The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-07-19
Press Association in
 Session. WRITERS OF STATE
 WELCOMED TO CITY Large Attendance of Quill Experts
 in Montgomery. Captain A. c. Fofbes of Commercial Club and Captain W. T. sheehaa sf Press Club Extend Greet. ings to visitors-Res.
 pOnse by Editor ,. c.

The annual session of the Alabama Press Association was called to order yesterday noon in the Commercial Club rooms by President R. F.. L. Mel. edi- tor of The Selma Journal. with a large an enthusiastic attendance. Conspicu- ous among the opening assemblags were many ladies who graced the oc- casion by their presence.
 The meeting was opened with prayer by Frank Barnett, editor of The Ala bama Baptist. and Capt. A. c. Forbes, of the Commercial Club. followed with an address of welcome on behalf of the city of Montgomery and the Conner cial Club. Captain Forbes paid an elo- quent tribute to the newspaper fra ternity and the power Of the press and extended a most cordial welcome to the visiting scribes.
 welcomed By Press Club.
 Capt. Will T. Sheehan. president of the Montgomery Press Club, welcomed the visitors on behalf of the club. His speech was witty and appropriate. be- ing interrupted frequently by applause. Captain Sheehan's address ioll"ws: "Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen
 of the Alabama Press Association:
 T have been commissioned, on be- half of your fellow workers of the press in Montgomery to speak your welcome. It Is an agreeable commis- sion.
 When you come to Montgomery you come to your own Her people are your people, and the clang and noise of her prosperity in your ears today, is echoed in that Alabama town where each of you lives and does his work
 Tn her four square miles of beauty, in her four square miles of prosperity Alabama is typified, for Montgomery Is Alabama in miniature and of no other Cf hf1 hn al 1oh hov suffered she suffered when Alabama sorrowed and was in poverty, she sor- rowed and was poor. When prosperity struck the hour for Alabama. for all Alabama, she moved forward on the stroke and not until then.
 The Hebrew poet. in burst of af- lection for his beloved Israel said
 "What the heart is to the limbs. Israel is to the nations of the world So of Montgomery 1t can be said: What the heart is to the limbs, Mont gomery is to the cities of Alabama
 She is more. She is the industrial heart of the State as we'll as the heart from which radiates the arteries of trade. along which the life blood of commerce ebbs. flows and pulsates, has her part.
 And after all, why should try to put your welcome to your Capital in words? When you go back to the old nOme-Wnen you come dSdIn 10 greet the home folks-they frame no phrases and pick no words to tell you of their pleasure and your welcome. When you go back, the old home has been made an altar and affection has beau tifed and decorated 1t to your honor and your glory. When you go back your welcome is in the air you breathe and it smiles from every animate and inanimate thing about the old place.
 Of such Is your welcome today. At the end of the lane that leads to the big house there is little nigger, all shiny teeth and white eye balls, to keep the gate open for the folks as they come. The rocking chairs have been drawn out in the wide, cool hall A churn full of buttermilk is cooling in the spring. The pies and cakes were cooked yesterday. Three busy niggers are in the kitchen. fussing and getting in each others way. A wagon load of watermelons has been rolled up on the back porch. On the shelf near the wa ter buckets there is a bowl of fresh cut mint and the Legislature has not yet banished the cheerful and historic ornament from the sideboard.
 An time Southern welcome Is yours and the folks are mighty glad that you have come.
 You come fresh from the people When I say that I feel a guilty sense of having stolen somebody's thunder We hear much of the people and the modest claim of those who say they are the only interpreters who under stand them. One might well conclude that our forefathers never had the blessing of a popular government and what they wrought and built for our greatness was achieved under a foolish Authorization of a democracy which had no existence except in their own fancy.
 As for me If wanted to under stand the people and wanted to use some conductor as a means of commu- nicaton I would pick a newspaper ed itor every time. According to the idea of the day In some way the people are dumb and speechless and can only com municate by making signs or shaking a bush. If you are looking for an in- terpreter to tell what's worrying the people I recommend that you take a country editor.
 His hand is on the pulse of human af- fairs He is the connecting link be- tween the high and the low. the weak and the strong; between the intellect ual life of the community represented in it's lawyers. its ministers, it's doc tors and its school teachers and its in dustrial life represented by the one horse farmer and the toiling poor hope fully struggling against life's adVersi- ties. He is the connecting link be- tween the lady in the fine house on the hill who gives social functions Snd the poor mother in the section shanties who is struggling that her children may not suffer.
 His office is the clearing house of the community's human affairs.
 Man is born of woman and the at- tending doctor gets fee of $50 The editor writes of his coming into the world is abused because the printer sets up wrong the initials of the proud father. Man marries and the minister gets a twenty dollar bill for ten min utes work. The editor spends half a day in writing a column account of the wedding and he chloroforms his con science long enough to describe the beauty of the bride. He gets a white napkin in which there Is wrapped a slice of cake and an attack of indiges- tion.
 By hammering day in and day out. he succeeds in having a new industry built in his town. The lawyer makes s250 by organizing the company, the six men who went into the enterprise get good money out of it-and the ed itor-why he gets an invitation to come down on the first day when the boss has nothing else to do and he will be shown over the place so that he can give 1t another write up
 Man dies and the undertaken is paid $50 to put him away. The editor crosses