Year: 1878

Country Editor.


On the morning of the assembling
of the Ohio Editorial Convention, a
Cleveland, the daily Cleveland Herale
offered few words of greeting to the
Association in this manner:


To-day the editors of Ohio come tC
Cleveland for the purpose of renewing
acquaintance with each other, talking
over the interests of their profession
taking little recreation, and seeing
the sights and beauties of the Forest
City. We hope that most of the daily
papers of the State will he represented
but whether they should be or not, the
gathering will be chiefly made up Of
country editors. 1t is to this class OF
journalists, therefore-the men who
make the little sheets that gather the
news of the rural districts and convey
the news of the world in epitOme to
countless households outside of the
reach of the dailies- that we should
address few words ofcordial greeting,
and for whom we would bespeak a
hearty welcome.


"The country editor fills far more
important position than society usually
recognizes. His paper is the represen-
tative and messenger to the world at
large of the town in which it is publish
ed, and gives to it a record and reputa-
tion. The town is judged by the APP
Pearance of the paper. Its character
for enterprise and intelligence is large
ly established by the weekly ledger of
its doings and ideas which the editor
posts up in his columns. He may be,
as indeed he is too often, an overwork-
ed drudge, seldom seen outside of his
office, where he has to serve as foreman,
pressman, job printer and cOmpositer,
as we'll as leader-writer and local, but
when he speaks through the medium of
the types his words go farther than
those Of the most eloquent clergyman
or the most powerful pleader at the bar
He alone can address every week an
audience composed of the whole pop
ulatiOn of his county, and his influence
is therefore inComparably greater than
that Of aLy orator. Without the print
ing press very little can be done to
mold or control public opinion now-a-
days.


"The country editor is usually the
busiest man in his town. He must
look after the local news throughout
the country, read his exchanges, keep
his books, make out accounts, collect
money, and make estimates for job
work. AS rule, he is practical prin-
ter-few succeed who are not-when
work is pressing he must frequently set
up a job, make up the forms of the pa
per, feed the press, or help the com
positors out ON publication day. Then
he is ex-officio secretary of all political
meetings and delegate to all conven-
tions. He must turn the grindstOne
for politicians axes, help organize
church fairs, aid in benevolent enter
prises, and publicly sympathize with
the bereaved family of every deceased
fellow citizen. No one has such need
of the rare quality of many-sidedness.


'The pecuniary returns for all his la
Dor are so small that it seems to people
outside the profession wonder that so
many intelligent men crowd its ranks,
when they know that rather stinted
livelihood is all they can get out of it.
The explanation is that they find a
compensation for their toll and sacri
fees IN their daily work itself. 1t brings
them in constant contact with the
world ofideas. They deal with thoughts
instead of things, and are not tied
down like men in most business avOca-
tions to the contemplation of mere ma
terial interests. In q word, they lead
an intellectual life, which has a wide
range of pleasures not connected with
pecuniary prosperity.


ITO our country brethren we extend
once more a hearty greeting. We are
all in the same boat, whether we print
papers twice day or once a week, and
we ought to labor together, without
petty jealousies or antagonists, to ele
vate the tone of journalism, increase its
influence, and give it greater dignity
and power. 1t has made an immense
advance within the memories of the
younger men who gather here to-day,
and is destined to still further progress.
1t is the great profession of the future,
and every member of it ought to be
proud of his calling"