The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-04-27
Words of Good Cheer.

A new volume of any paper brings from
its friends kindly expressions, and in
this the News and Observer was over
whclmed with cheering words which
came to it when it entered upon its
fifty. second volume.
Space forbidS the publication OF these
appreciated letters, but two of them are
of such tone and come from men who
have so carefully studied the environ
nents of newspaper life that these are
given.
On the 18th day of March, one Of the
first men in Eastern North Carolina, in
a private letter, said
81 believe when q man in public
position and as a public servant has'done
a good thing he ought to be told that he
has done a good thing and ought to be
commended for it. Believing this,
write you to say that your Fifty second
Volume-Glance at the Past" article is
a good deed done not only for yourself
but for the good people of the State and
therefore a public service. 1t stirs me
to read it and carries me back. What
q fight you have made and how matters
have changed Not that you did all the
fighting; others fought, too, but your
work and that of your helpers gave the
material and the means for waging the
warfare. Here is my hand"
One of the foremost educators in North
Carolina, in a private letter written on
the 18th of March, when the News and
Observer entered upon a new volume,
said:
81 write to congratulate you upon the
successful completion of another volume
of the News and Observer. l have en-
joyed very much reading the editorials
in yesterdays paper, and the review OF
the work. of the News and Observer for
the past seven or eight years This has
4 been period in which it has been very
hard to serve the public faithfully with
out being misunderstood, and there are
some good men in North Carolina who
have misunderstood you, and criticized
the policy of your paper unjustly, and
because they did not appreciate fully the
supreme aim of your work, or the condi
tions by which you have been surround
ed.
at is a pleasure, though, and always
source of encouragement to me, that,
in spite of all this, you have a wonder
full hold upon the confidence and admi
ration of a great majority of the best
people | know. So far as my own opin
ion of your service to the State is con-
cerned, / place it away beyond that of
any other man of our generation. /
weigh my words when / say this, and /
think | have some knowledge of the peo-
pie who have contributed to the upbuild-
ing of this State during the past twenty
years.
while you know that our views do
not always coincide on matters of detail,
yet I have never seen the time when |
did not respect your editorial utterances
on any subject and on the two great
questions upon which the substantial de-
velopment of the State depends public
schools and public roads, you have in
variably not only boldly taken the right
side, but you have done it in such a way
as to persuade many people, who other
wise would have been Indifferent to adopt
your view upon these questions.
Feeling as l do, that the school
teacher must do a fundamental work
, before North Carolina can be developed
materially or otherwise, and feeling that
| you have been the best friend that the
| North Carolina school teacher has had
among the influential political factors of
the State, cannot but feel very grateful
to you both as a citizen and as a
teacher"
! STATES GREATEST NEWSPAPER.
The Asheville Citizen, edited by Mr..
| Fred L. Merritt, says:
Last Sundays News and Observer was
a notable newspaper and two things made
| it so.
1t gave an elaborate account of the ex-
bibits and attractions of the South Caro-
lima and West Indian Exposition, now in
full blaze of glory at Charleston, with
illustrations and something of the his
tory of that far famed city and it's sur
roundings.
But it, was most notable because OF
the fact, that it celebrated the entrance
of the paper upon its fifty-second volume
or twenty sixth year.
In 1894, the News and Observer pass
cd, bankrupt into the control of its pres
ent management, since which time it has
grown in circulation and influence until
now it is easily the most influential and
widely read newspaper in the State. No
paper fought so valiantly to win the bat
tie of Democracy and none has since done
more for the upbuilding of the common
wealth.
When Josephus Daniels became the edi-
tor of the News and Observer, Fusion rule