The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1963-10-10
National Newspaper Week
Lord, Give Me This Day!
BY RALPH McGILL
Editor. The Atlanta Constitution

1t is written in Proverbs that a word fifty spoken is
like apples of gold in pictures of silver
s The beauty of that smile teaches humility, especially
to an advertising or newspaper man, whose job it is to
use words And l am one who believes (and I write as
q sentlmentahst about our business) that all of us, ad men,
reporters, publishers, owners, editors = all of us have
need of humility before the power that is in the words which
we produce. | never go down to the press room, hearing
and feeling the smooth hum of its precision speed, but that
I feel humble before it. IT is something like holding a sea
shell up to the ear and hearing in it what a poet has told
is the noise that time makes as it passes by on its inexorable
march. The steady, muted roar of the presses seems to me
the noise that words make - all the written words tapped
out on typewriers, caught in the hot lines of type, pressed
into the matrixes, boled in metal plates to the drums of
the press = all of them speaking at once to produce the
steady voice of the presses as they print, fold, cut and count
the pages of our newspapers, and saying 81 am the power
and the beauty of words"
| recall being taken to see an old editor when I was a
young boy who had framed by his desk the familiar old
Lord, give me this day my daily idea, and forgive nae
the one had yesterday"
There are days when all of us toIing in the vineyard
of words have reason for that motto so fast do things
change, and SO often is that which seemed so sure yester-
day, today demonstrated to be not so sure.
The fact of a free press, and the full meaning of that
phrase, | honestly believe, is the chief prop of this free
nation. And God knows we bear a heavy responsibilities.
And truth, if it becomes trite, is yet truth. But, I say quite
frankly, feeling my own guilt as l do, and pointing no a-
cusing finger at anyone, that every publisher, every board
of directors, every editor, and staff need to examine into
the meaning of the phrase, Freedom of the Press and de-
termine if they are using it as a tool or a cliche?
Certainly a free and responsible press. and a press
which has something to say on its editorial pages, is of
great value to advertisers. The ads are of more value in a
newspaper where character and integrity are established.
| strongly believe that if we do not use our freedom in
public service, in controversial issues. and in compassionate
awareness of the human condition, we may and should
lose our freedom.
1t is guaranteed? To be sure it is. But, we are up against
a fact. 1t is an important one for all Americans. to whom
the daily paper, with its ads, its news, features and editorials,
IS as much a casual part of their lives as the bottle of milk
left on the doorstep; and to those of us who write and pro-
duce newspapers. 1t is namely, that nothing is guaranteed
except it be guaranteed in the minds Of the people and their
loyaltes
I recall going to Austria at the time the Germans moved
there in the spring of 1898. For me it was a sort of journey
on the road to Damascus. There, for the first time, 1 watched
disappear because the will for them had disappeared long
before. | saw men and women arrested without warrant; L
watched abuses of people because of their religion; l saw
books burned and / saw magazines and newspapers from
outside Austria removed. None dared protest. In fact, so
bad was the economic and political situation in Austria that
a majority of the people cheered the changes. l have never
forgotten it. have no wish to forget.
And so. today we will continue to enjoy, and have avail
able, freedom of speech and press only so long as the peo-
pie recognize that we use it and that we deserve that free
dom.
It is important now, I believe, in this time of racial
crisis to defend the one great American ideal = that of
equality of citizenship. We Americans are a synthesis of
many peoples, many races, many languages, and a diversity
of religions. It is the ideal, the principle, that makes us
American. It seems to me highly important that American
newspapers play a part in establishing this principle for all
Americans.
1 strongly feel that to do the Job of protecting freedom
of press, we must become more and more like the image of
our true selves which the Constitution of our country envi-
sions. And that applies to all of us ad men, news men,
business men, professional men.
The people can understand and defend the press and the
American system only if we understand and express our
freedom.