The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1910-06-17

elimination in criticism is being man
ifested. would have you believe
that the public now insists on the
pointing out of specific evils, accom-
panied by proposals for real remedies.
Blanket attacks are no longer popu-
lar.
I think it is the duty of you gen.
tlemen to encourage this spirit of fair
play. My own experience in news
paper work. covering, as it did, per-
! iod of twenty years, taught me that
| the newspapers as class desire to be
| fair; that newspaper men, as whole
are always willing to measure out to
the humblest. as we'll as the highest,
equal and exact justice.
| say to you that there are few
greater forces for the uplift of this
country, both morally'and materially,
than that eXerted by the railroads.
Morally, because the man who is
drunkard. the man who is immoral,
the man who does not pay his debts
and who is not willing to give his fell
low man a square deal. cannot long
maintain his place in the ranks of the
railroad army. Materially, because.
as all of you will agree, without the
railroads this nation could not have
hoped to achieve the crown of splend-
id prosperity with which it is adorn-
ed.
For the pioneer railroad builders
of the west have the same respect
and claim for them the same honors
we gladly accord to their forebearers,
to Zebulon Pike, to John c. Fremont.
to Captain Bonneville. to Lewis and
Clarke and to the hundreds of fear
less pathfinders whose unmarked and
forgotten graves lie somewhere along
the Oregon trail
| Slowly across the plains of Ne
braska. thorugh the mountains of
Wyoming and Utah, along the valleys
of Idaho, climbing passes, piercing
| the Rockies and the Sierras, to the
north and south shores of the Pacific.
these railroad pioneers stretched their
bands of steel. And with those bands
they linked the empire of the east
with the empire of the west. welding
the far-fung reaches of this nation in
to one country. making of its people
one brotherhood, under the best-lov-
ed flag that ever floated in Gods
fair sunshine.
The pioneer railroad builders may
not have laid down their lives
though many of them did that-in
this service but they risked, and in
numerous instances lost their fort
unes. and they did mems work in a
mans way. bespeak for them
measure of your approval as you go
about your lawful occasions" as |
have a ready spoken for their success
sors who are carrying on the work
today.
I look back upon my newspaper
work. upon the associates I had and
the friends 7 made in it. with recol-
lections so pleasant and. in some
cases, so tender. that I cannot speak
of them now. There is not in any
plane of human endeavor, not. even
excepting the pulpit. more self sacri-
flee, more loyalty. higher ideals or
fewer tangible rewards.
Ministers of the gospel believe they
are Called to the pulpit; mission
aries to foreign lands believe they
are called to preach the gospel to
the heather. I believe that men are
called" to newspaper work. There
are some misfits in the profession,
some whose "call" was the merest
whisper, but the number of these is
as small as in any of the professions.
| And the unworthy do not long re-
| main.
Knowing what do of the newspap-
err profession, do you gentlemen imag-
| two f0, fhnt pninO m
stand up here and tell you your duty
to the public? I am not equal to
such an example of magnificent auda-
city. You know your duty and you
are doing it as men among men. You
won't receive any reward worth men
tioning on this earth. / don't have
to tell you that.
But am hoping that. in some land
that may be fairer than even sunny
southern Idaho" there is sperially
desirable corner set apart for the
newspaper men. I am hoping that IN
that corner there will always be good
copy on the hook. that the opposition
will always be showed under, that no
subscription will ever be discontinued
and delinquents will be unknown.
And I want to go on record here and
now as saying that if am so fortu-
nate as to get close to such a place
I'm going to walk into the local room,
hang up my coat and hat and start
to grinding out story.
I thank you for the patience with
which you have heard me through,
and take this opportunity to express
again my sincere appreciation of the
many courtesies I hvae received at
your hands. I want to assure you that
in the future, as in the past. I will
always &C an individual and am