Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1903-06-03


~SSE% cOwardly to shirk, and as my life
has been devoted to an earnest endeavOr to under
stand the business in which have been engaged
from bOyhOOd 1 shall offer a few of the many
things honestly believe applicable to the questions
"What is the Matter With the Country Pressi"
In nOwlse do desire to be construed as personal
in any suggestions offered, for give them purely
as my own private observations, and may be al
fault in many ways.
It must be admitted that the strongest and most
intellectual rural press in the world il that Of OuI
own cOuatry That OF no other land can touch it.
There are men publishing country weeklies, and
barely eking out an existence, who have more gen
eral Capability, more learning, more diplomacy,
more good hard horse sense than thousands who
are drawing salaries from the government and from
the great institutions which dictate the govern
ment's policies, ranging from $1,000 to 10000
year.
Li'ten: These country editors make presidents
United States senator's, governors and congressman
only to be forgotten by those who are promoted al
as the fortunate individual is installed into
position. They are, in reality the mOulders of the
public sentiment which permeates the nation and
extends to the remote corners Of the globe.
The great metropolitan press Of this country il
not the mOulder Of public sentiment. I say this
advisedly. 1t does not even reach the great
OF the people. It is merely the gatherer Of the
news and the dispenser of the action after the trend
Of sentiment is started, through the editorial col
umns Of the country paper.
The editors of the great daiies have no time t.
reflect upon the deeper phases of issues as they
arise-as they spring from the bosom Of mother
earth-and watt their way to the delVing brain O
the country student. True, the best and brightest
writer's are sought and obtained by these big con.
Germs whose operating forces are never required ia
hustle for the means with which to meet paper
bills, rents and salaries, but they are soon lost in
the whir Of their environments, and they cease to
think. They become mere machines. The deep
thought Of the age comes direct from the men who
are out Of the hearing Of the ingIng bells Of the
street cars, who away from the hurry and hustle
Of city life. It comes from the man, whO occasion.
ally takes himself away from bis Office, and with
hook and line, a can OF worms and lunch, seeks
the shady side Of a country brook and fishes and
thinks while he is waiting for the festive bass to bOt
his cork. To this man the world is a vast pano
rama. BE sees the struggling forms in every clime
hears the walls Of want the roar Of cannOn he feels
the jars Of machinery the pangs of hunger the dis
sipatiOns OfthOse who are struggling to waste the
lgOtten gains OF trade and robbery, and he thinks
Returning to his den in the evening, he is in.
pred to sketch for the types his experiences OF the
day-nOt OF the number of fish he has hooked, but
Of the thoughts which have come to him in his Sc
ClusiOn and quiet This is the man of thought the
man who thinks out the smallest detail Of incidents
touching the world and its march.
IiyOu go into this mans Office on publication day
you will probably find him collarless, sleeves rolled
up pulling Washington hand press to print his
500 copies Of a weekly paper Pick up a copy Of
his paper and read it, and you will find it jewel,
such as you would be proud to hand to any visitor
to your community, even though be be the King OF
England. When his groceryman comes in on the
first of the month, if he is foolish enough to run
bil he stops only long enough to write check for
what he owes.
That man. though mis- Office may not invoice more
than S4OO, is the first citizen of his community.
He is mere; he is one OF the sources Of thought in
his day'and age. His writings find their way into
the great daies, politicians covet his approval and
pay him homage, for the politician is adroit and
knows the difference between nugget Of gold and q
brass headed cane.