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 UC-NRLF 
 
 Progress 
 
 of 
 
 Journalism 
 

THOMAS REES. 
 
progress of Journalism 
 
 flnnual Address 
 
 of the 
 
 Illinois Press Association 
 
 by 
 
 tbomas Rees 
 
 of the Illinois State Register, Springfield 
 
 + 
 Chicago, Tebruary 19, 1902 
 
 Addenda: 
 
 The Pioneers of Illinois 
 The Old Subscriber 
 
r 
 
 That strictly American machine wonderful in its sim- 
 plicity, graceful in its every line, quiet in its movements, 
 powerful in its performance. Page 21. 
 
Early History. 
 
 In endeavoring to write the early 
 history of the newspaper business, it is 
 somewhat difficult to tell where to 
 commence, for besides the uncertainty 
 of the time when the first publications 
 were made, it is likewise difficult to 
 determine when those early publica- 
 tions could really be classed as news- 
 papers, or even periodicals. 
 
 In the latter days of the Roman em- 
 pire, a daily paper was prepared for 
 official uses, but that could hardly be 
 termed a newspaper. A similar sort of 
 a paper was prepared, perhaps not so 
 regularly, at Venice. Nuremburg seems 
 to have had some sort of a paper as 
 early as 1457 and various publications 
 were made at different places and at 
 different times in Germany and Italy, 
 and perhaps in other countries. At the 
 beginning of the 17th century, or about 
 150 years after the invention of mov- 
 
 M130814 
 
abJe types,' newspapers began to be 
 regularly published in Germany, En- 
 gland and France, but editorial com- 
 ment or the editorial column was intro- 
 duced about a hundred years later. 
 
 The introduction of the editorial 
 brought with it trouble and woe to the 
 early editors. Daniel De Foe was pil- 
 loried and many editors in England 
 and other European countries were im- 
 prisoned; some had their ears cut off 
 as a mark of warning and disgrace and 
 objectionable editions of newspapers 
 were burned before the people by the 
 public hangman. But right must pre- 
 vail, and, thanks to those heroes, it has 
 prevailed in the newspaper business. 
 
 John Campbell, of Boston, is given 
 the credit of having established the 
 first newspaper in America in the year 
 1704, and had a complete monopoly of 
 the newspaper business of America for 
 fifteen years, at which time he had 
 swelled the circulation to a claim of 
 300 subscribers. In 1719 an opposition 
 paper was started by Wm. Brooker and 
 an editorial war broke out which en- 
 
 6 
 
gaged all the editors in America at 
 that time. This war seems to be still 
 on with no prospect of a finish. When 
 the war of the Revolution commenced, 
 there were published in all the colon- 
 ies combined something less than forty 
 newspapers and some of them had very 
 interesting experiences as the war pro- 
 gressed. 
 
 The nineteenth Century. 
 
 At the opening of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury about 200 papers were published 
 in the United States, and the century 
 was remarkable for the increase not 
 only in regard to the number of pub- 
 lications but in the enlargement and 
 improvement in all branches. In 1850 
 the number of newspapers had in- 
 creased to 2,500 and the century closed 
 with a grand total of 20,000, which 
 number has been added to since. 
 
 Heroic Journalism. 
 
 The period in American history em- 
 bracing the first six decades of the 
 nineteenth century might be termed 
 th^ heroic age in journalism and there 
 
were giants in those days. Within this 
 time the great Northwest Territory was 
 added to the United States, the war of 
 1812, the Black Hawk war, the war 
 with Mexico, the annexation of Texas 
 and California had taken place and the 
 agitation of the slavery question had 
 culminated in a degree of heat that 
 was soon to burst the bonds of the 
 Union assunder. It was such times as 
 try men's souls and it produced a 
 group of journalists, the like of which 
 I fear we may never see again. It is 
 true even before that we had Franklin 
 and a few other prominent newspaper- 
 men, but now came a time when all 
 or nearly all men in the profession be- 
 came great, and after a lapse of half 
 a century many of their names are 
 more familiar than the editors of the 
 same papers at the present day. 
 Among the more illustrious were Hor- 
 ace Greeley, of the New York Tribune, 
 William Cullen Bryant, of the New 
 York Evening Post, James Gordon Ben- 
 nett, of the New York Herald, Thurlow 
 Weed, of the Albany Journal, Geo. D. 
 
Prentice, of the Louisville Journal, 
 Samuel Bowles, of the Springfield Re- 
 publican, Francis P. Blair, of the Wash- 
 ington Globe, Horace J. Raymond, of 
 the New V rk Times, Wilbur F. Storey, 
 of the Chicago Times, Joseph Medill, of 
 the Chicago Tribune, Chas. W. Knapp, 
 of the St. Louis Republican, Simeon 
 Francis, who established the Illinois 
 State Journal, William Walters, who 
 established the Illinois State Register, 
 and a host of others, some of whom 
 have been or are now members of this 
 Association, although the most of them 
 have joined the majority on the other 
 side. 
 
