Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-06-13
MIR. Sibley's Grafton.
Mr.. President and members OF

lie CltNtI n vi vi al
fairs concerning the astonishing swift
ness with which the two ends of four
months rush together when ones
name is attached to note in bank,
has been frequently in my mind dur
ing the past fortnight. Twenty days
ago l signed a note to Professor And
drews, as surety for the obligation
necessarily abandoned by the gentle
man chosen to address YOU on this oc-
casion, whose unfortunate absence is
likely to be more and more regretted
as l proceed, Several times
the temptation to declare my
signature forgery, or to al
low my note to go to protest here,
has crept into the hurrying moments;
but full appreciation of the honorable
duty of this hour and strong disin-
clination to evade any task imposed by
the Alma Mater, have put such
thoughts to flight.
Before entering upon my topic, per-
nit me to express the qualification |
feel in noting the progress made by
Marietta College since l left its halls
nearly twenty years ago. Evidences of
Improvement greet me on all Sides Es-
pecially pleasing among them is the
recognition by this venerable institu-
tion of the just claim of young women
to participate in it's advantages.
Women need education. Lack of it,
in the innocent Garden days when
serpents stood erect as past masters
in the art of diabolical suggestion,
caused the ground to be cursed with
thorns and thistles and entailed upon
mankind a heritage of sorrow Ill COM
pensated by the fact that since then
snakes have gone upon their bellies
and dieted on dust. 1t is my judgment
that had Eve been Marietta graduate
no reptile could have beguiled- her.
desire also to congratulate you upon
the splendid prosperity and advance
ment which during the past decade
have "pedastalled in triumph" this
beautiful city, and made it famous
throughout the Ohio Valley for growth,
business and professional opportuni-
ties, delightful homes, social pleas
ures and intellectual life. It's multi
piled activities, expanding resources
and increased population are auspic
ious auguries for the future of the
College, to whose annual festival we
come in testimony of our admiration
and gratitude for her devotion to the
needs of youth. We come to join in
the plaudits showered upon the fortu-
mates who go forth to undertake the
arduous competitions before them,
with the blessed impress of our Alma
Mater upon their lives.
| feel that the same impulse which
causes me to speak after hasty prepar-
alton will incline you indulgently to
hnar urh lilo nplnounr hria tn
sketch certain untoward conditions
which now surround the country press,
incentives that sway many of its edi-
tors, and changes it has undergone
which threaten the high reputation it
has enjoyed in former years. Our
alumni, widely scattered as they are,
have constantly under their observa-
ton, and doubtless to some extent un-
der their influence. home newspapers,
and understand that so intimate are
the relations between the rural citi-
zenship of the Republic and these
journals whose patronage is limited
substantially to the counties in which
they are published, and whose pages
are devoted almost wholly to events
of merely local concern, that any at
tempt to measure their influence
would be adventurous. These publ
cations, collectively called The Coun-
try Press, have been potent factor
in the development OF American civil
lization. They have entered into all
the social, moral and political contro-
versies of our National history They
have signally affected the policies of
our popular government, and been
powerful in directing the selection of
both State and Federal legislators.
Our press Is free. American editors,
with all their extraordinary opportun-
tiles for exerting direct and continuous
influence on electors, need give the
state no evidence of fitness, either
moral or intellectual, for the guidance
Of public opinion. Any citizen possess
ed of sufficient capital or credit to gain
control of a printing Office may estab-
lish a paper, good or bad as pleases
him. and gather about him a constit-
uency of his kind. united by common
ties Of vice or virtue into civic force.
Without one redeeming qualification
animated by the most unworthy mo-
tives, any degenerate who owns a
press may create, feed and stimulate
mean appetites among the people, with
practically no limits set upon his mis-
chief except the libel laws and postal
regulations, which are construed so
liberally as to permit a thousand
forms OF insidious outrage.
1t is not surprising, therefore, that
OF the radical transformations in the
physical and business characteristics
of the country press during the past
quarter Of century, all have not been
for the better. Some indeed were dis
tinctly harmful, and so general as to
almost tempt the declaration that the
country press of today Ia essentially
inferior. as whole, to that OF former
years. An examination of early papers
reveals dignity originality, independ-
ence and vigor now by no means uni
yersal. They were the forums for
able debate, and freighted with editor
ials which, II somewhat ponderous
judged by latter-day models, were sin
cere, comprehensive and trenchant--
plainly the product of men of conse-
quence, who spoke rather from convic-
tion than from policy born OF desire
to profit by lodging conflict with abb
horent social forces or by fawning up
on corrupt political powers. The tone
of the old papers Is that of honorable
independence inspired by lofty princi-
pies. Their news columns contained
records OF really important events.
Every page bore the stamp OF its edi-
tors individuality, and even the mis-
cellany had his careful supervision
and approval. II is not difficult after
reading them, to understand why they
were declsively forceful in guiding the
opinions OF their readers