Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1906-04-28
THE OLD BEACON.

VEIN from the Aberdeen Examiner
anent its fortieth anniversary.
By it THE BEACON has been led
to indulge in a similar train of
reflection regarding its own long
career. 1t feels that it has
reached that age and seniority
that allow it to speak of itself
without imputatlon of vanity.
THE BEACON was blushing
with the hOnorS of sweet sixteen
when the first issue of the Exam
iner saw the light of day, and
from its institution fifty-six years
ago down to this good day,
without a single interruption,
has been owned and conducted
under the editorial and business
management of its founder Hen
~ c. Ferris and his descendants,
the present owner and publisher
being of the third generation.
1t is believed that THE BEACON is
the oldest inhabitant of Macon,
there being no one living here
now who was a resident here in
1S49, its natal year Some per-
hapS now live in other localities,
but most have passed into the
great beyond.
It's first editor was its founder,
Henry c. Ferris; William Ward,
the poet and literateur, succeeded
him as editorial writer, and Dr.,
S. V. D. Hill was so frequent a
contributor to its editorial COL
umns as to be named among its
editors. For a quarter of a CEN
turv the late P. T. Ferris was ed
itor as well as owner. Three
times has the visitation of fire
swept down upon THE BEACON
but each time it rose like the
phoenix from its ashes, 1t has
missed single issues but has never
suspended publication.
THE BEACON has championed
the cause of Franklin Pierce for
president, and Buchanan, and
Breckenridge who went down be-
fore Lincoln. Jefferson Davis
was its candidate while theCon-
lederacy lasted. Again in the
Union, it advocated the election
of Mcclellan, of Horace Greely,
Tilden, Hancock, and at last in
the democratic annus mirabilis,
1884, it for the first time since the
war had the pleasure of heading
its columns with the rooster ram
pant whenCleyeland was elected.
When the paper was established
slavery was in full force, Macon
was built entirely of wood, the
Atlantic cable was only talked
about, gold was but lately dis
covered in California; the United
States had a population of less
than thirty million, Japan was
sealed cOuntry,and Macon was
a small! town of scarcely more
than two thousand inhabitants.
THEBEACoNcannot say ,as does
the Examiner, that no article has
ever appeared in its editorial
columns not written by one ofits
own staff, but it can assert with
a justihable pride that no senti-
ment has ever found expression
there in which the editor did not
fully and heartily coincide. And
while in its news and corrcspon-
dence columns it has always
sought to be fair and Just to OPP
posing views, and to give publica-
ton there to the side of public af-
fairs other than its own, yet even
in this function of a newspaper, |
it has had a care that nothing
the editor believed to be false or |
not in the interest of fair play |
should be sanctioned by its sp-
pearance in THE BEACON, Norl
has it been willing to give re-
peated and regular publication
to views Of men and things that
the paper did not believe in or
thought tits dutynot to support
even though this policy involved |
the risk of breach of the kind
est personal relations.
THE BEACON has never taken
itself or its mission with a too
tragic seriousness; it has enter
tanned no idea offs power or
purpose such are expressed at
press banquents when newspa-
per men filled with pride and
wine speak of the press as a
mighty engine that moulds pub
lie opinion and sways the
thought of the people. But it
has not been unmindful of its
duties nor lacked a becoming
sense of the real dignity of its
proper functions, 1t has sought
TO keep its pages clean, and hon
est, and fair. wherein might be
found some record of public