The pioneer press. (Miller, Hand County, S.D.) 1893-190?, 1896-09-17
CAMPAIGN OF EDUCATION"
Charles Emory Smith Speaks Flo
%qucntly to Editors.

Canton, Ohio, Sept. S.-The Republican,
Editorial association in Elkc'
hall this morning. The venerable John Hop
ley of BucyruS, was III the chair, with Col.
Il. II. Brown, of the GAINESVILLE Courier,
vice president, and G.. Il. Mccoy Of COShCC-
ton, secretary. An able paper on the tnan-
cial question was read by ii. Z. BOyien, Of
the Cincinnati CONGRATULATIONS. TIL
feature Of the afternoon session was an adj
dress by Hon. Charles Emory Smith, editor
of the Philadelphia Press, and eX-lniuister
TO Russia. Dir. Smith elOqucntly said in
part on The Campaign Of Education"
at Is a high privilege and distinction to
address this notable body in this memOra-
BILE year on this interesting occasion. | am
fully sensible Of the honor you do me, ana
beg 10 return my grateful acknowledge
ments. When jefferson said that he would
rather have newspapers without u govern
ment than a government without news
papers, he indicated he vital part which
newspapers play under free institutions.
That was a hundred years ago. They were
then printed with all the limitations of the
hand press, with only the infrequent mail
as their feeder and only the stage coach
as their distributor. To-d8y liberty is their
vital breath, but the telegraph Is their
nerve center and the railroad their arterial
circulation. Government has expanded and
population multiplied twentyfold; but news
papers circulation and resources and infu-
tuNtS nuNc "iiliIliIu q a.
hundred years ago newspapers were senti-
nels at the outpost. To-day they hold the
central citadel as leaders and expOnents;
they are the very life blood Of free discus
sion.
Horace Greeley was the greatest con-
troversialist and moral force the world has
ever seen IN the editorial profession. but
Whltelaw Reid, with consummate skill, or
ganizes and directs a far more complete
and progressive Journalism. Thurlow Weed
was an unrivalled political oracle and seer,
but Charles A. Dam. master OF every wea-
pom, wields a napier or hres a Gatllng
broadside OF which the leader Of the pre-
ceding generation never dreamed. James
Gordon Bennett. the elder, raced the pony
or few the carrier pigeon, but James Cor
don Bennett, the younger, speaks 10 two
continents at once. The journalism of the
interior Ohio town surpasscs that or the
metropolis thirty years ago, and the great
newspapers of New York. Philadelphia.
Boston, Baltimore. Cincinnati, Cleveland,
Chicago and st. Louis have grown incalcu-
lably in scope, resources, expenses, profits
and power.
''The intimate connection between poll
tics and journalism suggests the thought OF
the hour. This Is Lre-eminently a campaign
Of education. 1t Is thus peculiarly our cam
paign. The journalists are the real edu-
Gators. A thousand men hear and a million
men read. II 5 true there are great text
DOCKS from the masters. luere Is Il new
Adam Smiths Wealth Of Nations with
American applications; a new Bunyan's
Pilgrims Progress through the slough OF
despOnd of Democracy and up the hill Of
difficulty; a new BaSter's Saints Rest
under assured Republican restoration. The
other titles of these masterpieces are Will
lam McKinley's complete political economy
of open mills for full labor. rather than
open minis for free silver Benjamin Har-
rison's satirical reflections on The abb
surdities of a boy orators idea Of indepen-
dence Of the law Of cravitation.' and
Thomas b. Reeds Old Orchard 'Plums Of
Political Philosophy But the old text
books are eXpounded by the professors in
the classroom. and so the new text books
are edited with notes and index and daily
elucldation by the schOolmasters Of journal
Ism.
1--WE must first educate ourselves. We
must educate the people In elemental princi-
Piles. We must educate them TO understand
that we cannot have two standards OF value
any more than two standards of weight or
length. In our modern civilization the func-
tion OF a measure of value Is even more I'm.