Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-07-04
Twenty-Elght Years.

i Twenty-Elght Years.
| On the 9th of July, 1867, the frs
number o. the IRON COUNTY REGISTEl
was printed and issued.
The plant was owned and the pape
edited by Messrs. Essex & Winfield
while the mechanical department wa
conducted by the present owner an6
publisher. and every succeeding issue
to this date has been made under hi.
direction. Twenty-eight years. Four.
teen hundred and .ffty-six weeks, A
pretty large slice out of the mete.
and bounds of any mans life. At the
beginning the ..plant" consisted of four
cases OF long primer, two cases of bre
vier, perhaps twenty fonts of display
type, Washington hand-press, rules,
leads, chases, etc. No job-type, nc
| job-press. and of course no paper cut.
ter. except shoemaker's knife wrench
ed from its original purpose.
Now the office comprises an outfit
for job and newspaper work that is
not Inferior, we think, to any in South
east Missouri. Materially (no pun in
tended) the world has prosDered with
US fairly well. But what account have
we rendered of the time and oppor-
tunity granted US?
For the first two years of it's being,
the editorial control of the REGISTER
was not with US, and for that period
we can have no credit for its merits
nor blame for its shortcomings. But
in the fall of 1869 we assumed full con-
-
time there were no fieshpots in sight
for a Democratic newspaper. But if it
had the courage of its convictions its
way was not all in darkness. Friends
true and tried and never faltering rail-
lied to it's support, and an abiding faith
in the ultimate triumph of Democratic
principles gave hope when the paper
bill was overdue and the scoop rasped
the bottom of the flour barrel. In &C
cordance with the old prOverb, day
was at hand when the night was dark
est, and the ides of November, 1870,
saw the State of Missouri redeemed
from her Radical captivity. Then the
Democratic rooral rooster began to lose
some of his leanness, and he found the
editing of sheriff's sales quite congen-
ial to his constitution. If he scratch
ed hard, he prospered in a modest
way, and Saturday evening was shorn
of its wonted terrors. In '.worldly
sense" as the preachers put it, the
REGISTER has, as the boys put it, ..no
kick coming" But what of its work
in the greater sense-in its relation to
the public?
Its sphere is of course narrowly cir
If ever a country news
paper set the Mississippi river afire,
we have not heard of it-not even of
those favored ones which line its shores
and have the advantage of cheap trans
portation. The statement may seem
yet it is a fact that there
are several people in the United States
who have never heard of the REGIS
TER! But the reader will bear in mind
that illiteracy is not yet wholly abol-
ished, and this will help him make his
way clear to give full credence TO the
Speaking of spheres. and
all that, and thinking incidentally of
the relation our big city brethren bear
to us little fellows of the country, re-
minds us of the large and small guns
Of an army in action. The big can
mons make loud noise. are heard a
ong. ways off, and their screening
shells are shocking to the nervous sys
.em; but who shall say that the rattle
Of musketry is soothing to the ear, or
The '.whing!' of the minnie-ball a
laughing matter? In fact, the latter
decides the battle ten times to the
:other's once.
Seriously, during these twenty-eight
years we've tried to do our best in our
small way. That this ''best" has Oft
en- been poor enough, none will more
readily admit than the writer. To his
errors he pleads good intent; to his
his fullest efforts; and to his
few successes, the help of kind friends
who have borne with his weaknesses
and condoned his faults. His virtues,
# he have any, he leaves to the con-
,ideration of his enemies.