The representative., 1899-11-23
leading Republican daily and a radical
political opponent. e. A. +.
THE COUNTRY EDITOR.

THE COUNTRY EDITOR.
The real power, political and edu.
cational, In the United States lies In the
country press-but it is not the country
editor who exercises it. You may think
that funny, but have been there and
know whereof / speak pulled the
lever of an old Washington hand-press
Tor many years, was printer, devil,
editor. solicitor-just what the large
majority Of them are today. 1 say l
edited the paper-I thought did, but
the fellows who controlled the city
dailies really edited my paper. The po-
sitions they took on all public questions
found a reflex in my paper. They did
my thinking in that way. / had the
readers in the country, but they really
controlled them by controlling my mind
or lack of mind. More people read
the country press today than the metro
po1itan press, but because the country
pumpkin never reads books, never in
vestigates for himself, has no convic-
tlOns that he is afraid will hurt the
party, he is merely tool in the hands
of cunning few who control the city
press. The country editor has the pow
er and in the local field does the work
that makes the president, senators, con-
gressmen, legislators and county Off
GERS, and then he is afraid of these crea-
lures he has made! He works harder
than most anybody for all he ever gets
out of the public crib, while those he
pushes into power gobble thousands
and even millions. He is afraid if he
takes a position not in harmony with
these officers, they will take away a
little work from him that he earns in
the public service. The country editor
from the papers he reads, and as every
one of these, like himself, has an AK to
grind they are constantly deceiving
themselves. Here and there you will
find one who is more of power than
the others. They are the men who do
not crouch to the official creatures they
have made. The unread fellow does not
know that the other gets his power from
book study, but recognizes the superior
influence. The difference between men
is the difference mostly in what the
mind reads. The country editor will
humble himself before the congressman
or other superior" being. hoping to get
little Office. Were he wise he would
make the officer humble himself, for the
editor really has in his hands the pO-
litical power. An editor with ordinary
natural ability, by reading books on
political economy, both sides, can make
himself felt all over his own state, even
with a small country paper. Those who
have never read such books as Wealth
Against Commonwealth" "A Co-opera
tive Commonwealth Progress and
Poverty" Equality" Municipal Mo-
nopolies,' and others referred to in
these works, are not fit mentally to edit
a paper and are never heard of outside
the narrow circles of their county. If
you are editing country paper, if you
are pOSluS DIS d puDllC CcdCucI, duu WALT
to be something, you can do it by In
vestigating all sides of all public ques-
tions and the knowledge gained will
also give you the power to use it. Why
be nothing when you can be some
thing? Do you suppose that Greedy, or
Bowles or Franklin or any of the others
that have helped to mold the world
would have ever been heard of had they
read only papers and not the best
books?
Do you suppose that the Appeal would |
have grown to 65, 900 circulation in less !
than four years, reaching every country |
on the face of the earth where English |
is read, and containing only political |
matter, if had tried to understand the |
world by reading only papers of the
land? Not any. That is what did and |
a weak country paper was the result for
years. There is room in this country
for thousand men to duplicate the sue
cess of the Appeal, but none will ever do
It who do not study social philosophy
Appeal to Reason.