 Elijah P. Lovcjcy. 
 
 In the great galaxy of editorial stars 
 let us not overlook the one whose name 
 stands at the head of the long illus- 
 trious list, who owned and published a 
 paper of such infinitely small propor- 
 tions as compared with other great and 
 greater journals that I doubt whether 
 there is one of a thousand today who 
 could tell the name of that paper, and 
 
 9 
 
yet whose editor was a man of such 
 honesty of purpose, such determination 
 in the line of principle, was so courage- 
 ous and unfaltering in the carrying out 
 of his convictions that his life and his 
 death have been an incentive to all 
 editors of all places for nearly three- 
 quarters of a century and will be as 
 long as newspapers are published and 
 the lamp of liberty continues to burn. 
 I refer to Elijah P. Lovejoy, of the 
 Alton Observer, who gave his life 
 willingly to what he knew to be the 
 right. Innumerable were the times hfs 
 life had been threatened, three times 
 had his office and his presses been de- 
 stroyed. With full warning of the fate 
 awaiting him, he proceeded the fourth 
 time to replace his office, knowing 
 neither fear nor dismay he met his 
 death like a hero, a martyr to the 
 cause of liberty. Lovejoy died, but he 
 died as a brave man and not as a 
 coward, but after all be it remembered 
 that even in death the brave man has 
 an advantage, for "a coward dies a 
 thousand times before his time; the 
 
 10 
 
brave man dies but once." Lovejoy 
 died, but the cause in which he worked 
 the cause of freedom never dies; 
 others continued the work where Love- 
 joy left off and his grandest anticipa- 
 tions were more than realized when 
 Abraham Lincoln issued his emancipa- 
 tion proclamation and the shackling 
 chains fell from the limbs of four mil- 
 lion slaves. Lincoln, the martyr, com- 
 pleted the work in which Lovejoy, the 
 martyr, was engaged and the people 
 of this nation have reared massive 
 monuments to Abraham Lincoln and 
 the people of this state, after nearly 
 three-quarters of a century from the 
 time of his death, erected to the mem- 
 ory of the martyr Lovejoy a stately 
 monument in the city where he fell, 
 and set forth on enduring tablets of 
 stone his immortal words, "As long 
 as I am an American citizen, and as 
 long as American blood flows in these 
 veins, I shall hold myself at liberty to 
 speak, to write, to publish whatever I 
 please on any subject. I can die at my 
 post, but I cannot desert it." 
 11 
 
Popular Intelligence. 
 
 The great increase in the population 
 of the United States of course was the 
 greatest factor in the increasing of the 
 circulation of newspapers, but the im- 
 provement in the public school system 
 and the general spread of popular edu- 
 cation, with the high price of books at 
 that time, had by the middle of the 
 century made a nation hungering and 
 thirsting for knowledge, or at least for 
 reading matter. The breaking out of 
 the civil war about the time of the 
 introduction of the telegraph gave the 
 newspaper business an impetus which 
 has carried it on to the high road of 
 success. Since that time the number 
 of papers established and the growth 
 of the business from a commercial 
 standpoint has been simply phenom- 
 enal and to the making of papers there 
 seems to be no end. It appears there 
 is or has been no village so small but 
 there was a want for a paper that 
 could be met at least with the auxil- 
 iary sheet and no town or city that had 
 papers already but what appeared to 
 
 12 
 
some one to need more, and so we have, 
 as before stated, the grand total of 20,- 
 000 or more papers at the present time. 
 
 Big and Little Papers. 
 
 Yes, popular intelligence has demand- 
 ed lots of papers and they have come 
 in response to that demand and it 
 seems that there is room for all. They 
 are like the stars of the heavens a 
 few big ones and a whole lot of little 
 ones but if they were not for a pur- 
 pose they would not be there. Look 
 up at the heavens. Can you count the 
 stars? No. Are they crowded? No. 
 There is room for all, and each one, we 
 are told, is a world. So with news- 
 papers. There may seem to be a great 
 many of them, more than you can 
 count and more little ones than big 
 ones, but each has its use in the firma- 
 ment of journalism and each is a world 
 within itself. The astronomers tell us 
 of stars of the first and second magni- 
 tude and of planets and satellites; so 
 there may be newspapers of the first 
 and second magnitude and planets and 
 
