Omaha daily bee., 1899-01-25
EDITORS DOWN TO BUSINESS
Quill Drivers of Nebraska Take Up Topics 70
Discussion.
QUESTIONS ARE ARGUED PRO AND CON
Contention that the Newspaper is n
Power whose Influence for Good
and Evil Is Generally
Recognized.

After spending busy morning President
Howard and Secretary Merwin of the Ne
braska State Press association had things in
nice shape for the meeting in the after
noon Many new members were enrolled |
during the course Of the morning and the
old ones drifted into the secretary's quart |
ers and renewed acquaintanceeh
At 2:15 p. m. President Howard called
the meeting TO order. After the roll and
the minutes of the last meeting had been
reld the reports OF committees were called
for. None OF them were prepared for a
report and the meeting took up the regular
business. The first number on the after
Moons program the annual address OF
the preident. Mr.. Howard treated the sub
ject in hand thoroughly and brought before
the members many questions for their dis
cussion. The one that attracted the most
interest among the members was the ad-
visibility OF clubbing rates for country
newspapers Many of the members were OF
the opinion that 1t was inexpedient for
country newspapers to club with a large
daily or weekly, because. one of the
country editors remarked "It frequently
happens that the subscriber finds the larger
paper so satisfactory that he drops his sub
scription 70 the country paper" The sub
ject was discussed in all its details and it
seemed TO be the opinion of the majority
that clubbing rates were of greater ben
eft to the country editors than they were
harmful
The Press in Politics.
e. W. Julian of Chadron read a paper on
"The Reciprocal Relations Between the
Press and Party" The paper was brief and
concise and covered the ground. THE
newspaper" said Mr.. Julian, 'is by far the
most potential influence of today. In the
political field especially 1t is a power whose
influence for good and evil Is recognized
! by all. BY never ceasing editorials it ex-
ercses a most powerful persuasion on its
readers. These readers are seldom aware
of the fact that they thus guided in
| their opinions ON most of the subjects OF
popular interest. But il is none the less
| true. From constant reading they come in
time to meet the views of the editorial
writer's" Referring to the relation of the
party to the press, Mr.. Julian said it is his
opinion that the interests of both press and
party are identical or nearly SO. In how
| far the press should be assisted by the
party in a financial way he left for the dis
| cussion of the members
| The discussion was led by ]. II. Dundas
| Of the Auburn Granger and was carried on
| with some spirit. E. Cunningham of Wayne
| stated that he never made it practice of
| asking candidates before their election for
token of their appreciation of the efforts
his paper made for them and he found that
| a great many of these candidates after their
election proved ungrateful. He remarked
| that northeastern Nebraska did not seem to
be overcrowded with ideal politicians.
Owes No Debt to Party.
w. M. Maupin of the World Herald said
he believed in asking a candidate to con-
tribute something for the work done for
him by the newspapers and never failed C
do He took the ground that the news
paper as an organ of political party OWED
nothing to the party. That in fact, the
debt was all on the other side. Subscriber.
were required to pay for what they got ant
why should not candidates?
| J. C. Seacrest of the Lincoln Journal stated
that his paper made it practice never Il
ask candidates for remuneration for tn,
papers services. In fact, instead the pape
had always contributed largely to the cam
paign fund until the discovery was mad,
: that its contribution every year was divided
evenly between two of its competitors.
The question of whether 1t was permissi
BILE for paper to print as an advertisement
the other side of a political question wa
, discussed at some length. 1t seemed to b.
the general opinion that so long as the mat
ter was not pure reading matter it wa
nothing to be ashamed of.
Before adjournment for the afternoon o.
motion of c.. II. Hitchcock the following
committee on resolutions and the president
message was appointed: A. w. Ladd, j. L
t Clafin, F. d. Reed, George Cross and C. j
3 Bowlby.
e After the adjournment of the meeting a
I | the Paxton the members went to the Com
= mercal club roms, where a luncheon an
reception was held under the auspices c
y the Commercial club The affair was purel
, informal There was speech making dur
e ing the luncheon and before the editors sa
= down to the tables they stroled through tn
l rooms and got acquainted with their host
, The tickets for the theater party at tn
Z Creighton Orpheum were distributed befor
o luncheon. The rank and file of the associa
e tion had the choice seats of the lower foo
y while the private boxes were occupied b
the officers and their friends as guests
the management During the performanC
k several specialties that were peculiarly r
teresting to the knights of the pen were pl
- | on for hai