Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-01
THE PRESS Is AHEAD.
1t Leads the Church and State in the
Recognition Of Women.
ACTION AT THE RECENT MEETING.
The Press Clubs May Eventually Take the
Place of the Salon.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY INFLUENCES
rwh1rrKN FOR THE DISPATCH,

IL 1hunicipal haii, istsuuiS' IL Hao " NSiJ
quiet event as far as the. public was con-
cerned. Drums did not beat nor trumpets
sound, and yet it was very important.
-Four hostile newspapers are more to be
feared than thousand bayonets, said
Napoleon. II he were alive to-day he would
very likely see in this combination of the
great power of the press force more for
midable than the standing armies of the
world. Although Alexander has bar
ricaded the printing press with bayo-
nets, has closed colleges where germs
of thought are nurtured, has exiled
the foremost thinkers of the Empire
to the frozen regions of Siberia, yet no
power of his standing army Of a million
men can avail against the pen as welded by
the spirit of the age. William of Germany,
young as he is, knows that public opinion
as voiced by the press is force he cannot
printing houses and imprison editors and
shut the mouths of thinkers by virtue of
bayonets and bread and butter arguments,
but, like rubber bag, the press, when
in one place, will bulge at an
other. To suppress by force the effects of
free thought is only to make the cause more
vigorous.
The Recognition of Women.
What will make this first meeting of the
League of Press Clubs forever
famous was Its warm welcome to women
working in the field-the extension of fra
ternal relations and equal rights and priv
ileges. The press has thus gone ahead of
the church and State in doing justice.
While the Methodists are busy fighting over
the admission of women as delegates to their
General Conference, while the Presbyterians
are very much exercised in their minds on
admitting them into the General Assembly
and permitting them to become Deaconesses,
and all the other denominations are wrest-
ling with the matter in some shape or other.
The press in its representative capacity has
gone to the front, and left the reverend
brethren in the rear, struggling to keep the
sisters out. The politicians Will have to fall
into line with the press, and the vexed
question will soon be settled.
Large events oftentimes turn on very
small hinges. The admission of women to
the Press Club of the world seemed to many,
perhaps, small matter, but to others it
seemed the little fire that will kindle
great matter. It meant that the press was
committed to justice, and did not intend to
sneak in at the tail end in granting it. It
meant that the press was making itself felt
as the light OF the world-that its writer's
the ministry most powerful to
move the minds OF men. Pittsburg has al
ways felt proud of being the birth place Of
the Republican party, whose leading prln-
ciple was the abolition of slavery. 1t has
now another matter of pride-that of lead
ing in the line of freedom for women.
Women q Century Ago.
In the early days of the eighteenth CEN
tury, when the forefathers and foremothers
Of this country were struggling amid the
privations of pioneer life, the press clubs Of
that age were found in the drawing rooms
and club houses of London, and the salons
Of France. These differed as do the ideals
and character Of the nations. In the Eng
land of Swift, Pope, Walpole, johnson,
Burke and Pitt it was hardly con-
sidered respectable for woman to write, to
have views, to discuss theology, or philoso-
ply or science. Chesterfield says that the
in the drawing rooms of Eng
land was frivolous, and mainly on the sub
ect of the weather, whist, or small gossip,
but in the French salons the women dis
,ussed literature, political economy, the
of Diderot, Voltaire, Descartes,
he theology of Bossuet and Massillon and
Ill the questions that concern mankind.
The literary men Of France were polished
oy association with women-"they were
civilized by conversation. The famous
;alons of the French in the eighteenth cen-
ury can never be reproduced-at least on
A merican soil, saws a recent writer. The
ociety OF the days when Madame de Lam
bert, Madame de Tencin, Madame du Def
ard, Madame Necker and others entertained
the inimortals'' of the French Academy of
heir day-when the giants of intellect found
heir matches in the intelligence of the
Fomen OF the time, can never come again,
ays another, but who can tell?
The Club May Be the Salon.
1t may be that the charm of literary inter.
curse, the pleasure found by kindred souls
n intellectual society, the expression of free
hought, the wit of wisdom, the brilliance
md play of genius may be found in the
oming golden DAYS of the press clubs, in
which men and women will enjoy the best |
hat life can give together. Young literary
men ia the last century made their debut in |
he celebrated salons of these grand danes |
# France instead of in the role of a re-
,orter for daily journal. These women |
Welded much power, and to get into their |
ood graces meant advancement and posi- !
ion. To some it was indeed daily living.
The literary dinners that were splendid |
n their appointments and faultless in their |
uisine, were as acceptable to the inner man,
S was the literary least that came on with |
he walnuts and the wine. Madame de |
,enc1n was queen of her salon. for 80 years.
,hese weekly gatherings frequented by all |
he literary lions. famous orators, and
reachers, were governed by the laws the |
ostess chose to lay down. Madame de
lambert, known as an author in her day,
ntertained constantly the poets, men of |
cience, and philosophy and thealogy. Her
alon was known as respectable, TO dis
inguish it from the newer school, which |
ousisted oil a smarter set who were more
iven to the follies of the world.
The Downfall of the Bourbons.
No gambling was permitted, but here
hers gave vent to their newest theories, and
be discussion of every public question was
ermitted. 1t was for this reason that they
,ere held in fear by the court. Not with
ut reason, since, doubtless, in these meet
ngs of men and women of great intelligence
rere produced the germs OF the Revolution
nd Republic and the downfall of the Bour-
ons.
Ali of the $40 immortals" of the fam
us French Academy were frequenters of
be salons of these brilliant women. 1t is
therefore, not surprising that many of the
oyeted places were reached by virtue of
heir favor and influence. It is held, and
v some believed that the honors of the
academy were bestowed strictly upon those
rho were distinguished for merit
nd genius and therefore worthy,
ut the truth is now, and was then, that it
, not trauscendent powers of mind that win
ne prizes. These are dictated by the powers
ehind the throne. In Madame Lambert's
ay, when this pet project of Richelieu's
as in its prime, twas said that no man