The gold leaf., 1898-04-07
THE COUNTRY EDITOR.
CONGRESSMAN CLARK'S TRIBUTE TO
HIS VIRTUES AND WORTH.

CONGRESSMAN CLARK'S TRIBUTE TO
HIS VIRTUES AND WORTH.
In Opposition to the Loud Postal Bill
The Gifted HissOurian Takes Up the
Cudgels In Defense of Ills Former
Confreres-he Delivers q Speech
Which Makes Him the Popular Idol
of the Country Editor.
Hon. Champ Clark, the popular
Missouri Congressman, has shown
himself to be the the friend of the
country editor" beyond doubt.
Formerly the publisher of a weekly
paper himself he knows something Of
the vicissitudes of the craft and the
value of the local weekly to the COM
munity in which it is published. His
recent speech in Congress. against
the iniquitous Loud postal bill ..set
the House in an uproar" (of laughter)
and makes him hero in the ewes of
the country editors. Here is his eulo-
gy on them:
Newspapers are great dissemina-
tors of information. The mammoth
metropolitan papers with their vast
circulation are splendid educators.
but after all ten persons read the lit
tie country weekly where one reads
metropolitan paper.
Having once been country editor
myself, l entertain a most kindly
feeling for my old confreres. am
willing to make affidavit that the
eleven months spent editing
rural journal were the most benefic-
ial of my life to myself, perhaps to
others. l am proud to have be-
longed to the editorial guild. 1 am
unalterably opposed to anything
that will injure the country editor,
curtail his profits, circumscribe his
usefulness or place an additional
thorn in his pathway.
The rural editor-God bless him!-
is the most persistent of teachers
Like charity, as described by St.
Paul in the thirteenth chapter of the
First Corinthians, he "sutfereth long
and is kind" which cannot be said of
the man that got up this bill. ..He
envieth not" in which he does not
resemble some people over on this
side of the House. He vaunteth not
himself" in which he is unlike the
leaders on the other side of the big
aisle. He is not puffed up" in
1ryh. .nl, \, 4 ii 4
many of us. '.He does not behave
himself unseemly, seeketh not his
own, is not easily provoked
In this last respect he does not at
all resemble my friend from Califor-
MIA (Mr. Loudly [Laughter.] "He
thinketh no evil" in which he is vast
ly superior to a great many of us;
'.rejoiceth not in iniquity," in which
he is totally unlike the Republicans
[laughter], ''but rejoiceth in the
TRUTH which shows that he is cous-
in-german to the Democrats. TAp-
plause on the Democratic side. ale
beareth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things" and in that re-
spect he is very much in the predic-
ament of the minority on this side of
the House under the Reed rules.
TLaughterl.
He is the pack horse of every COM
munity; the promoter of every laud-
able enterprise, the worst underpaid
laborer in the vineyard. Counting
his space as his capital he gives
more to charity, his means consid-
cred, than any other member OF So
ciety. He is a power in politics, a
pillar of the church, leader in the
crusade for better morals. He is pre-
eminently the friend of humanity,
Line upon line, paragraph upon
paragraph, day by day, he is embalm-
ing in cold type the facts from which
the Herodotus, the Tacitus, the Sis
mondi, or the Macaulay of the future
will write the history OF our times.
[Applause.l He joyously announces
our advent into the world, briefly
records our uprising and our down
sittings; and sorrowfully chronicles
our exit from this vale Of tears.
As a creator of beauty he discounts
Nine. Aver, who undertakes to in
crease feminine pulchritude only in
particular instances; but the country
editor only in the exercise Of plenary
power, impartially beauties all
women whose names appear in his
columns. Laughter and applause.
By touch of his magician's wand he
converts paste into diamonds spark
ling on beauty's neck, and with a
skill Of which ancient and ambitious
alchemists only dreamed, and with
politeness which Chesterfield might
have envied, he transmits brass
trinkets into jewelry OF purest gold,
when they appear upon the breasts
of the family OF his subscribers.
Laughter
He is the greatest and most inge-
nious of manufacturers, for while
other manufacturers produce only
perishable stuffs, he manufactures
immortal statesmen out OF raw,
sometimes very raw material.
Laughter. In this laudable indus
try no Dingley bill can protect him.
and he must work in competition
with the pauper manufacturers of
Europe. daughter.
To our virtues very kind
And to our faults . little blind.
We are all more or less, generally
more his handiwork. and il does not