El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-03-26
HONORING THE new COLLECTOR.
The Banquet to Captain Moses Dillon
Was a Grand Ovation.
"THE PRESS,

'THE PRESS"
was respor ded to by J. a. Smith.
Mr.. Chairman and Fellow Citizens
| When fir t notified that l was to speak
tOni4h t upon the subject OF 1.-The
Press" l expected to prepare an ad-
dress to be delivered at this time; how
ever, 'the press" of time needed to
look after nv business, after two
months sojourn at Washington, in
quest of an Office, the candidacy of
which voluntarily relinquished, after
it was determined upon to appoint
another party, caused me to forego the
idea of preparing an address,; and ]
also considered that as 1 was at the
bottom of the program, through "the
press which has been patronized SO
freely here tonight Chat is the wine
press,) I might not be in a condition to
follow the liues of a prepared address,
consequently hope that you will bear
with the feeble effort 1 shall make at
extempore speaking.
"The Press" is subj act that could
not be hardly touched upon in the five
minutes allotted me. The definition. as
1 understand it, of the subject, would
lively, and the gasherers of news, es-
peciallv the reporters, who cOllate
ald prepare the news of the world
which is sent broadcast over the land
day by day, making the history Of
our country complete every twenty
| four hours.
There are three especial divisions
of ''The Press" the mechanical, the
business and the editorial, but 1 cannot
enter into the discussion of all of them.
| The improvement in the way of pre-
pairing. distributing and printing the
| news of the day, is so far progressed
in the present century, that when you
undertake to comprehend it, it seems
more wonderful than any advance
ment of the period, At the time of
the revolution there were but thirty
| four newspaper in existence in the
| United States, all of them weekly. AS
late as the year 1870, it took nineteen
men to print and fold eight thousand
per hour; at present, with the improved
machinery, we can print and fold one
| hundred and forty-fOur thousand papers
per hour, upon one press, with the aid
of three attendants.
There are in this country today
about twenty-five hundred daily papers
and something like eighteen thousand
weekly publications, besides the other
periodicals.
The news of Europe is brought here,
printed and read long before the hour
at which the event occurred. How Gag
erly 1.-THE Press is looked to at the
present time, to bring to your homes
the latest news of the country.
| When the senate passed, in thirteen
minutes, the bill to appropriate fifty
millions o! dollars for the president to
use in preparing for war, the news WAS
brought to your doors the same after
noon, by that mighty power, "The
Press" When the Maine was blown
at night, you had the news of the fear
| u a
table the next morning. You have
been notified. by the power of 1.-THE
Press" day by day, of the atrocities of
Weyler. OF the movements of BancO,
of the starving thousands of Cubsne,
all of which has been of Importance
to every lover of human liberty, and it
has been fur nished you, only by mem
bers of THE Press'' jeOpardizinR
their lives and their health. and by
ha -dships of which you would hardly
believe men would enter into. simply
that they could give to "The Press"
with which they were connected, the
| latest news at the very earliest possible
mnment.
''The Press, "if true to it's mission,
public officials. regardless of whether
or not those officials are in political
| accord with the management of the
| especial newspaper staff, whose duty
it is to review the acts of said officials;
and as a member of 1.-THE Press of Ell
Paso, although not in accord politically
with the retiring custom house officials,
Collector Davis and his abe deputy.
James Maeoffin, it will give me pleas
ure to testify to the excellent admins
| tration of these gentlemen and expect
to be able four years hence to testify
to and record that the administration
of Collector Dillon and the deputy be
shall choose has been of the same high
character.
Had 1 the time, 1 would be glad to
speak further to you upon this subject
of which every detail must be of in
terest to the reading public of the day.
1t is so colossal that it is hard for one
to realize what it takes to gather and
disseminate the news of the day, unless
he is closely connected with 1.-THE
Press" and has knowledge of the work
done by its members.
The best definition of ''The Press''
has been given by one of our writer's as
follows: Thou mig htiest of mighty
means, on which the arm of progress
leans" There is no doubt that 1.-THE
''Press" is the greatest power of pro-
gress today.