The Portland daily press., 1892-02-12
MAINE PRESS.
MIR. Burleigh's Address and Mr.. Pend1e-
toms Poem.

|
The business meeting of the Maine
Press Association began yesterday fore
noon, with President Packard in the
chair. The first business was a discus
sion of the next annual excursion. At
ter the subject had been well talked up
it was decided to- go to the Rangeley
Lakes.
1t was then voted that the excursion
party consist exclusively of members of
the Maine Press Association No SUBJ
| stitutes nor members not in good stand
| ing will be accepted. This action was
brought about largely by the fact that
the party which went to Quebec last
year was made up largely of persons not
connected with papers. OF course this
new rule will not apply to exclude per-
sons belonging to the families of mem
bers.
The committee on neurology next made
their report. DR.. Lapham read obitua-
ries of Hon. Hannibal Hamlin and E. G.
Allen. Joseph Wood read an obituary
of B. A. Burr, late of Bangor, and
Brown Thurston read an obituary of the
late Ira Berry.
The excursion committee was chosen,
consisting of DR.. W. B. Lapham, F. E.
McCleary and NJ. N. Rich.
In the afternoon the literary exercises
were in order, and Mr.. Clarence B. Bur-
leigh of the Kennebec journal, delivered
the
ANNUAL ADDRESS.
'sIt seems to be pretty well conceded"
he said, s'among the members of the pro-
fession at the present time that judgment
is the genius of journalism. The mani
festation of it is largely in the perspec-
tive which the editor gives to his paper.
If he be true journalist he will be in
sympathetic touch with his constituents.
He will know their needs, their desires,
their likes, their dislikes. Every matter
that comes to his desk will be considered
| from the standpoint of what is best for
that constituency, and from that view its
relative prominence in the paper will be
determined. In short, he will strive to
make paper that will please his pa
| irons.
''The public, to any editor, means the
patrons of his paper; when, therefore, he
is serving their interests he is serving, in
so far as he is able, the interests of the
community. An editors influence, how
! ever, is always greater than his subscrip-
ton list. His readers enforce his gospel,
and vastly increase the circle of its effect
i've work. The thing that always both
ers an editor, is not so much what to put
in his paper, as
What to Keep Out of 1t.
He has so much space available for
reading matter. and this, good business,
as well as editorial consideration, de-
mands should be filled with the matter
that shall be of the greatest interest to
the greatest number of his readers. just
what that matter is the editor is more
competent to decide than anyone else can
possibly be.
''Where is there a man in control of a
newspaper who does not often-times
have to contend with parties who feel
charged with his duty of taking care
both of their own affairs and his, and
who, if given full swing, would speedily
divert the space paid for by the many to
the publication of matters of interest
only to the few? There is probably not
an editor in Maine in the shadow of
whose sanctum do not lllrk parties ready
and anxious to relieve him of his editori-
| rha IF
such parties is always colossal; never
sublime. Editors are proverbially long
! suffering. They have the power to take
these would be dictators by the ears :;
| but with rare charity, be it said, they
usually refrain. However mild hammered
| the average Maine editor may be he has
| Large Element of Stubbornness
| in his makeup. He insists and persists
in wearing his own collar and doing his
own work in his own way. His course
of action frequently causes the great
'would-bes' much turmoil of soul; but
| they are powerless to change it. When
| they have money invested in newspaper
plant they can run things connected with
it; but the genuine Down East editor
| usually conducts his own business ac-
cording to his own ideas. It's habit of
his, and confess that | admire him for
it.
''The number of people who labor I'M
der the delusion that nature really de-
signed them for a newspaper career is
exceedingly large. Charles Dudley War
ner declares that while, strange to relate,
there are scattered up and down this
broad land many people unable to. pay
for paper, he has never yet found any
one unable to edit one. Though
Many Are CallSa,
in newspaper work, few are chosen. Next
| to the search for the Pierian fount, most
of us have decided the search for a first
class newspaper man to be about the
most difficult. They are rare gems and
when found are treasured with the most
jealous care. Maine has produced quite
a number of them, aside from those now
laboring within it's borders. We note
their successes in other fields with sim
cere pride, and with a profounder appre-
| LIE. = ,xl