Macon beacon., 1896-05-30
PRESS ASSOCIATION.


The Keys OF ths city OF xerldian Turned
over 60 the Representatives Of
the Fourth Hstate.
Mr.. President ana Members OF the Mis-
sissippi Press Association:
II Is with no little pleasure that well
come you to the Queen City of the East.
Just nine years ago, in 1887, Meridian
had the honor of entertaining the State
Press Association, and pleasing rccollec-
tions of that occasion lnger with us
still We are gratified that before a de-
cade from that time has run its round we
have you with us again; and i greet you
today as friends and fcllow-citizens, Miss
issippians with interest in common with
our own, interested in every achievement
within the boundaries of your State, as
men Of busy brains and busy hands, the
night toilers and day toilers, leaders of
our public thought and action, our path
finders, our sentinels upon the watch
towers who signal every rising ray of
prosperity and every distant danger; men
who must be ale,t to pursue and catch
every item of LEGAL interest in their re-
spective communities, who must know by
intuition and make note of the incom-
ings and outgoing, Of every man and his
family and his visiting kin, shoot every
folly that flies, nourisb with editorial
favor every new movement born in the
interest of church or state or material
advancement, and be personally present
to take notes at every public meeting, po-
litical gathering, religious revival and
amateur theatrical performance, and
know as much of each social function as
If you had been there, or were even In
vited; men who must sit up at night to
catch every spark of news that leaps
from the busy electric wires, who, with
burning eyeballs must read proof sheet
| after proof sheet, and stay as wide
awake and as charmed over a column
| of market reports as over dainty bit OF
spring poetry; yet men who at the same
| time must steer the business ends of their
crafts so that they may glide In safety
past the bank drafts and acceptances and
other similar objects that loom up every
day to poster and impede.
In extending our welcome shall omit
much of the ornate language usually en-
ployed in speaking of the Importance and
dignity of your profession. l take it for
granted that you are sufficiently i'm
pressed with the responsibilities and du-
ties of your high calling. To quote from
history evidence to sustain the allega-
ton that the newspaper is one of the
greatest agencies employed in the ad-
vancement of civilization and in the up
lifting of mankind, would be but an eff
fort on my part to establish proposition
already demonstrated-a fact known of
all mankind, universally recognized. To
argue the power Of the press would be a
useless attempt to prove the truth OF an
axiom-an effort to gld refined gold.
The press and its power, its multiform
and multifarious blessings, its countless
devotees, the high priests who minister in
its temples, that great character who has
impressed the world, moved the world,
lifted the world-that sage and that seer.
the editor In his sanctum sanctorum-all
these need no laudation or panegyric at
my hands.
.'True coral needs no painters brush.
Nor needs be daubed with red"
IT happens, may venture to say, that
Mississippi has no papers that lay claim
to the huge proportions, the costly equip
ments, the wonderful facilities and ex-
pensive methods of gathering, handling,
and distributing news that characterize
the great metropolitan dailies of this age;
because Mississippi has no great metropo-
lis within her borders. But she, neverthe-
less has dailies ably edited, intelligently
conducted, abreast always with the times,
each with an influence far-reaching-re-
spected and consulted at home and
abroad, clean and pure in tone-dailies |
that would be credit to any State; and
weeklies, too, that go, like white-winged |
messengers, into the thousand happy and
contented homes of Mississippi's honest |
yeomanry, where, at night around the
bright blazing fires of winter, or at the
open windows in the cool, refreshing |
breezes of summer, they are read to :
wives and BARNS by hardy sons of rustic
TOLL" with that ''patrilrchal grace" that
characterizes the honest and reverential
cotter in Burns portrayal of Scottish
Saturday night at home. 1t is to con-
stituency like this that the Mississippi
weekly mainly ministers; and 1t is from
scenes like these that Mississippis grand
eur chiefly springs. Yet, this is far from
being the full scope of the sparkling
weekly's circulation and influence; for
its clean, clear, and familiar pages are
weekly watched for in the homes and
business houses and factories of the
thriving villages, towns and cities of the
State, and far beyond our borders It finds
its way, rejecting to other communities
the character, the cultivation, pursuits
and institutions of the people who consti-
tute its main prop and support.
With no fabulous returns pouring into
his Golfers, but giving legal tender quality
~ 'As'~A cs boiN, VI tOIuWOOu, W4tnT-
melons, potatoes, or peas.
The Mississippi editor, with heart strong
and true,
Bends the knee to no master, gives honor
where due:
Looks over all nature. all science, all
And tastefulIy culIs for our use the best
part" s 80
"only give him pencil. and spread a
blank page,
You'll get vigor OF youth with the wis.,
dom of age:
And Addison, Goldsmith or Irving. tbinl,
Never let better English now out with
their Ink"
will, e'oU
He finds he has ever a pocket to fill;
AND when IN old age he should live with
He stil has to labor ito make" the pot
Still. onward he works. bearing gaily his
Full conscious always he is on the right
Giving ''puffs,' to his friends to the world
a broad smile
This true, sturdy man in world full Of
Then. welcome-thrice welcome--ye men
OF the Pressl
We honor your calling for thoro +b,t go,