East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1906-10-18

The following address on News
papers and Development" was pre-
pared by Bert Huffman, editor of tho
East Oregonian, for the Milton meet
ing of the Umatllla County Develop
ment league, and appears in the spe-
cial edition of the Portland Chamber
of Commerce Bulletin, just issued in
the interest of the Oregon Develop
ment league:
Wherever two or three are gathered
together In the interest of their coun-
try, the newspaper is in their midst
and therefore this meeting would have
been strangely incomplete without a
word from the press. / keenly appre-
ciate the honor OF being permitted
to say something of the work of the
newspaper in developing new coun-
tries and also in helping older coun-
tries to keep straight.
1t is especially pleasing to speak of
the work of the newspapers in UNA
tilla county, where there is such op-
portunity for development, so many
miles of arid land awaiting settlers,
so many streams flowing idly to the
sea, and so many untouched re-
sources, awaiting the magic touch of
capital to turn them into paying in
dustries.
Development is a prosaic subject.
And yet 1t is a subject which inspires
greater enthusiasms than any other
under the sun. There is no labor so
inspiring and so elevating as that
which converts wilderness into a
habtable place: there is no work so
encouraging and fascinating as the
transformation of something useless
into a thing of beauty and use. In the
reclamation of the arid land of the
west, there is a more splendid poem,
a more transcendant epic than in any
conquest OF history.
In the vicinity of Milton, where ir-
rigation has been brought to high
state of perfection there is a more
magnificent example of human wis
dom and utility than I'm the military
roads of Napoleon, in the conquests
of Alexander, or in the vain palaces
of the Moorish kings Your reclama-
tion of the wilderness has added to
the happiness of mankind. 1t has
converted the idle desert into a place
of exquisite beauty and utility, and is
a lasting and perpetual monument to
your wisdom and energy.
Development does not mean grub
bing sagebrush, digging bitches, build
ing dams and reservoirs and creating
houses and laying out streets solely.
These are the ground work of all de-
velopment, but they are only a por-
tion of the process of evolution.
Must Have Publicity.
No country was ever fully devel-
oped by the few pioneers who hap
pened to discover II. The pilgrims
who first settled America sent agents
back to England to secure immigrants.
Those agents In that early day took
place of the newspapers of today.
Publicity was needed. The good news
of the new world must be scattered
and in the absence of the printing
press, the more tedious plan of send
ing agents was adopted, but the ulti-
mate aim was the same.
The pioneers who settled the west
could not live alone in this wilder
ness and cope with the great prob
lens which arose before them, and
immigration was invited. The news
paper played its part in the slow de-
velopment of the country. The
stories of the west read by eastern
firesides stirred men to seek homes
and fortunes in this virgin land of the
northwest, and so the newspaper took
a leading part In bringing here the