Bisbee daily review., 1911-10-28
AN APPRECIATION OF THE PRESS

The press has not escaped its share of criticism such as is meted our 10 all agencies for moldirg public opin- ion in a free country. Some Of it has done good Some of it has been unjust, and perhaps little Of it has been permanently or seriously harm ful. The press Of the country is the stronger and purer for having been subjected to the tests and measured by the standards adopted by an ad- vancing public opinion
 The modern newspaper. while to a degree a moldeT Of public opinion, and in an important sense a public teacher Is at the same time a close daily associate and contemporary of the people, a member of the home circle, interested in alt that interests the public, sympathetic in all that Vitally concerns it, In short. the life of a public journal is a daily re- tiec1ion of the deeper life of the peO- pie as well as ot the more uriyal things that concerns them for a day. \ free press, conscious of it's moral responsibility 10 the community it serves, is a factor in public educa- ton whose service lis not reahily oyerestimatsd. lt is the enemy of public abuses. There is no influence so feared by the political corruption ist as the newspaper that makes a practice of uphOlding political de Cency and uncOyerinE and deuOunC- ing public evils.
 There is no enemy of civic stag nation and indifference comparable 10 the newspaper whose editorial page is free.
 The greatest obstacle 10 progress is a condition of the public mind in which activities of citizenship have been fully delegated and the few have come Co act and think for the many. There has never been a governing power SO well disposed toward the its purposes and well directed in irs detail, as safely 10 take the place Of a free people aroused 10 the respon- sibiiity of a selfresUeCtiuE citizen ship The greatest service a con l scieniious newspaper can render the public Is to arouse public sentiment | that it will insist on honesty and elf 1 Cieuty in government.
 One who recently addressed an as- ! semblage in this country paid the following just tribute to the press Of America. It is worth reproducing
 From the time a free press
 was established it has been the 4 enemy of abuses. of evils. of dry
 rot, the champion of liberty and
 progress. the patient and persist
 eut teacher Of fundamental truth.
 1t has been the light bearer. and
 the dark and nOisome places
 have been cleaned out or kept
 constantly retreating before it's
 steady advance. There is a nor
 al d~dking in progress through
 out the country
 The man is blind who cannot
 see it. and his nerves are TOtted
 and his heart IS dead who is not
 stirred up by it The evils and
 abuses Of the government, Of so-
 cicty of industry. os customs. Of
 religion itself. are hard beset and
 everywhere fighting on the detcH-
 siye.
 Giving The pulpit it's full share
 Of credit for this awakcning-gi
 ing it even more than it's share,
 giving another full share tO the
 public schools and universities,
 the fact nevertheless remains
 that the lions share Of the im-
 mediate credit for the uplifting
 impulse and movement of the day
 remains not with the preachers
 who preach to few; moi with the
 scholars who unfold ihe beauties
 of ancient learning and the truths
 ni modern science to their stu
 dents. bUi tO the editors Of ucWs-
 papers and magazines iu every
 section of thc country whO have
 daily and weekly and monthly
 been carrying their messages or
 truth and fact. their demands for
 a square deal. their pleas for aC-
 ton, Co all classes and clements
 Of our citizenship"