 13 
 
satellites, but no one seems to en- 
 croach upon the field of the other. So, 
 to the man who has a little paper, I 
 would say, be not discouraged; fill your 
 field with your little paper to the best 
 of your ability until you can take pos- 
 session of a bigger paper in a bigger 
 field, even as you may hope to finally 
 leave this world for a better and 
 bigger one to come. 'Tis true you may 
 have big papers to contend with, but 
 after all they are only operated by men. 
 In every battle there are big guns and 
 heavy artillery, but for every cannon 
 there are a thousand muskets and it is 
 usually the men with the muskets that 
 win the battles. The artillery may 
 shake the earth and fill the heavens 
 with sound and smoke, sink big ships 
 and demolish heavy fortifications, but 
 after all they are only fired by men, 
 and the man behind the gun is just the 
 same man whether he is behind a can- 
 non or behind a musket, and if the 
 musket is aimed straight and hits a 
 vital place it will hurt your friend, the 
 enemy on the other side, just as fatally 
 
 14 
 
as though he were struck by a cannon 
 ball. So I would say to the man with 
 the little paper as I would say to the 
 man with the little gun keep up the 
 fight and never cease firing until you 
 conquer, and do not become alarmed 
 or beat a retreat because you hap- 
 pen to see a man with a cannon or 
 because you chance to hear one go off. 
 
 the Editor Overwhelmed. 
 
 It is unfortunate in the greatness of 
 the great papers that the editor has 
 been overwhelmed. The editorial pages 
 of such papers have become too exten- 
 sive for any one man to handle, so they 
 must be edited by a number of men, 
 and as there should be a consistency in 
 the editorial tone, individualism has 
 been superseded by unity. The edi- 
 torial page has become a reflex of the 
 combined opinions of the members of 
 the corporation which controls the pub- 
 lication. And this is a lamentable 
 feature of the metropolitan journals of 
 today. The loss of individualism in 
 
 15 
 
any enterprise is to be regretted, and 
 no matter how large the circulation of 
 a paper may be, no matter how many 
 pages are printed each day or how 
 many readers a newspaper may have, 
 it can never become a great paper edi- 
 torially unless it has one responsible 
 editor who knows the people and whom 
 the people know. I make this state- 
 ment believing that it will be generally 
 conceded, the New York World had 
 more editorial influence with 20,000 
 circulation with Manton Marble as its 
 editor, than it now has with half a 
 million circulation and a score of edi- 
 tors whose identity never reaches be- 
 yond the pay roll Saturday night. And 
 practically the same could be said of 
 the New York Tribune, the New York 
 Times, the Post, the Herald, the Sun, 
 and of every daily paper published in 
 the city of Chicago today. And here 
 is where the country editor must be 
 looked to for the perpetuity of the 
 honor of the newspaper profession. The 
 country with its pure air produces not 
 only all that which sustains men, but 
 
 16 
 
it likewise produces men, and it broad- 
 ens mankind in general, while the 
 cities, the congested centers of popula- 
 tion, burn and consume. The atmos- 
 phere in the cities is not healthy, either 
 from a moral or physical standpoint, 
 and the rural districts must be looked 
 to to furnish the physical and moral 
 stamina of the nation and the country 
 editors must finally be depended upon 
 to formulate and control the editorial 
 morale of the newspapers of America. 
 
 TiK metropolitan Papers. 
 
 By the foregoing remarks it must not 
 be inferred that I would rob the met- 
 ropolitan papers of the honor which 
 properly belongs to them. I would not 
 if I could and I could not if I so de- 
 sired. There is much good in them. 
 There is nothing that can destroy them 
 and their destruction, if it comes at all, 
 will come from themselves, should they 
 drop from the high plane which they 
 now occupy to the lower plane of jour- 
 nalism. As before intimated, they are 
 
 17 
 
to the fraternity of journalism what 
 the artillery is to the army, or what 
 the 60 -ton guns are to the navy. While 
 they are usually published by corpora- 
 tions they are frequently controlled by 
 one man and the man who owns or con- 
 trols an immense metropolitan news- 
 paper is a greater man than the gen- 
 eral of an army or even the ruler of a 
 considerable nation. To be the com- 
 manding spirit in the center of a whirl 
 of activity, operating a journalistic ma- 
 chine so immense that each revolution 
 shakes the earth, an institution that 
 gathers all the news from every quar- 
 ter of the habitable globe and even be- 
 yond the habitable parts thereof, and 
 scatters the same to the uttermost parts 
 of the earth again; that exchanges the 
 news of the world for the news of the 
 world; an institution that controls as 
 it were the center of a huge hour glass 
 into which all the sands of all the 
 news of all the earth do run, and out 
 of which all the sands of all the news 
 of all the earth do flow again, is too 
 grand a position to contemplate with- 
 
out admiration. To occupy such a po- 
 sition with a golden stream of approval 
 flowing in from every direction to be 
 expended in gathering news and doing 
 good. To be able to send men into 
 every city, village and hamlet; to be 
 able to hire ships to scour the oceans; 
 to be able to send caravans into the 
 darkest parts of the uncivilized con- 
 tinents; to engage men to dig and 
 delve into the crypts of prehistoric an- 
 tiquity and bring forth the hidden 
 treasures of knowledge of peoples long 
 dead and forgotten; to send ships and 
 men to search for the solution of the 
 mysteries of the frozen zones; to erect 
 monuments for deserving heroes and to 
 establish homes for old men and 
 women whose latter days are being 
 trodden beneath the feet of a rush- 
 ing, unthinking and uncharitable 
 world; and finally to be able to succor 
 and take from the streets the little 
 waifs and lost and forgotten pearls 
 of which our Saviour said, "Suffer 
 them to come unto me, and forbid them 
 not." To occupy such a position, to be 
 
 19 
 
able to do such work, is a privilege 
 granted to but few men on this earth. 
 Such a position is worth striving for 
 and the nearer one may reach it the 
 better the opportunity may be for do- 
 ing good. 
 
 mechanical Progress. 
 
