The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1886-07-09
ADDRESS
or Pres. s. j. Conklin, Deliver,d befor,
the Dakota Press Association, Held .,
Aberdeen, juno 22, 1856.


My time has been SO thoroughly occu
pied Tor the past several weeks with tn,
travel and correspondence necessary ts
perfect arrangements to my satisfactio,
Tor this our annual meeting and the excur
sion that is to follow, that not until last
Friday did find time to commence tn.
work OF preparing an address for this oc.
/ casion, and should not have written ont
at all mad it not been that the iron rule o,
established precedent demanded it, and
would accept no excuse for its non perform.
ance. l shall not, however, us is the ire
1 quent custom on occasions like this, re.
hearse the history OF the art we are disci.
pies OF, nor discourse at length upon the
unparalleled influence and power for good
and evil the press has welded over commu
mites and peoples OF the earth since the art
OF printing was discovered. What it has
done We know, what it is to accomplish in
Dakota depends upon the craft itself, eve
~ individual member OF which. is response
Die TO his patrons and to the common
| wealth for his editorial misfeasance or non.
feasance.
| The transformation OF a territory like
| ours In few years, from an uninhabited
ana trackless waste, denounced by geogra.
piers and explorers for n hundred years
as fruitful only OF gumbo, grasshoppers,
alkail, billiards., drouths and arctic tenn
perature, into a fruitful and prosperous
empire with all the agricultural, education-
al and commercial facilities known to
American states OF fifty years growth, was
accomplished by means and methods as
new and untried rs the developing process
n n N
Illustrate: Travel through our agricultur-
q districts and make the acquaintance OF
Dakota farmers, and you will find among
| them surprising number OF college gradu-
ates, disciples OF Escalapins learned law
| yers, eminent divines, knights OF the shoot
ing stick" and representatives OF every art
and vocation, all following the plow with a
patient industry that would do credit to
| the most devoted granger, who to such
pursuits had been born and raised.
inns infusion OF new men trained to
habits OF study and thought, has given to
our agricultural pursuits the benefit OF
brain as well as muscle md resulted in
many new and improved methods. OF the
settlement and development OF Dakota, it
may be truthfully said "Old things have
| passed away and all things have become
new" and this is as true OF the means and
| methods by which newspaper Offices have
been established within our borders until
The prairies are everywhere speckled with
them. Back In the eastern states where
most OF us emigrated from, this ia how
printers grew; the boy left the farm or
rork-shop to begin as printers devil at
the bottom round of the ladder; he toiled on
month alter month and year after year to
| reach the Position OF pressman, and was as
proud as a militia colonel il fortunate
| enough to be promoted to foreman of an
office. Many such in due time became pro.
prietors OF newspapers, and nov and then
one an editor OF ability and distinction
bnt that has not been-to use n slang
| phrase-the Dakota way OF getting there;
lots OF men who could not tell a shooting
stick from stick OF cord wood, aspired
to the profits OF final proof and contest
| aotlces. now lost in many instances to re-
publican gaze and which, in few moons
1T best will cease to gladden. the heart and
teplenish the wallet OF our worthy and now
happy democratic brothers. Scores OF
| young men who had stood at the news
Ease barely long enough to learn the
boxes, focked to Dakota with each
an Army press and hand satche
OF type. Merchants, bankers and divines,
too, were all ut once inspired with the be-
lief that they had u special call to start a
newspaper and publish to the world the
golden opportunities Dakota offered with
out money and without price to all who
would come and garner them Men OF rare
attalnments III our art, editors OF age and
experience and brilliant powers also came
| and 80 it came to pass that where two or
three houses were gathered together there
also was a newspaper, and often two or
three OF them.
This new order and almost laughable state
OF things-and it would have been alto
sether, 80 from an eastern standpoint
was Just what the hour and the occasion
rallied Tor, and without it the great miracle
Of Dakota settlement and development we
point to could not have been accomplished
Had we been compelled to wait for
men OF experience and means and well fur
nished printing offices to come here and
| advertise this country, it would have gone
: long while without advertising; but the
boys came and started their newspapers
and each commenced to boom his own 10.
eality. The lonely settler anxious that
his friends should come also took from
one to a hall dozen copies weekly and mail
90 them east, and soon. nll over the ter
ritory east OF the Missouri it WAS the
same and booming weekly bulletins wera
showered like snowfiakes all over the east
They brought the people here by hundreds
and thousands and tens OF thousands
until now in most counties. the lands are
occupied. Towns are well established, the
booming timeis past; while it lasted it
was easy to opuplish newspaper; you had
"OSAihb " wv OhG W ueSCTlDe WUuC yOu
iitw and who came and where from and
how the crops grew and what the yield was
That satisfied your home patron then;
because he wanted to send such news to
his friends, and satisfied the eastern read
sr because that wac just what he wanted
to know.
That easy time when anyone could edit
3 newspaper Eatisfa ctorily has about PASS
ed, and the crucial test is being applied
which is to determine how many Of you
are fitted by nature and education for edi.
torlal duties, how many OF you will succeed
and how many fail? Your patrons will no
longer be satisfied, with boom articles that
are not needed. The time is close at hand
when you must leave the smooth and
placid waters OF the bayo,ls OF mere local
Journalism where the sailing has been SO
easy, and launch out upon the uncertain
and turbulent sea OF real journalism which
you will find studded all over with rocks
and reefs that endancer, and storms that
have shipwrecked the staunchest and most
sea worthy crafts that have made the
venture. Something more than descriptive
talent will now be required of you. Minds
stored with the ripe fruits of education
and experience will be needed.
Social, economic and political questions
OF the gravest Importance to the people
OF the whole territory, and consequently OF
interest to each and every one of your read
srs, will hedge you about and must be dis
cussed and answered for or against; AMI
here is the true field ofAmerican journalism
An editor should be leader and not fol
lower in the community where he lubors.
II you find after n fair trial that you pos
sess no power in moulding and leading pub
lie sentiment and action. then you may
know that you. like great many ministers
Of the gospel, have missed your calling and
1t would be mercy to your patrons and
wisdom for yourself to seek some other
niche in the great and varied panorama OF
human pursuits that you were born to fill
and be content with that. Not that |
would discourage any beginner, because he
is not q Prentice a Halstead or a (rneleY