Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-10
BANQUET ,ro COLONEL wcLunn.
Veteran pbiladcipbIn Journalist De-
llNtlIAs III Nntnblc Ahhrcss.

/
| PHILADELPHIA. Dec. 9.-Emlnent public
men from mahy tities sac around the board al
| the Hotel Walton tonigat and did honor to
Colonel A. X. Mcclure, editor OF the Times
who today completed his Afhoth year In
| journsim Governor Hastings presided, and
/ the event was made notable by the presence
/ Of Nice-Presi9ont Adlai Il. stevenson, Major
General NlHeN Commodore Melville, and
many congrsrsman and senators. The news
paper worldiwIs. represented by large out
Ot-town ContiIrclt. The prop~c,ors and Cdi-
tor7 Of oil the Philadelphia nowspapero were
also present
In the course of his address to the as
sowblcd guosty, Mr. Mcclure delivered an
elaborate address on the duties aud rclponSi-
biitie3 of journalism, concluding as follows:
To seek promotion in civil trust from the
cdilurlul chair of an influential newspaper
is to sacrifice the grauder opportunity and
official distinction. II Is the mission of the
newspaper to create presidents and other
sustain them when they have been faithful
and efficient In the discharge of public
duties and to defeat them when they are
forgutful of the public welfare. In the dis
charge OF the important duties the news
paper must, above all, be free from the
suspicion of seeking individual advantage,
and 1t can be so only by accepting its trust
as highest of all ana moro enduring than
all. Great editors have been presumably
honOred by comforting upon them high Off
Cial positions IN recognition of party serv-
ices, but no editor in thc entire history of
American journalism who has made his
newspaper secondary to political ambition,
has written any other record than failure
as both editor and statesman.
MY brethren of the press need not be re-
minded of the often painful duties which
come to the fearless editor. They must
ever remember that faithful are the
wounds of a friend " and no class of teach
crs so well know that
a, g,,g, "A,
But they ne'er pardon who have done the
wrong
Few, very few indeed, outside of the edi-
torial sanctum, ever learn how the surGes
of ambition, in all its varied and fantastic
phases from the noblcst to the meanest
assall and often veX journalistic duties. The
public knows not of the many gifted men
who must thus at times he saved from
themselves, and an editorial retrospect of
half century presents sad record of
the newspaper work of making bricks with
out straw. Justly excepting the compara-
lively few public men who tower over medi-
ocrity in public place, Journalism gives the
position and fashions the fame of most of
them. 1t is not done arbitrarily nor from
choice, as public and political necessities
are often paramount with journalists, as
with others, in awarding public hOnors: but
with all its eXactions and responsibilities,
which are ever magnihed by the greater
opportunities for usefulness there is no
calling that brings richer compensation for
fidelity to duty. The consciousness that
each day the editor whose readers are
HtilItltu ny nuluTeNS OF thousands may
greatly aid in making the world better than
1t was in the passing yesterday is a CON
stant inspiration to the best efforts, and 1t
is especially gratifying that even i'm the
many and Mt times impassioned conflicts
of journalistic dispute the rugged and
sharp-angled walls which divide us are
ever so beautiful and fragrant with the
flowers of good fellowship as Is impress
SiNcly taught by this assembly
Thus charged with the highest of civil
trusts in the most enlightened government
of the earth. the editor must be honored
or dishonored here by the measure of his
fidelity TO his exceptional duties, and must
be so judged in the hereafter when the
narrow pathway of life that divides past
and future eternities has been traverscd
We come when hidden, we know not
whence; we go when bidden. we know not
whittier but each and all have duties to
themselves, to their homes. to their country
and to the common brotherhood of man
which when performed with the faithful
ness that human infirmites will permit
must greatly brighten the brief and often
fretful journey from the cradle to the grave.
Friends, in this evening twilight of my
Journalistic work so sweetly mellowed bv
the smiling faces, young and old about
me, l answer your generous greeting with
the gratitude that can perish only when
the gathering shadows shall have settled
into the night that comes to purple the
hot for