The Lafayette gazette., 1902-05-10

to pass unnOticed without doing
serious injury to his reputation.
We know of nothing which could
have justified the New Orleans
papers in making such villainOus
sport of Col. Jones' genial face.
THE COUZRY NE WSPAPER.
The following is an excerpt
from Henry Mayo's splendid
paper read before the Press AS
sociation which meet at Alexan
dria:
"I take off my hat, Mr.. Presi-
dent, to the country editor and
his paper. can feel with him
and his institution because I
have pulled the lever of Wash
ington hand press on July
! afternoon, and mailed the pro
duct of my fertile brain and
| vivid imagination to several
thousand, more or less, admiring
constituents. There never was
a country newspaper which did
not represent the best interest,
best Thoughts, and bestenergiesof of
it's people. The editor is expected
to give his own time and his best
enterprise to every institution
his town features. He is the
master spirit of every movement
which tends to the commercial
aggrandizemento of his territory,
and he is always a prominent
and a more or less conspicuous
object at all church sOcials, pic
MICS, and ward meetings. He
is constantly looking out for the
benefit of his fellow-citizens and
he gets about as little for the re-
suit of his labors as any man in
the community. Yet, withal, he
smiles in the face of opposition
and cheerfully proclaims to the
world that his paper and his
town are two of the best pro-
ducts of kindly providence
Mr.. Mayo has no doubt stated
the truth, though few outside
the country printing Offices will
believe it. 1t is characteristic
of people living in small towns to
think that the local paper is
about the most unlmpOrtant
thing in the community, and
that the publisher is the least
progressive of it's citizens. 1t is
a fact, well known by those who
have published country news
papers,, that the concensus of
opinion among the tOwnspeOple
is that the man whom cruel
fate has linked with hand press
and few fonts of type is the most
poorly equipped person in the
com munity to run the local
paper. In many instances this
belief rests upon correct es-
innate of the publishers ability,
but in every case it is the com
munity's fault, because paper
always fifty represents the town
in which it is printed. AS a
general rule the newspaper is as
good as the community upon
whose support it depends fol
existence. When an industrious
editor of some ability fails tC
earn a decent livelihood in the
newspaper business, he has tC
look elsewhere for more remu
nerative employment and the in
evitable result is that he issues
paper which can be of but little
service to the community. Or
if the editor does not engage ir
some other business, he is un
a BILE to secure help and is com
PEELED to perform the multi
tudinous duties of editor, re
porter, type-setter, pressman
T collector. and unless he is the
versatile genius that Ben Frank
lin was his paper is inevitably {
| stale and uninteresting affair
, But the local repositories o:
, supernal wisdom, who always
know better, do not appreciate
| the difficulties with which the
, village moulder of public opinion
has to contend, and if the paper
, fails to come up to their standard
of excellence they find in the
EDITORS work nothing to com
mend but much to censure. But
/ despite this failure to win the