St. Paul daily globe., 1891-02-12
EDITORS ENTERTAINED.
Col. p. Donan's Pleasant Address
on the Country Press,


The members of the association and
their wives devoted the evening to
social enjoyment, and W estminster hall,
corner of Tenth and st. Peter streets,
was well filled when at S. Siebert's
orchestra rendered as the opening num-
Der of the programme an operate Sc
lection. Franklyn w. Lee delivered
two character reeitati0nS in his we'll
known style, and Prof. H. Scbloss and
Prof. L. Mich executed number of
piano and cello solos, which were loudly
applauded.
Col. p. Donan occupied for nearly two
hours the attention OF his hearers with a
most able address upon ''The Country Press,
It's Mission and Power" The subject was
treated in a facetious vein and was received
with tumultuous applause. He pictured the
life OF a country editor who was supposed to
be at the beck aud call of every one. The
pulpit, school and the press were the three
grand moral powers of the age, the levers
with which the dominion of error shall.
sooner or later, be utterly overturned.
the intellectual and spiritual nitro
glycerine cans with which the ponderous
fortresses of wrong shall be blown and scat
tered to the forty seven croSS-eycd winds of
heaven. The enlightment and publication
ana ennobement of the world will follow
from the work of the church, the school
house and the printing Office. The mightiest
by far of these three; whose resistless, rush
ing torrent overspreadS every valley, plain
and mountain top beneath the moon, whose
flood is without length or breadth, a shore
less, boundless sea whose depths no mortal
plummet ever sounded, is the grimy font
of the power press, the dingy oil-and-lamp-
black-Streaked and gloomy headquarters
of the printers devil
The preacher. the teacher and the editor, the
omnipotent trinity of terrestrial educators.
Butinfnitely most potent of the illustrious
threeness is the seant-plumed knight of the
ink horn paste pot, quill and scissors.
''Mightiest of the mighty means
On which the arm of progress leans,
Mans nobleSt mission to advance,
His woes asSuage, his veal entrance,
His rights enforce, his wrongs redress,
Mightiest of mighty is The Press.''
What would the world be without news
papers? A locomotive without. engineer,
steam or wheels,a lamp without wick or kero-
sene, ship without sails or rudder. circus
without showmen, mules or stray monkeys.
The speaker drew realistic pen picture of
the state of affairs which would exist in the
world if the press was abolished or even
stopped for a single month, bringing ruin
and chaos into every path of life and
commerce which million of Phila-
| delphia lawyers working for eternity
| anything. everybody would know nothing
| The whole human race would be profoundly
accomplished ignoramuses, admirably fitted
| for average congressman and dog law legis-
| lators. In concluding his paper. Col. Donsn
urged upon his hearers their manifest duty
| to the public, that they should. apart from
| party or politics. defend the right and use
| their power to eradicate injustice and cor
| ruption. When such a combined effort was
made by the press of this land, then, indeed,
would the United States be veritable para
| disc.
The conclusion of the paper brought
vociferous cheers for the reader. and
the ladies and gentlemen present then
adjourned to the dining hall, where an
elegant lunch was served. Dancing fol-
! lowed to the music of Seibert's Or
| chestra, and it was not until an early
hour of the merning that the merry meet
| ing broke up.