The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-02-26

Saturday night. Sunday and week day.
/ now declare that L consider the
to he the grand agency by
which the gospel is TO be preached,
ignorance cast out, oppression de-
throUcd, crime e~StirpatCd, the world
raised, Heaven rojoiccd and God Elori-
fed. Ia the clanEing of the printing
press, rs the sheets fly ont, | hear
the voice of the Lord Almighty pro
claiming to all the dead nations of the
earth, Lazarus, come forth" and to
the rctreating surge of darkness, Let
there be light!'
There are only two kinds of news
papers-the one good, very good, the
other bad, very bad. A newspaper
NAV be started with an undecided
character, but after il has been going
on for years everybody finds out just
what it is; and it is very good or 1t 10
very bad. The one paper is the en-
bodiment of news, the ally of virtue,
the foe of crime, the delectation of
elevated taste, the mightiest agency
on earth for making the world better.
The other paper is a brigand among
moral forces; it is a beslimer of reputa-
ton, it is the right arm of death and
hell. it is the mIgntiest agency in the
universe for making the world worse
and battling against the cause OF
God.
One of the great trials of this news
paper profession is the fact hat they
are compelled TO see more of h shams
of the world than any other profes-
sion. Through every newspaper office,
dav by day, go the weakness of the
world, the vanities that want to be
puffed, the revenges that want to be
wreaked, all the mistakes that want to
be corrected, all the dull speakers
who want to be thought eloquent, all
the that wants TO get its
wares noticed gratis in the editorial
columns in order to save the tax
of the advertising column, all
the men who want to be set
right who never were right, all
the o~rack-brained philosophers,
with story as long as their hair and
as gloomy as their fnger-naIls, all the
itineraut bores who come to stay five
minutes and stop an hour. From the
editorial and reportorial rooms all the
follies and shams of the world are seen
day by day, and the temptation is to
believe neither in God, man, nor wom-
an. 1t is no surprise to me that in
your profession there are somo skepti'
cal men. 1 only wonder that you be-
lieve anything. Unless an editor or q
reporter has in his present or in his
early home a model of earnest char
acter, or he throw himself upon the
upholding grace of God, he mny make
temporal and eternal snipwreck.
Another great trial OF the newspa-
per profession is inadequate compen-
sation. The world seems to have a
- - -,a- nh nc NharI
say, gets his living by his wits; and
the day laborer says to the man of lit
erary toll: You come down here and
shove a plane, and hammer a shoe
last, and break cobbIe stones, and earn
an honest living, as L do, instead of
sitting there in dleness scribblingw
But there are no harder worked men
in all the earth than the newspaper
people of this country. It is not a
matter of hard times; it is character
istic at all times. Men have a better
appreciation for that which appeals
to the stomach than for that which
appeals to the brain. They have no
idea of the immense financial and in
tellectual exhaustion of the newspa.
per press.
Another great trial of the newspaper
profession is the diseased appetite for
unhealthy intelligence. You blame
the newspaper press for giving such
prominence 10 murders and
Do YOU suppose that so many papers
would give prominence to these things
if the people did not demand themp
You know very well that if the great
mass of people in this country get hold
of a newspaper, inc there are in 1t no
runaway matches, no b~roken-up fam
lilies, no defamation of men in high
position, they pronounce the paper in
sipid. | bslieve il is one of h trials
of the newspaper press, that he peo-
pie of this country demand moral slush
instead of healthy and intellectual
food. Newspaper men arc not fools.
they know what you want. n they
give it to you. I believe that II the
curch and the world bought nothing
but pure, honest and heIlthful news
papers, nothing but pure, honest and
beautiful newspapers would be pub
lished. If You should gather all the
editors and reporters of this country
in one great convention, and ask of
them what kind of a paper they would
prefer to publish, / believe they would
unanimously say: I'VE would prefer to
publish an ~elevating paper" So long
as there is an iniquitous demand, there
will be an iniquitous supply. / make
no apology for a debauched newspaper,
but l am saying these things in order
to divide the responsibility between
those who print and those who read.
Let me ask all men connected with the
printing press that they help us more
and mo re in the effort to make the
world better. I charge you in the
name of God, before whom you must
account for the tremendous influence
you hold in this country, to consecrate
yourselves to higher endeavors- You
are the men to fight back this invasion
of corrupt literature. Lift up your
right hand and swear new allegiance
70 tbe cause of philanthrophy and re-
ligion. And when. at last, standing
on the plains OF judgment, you look
out upon the u~nnumbered throngs
over whom You have had influence,
may be found that you were amongst
the mightiest energies that lifted
men upon the exalted pathway that
leads TO the renown of Heaven. Bet.
ter than TO have sat in editorial chair,
decided the de~stinies of empires, but
decided them wrong, that you had
been some dungeoned exile, who, by
lllC llSAb VI HllNO" EOhTSIdlGh OA
scraps of Il New Testament leaf picked
up from the earth, spelled out the
story of Him who taketh away the
sins of the world. In eternity Dives is
the beggari Well, my friends, we will
all soon get through writing and
printing and proof-reading aHd pub
fishing. What them Our life lie
q book. Our years are h chap
ters. Our months are the paragraphs
Our days are the sentences. Cur
doubts are the Interrogation points
Our imitation of Others the quotation
marks Our attempts at display a
dash. Death the period. Eternity
the peroration. 0 God, where will we
spend it? Have you heard the news,
more startling than any found in the
Journals of the last six wee!fs2 1t Is
the tidings that man is lost Have
you heard the news, the Rladdest that
was aver announced, coming this day
from the throne of God, lightning
couriers leaping from the palace gateP
The newsl The glorious news! That
there is pardon for all guilt End com
fort for oil trouble. Set II up In