New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-04-10
THE DAY WE CELEBRATE.

The fiftieth anniversary of an event is uni
versally admitted in theory and practice to afford
suitable occasion for recalling the past and
anticipating the future Event is word often
applied to an incident of trivial and feeting in
terest but we venture to assume that in the
estimation of many thousands it may be
accurately employed in speaking of the birth
of THE TRIBUNE. In that belief we have asked
number of eminent men to assist in making
memorable our celebration tonight at the Metro
politan Opera House. They will speak to an
immense audience face to face, and through our
columns to thrice as many who applied too late
for tickets and to a multitude OF TRIBUNE read
ers in all parts of the world. 1t is deeply re-
GREETED that seats could be found for only a
fraction of those who have signifed desire to
be present, but for THE benefit of all we shall
reproduce tomorrow as wildly as possible the
scenes and occurrences of this evening.
Our contemporaries Of the press have cor
daily recognized the propriety, the interest and
the significance of this commemoration, and we
cannot doubt that the American people without
regard to sectional or political feeling share in
the pleasurable emotions with which we greet
the anniversary. This journal endeavOrs to be
as thorough record of intelligence and as hon
est an exponent of principles as may be from
day to day, and it prefers to demonstrate rather
than affirm its success. But once in fifty years
it may be pardoned for expressing the sentl-
ments with which a great and constantly ex-
banding circle of readers Enthusiastically regard
it. They believe and We agree with them, that
THE TRIBUNE is better paper than it ever
was before and will be better paper hereafter
4Lo - ic of hoc IN
filled the ideal which Mr. Greeley cherished
when he called it into existence fifty years ago
to-day. 1t is certainly far beyond the posi-
bilities of that era, for in scarcely any other
field of human activity has invention given so
many opportunities to enterprise. How com
plete transformation the daily journal OF 1841
has undergone not even the most assiduOus read
er of the Journal of 1891 can appreciate without
examining the files of the intervening period
For many of the accomplishments which have
repaid research and experiment MIR. Greeley
and bis successor are entitled to claim credit
They would not have come without zeal, per-
sistence and lavish expenditure. But behind
multiplying facilities for the collection and dis
semination of intelligence is the controlling
spirit. If The TRIBUNE has acquired an in
huence over the thoughts and lives Of men it
is because the editors of this journal have recog-
nized their obligation to enlightcn and elevate,
to discriminate in favor of truth and sincerity,
to practise and teach sobrety of Judgment and
consistency of purpose, to feel and inspire firm
faith that what is excellent will endure, and to
exempify and inculcate the conviction that no
honest and earnest effort in the line OF duty
ever fails of an ultimate reward
Satisfaction in the present is justified only
when it is made means of inspiration for the
future. The material equipment for the pro-
duction of great newspaper which every pass
ing year supplies in greater perfection would,
in the estimation of The TRIBUNE, be chiefly
wasted if it were not employed in the same
spirit and for the same aims which have given
to this journal the place which it securely holds.
1t is our ardent desire that its second half
century, which begins to-day, may be distin
guished by an amper capacity for public SER
vice than the fifty years that have gone, so that
from this anniversary its readers in succeeding
generations may date a completer fulfilment Of
the purposes which animated Mr.. Greeley and
which have been steadfastly promoted by MIR.
Reid,