Year: 1864

s"Sh "Sf"ie, tudu SeeInS 10 De inc
case generally with the public men Of
the State, whether in or out of the
Legislature. Country papers are tho
true indices of a country's civilization,
intelligence, prosperity. A good pa.
per in county town will do ii more
good, probably than a fouring.milI,
and is far better for almost any com
munity than a five story distillery-
especially if the five story distillery
be permitted to perform its functions
without revenue to the State.


Sometimes, when | have been sc.
duced into attending fashionable par
ties, (ahd especially was this case in
the olden time long ago before my ris.
ing generation came into the world,)


l have been satiated with the show


with the rustling of satin, the glitter
OF Jewelry, the paraphernalia of fash.
ION /; the brilliant nothings of elegant
ladies who discourse cloquently up
on" Longfellow's Pata gonian Lyrics"
or may be "Tennyson's heroic poem
on the Fejee Islanders :" the admira.
ble stealings Of kid-gloved witty gen.
tlemen who may have informed me,
miserable sinner and country editor,
of the bcauties of Edgar A. Poe's
Rape of the Lock-" or "Young's Mid
summer Nights Dream"-many such
times, say, have stolen away from
the hustle and fashion, and enjoyed a
quiet hour in corner with the plain.


unpretending, but sensible girl low
ed best. Who is there who has not
done SO? Who is there whose memo.
ry does not so back many time and
oft to those happy hours, laden with
all the sweets Of social converse, the
thoughts that wandered through ctcr-
nifty, the sparkling sentiments of tho
glorious girl or glorious widow, as tho
fact might have been, with thousand
fold more pleasure, than the memory
recalls the general glare Of the even
ing. That is the way it is with what
we call country newspapers" We
remember how we used to read them
to mother now in the land of the re-
deemed, to father now venerable in
years, to q sister now among the an-
gels, to a brother gone to that undis-
covered country from whose bourne no
traveller returns. We remember the
country newspaper as we remember
the old family Bible-with associa-
tions which make US both wiser and
better men. believe l never saw
single number of country newspa-
per which did not have something in


it worth the yearly price-nevcr one.
And | know that the files for q year


of our most shabby papers contain


moro entertaining reading than you


will find in any single work of Dickens
counting advertisements and all.


BE away from home year or SO with


ont seeing your home paper, come


across cue then, and see how you will
devour every word of it, except, per-
haps, the everlasting advertisement
about the vermifuge for worms, of
Mrs Winslow's Soothing Sirup for in
fants And you will probably be in
terested even in them il infants in your
family are like they are in mine-reg-
ular biennial institutions.


| wish could speak in detail about
the country papers Of our State. They
are, in the main, worthy Of all com
mendation, better, l think, than the
country papers Of any other State in
the Union. Why our Legislature
should have treated them 50 ungener-
ously heretofore, never could ex.
plain, except upon the theory that Re-
publics are ungrateful. say it with
profound respect for the Legislators
we have had, as well as for those wo
are likely to have, that the State Of
Iowa could get along without serious
difficulty were the General Assembly
to meet only once in ten years but
that if the publication of our newspa.
pers was suspended for So long a peri
Cd We would scarcely be better than tho
Mexicans at the end of it. entrea:
the Legislature to be just to the
press. | do not ask for generosity-I
suppose you do not. l am sure, how
ever, the Legislature intends to do
you justice. The trouble is, printing
is a science SO profound in its nature.
SO varied in its functions, so to say,
and so wide in its scope, that there
are precious few members Of the Leg


islature who understand il. Nor arc


they to be blamed for this any more


than we are TO be blamed 10y q car.


penter for not knowing the particu-
lars of his business, though we could
probably tell house from pig-pcn
at sight. 1t is more difficult, l know.
to understand the different operations
Of a printing Office, but it is not i'm.
possible to give the Legislature a
clear general idea thereof, and that
being done, | have no fear of the re-
suit. This it is your duty to do, and l
trust that it win be done at once.


Gentlemen Editors, you live in
State Of which you may well feel
proud, and you are engaged in pro-
tession Of which you may be even
prouder. You owe it to yourselves.
you owe it to your State, you owe it
to your profession to labor on as zeal
ously as you have labored heretofore,
and keep the press Of Iowa up to q
high standard of excellence. You
make the public sentiment of the State
you may send men to the delibera-
tive bodies thereof, or permit them to
enjoy the comforts Of domestic life in
the bosoms of their families. as you
like. To this end, it is only necessa-
ry that you should assert your inde-
pendence, and stand shoulder to shoul-
der together. Horace Greeley, to-day,
has more influence in America than the
Cabinet of the President I; the Chica-
go Tribune more than the Illinois dele
cation in Congress. An editor is
Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives. made such by the press OF the
country. within my certain knowledge.
And it has been many years since we
have had a better Speaker. Public
men are apt to underrate the influence
of the press, for the reason, suppose,
that it's influence does not come all at
once, like the Camanche hurricane,