Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-04-14


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For more than three score years the STAUN-
TON SPECTATOR has been to an extensive pub.
lie as familiar as "household word" The
history of the central section of the great VAL
ley of Virginia is It's history. With the excep-
ton of two other Journals it is the oldest in
the State. and in casting view over all the
country from Maryland to Tennessee, west of
the Blue Ridge mountains. it is entitled to
wear the honors of age in association with its
esteemed contemporaries. What eventful
years and times 1t has chronicled! Coming
into life during the quiet and pure administra.
tration of Monroe. it has steadily moved
ism, a representative organ OF a noble race
and the champion of correct and sound princi-
Piles. Before the formation of the great po-
litical parties of which Henry Clay and An.
jrew Jackson were the opponents. 1t was an
active and jealous champion of the people and
the peoples rights. Receiving inspiration d.
rectly from the founders of our government, it
has maintained the true theories and the high
purposes which established civil liberty and
liberal. rule on the American Continent. 1t
has witnessed the rise and fall of great pal ties
1T has passed through the scenes of trouble
which came upon all the country, and now. as
in the day of its birth and first active life, its
supreme devotion to right. to Justice, to good
government, and the advocacy of substantial
and liberal progress, guides its aims and con.
&c, ates its motives
The mission of a newspaper is one of great
responsibility. 1t exerts an almost supreme
control in the family in social life, and in bus
mess affairs. for good or evil.
The cultivation of proper literary taste, the
promotion of agriculture, commerce, and man
ufactur,s, and the advocacy of measures of
true progress, are the chief cares in the labors
of those who conduct the columns of the Spec
TAToR. Education first and foremost is the
groundwork of all advancement, and upon this
basis the chief as well as the minor pursuits
and objects of mans existence are founded.
Platforms are. in these times. considered the
proper mode n which to present claims for
public recognition and support The spEcTA-
TOR retains its old and time-honored princt-
Piles and purposes Under the benign infiu-
ences OF a new national administration, which
recognizes the equality of all sections of this
great country, and, adhering to its enunci-
ated purposes, the SPECTATOR will maintain
its place in the public arena, with high hopes
of present and future usefulness. which shall
be worthy of its past history.
In the details of journalism are many inter-
esting features. 1t is question in this day
which engrosses the minds of editors most, the
chart under which they work, or the attractive
and entertaining subjects which can be gath
cred by effort and industry in the daily round
OF toll. Correspondence. news. reviews of
books and standard publications, thorough
market reports, are some of the details. but
not the least, in making up readable and
lively paper. Then the local department, If
not first in Importance, is the first read. and
still continues to claim that constant and dis
eliminating attention so essential to the influ-
ly the young. The fact of the promin ence CIV
en- it, makes it of first impor lance, and in pro-
gressive journalism it has already taken that
rank.
The SPECTATOR will labor to merit increased
patronage in its subscriptions, and in it's ad-
vertising and job-printing departments. 1t
feels that there is no more to do than to invite
a cordial cooperation of old and new friends
to its aid. Now is a most desirable time to
commence with its regular weekly visits, and
serve the purposes of entertainment and in
struction.