Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1908-10-14
Does Not Need the Sympathy Of Any
One, Thank You.

One, Thank You.
Every once in while there is a
deluge of articles on the country edi-
tor, says the Washington (Iowa)
Democrat. The big papers are al
ways discussing the country editor.
They handle them with glovt= on,
as if they were some pest that had to
be handled gingerly or that might be
catching, like measles or smallpox.
Or they might be liable to break out
in a new place, like wild Indians.
What is the use? Who asks the
big papers for any patronage or for
any encouragement, or for any odds,
for that matter7 Surely, we do not.
We say, we get tired of it.
The country editor is as indepen-
dent as hog on ice, compared to the
big city editor. Of course, he defers
to his biggest advertiser. When his
biggest advertisers daughter gets
married he swears by the long horn
spoon that she is a fairy nymph
when ten to one her feet don't track
and her hat is on crooked He defers
to his Coolest subscriber" who pays
for dozen copies to send to kin, and
when he comes to town he speaks of
"our prominent citizen, Mr.. Doo-
dab," and writes nice pieces about
the team he drives and about how
liberal he is at the church and in
charity, when he knows doggone well
that he pays the preacher in scabby
potatoes and talks low to save wear
and tear on his vocal cords and makes
his wife go barefoot in summer to
save shoe leather. However, aside
from that the country editor is as
Independent as we said he was.
But he asks no odds from his city
brother, and, dad bump his pictures,
he doesn't ask for any nice pieces
to be written about him. He eats
three square meals a day if he can
get them, and if not he writes nice
pieces about a land that flows with
milk and honey and swears, "by
gum," that his party is entitled to
the credit.
Ask favors from our city broth
ers7
Not on your chin whiskers. The
country editor breathes the pure,
free air of liberty, and you get more
patriotism in the average country
paper in a week than You get in the
big city daily in a coon's age. The
country editor thinks he believes
what he writes, while half the city
editors-we mean the political and
religious writers-write what they
are paid to write. Thus many a
Democrat is boosting for the Repub-
lican party, while the Republican ed
itor writes nice pieces about Bryan.
In the country, bless your life, we
live near to nature and near to our
critics, who find us out before we
find out ourselves. If we renig on
any proposition, before sundown half
a dozen offended subscribers are. in
the Office trying to stop their vile
paper.
Tell us the country editor has
hard lot7 May be he has, but he is
at least on the square. He believes
what he says, unless it is his big ad-
vertiser, who believes it for him. But
you come a good deal nearer to the
facts than YOU do in the city paper,
where the work is done by scores of
writer's, and nobody is actually re-
sponsible, because nobody knows who
the guilty party may be.
The country editor-bless you, lie
sees just as many funny things I'D
laughs up his sleeve at them just the
same as You big city editors do. He
sees shams and pretense and the new
rich and the men who work religion
and those who try to work the lodge
and those who are bosses and those
who think they are, but he iast
laughs. AS James Whitcomb Riley
says of Old Jap Miller, "He just
chawed on" So we just chaw on.
Never mind writing nice pieces
about the, country editors. You may
feel sorry for them, but don't let
them find it out, or you might find
yourself in contact with a stuffed
club. 1t is all right to feel sorry
for them, but you had better not say
anything about it. Many Of them are
where they are from choice. There
are country editors who could COM
mand more conspicuous positions, but
they prefer that life of ease and lux
ury and affluence and high living and
independence and independent think
ing to any of your measly little
cooped-up, narrow, hack-writing city
editorships. Now, is that clear? If
so. then pass the pie.