessons for the
future.
| take it that we are not assembled as
mere mutual admiration society and
that you care to listen to no long-draWn
glorilication OF our common profession
The story Of the Press-of it's power,
it's mission, it's duty-has been the theme
of such fertile minds and eloquent
tongues as could not hope to initiate
even were | addressing an audience
composed entirely of laymen instead of
an association Of practical co-laborers
who may be reasonably presumed to be
sufficiently impressed with the magni-
tude and Importance Of their chosen
work. It is also to be presumed that
the majority if not all Of the members
Of this association have fixed upon some
department of newspaper labor as their
life profession. 1t should therefore be
their aim to study their work with as
much care and with as close attention
to details as is bestowed upon any other
vocation. There are prizes in the arena
Of journalism but they fall to those who
not merely combine the toiling hand
with the active brain but to those who
bring to their work the close practical
study which every business demands as
the condition of success. The public
is apt to regard an editorial chair as a
position that can be filled by any person
who wields ready pen. We Of the in
side know differently but perhaps all of
us have not quite entered upon full
realization that not only are certain
natural endowments necessary to our
business but we can profitably avail
ourselves Of the experience of our
brethren and every item Of our own
work should be looked upon as train
ing to guide our later endeavors. If we
except the chair of journalism lately es-
tablished at Cornell and the emeritus
professorship at Harvard, the schools
furnish no distinctive training for edl-
torial work. He who chooses that rug
ged road to fame or competence must
enter upon it with only the preparatory
course of general education or with
the more practical if more arduOus
training of long apprenticeship in the
mechanical department of newspaper
work-at the case and the imposing
stone. Avery large proportion Of those
who essay to be editors and publishers
of newspapers seize upon the business
with the hope or untried belief that
they will develop an adaptability for the
work. OF these eXperimenters, these
raw recruits the majority fail ignomini-
ously before they have suffered the hard
school Of experience to mould such en-
ergy and talent as they may possess into
the peculiar form required by the Press.
The editorial profession, more than any
other, presents an example Of that evO-
luton which is accomplished by "natur-
al selection and the survival of the fit
test" The greatest journalists of the
country have reached their proud
eminence only after many years of
active work have brought the expe-
rience that ensures success. We
cannot afford to follow any haphazard,
happy-go-lucky system any more than
can the lawyer or the physician. And
the Montana Press Association whose
Inauguration has been attended by such
promising omens will prove one OF the
most powerful engines for mutual inn
provement-a sort of informal training
school where each member can learn
something from the experience or ideas
Of his fellows.
We are gathered as an association of
editors and publishers for the further
ance Of the interests OF our common
business, to consider how we can i'm
prove our papers and, as consequence,
improve our pecuniary condition, for 1t
NAV be laid down as rule that, other
things being equal, the best paper makes
the most money. Though the public
does not always seem to show proper
appreciation Of the fact and though
enough Of the Bohemian spirit enters
into the constitution of every true jour
nalist to make him esteem money but
little for mere moneys sake, yet money
| we must have to support a position OF
becoming respectability in society and
to oil the wheels Of progress represent.
ed by our papers. Our newspapers are
our means Of livelihood and how tc
honorably obtain from their manage
ment the greatest remuneration for ou1
labor and investments is vital question
| lust as it is with the merchant or the
| farmer. We bid for public confidence
and patronage; we seek to draw and re
! tain the support of newspaper reading
public. We Of the Montana Press Asso
cciation are assembled to promote thes'
ends by exchanging views, making co
operatiye arrangements and cultlvatlne
personal acquaintance. =,
And let me say that from mere util
itarian point Of view this last item, tn
cultivation of personal relations, is b.
no means insignificant. Editors as
class are prone to attack each other ane
to fiji their columns with coarse person
al abuse of their brethren. One siniste
effect of this policy is its pronounced
tendency to drag the editorial profession
from its high estate. It degrades tn
press before the public eye. A grouI
Of editors constantly quarreling among
themselves presents the spectacle OF
lot of low fellows who are deserving o
general execration- each Of them guilt.
of all that is said Of him by his fellow