 The mechanical appliances used in 
 connection with the publication of 
 newspapers would indicate a close 
 partnership between the people who 
 have made the papers and the people 
 who have made the machinery used In 
 their production. And while it seems 
 to the publishers that the machine 
 builders have secured the most of the 
 profits of the partnership, the fact 
 must not be overlooked that the pub- 
 lishers have also done fairly well; be 
 that as it may, the two classes have 
 worked hand in hand. It is said that 
 necessity is the mother of invention 
 and this is particularly true in this 
 case, as the newspapers of the present 
 day could not be issued as they are 
 save for the men of great inventive 
 
 20 
 
genius who have constructed such 
 wonderful machinery as is used in the 
 business at the present time; and such 
 machines would be utterly useless had 
 the business of newspaper making fail- 
 ed in the wonderful development it has 
 reached. 
 
 Previous to the year 1800 all printing 
 was done on various kinds of screw 
 presses, among which is the "Old 
 Eamage." Franklin used such a p'fess 
 in his day. The hand press was intro- 
 duced about the beginning of the nine- 
 teenth century and after several pat- 
 terns of hand presses had been turned 
 out, the greatest perfection was 
 reached when Samuel Rust invented 
 the Washington hand press in 1827. 
 
 The Washington Hand Press. 
 
 That strictly American machine. It 
 was the press of Lovejoy and the 
 heroic editors of his day who came 
 with the vanguard of homeseekers and 
 homemakers that moved westward 
 with the star of empire and blazed the 
 way of freedom from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific. Those sturdy pioneers 
 
 21 
 
"Who crossed the prairies as of old 
 Our fathers crossed the sea, 
 
 To make the West as they the East 
 The homestead of the free." 
 
 It has been used in all countries and 
 in all climes and has never been en- 
 tirely superseded by any other inven- 
 tion and there are more in use now 
 than ever. It is used to-day by all the 
 leading engraving houses for the tak- 
 ing of the finest proofs of the most 
 delicate engravings, and it is also used 
 for printing the papers that come from 
 the farthest frontier countries. It is a 
 most remarkable machine, wonderful 
 in its simplicity, graceful in its every 
 line, quiet in its movements and pow- 
 erful in its performance, combining the 
 lever and the fulcrum of which Archi- 
 medes said, "Give me the fulcrum and 
 with the lever I will move the world," 
 and it has moved the world. 
 
 Following the hand press came the 
 single cylinder, the two cylinder, then 
 the four, six, eight and even the ten 
 cylinder presses, but all these were too 
 slow for the modern newspapers, and 
 
 22 
 
as early as 1865 William Bullock, of 
 Philadelphia, invented the press bear- 
 ing his name and printing from a con- 
 tinuous web of paper. This press was 
 made possible by the invention of 
 stereotyping from paper moulds, allow- 
 ing curved plates to fit small cylinders. 
 All the fast presses of the present day 
 are built on the principles introduced 
 by Mr. Bullock, the presses turning out 
 a hundred thousand copies per hour, 
 being practically eight presses of the 
 same pattern in one. Bullock never 
 lived to see the wonderful success of 
 his style of presses, for in erecting the 
 second press he was caught in the 
 machinery and died as the result of 
 the accident. 
 
 Other Helps. 
 
 Then came the ubiquitous reporter, 
 the stenographer and the typewriting 
 machine, the telephone, electricity and 
 even the despised kodak that has be- 
 come so essential in illustrating jour- 
 nalism. 
 
 When the Spanish fleet sailed out of 
 
 23 
 
Santiago harbor and the great guns of 
 the United States navy poured out 
 their tons of shell and shot that 
 wrought such death and havoc among 
 the enemy's boats, making the Carib- 
 bean sea a seething lake of hell, the 
 kodak was being used, and it faithfully 
 conveyed the scenes of battle and the 
 intense expressions on the faces of the 
 participants therein from that far away 
 distance to the United States where, 
 through the process of electric light 
 and photo-engraving, they were por- 
 trayed on the white surface of Amer- 
 ican newspapers. Yes, and besides all 
 else they showed Commander Schley 
 in the thickest of the fight. 
 
