Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1924-07-10

parts of the Roman empire the act
ivities of the Roman people and the
Roman Government at home And
what the government of Rome did
was duplicated by the government OF
China. Do You stop to reflect that
the oldest daily publication in the
world today is the Picking Gazette.
Here is an official bulletin or publ
cation that has had an unbroken ex-
istence- since between seven hundred
and eight hundred years after the
dawn of the Christian era, and which
for centuries has been issued daily.
This publication is not altogether
parallel with the newspapers of to-
day but for the centuries past it has
served the purpose which the news
papers of our country serve, namely:
the responsibility of disseminating
information.
PRESS MUST BE FREE
The civilization of each age rests
upon the civilization that has been
builded by the ages that have preced-
ed it, In this work one of the few
vital forces essential to the carrying /
forward of that which has proven it |
self TO be best is the public press. |
And let me say that when the public /
press has been stified its influence
for good has been limited, and when
the public press has been free its in
fluence has been incalculable for the
wellbeing of human kind. The story
of the struggle of the press to be free
is in part the story of free speech. 1t
is the story of the aspiration for free
dom of our race. No people can adj
vance when their means of informa-
ton is limited and modified by an
agency that calls itself a government I,
More than that, and as though to .
furnish confirmation for the state
ment / have just made, history bears
Dut the thought that progress has
been halting and slow when the press
vas stified, while ON the other hand
{ has been buoyant and filled with
ife when this great agency of civil
cation, the press, has been accorded
he right TO speak, the right to dis
eminate information, the right to
ell the truth TO those who read In
ny judgment the English speaking
copies have led the peoples of the
Torld in according free speech to the
ublic press. As long ago as 1865
he British Government found itself
nable to defend a licensing system
)r the press of Great Britain. A
l0dified control was eXerted over the
ress through a system of taxation
Y Great Britain until early in the
st century, but even that was swept
way. Great Britain came to real
e that there is safety in free speech.
lat wisdom is to be obtained through
e exchange of the honest cOnyic-
DnS of men and of women who think
id have something to say. Within
@ United States we have always
cardcd as fundamental. freedom of
@ press. and who can Say that adj
renee TO this doctrine is not re-
onSible in degree of incalculable
ignitude for the progress that our
H9le have made i'm self-government
d for the fact that today we stand
the nation that during the nearly
hundred fifty years of our exist,
Sc has pointed the the way towards
f-government for the worlds peo-
:. a free press makes a free people.
a free people become an enlight-
ID people. Here is the explanation
the 1act that While the population
the United States is little more
N five percent of the population of
entire world, forty percent of all
the newspapers of the world are
'lished and read in our own coun-
E PRESS DEVELOPS BY EN-
TERPRISE Il
our country has gone forward by
IS and bounds during the $50 years
rs existence this same phenomenon
tains to the newspapers of our
ntry as it does to other things.
e enough, in an age when there
e no railroads, no telegraph lines.
telephones, no steam propulsion
the seas. the Scope of the editor
limited. The newspaper man. the
or assembled what news he could
er in uncertain ways and with il
philosophy and discus
what he thought would be of in
st. and the success of the paper
he brought out was dependent in
rye part upon the originality of