St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-05-05
The Country Editor.

An article in ssSuccess, FOL
April, by Congressman Charles b
Lands, contains the following eulo
CYSTIC words abou; workman otter
overlooked:
The country newspaper men Of
to-day really mould the sentiment
of the Republic, and have done sc
for the last fifty years. The met
ropolitan papers cannot successful
" champion any proposition that
meets with the united opposition Of
the country press. Great move.
ments either succeed or fail in pro.
portion as they are advocated OF
opposed by the people who live IN
small towns and on farms, because
the evenings Of such people are de
voted to reading and reflection, OF
to old-fashioned visiting, which
means an exchange OF views and
frequent discussion. In moulding
these views, the country editor ii
the chief instrument; and, aftel
they are moulded, he IS their CHIEF
exponent, and thus verdlcts fol
history are made.
The metropolitan daily comes e
the small town, or to the farm, and
is so large that it is merely scanned
read mostly from the headlines
The husband and father peruses 1t,
losses it aside, and it Is snatched
up by the laughter, who is through
with 1t as soon As she glances ovel
the fashion column, looks at the
pictures, or reads the few para
graphs on etiquette.
"rhis is what l want" says the
head Of tie house, az he takes W
the country weekly. He looks ovel
his spectacles and says: "This
home paper is just ike a letter, y
and then he settles down and reads
overy word in it. He not only
reads, but also grasps the meaning
Of it all; and, if there are three OF
four men who write for the paper
he can tell by the stamp of indi
viduality who wrote this article
and who wrote that. The people
in the country, where there are NJ
large towns, are simply a large
family, and ever item in the loca
paper is of interest; and, as thu
father reads, he comments; "Henry
Arnold has disposed of his lower
eighty" and s.Phll Leslie's oldes
boy has married and moved to thu
Wilson place." and STONES hal
been given judgment IN that hors'
case" and .sThere's a festival a
Zion church Saturday night" ant
SO on and so forth. Then his wifi,
reproves him with: "Well, Their
won't be a thing in that paper o
interest to me, If you keep on"
Country editors are born, OF
made only by the machinery Of ex
perience. One cannot be made II
4 day. Money can make metro
politan newspaper man in an hour
Give country editor money, an
he will make a metropc!ii news
paper successful, while not ont
metropolitan newspaper man in
thousand could make q countr,
newspaper succeed. Why: Be
,use the metropolitan newspape
man is not adaptable to clrcum
stances.
It would not surprise a country
newspaper man were he lii singl'
day to be called on to suggest twt
or three subjects for high schoo
commencement essays; asked t
write an obituary for a leading
citizen; requested to advise q far
mer in the matter of lawsuit; i'm
| plored to tender his good Offices II
settling q dispute among friends
entreated to quiet domestic discor'
in q neighbours family that threat
ened to ripcn into divorce; or wait
ed on bv the daughter of 3 f0rme
subscriber who Is about to MARI.
against her fathers will, and de
sires the wrath Of the parent stay
ed. A medley like this woul'
drive an editor in large city crazy
To answer all of these demand
calls for not only ability, but ais
judgment, discretion, tact, common
sense and sympathy. It require
more genuine genius to be a sue
cessful country editor than it doe
to capitalize and organize q trust
The country EDITORS influence O
country politics is paramount. II
insists on candidates that will jus
tify eulogy, and . platform that h
can honestly champion. He in
sists on doing the parish psintin!
when his party is in power, and b
is right about it. He not onl,
ought TO do this work, but shout
be paid a good price, for even the
the community would remain hi
debtor; for, as a m after of fact, b
does more work for which he get
no pay, and casts more bread o
the water that returns TO him j
the shape of oadiy-soaked dough
than any other man in any othe
profession.
If the final estimate of man
llfe-work is made from the stand
point of honest endeavor and ur
selfish devotion to the communit
in which he lives, l am not afrai
of the final score of the countr
editor.
at is with a good deal Of plea.