 The excellence of the products of 
 American type founders has done much 
 to improve American papers. But the 
 last of labor-saving inventions to aid 
 in the production of newspapers were 
 the various type-setting machines. The 
 Mergenthaler has taken the lead, a 
 machine composed of about 5,000 sep- 
 arate and distinct pieces of metal, but 
 all connected and working so harmo- 
 
 24 
 
niously that the machine seems to be 
 a living being responsive to the lightest 
 touch. 
 
 Already had come the telegraphic 
 press associations that cover the earth 
 and collect the news from all places, 
 using thousands of miles of leased tele- 
 graph wires to bring it to the various 
 newspaper offices, then the fast mail 
 trains, the rural routes to aid in the 
 distribution of papers, and who can 
 tell what may come next? 
 
 The Present. 
 
 Standing today and looking back 
 within the memory of some of the 
 older here, we find some contrasts as 
 compared with the days when they 
 took up the newspaper business. A 
 half century ago there were very few 
 machine presses in Illinois, and they 
 were in the larger cities, now they are 
 to be found in hundreds of towns. The 
 greatest offices then would not com- 
 pare with scores of offices now in the 
 smaller country towns. In those days 
 editors were supposed to be a set of 
 well meaning fellows who were toler- 
 25 
 
ated and had to be supported in a com- 
 munity. Now the newspaper men of 
 this state will compare favorably with 
 the most intelligent and prosperous 
 classes and they are a component and 
 leading part in every community in 
 which they reside. In those days the 
 printing office was up some back stairs 
 over some general store, hard to find 
 and uninviting when found. Today 
 many of the newspapers in this state 
 own their own business houses, which 
 are ornate and substantial and rival 
 the bank buildings in the cities or 
 towns where they are located. The 
 editor is both a professional and busi- 
 ness man and is looked upon as such. 
 
 The papers, magazines and periodi- 
 cals of today are works of art, more 
 magnificent than was imagined as be- 
 longing to the realm of journalism in 
 those days and the newspaperman of 
 today has the confidence of the public 
 to a very large degree. 
 
 But while these favorable contrasts 
 are the rule, I am sorry to say there 
 are many exceptions. There are some 
 
 26 
 
editors who do not honor their profes- 
 sion. There are some publishers who 
 are not impressed with the advantage 
 of well arranged and well printed pa- 
 pers, and whose offices or shops are a 
 disgrace to well regulated society. 
 There are printing offices where dirt 
 and disorder is the rule and from which 
 emanate papers slovenly printed and 
 disreputably edited. There are editors 
 and printers who have not aroused 
 themselves to grasp this golden age of 
 possibilities in the newspaper business, 
 when every man who embraces it 
 should be a leader among men and set 
 an example illustrating that everything 
 that is done at all is worth doing well. 
 
 It is such organizations as this, the 
 Illinois Press Association, that are to 
 educate such men to advance with the 
 onward march of time, to induce such 
 men to distinguish the difference be- 
 tween the printing press and a road 
 scraper, between the muckrake and the 
 pen, and avail themselves of the mag- 
 nificent opportunities they should and 
 do possess, and while this association 
 
 27 
 
has done much along that line there is 
 yet much to be done, and may God 
 speed the work. 
 
 Opportunities. 
 
 My friends, have you ever stopped 
 to seriously consider the opportunities 
 of journalism? While, if possible, it 
 \vould be better that all persons who 
 engage in the newspaper business 
 should come fully educated and 
 equipped, it is not absolutely necessary. 
 The making of newspapers is a trade 
 where no apprenticeship is required, a 
 profession that does not call for a 
 diploma. It is an open field and a free 
 contest in which any one of any age 
 or class may enter. And those who 
 have started in the race apparently the 
 least equipped with education or train- 
 ing have sometimes passed and sur- 
 passed those who at first had far 
 greater advantages. But poor equip- 
 ment does not always insure success, 
 neither does the best preliminary train- 
 ing. Editors have become famous who 
 stepped from the graduating class of 
 a college into the editorial room. 
 
 28 
 
Others under the same conditions have 
 been ignominious failures, while others 
 who have "rolled behind the press" or 
 have made their start sweeping out the 
 office have met with equal success and 
 just as dismal failures. But journal- 
 ism offers all a chance and the success 
 or the failure is within themselves. To 
 enter the profession of law, medicine, 
 theology, pedagogics, requires many 
 years of faithful preparation, and even 
 to shoe a horse one must serve an ap- 
 prenticeship. But the newspaper office 
 is a workshop and a college within it- 
 self and the beginner can take hold 
 where he will and work up to such po- 
 sitions as have been occupied by 
 George William Childs, of the Philadel- 
 phia Ledger, Chas. A. Dana, of the 
 New York Sun, William Loyd Garrison, 
 of the Boston Liberator, Samuel I. 
 Prime, of the New York Observer, 
 Henry W. Grady, of the Atlanta Con- 
 stitution, John Clark Ridpath, the en- 
 tertaining historian, Joseph McCul- 
 lagh, of the Globe Democrat, or our 
 i own revered Mrs. Bradwell, of the Chi- 
 
 29 
 
cago Legal News, and myriads of 
 others who have joined the ma- 
 jority. Or he may claim such po- 
 sitions as are now occupied by Henry 
 Watterson, of the Louisville Courier- 
 Journal, James R. McLean, of the Cin- 
 cinnati Enquirer, W. J. Bryan, of the 
 Nebraska Commoner, Senator Hawley, 
 of the Hartford Courant, and the army 
 of newspaper makers who now keep 
 the world awake. 
 
