The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-03
Worlds Debt To Press Optimism
How the Newspapers Have Won Victories for Humanity Be
 cause of Confidence in the Country and Its People

l, John H. Tennant, managing editor of the flew York Evening World. at the dinner of the Rochester Ad club, given recently, delivered an interesting address on "Tha Optimism of the Press," which is here re- produced in part:
 optimism has ever appealed to me as comprehending in one word a creed which everyone could embrace with profit. op- timism has been the handspring of every movement for the betterment of mankind. Optimism has been the open sesame to success in all lands and all tongues op- timism whispers encouragement to the car of the disappointed, 1t puts fresh vigor into the steps of the discouraged, It IS the rallying note of progress. The opti- mist recognizes opportunity, the pessimist bars the door to it.
 '"The world would be wearing skins, making war with stone clubs, living In caves and eating bear meat en casserole if some hairy chieftain of the age had not dreamed in the darkness with the stars, of something more-something which has come to us through time as optimism.
 we are all born with 1t. The peasant existing under the tyranny of some Euro pean or Asiatic despot, his future hori- zon limited to 10 hours of toll. matched cottage and corn husk bed, has heard or 1t in subconscious whispers; the strug- gling masses across the sea, worn and weary with the strife for bare living, the successive generations coming on and on, under stifing conditions, have thought or It, but only as fairy hope. festal day phantasy. Tradition, superstition. tyr amy, have walled out the greater part of the world from materlalizing the ln- dying hope of optimism with which every mother hugs her offspring even under the blackest environment
 In Cosmopolitan New York
 'sBut back in the days when men risked the gibbet to proclaim equality, before man became the plaything of demagogues, the standard of optimism was raised in this land, the world under Kings awak- ened, and optimism was reborn as fresh inspiration from on high.
 "A discussion of optimism leads directly to present day newspaper ideals. New 1OTk TOT d teHluIy idS pcSi' eiiS NAS-NA ing house for optimists of strange tongues, who landed eager eyed for the form and substance of their hopes and ambitions New York today is, perhaps the largest cosmopolitan city in the world. It is the cradle of a great proportion or future American citizenship. Far and wide as the immigrant may scatter, to add to the vigor and development of the country, fl is from New York that the big ma s..stt t.J {.~..x, ion s,f our ideals, purposes and character.
 "The newspaper that falls short of real izing the far reaching obligation this op- portunity imposes, fails in one of it's grea test missions. A newspaper to the aV- craze immigrant is something unheard of at home, except as an occasional lux ury The average foreign newspaper is a dry chronicle of local government. a dull page of trifling incident in which life is pictured as little more than applications for dog licenses. the record of marriages and deaths, the movements of royalty and the punishment of offenders.
 The Awakening of the Emigrant
 "The newspapers arouse about as much curiosity and interest as the halloa of night watch or the horn of shepherd. One day in America and he finds about him crowded cars filled with the day s papers, He see pictures, puzzles and com ics; one month in America, he begins to figure out the captions. In one year he is reading in English, The newspaper has become his daily companion, has be- come his English primer, hls chart of knowledge of things American
 "These are the first steps in the great evolution, and they are taken more quick ly than most people outside of New York can imagine. In five years the immigrant boy in the New York schools is speaking, reading, writing and figuring in English. In seven years, he Is pushing the native born for honors At 2l he has become political leader a contractor or business man, or successful thug or worse.
 Development follows quickly. the formative period in American citizenship Is short This fact Is what most empha- sizes the need of full responsibility on the part of the newspaper editor. It Is the rising generation that should appeal most urgently to newspaper duty and con- science. Ours is a young country; 1t IS also country of young men. I'hlnk, Tor a moment. of the potential possibilities Tn the fresh vigor and blood which come with the immigrant. Think of the dreams, the pent-up ambitions of the thousands that seek fullfilment and expression here. Think, then, of the imperative need of unfolding the proper lines to be followed in working out individual and national salvation. Optimists they come optim1sts they must continue. And through the newspaper primarily this spirit must be encouraged.
 "It may be that I take too serious view of American development It may be that I exaggerate the importance or the newspaper mission, but I doubt 1t.
 And this danger applies with equal force to the American born, to the seo- ond and third generations of the foreign born as well as to the newest citizen. TO them the daily newspaper, beyond pur- chase beyond political prejudice, beyond personal influence for evil newspaper ever enlisted for the betterment of human conditions, ever putting the stamp of disapproval upon schemes of corruption in business as we'll as public life; a newspaper battling against encroachments upon personal freedom, is the most con- vincing expression of America's proud assurance of liberty to the enslaved of the world Such newspaper reflects the optimism which every editor in city or country should feel
 The Discouraging Note. 'Now and again there creeps Into the columns of the press the dscouraging note that the time for great opportunities has passed This is only a glancing blow at optimism. The human brain in it's ceaseless activity daily discloses new ave- nues of opportunity which the pessimist is unable to foresee. An Italian peasant makes the wind whisper messages across seas and gives employment to thousands of brains and thousands of hands, a. pea nut vender on a Pacific train makes one