Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1914-01-22

men as responsible for Zee splitting
! \ conclude with the assertion that
commencing with counties as tho
unit, II newspaper men will but &c,
acquainted to the extent of calling
each other ELL, jim, Jack and Hank
the. Evils of the Fee Splittings' as
a topic never again need be assigned
at a meeting of this state ~associa'
ton. a
REsuRRECTING THE DEAD.
What a subject for the Newspaper
men of North Dakota and why?
1t was some time during the latter
part OF December. while in the midst
OF getting out q Christmas number Of
the Spotlight that l received a let
ter from Secretary Holbein, in which
,lles informed met4(not~ hrequested) that
/ had ben assigned the subject of RE
s%urrecting the Dead .for hc:mid-win-
ter meeting. +. l. might say. that the no.
LITIGATION happened Ito. reach me on
n of those kind Of days, that are
familiar to most of us-.when the press
bucks--the engine kicks-the com
position is not. feeling well-anl when
there is not enough snow or water
in town to create tears at one of these
holy ghost camp meetings. M u
Suffice to say, "Old Eill's" letter
made me mad-more than that-it
made me cuss with the soft pedal
on). for at first l considered his no.
LITIGATION an insult to the newspaper
men of the association of the. state,
After re-reading his letter a few days
later, and after a perusal OF some Of
my regulars on the exchange table,
began to see a light, and through
the light in the distance at.a ."gatlit"
town up in the northern part of the
state, could see the outline of "Old
Bill apron adjusted, sleeves rolled
up, a limpy looking finger sticking out,
as Bill was delving at the cases. Then
Il looked around me and saw another
light. 1t was the Lansford Journal.
This light proved to be a much bright.
err light than the first one that | had
seen and III my reverie of thought, |
asked myself the question, "How does
he do it"' and the only conclusion
that could be reached was Ills Heart
is in His Neck" This led me back to
the subject assigned, and clear as the
blue sky, Il could see what our secre.
tary was driving at. when lie told me
that l had to prepare an address on
"R~esurrecting the Dead" Our. .seere!
itary did not really mean the Words le
used but he did wish to make, them
as strong as possible, for he added in
his letter of notification thus: "We
want you, to get after the dead ones
In the business, scorch them until they
will think their tails are on fire. We
want life in this association. So 90
as far as you like and bring the dead
to life.
Brothers in business and despair, |
am not the man for the place, for | do
not believe in "Resurrecting the
Dead My religious teachings tell
me clearly to let the dead stay dead.
Therefore, I have in a degree chang
ed the heading Of my article to read
"Resurrect the Sleeping"
With due apologies, however. to
both the dead and the sleeping. with
u apologies to the newspaper men
and women Of our great state, with no
apologies to lie or they who caused
us t be assigned this s%uc:ject, and
humble attempt in my own peculiar
way | will try to wrestle with the sub.
ject. 1922,
lis too true, that. year after year
have been coming to these conven-
st1ons, to learn something-'Tis true
TOO that. while there have been some
excellent subjects discussed, there
nae also been many extra dry sub
Jects presented to the association. l
remember one in particular, at Minot,,
at the time We were receiving the
Cost System" three times a day, and
during one OF these extremely dry dis.
cussions, was called from the hall
much to, my .Jelief) by, Brother Ed,
Richter, WHO inYeilged me togo down
town With him, aid When IN healing the
fire station, he requested me to intro.
,.duce linn to- the chief Of the fire Dc,
,rartment. Being one of the firemen
OF tae state, naturally took pride in
Introducing this well,known bandit
to Chief Thompson and imagine my
surprise wien, Bro, Ritcher. requested
the fire chief to. send the department
to the -Armory building. The chief I'M.
formed him that no alarml>had as yet
come in. but Ritcler was persistent in
his ~pleadings, and stated that while
no alarm was yet in, he knew that
within thirty minutes, there would be
an alarm from the Armory, because
-, had been talking for two hours
on the cost system. and that the in
terror of the building and it's occu-
pants had become so dry. that a blaze
could not possibly be averted, unless
in the meantime, the speaker, would
become fortunate enough to be seized
with Il temporary stroke Of paralysis
OF the tongue. That settled me on
tile cost system education for the rest
OF my days. We must admit. too, that
dry subjects make dry editors"
In looking back into the history OF
our association. it is found that for
several years our organization fell in
to a state Of letllargy. Not in a dying
condition but sleeping. The old war
horses who had been at the helm fo,
twenty years or more were last pass
ing away. Some had drifted to other