The Opelousas courier., 1888-05-19
newspapers and Editors.
inc Coles" Remarks at the Louisi-
,,oss Association Convention.

,,ess Association Convention.
10. Picnyune'
The following address, made
4, Mrs, M. r. Field-our Cath
y .;ne Cole"-at the recent Lou
sa;ana State Press Association
%aonyention at Opelousas, was
os~rticularly we'll received, and is
Para published by request Of
many members who heard it:
Mt. President, Ladies and Gen.
aemen-A man who had been
nnblishing a weekly newspaper
h Kentucky for some years sadie.
! AN editor works 365 days o year to
- ant ffty-two issues of a paper;
ssst is labor once in a while some
Sody pays him a years subscription,
.sst,s capital and once in a while
soma son.of-a gun of a dead-beat takes
~ naner for a year or two and vanish.
- without paying for it, that's anar-
Nv. bat later on justice will overtake
hot last named creature, for there is
Mace where he wiz get his deserts"
The Kentucky editor mention
I'd an impolite tough place
where broken type is thrown,
and WHICH is in a way familiar
to us all.S
You who are printers as we'll
as editors, kaow where the man
roes who robs a poor editor.
The only trouble is he does
not 90 soon enough. He stays
|. around stealing years subscrip-
items, and crop reports, and edi-
torials. A sneak thief whose
tools are a pair of scissors, "a
paste pot and a paste brush, is
one Of the meanest men alive,
and none of us are safe from
him.
Even the brightest and clev-
est editors do not always get
credit for what they do. The ed
itor, in fact, SO far as I know,
frequently finds it extremely
difficult to get credit anywhere.
The wise man or woman will
never attempt to rob the pub
Usher of a newspaper. No one
but a publisher can appreciate
the crime of taking a newspaper
and failing to pay for it. No one
but an editor can express what
a despicable thing it is to steal
brains. The publisher and the
editor are constantly being rob
bed. 1t is robbery to steal items
from an exchanges news coy
umns; it is robbery to work the
editor for free advertisements
it is worse than robbery to give
him a lucent treat in expecta.
ton of a $40 notice to move
out of town without paying the
overdue subscription, or to read
borrowed paper simply beopuse
one is too mean to buy a paper
for ones self.
A man who keeps up with the
times by reading borrowed liter.
ature-who SENDS to-day to one
neighbor for a look at his paper
and tomorrow to another-is
quite mean enough to be The
husband of the woman who Dor
rows Mocha coffee and pays il
back with parched beans ant
Chicory.
T remember once writing {
careful article describing some
possessions of a certain rich mar
in my city. It appeared in thu
Sunday paper and was general
IL read. The next morning thu
gentleman came to the Office ant
asked to look at the Sunday pa
per. He read over the article
seemed pleased with it, bough
9 single copy of the paper ant
had that charged to his mother
in-iaw. If communities were
composed Of such men as this
editors would starve and news
papers would cease to be.
The man who loves his coun
try, his state or his town will d.
all be can to support its press
If he fayors education, refine
ment, progress and the powe
that comes with knowledge, b
will stand by his newspapers
They are his voice-they are hi
mirrors-they show to the world
to. spectators, to would-be i'm
migrants, to enterprising me-
everywhere precisely what he il
how he lives and what he wants
An editor may personally b
9 good or a bad man, but in
large sense he does not put him
self into his paper. He cuts hi
paper to suit his community.
To-day, if you will show no
Your parish newspaper, / will te'
ion what sort of people live ]