 Graduates. 
 
 Perchance one entering the newspa- 
 per business may pass through its 
 various stages and finally graduate and 
 have his name enrolled in the alumni. 
 And there he will find himself classed 
 with such men as John G. Whittier, 
 who edited a paper in Boston and was 
 ore of America's most renowned poets; 
 Wendell Phillips, the hero of liberty; 
 Henry Ward Beecher, the world's 
 greatest divine; James G. Elaine, 
 statesman and candidate for presi- 
 dent; John Hay, author, ambassa- 
 dor, and secretary of state; Charles 
 Emery Smith, postmaster general; 
 
 30 
 
Wiliam M. Springer, who represented 
 the capital district of Illinois in con- 
 gress for twenty years; Geo. W. Peck, 
 who became governor of Wisconsin; 
 Henry M. Stanley, who gave us the 
 secrets of interior Africa; Samuel M. 
 C 4 lemens, who, as "Mark Twain," . has 
 given the world its greatest fund of 
 humorous literature; Robert J. Bur- 
 dette, who has filled the world with 
 sunshine; James Whitcomb Riley, who 
 with poetic words has played on re- 
 sponsive chords in the hearts of every 
 one who believes in the common peo- 
 ple; Eugene Field, whose "Little Boy 
 Blue waits for the touch of a vanished 
 hand," and the long list of inspiring 
 names, so many that the ' reading of 
 the same would tax your endurance. 
 
 Of the future. 
 
 In looking over the field, it would ap- 
 pear on first glance that the possibili- 
 ties of the newspaper business have 
 been reached; and yet I predict that 
 the remarkable progress of the past 
 and the healthy condition of the 
 
 31 
 
present are but an index to further im- 
 provement in the future. The condi- 
 tions of life and living are improving 
 all over the world, not only in the 
 most civilized portions, but in the 
 darkest places as well. Railroads are 
 being built, telegraph lines are being 
 extended, electric car lines are bring- 
 ing the metropolis and the farm so 
 close together that it is but a step 
 from the green fields of the country to 
 the busy centers of trade, and the tele- 
 phone has brought all parts of the 
 world within speaking distance. 
 Schools are improving, the rural 
 mail service will reach the door 
 of every farmer, the products of 
 labor will be more nearly equalized, 
 there will be less work and more time 
 for recreation and mind improvement, 
 and the newspapers, which always 
 have led, will continue to lead. They 
 will be better edited, better printed, 
 will enjoy better modes of distribution, 
 will have more reading matter and 
 more readers t they will scatter gems 
 of literature and thought and will dis- 
 
 32 
 
cuss the questions that will come with 
 a higher mode of living. 
 
 Every man who is engaged in the 
 newspaper business should realize the 
 responsibilities that rest upon him. 
 He should be proud of the position he 
 occupies and should do his part, as 
 God has given him the opportunity, in 
 the upbuilding of his profession and 
 the uplifting of mankind. 
 
 For the profession of journalism or 
 the trade of newspaper making, which- 
 ever you may call it, is the grandest 
 work in which anyone can engage. It 
 is the one trade or the one profession 
 that brings a person into close touch 
 with the balance of mankind, that 
 leaves him free and independent, un- 
 hampered and unenthralled to cham- 
 pion the cause of the weak and the op- 
 pressed and to follow the dictates of 
 his own conscience in the battle for 
 right at all times. 
 
 It is not in all places as it is in the 
 United States, for several nations 
 which enjoy a considerable degree of 
 intelligence and large measures of lib- 
 
 33 
 
erty have not yet risen to that high 
 state of governmental perfection that 
 permits free religious worship, free 
 speech, and a free press. Upon these 
 magnificent principles the United 
 States, this young republic, was estab- 
 lished but a trifle over one hundred 
 years ago and since that time it has 
 taken its place as the greatest of all 
 nations, whether of the historic past 
 or of the strenuous present. It has 
 developed a constellation of newspa- 
 pers wonderful beyond the conception 
 of man, surpassing in class, quality, 
 enterprise and independence all the pa- 
 pers of all the world. Each and every 
 one is as a blazing torch that illumines 
 the night of prejudice and error, and 
 in the course of time they will make 
 a new and brighter day to encircle the 
 globe. A day yes, more than, a day; 
 an age a cycle of ages, of light, free- 
 dom and liberty that will lift the race 
 of men to a moral elevation nigh unto 
 the gods. 
 
