The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1896-03-28

Ialmage tney may
be glad to hear what he thinks Of them
while he discusses a subject in which
the whole country is interested. Ills
text today was: And the wheels Were
full of eyes" Ezekiel X: y. FOR
all the Athenians and strangers when
were there spent their time IN nothing
else but either to tell or hear some ne"
thing" Acts xvii: Il.
What is a preacher to do when ne
finds two texts equally good and sus-
gestive? IN that perpleXty take both'
Wheels full Of eyes? What but the
wheels of newspaper printing press
Other wheels are blind. They roll on,
pulling or crushing. The manufac-
turer's wheel, how it grinds the operat-
Or with fatigues, and rolls over nerve
and muscle and bone ard heart. not
knowing what 1t does. The sewing
machine wheel. sees not the aches anu
pains fastened to it-tighter than the
band that moves it, sharper than the
needle which it plies Every moment
Of every hour of every day OF every
month Of every year there are nun
dreds of thousands Of wheels of mech
an}sm, wheels Of enterprise, wheels
of hard work. in motion, but they are
eyeless. Not so with the wheels OF the
printing press. Their entire business
is to look and report. They are full OF
optic nerves, from axle to periphery.
They are like those spoken OF by Eze-
kiel as full of eyes. Sharp eyes. near
si3hted, far-sighted. They look up.
They look down. They look far away.
They take in the next street and the
next hemisphere. Eyes of criticism,
eyes Of investigation; eyes that twinkle
with mirth, eyes glowering with indiS-
nation, eyes tender with love; eyes Of
suspicion, eyes of hope; blue eyes, black
eyes, green eyes; holy eyes. evil eyes,
sore eyes, political eyes, literary eyes,
historical eyes, religious eyes; eyes that
see everything. And the wheels were
full Of eyes," But in my second text is
the worlds cry for the newspaper. Paul
describes a class Of people in Athens
who spent their time either in gather
ing news or telling it. Why especially
in Athens? Because the more intelli-
gent people become, the more inquisi-
tive they are-not about small things,
but great things.
The question then most frequently is
the question now most frequently
asked: What is the news? To answer
that cry in the text for the newspaper
the centuries have put their wits to
work. China first succeeded, and has
at Pekin a newspaper that has been
printed every week for one thousand
years, printed on silk, Rome succeed
ed by publishing the Acta Diurna, in
the same column putting fires, muir
ders, marriages and tempests. France
succeeded by physician writing out
the news Of the day for his patients.
England succeeded under Queen Eliza
beth in first publishing the news OF the
Spanish Armada, and going Oh until
she had enough enterprise, when the
battle Of Waterloo was fought, deciding
the destiny of Europe, to give 1t one
third of a column in the London Morn
ing Chronicle, about as much as the
newspaper OF our day gives OF small
fire. America succeeded by Benjamin
Harris first weekly paper, called Pub
lie Occurrences, published in Boston in
1890, and by the first daily, the Amer
lean Advertiser, published in Phllauel-
phia in 1884.
The newspaper did not suddenly
spring upon the world, but came grad
ually. The genealogical line OF the
newspaper is this: The Adam OF the
race was a circular or newsletter, Gre
ated by Divine impulse in human ma
ture; and the circular begat the pam
phlet, and the pamphlet begat the quar-
terly, and the quarterly begat the week
ly, and The weekly begat the SEMI
weekly, and the semi-Weekly begat the
daily. But alas! by what struggle it
came to it's present Development. No
sooner had its power been demonstrated
than tyranny and superstition shackieo
it. There is nothing that despotism sc
fears and hates as printing press. II
| has too many eyes in its wheel
| great writer declared that the king Of
Naples made it unsafe for him TO write
OF anything but natural history. Aus
tria could not endure kossuth's jour
nalist,c pen, pleading for the redemp
tor Of Hungary. Napoleon l., tryin:
to keep his iron heel Oh the neck Of ma
| tons, said: Editors are the regent:
OF sovereigns and the tutors Of nations
and are only fit for prison." But thu
battle for the freedom Of the press wa
! fought in the court rooms Of England
and America and decided before Thu
century began by Hamilton's eloquen
plea for J. Peter Zenger's Gazette il
! America and Erskine's advocacy Of tn
freedom of publication in England
But discourse now on subject yO)
have never heard-the immeasurabl
and everlasting blessing of a good news
paper. Thank God for the wheel full