Gilpin observer., 1900-08-02

of love to men. A more driveling piece
of nonsense never SprOuted in an over
heated brain than that demonstration
of the SuntiOwer state which failed
to demonstrate ything-unless it be
that enthusiasm is n good bit like mer-
curry, it works best in an uncracked
bulb.
l challenge any man to surpass me
in my reverence for the Hebrew of
Galilee, master of every trade, the
ideal of all art, the consummation of
our evOlutiOnal humanity.
And at the same time | will per-
NIT none to exceed me in admiration
of the modern journalist. for whose
persistent appetite since first l could
read the alliterative headlines of the
Chicago Times. back in the Illinois
farm house-so long ago, as my nit
locks so absently testify. l was raised
on the Chicago Times, hard cider and
Democracy. But acting upon the theo-
THAT while the lamp holds out to
burn,
The vilest sinner may RETURN
am open to conviction in all things
except the cider.
Great and human as is your art.
second to none in this significant age,
10 loI changing
ards as for its courage in changing
them, still the Nazarene is the far-off
dream, your art is the SLOW concrete
approach to it. He is the idealist. you
are the realists; fortunate for both the
ideal and the real if now and then
your eyes sight the fronded palms"
of his delectable kingdom, and feel
something of the regnant peace of his
ultimate rule.
Therefore l believe the journalism of
to-day to be the best the world ever
saw; therefore, too, l believe that the
average newspaper of to-day is as good
as it possibly could be made with the
world just where it is, on the ascend
ing slopes: but | am just as sure it
must and will be better tomorrow.
This must ever be the philosophy of
the true reformer. Don't kick. but go
ahead, is his vitalizing conviction.
admit that now and then God sends
great, luminous souls into the world,
like Luther and Lincoln, to show the
present what the future should and
can become, to concrete another are of
the dream. But Sheldon is not one of
them; neither is his forgotten project
ever so small n degree of the arc of
the ideal journal. The Almighty may
though l doubt it. but Mr.. Sheldon
could not create n new world of
Journalism in six centuries. because he
has not the fundamental idea of the
refOrmer.
The finest art in the world is to
blend idealism with realism-to live in
the present with an eye to the imme
diate future Ian MacLaren gives
fine illustration of this in his Drum
tochty sketches. Margaret Howe,
Drumshough and William McClue are
better than we are. but only so much
better as to become our accomplishing
inspiration. We. too. could stand with
them if we would but walk a little
faster.
The literature that lives. the art that
endures, the service that is actual, is
the product of its own age dovetailed
into the coming age. Why, then,
should journalism alone receive the
curse and bann because it does not
vaporizc among the clouds of the
dreams of silly men.
SO much for the philosophy of it.
Now some deductions.
Most of the statements To follow |
have expressed in the pulpit more than
once. when there was not even II re-
porter present. | do not say them to
tickle your ears; they are the convic-
tions of one who. although ON the out
side. long ago discovered your grip and
password.
The pulpit and schOolroom have had
much to say about the independent
newspaper. But that is like some 9th
'er of our irridescent drcams-it lacks
both logic and good taste: for indie
pendence has not often characterized
al ,,tIttt ...i,nnl
the ideal meant to set forth by your
.sclf-ordained critics is that newspa
per to be worthy and scrviceable must
he non-partisan.
What Is the truth of the matter? We
live in an age of organization. Organ
iZation means gathering body of men
about n common idea or purpose. But
we are also on an eve Of unsolved
problems many ana significant. They
can only be settled by the test of logic
and experiment. There should be the
sharpest debate the most critical anal
ysis and the most piercing scrutiny of
the motives of leaders on both sides.
Again, the very law of progress. is
strife. The universe maintains itself
and evolves by the countcraction of
two dssimilar forces. There would be
neither order, beauty nor progression
without II. Again. there is Il psychol-
ogy back of it. As II boy hcard the
great stumper, "Bill' Springer, ns he
loved to be called, of Illinois, say:
''Some of you fools think the Almighty
has two piles of dirt to work on. that
he makes Republicans out of one pile
and Democrats out of the other"
But we are not altogether fools who
think so. In every nation. In every
time. any given company OF men will
divide naturally into radicals and con
servatives. This Is good Thus the
same process goes on which runs
through the whole universe-thc crca-
tive and the ,preservatlve. acting to-