 34 
 
Addenda. 
 
The Pioneers of Illinois. 
 
 [Written for the Old Settlers' Society of Sangamon County.] 
 
 You have seen the past the present 
 With their sorrows and their joys; 
 
 And although you are old settlers now, 
 You once were girls and boys. 
 
 Oh, you gray-haired, honored pioneers, 
 What rogues you used to be 
 
 Along about the deep snow time, 
 Way back in thirty-three. 
 
 And you, our dear old mothers, 
 You've changed a heap since then; 
 
 For the years that number one by one 
 Change women more than men. 
 
 But we think we almost see you, 
 With your smiles and with your curls, 
 
 When you captivated these old boys, 
 You giddy, giddy girls. 
 
 How you watched at evening sunset 
 Down the long and narrow lane, 
 
 How you listened, how you waited, 
 For you knew he'd come again; 
 
 37 
 
And when you saw him coming, 
 
 As shy as any mouse, 
 For fear he'd think you anxious 
 
 You slipped back in the house. 
 
 How you loved; how you quarreled; 
 
 How you broke up in a row; 
 But, then, you always made it up 
 
 Just the same as we do now. 
 
 And then there was a wedding, 
 'Twas the happiest day of life, 
 
 When the boy became a husband, 
 The girl became a wife. 
 
 Little angels came to live with you, 
 Little angels without wings, 
 
 And you toiled and struggled for them 
 Oh! the precious little things. 
 
 Little loved ones, how you loved them, 
 How you watched them day by day, 
 
 And they called you Father, Mother, 
 And you taught them how to pray. 
 
 Every sunshine has its shadow; 
 
 Every springtime brings its rain; 
 Every life must have its sorrow; 
 
 Every pleasure brings its pain. 
 
 And there came the winds of winter, 
 Came they with their chilling breath, 
 
 And two little hands were folded, 
 Folded in the sleep of death. 
 
But there is a God above us 
 And the husband and the wife 
 
 Changed their hope from earth to heaven 
 Where there is eternal life. 
 * * * 
 
 If there's any one I honor 
 
 'Bove all others in this land, 
 It's the grizzled, gray old pioneer 
 
 Like those around this stand; 
 
 You have been the bone and sinew, 
 You have worked with one accord, 
 
 You have made the state of Illinois 
 The garden of the Lord. 
 
 For, of all the lands we're told about 
 
 In the Bible or by sages, 
 It must be said that Illinois 
 
 Is the wonder of all ages. 
 
 There's the happy land of Canaan, 
 Of which we've heard so much, 
 
 With its flowing milk and honey, 
 Its warlike tribes and such; 
 
 As compared with Illinois, 
 
 It's a little one-horse land, 
 You couldn't find a farm there 
 
 Much bigger than your hand. 
 
 And Jerusalem, the ancient 
 'Twas a great town in its way 
 
 But 'twould hardly make a suburb 
 For Chicago of today. 
 og 
 
And the temple that was built there- 
 Was it much after all? 
 
 Do you think that it was equal 
 To our own great capitol? 
 
 What were Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 
 That merited God's ire 
 What was all of their destruction 
 
 To the great Chicago fire? 
 
 And who was Alexander, 
 That people called him great? 
 
 There's a dozen men his equal 
 That have grown up in our state. 
 
 Four million slaves in bondage, 
 
 Raised up their cry to God! 
 They prayed for their deliverance 
 
 From the slave oppressors' rod. 
 
 Why, then, laud the first Napoleon, 
 With his wars on land and sea? 
 
 Let us shout for old "Abe Lincoln," 
 Who set these millions free. 
 
 He was one of you old settlers, 
 
 A real old pioneer, 
 But among the world's great heroes 
 
 He's in the upper tier. 
 
 There's another man you loved him; 
 He was eloquent defiant. 
 
 He lived right here in Springfield- 
 He was called the Little Giant. 
 
 40 
 
When the spirit of rebellion 
 
 Thrilled the country through and through, 
 The question that absorbed the world 
 
 Was, what will Douglas do? 
 
 His party was forgotten, 
 
 The Union was his cause, 
 And the party followed Douglas 
 
 Amid the world's applause. 
 
 Then there was Grant, the tanner, 
 And our own brave boys he led, 
 
 Like a besom of destruction 
 Was their onward soldier tread. 
 
 They went with flags and banners, 
 They went with drum and song; 
 
 They went from Illinois 
 Three hundred thousand strong. 
 
 How they struck the southern army, 
 
 Like a cyclone in its wrath, 
 How that army fell before them, 
 
 And the dead filled up their path. 
 
 How they stood while shell and bullet 
 
 Came down like summer's rain, 
 With hope they left your fireside, 
 
 Did they all come back again? 
 
