The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-01-18
THE SOUTHERN PRESS.

Commenting on some remarks
recently made by Gen. Felix Agnus,
of the Baltimore american, on the
Southern press and the development of
the South, the Winston Sentinel says:
1t is very gratifying when one who
was Union soldier speaks so we'll of
the South as Gen. Felix Agnus does.
He knew the South, he says, in war
and in peace; he saw the courage and
self-sacrifce of its people and the
gloomy days of reconstruction. He
has also witnessed its growth and its
destinies and its marvellous progress
under the blessings of union and
peace.
After referring in detail to the
growth of this section he AYERS that
while the wealth of the South has in
creased fourfold, the wealth of its
newspapers has increased tenfold that
where there was one subscriber twenty
years ago there are dozen to-day.
He continues as follows:
The press has been the missionary
and the evangel, aud the South has
followed its gospel and its leadership
in ways Of peace and paths of pros
perity. The journalism Of the South
to-day is as different from the journ-
alism of thirty years ago as the new
South is from the old. In those days
it was full of chivalry, poetry and
valor. Its writer's had the gallantry
and courage of Bayard, Of France.
Their sentiment fired the soul Of man
in time of war, and made strong men
bend the knee in time Of peace. Rang
ing from Randall's fiery lines. Mary
land, My Maryland" to Maj. Ran
dolph's "Grasshopper and Sweet
Potato Vine," the journalists have
contributed permanent treasures to
the literature Of the nation.
But this journalism was mainly
editorial-a journalism Of comment.
1t required few men, and it enjoyed a
limited audience. When the war was
over the new conditions brought forth
another set Of men, more in touch with
the demands Of the times. II was
these men, often laboring in ungrateful
fields, who established the journalism
Of fact, who, with heroic effort and
Notwithstanding ingnorance and preju-
dice with which they had to contend,
brought the newspapers into line with
the journalism of the day, introduced
the power press, employed the tele-
graph, engaged the brightest minds
and added to their equipments the best
that their resources could afford. They
made the vocation of the Journalist
one of the best paid and best respected
callings in the South that man or
woman of brains could choose. It was
these papers which for the first time
described to the world the riches and
resources Of the South-papers which
made possible and real what is best
and most permanent in Southern
growth.
These papers have had to deal with
| limited constituencies because of the
large mass Of dense ignorance in the
Southern population. They have
worked with splendid and heroic
patriotism, carrying enlightenment
from house to hamlet and establishing
an era of new ideas and new ambitions
They deserve the admiration and
support Of the world, for not only have
| they blessed their own section and
brought to it prosperity and happiness,
immigration and investment, but they
have also nobly done their part in the
| lor I,,fio Of n
humanity.
1t was, in fact, this new journalism
Of the South that made the New South
There is not proud page in its history
that the newspaper did not help tc
write. Without their work the pacif.
cation of the country would have been
delayed twice as long. They have
always been in advance of theil
environments, and they have enlisted
every means that would aid the rea
development of the moral and materia
interests of their people. They were
the advocates and promoters Of substan
tial investments on legitimate basis
and the unfortunate outbreak O
speculative booms in some section:
was the wickedness of men committed
against their good work, which stand:
out all the stronger as one by one the
booms disappear into the thin air ou
ofwhich they were largely made. Thes'
papers are vastly brighter and CREATE
than the day before. They pay thei
employees, on the average, highel
wages than those of any profession OF
calling in the South, and as their prop
erty grows the larger will be thei
forces and the more brilliant thei
columns. They are out of the woods
now, and are in the race of journalism
to win. They will win and will MAKE
the South what it is destined to be
the most blessed spot on earth.