 No but the war is over, 
 
 The dead are laid away, 
 And your daughters scatter roses 
 
 O'er the blue and o'er the gray. 
 
The old settler is passing away 
 He seems like one who walks alone 
 
 Upon some old familiar shore 
 And as he walks, he raises up his eyes 
 And sees, far out upon the ocean's crest, 
 
 The outline of a ship that bears away. 
 He knows the ship is loaded with his friends- 
 The old companions of his early youth 
 
 And he is left 1 behind. 
 And as it disappears 
 Its absence calls him to himself again; 
 He finds he is surrounded by his friends, 
 
 The best of friends, 
 
 The same of kin, 
 
 The same of good Impulse 
 
 As those who sailed away. 
 These friends would fain pour out their love for him, 
 
 And have him rest content 
 And, yet, withal, they are to him unknown 
 In love's essential part called sympathy; 
 
 For they are of a younger generation. 
 And when he would unite with them, 
 And tug and toil as once he loved to do, 
 
 He finds his youth, 
 
 He finds his strength, 
 
 His whole ambition gone, 
 And throwing down the burden that he bears, 
 
 He lays him down to rest. 
 
 42 
 
The Old Subscriber. 
 
 [Written for the Illinois Press Association, 1898.] 
 
 One day an old man and a boy' came in, the old man leaning 
 on a crutch, observed: 
 
 "I reckon that you hardly know me here, 
 And yet I've read your paper many a year. 
 
 My name is Jones 
 
 I live in Buckhart, near the Christian county line, 
 My father settled in the timber there in eighteen twenty- 
 nine, 
 
 And we have took your paper since it was first got out 
 In thirty-five or thirty-six or somewhere there about. 
 
 It almost breaks my heart 
 
 To tell you we must part, 
 
 But I have come to stop 'er the paper I'm a gettin'. 
 
 You ask me why I hate to tell you, 
 
 For a man is sort of 'shamed if hap'nen to be poor, 
 
 Of lettin' people know that the wolf is at the door 
 
 Not only at the door, but broke clean through with vim, 
 
 And glarin' eyes and nashin' teeth that's mighty nigh to him. 
 
 But that's my fix, and while I'm 'shamed to say it, it's the 
 
 truth, 
 
 f And worse than all, I think I'm owin' more 'an I can pay; 
 \\ I thought I'd come and tell you for to cut 'er off today 
 
 I mean the paper I'm a gettin'. 
 
 Of course I'll miss the paper that's been comin' out so long, 
 Like we miss the birds in autumn when they cease their 
 summer's song. 
 
 43 
 
But then my son, who always came and paid, he's dead 
 
 He got mixed up with a fractious colt about the first of MayJ 
 He was trainin' of the creature when she broke and run 
 
 away. - 
 
 He said, "It did't 'mount to much, a few bones broke that's 
 
 all" 
 But he failed and still grew worser till he answered to the 
 
 call. 
 
 You know the girl he married wasn't like a farmer's wife 
 And by two years she went afore to try the higher life 
 
 She always seemed just like a tender flower. 
 The farm? I haven't owned it for a dozen years or so 
 A fire and a mortgage, haint neither of 'em slow, 
 And then I lost my wife; 
 So me and little Jim, this lad you see- 
 Jim's boy, is all that's left below 
 
 To wait our time. 
 
 Yes, me and little Jim is all that's left 
 We sort of fight together 
 
 And chink up all the holes to keep out winter weather, 
 And hold the wolves of poverty at bay. 
 
 But a man of eighty and with failin' sight, 
 To make a battle isn't much, 
 Seein' as his only weapon is a crutch; 
 And as for Jim, he's only eight 
 He can't do much at any rate. 
 
 There's one thing though that he can do, 
 
 He's got the sight - 
 
 And reads the paper to me every night, 
 And all the big words gets 'em right 
 And that's what Jim can do. 
 
But no more readin' now for Jim, 
 Except the books he brings from school with him 
 For while a paper's what I call in fact a cryin' need, 
 If you haven't got the money you hain't no right to read; 
 We'll try and do without it 'tis a few years at the most 
 'Till I will join the army, the mighty moving host, 
 That marches never to return, 
 And Jim'll fight alone. 
 
 So cut 'er off and stop 'er now, and we'll do what we can 
 To pay you what we owe you, for we want to act the man. 
 But while we're workin' round to bring this thing about, 
 You'll have to wait awhile for to straighten it all out. 
 
 The old man ceased and with a withered hand brushed 
 back a falling tear. 
 
 Then the newspaper man said: 
 "My dear old friend, I'll tell you how to make this matter 
 
 straight, 
 We'll call it square the year that's past and throw in 
 
 ninety-eight, 
 We'll throw in every year to come we hope they'll not be 
 
 few, 
 That we can print a paper little Jim can read to you." 
 
 45 
 
YA 02060 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY