Illinois newspaper directory. History of the Illinois press association

Illinois Newspaper Directory and HistoryVice Presidents, George W. Hughes, Clinton Register; G. A. Crowden, Ottawa Fairdealer;Secretary, J.M. Page, Jerseyville Democrat; Treasurer, Eugene P. L'Hote, MilfordHerald; Executive Committee, Terry Simmons, Marseilles Plaindealer; Charles W.Warner, Hoopeston Chronicle; John M. Rapp, Fairfield Record; Auditing Committee,J. W. Wild, Nokomis Free Press Gazette; Eugene L'Hote, Milford Herald; A. T. Cowan,Polo Tri-County Press; Legislative Committee, Honorable E. A. Snively, Springfield.A Good Fellowship Supper was given the members of the Association by theChampaign Chamber of Commerce. Mr. B. F. Harris was toastmaster, and toasts weregiven by Mr. George W. Gere, a Champaign lawyer; General Smith D. Atkins of theFreeport Journal; Congressman William B. McKinley; Mr. Wallace Bruce Amsbary;Milton Bucklin of Judicious Advertising, Chicago; Dr. Edmund J. James, President ofthe University of Illinois; and President Adams of the Illinois Press Association.1909The Forty-Fourth Annual Session of the Illinois Press Association was held atOttawa on June 16, 17 and 18, 1909. The President, S. K. Strother, Taylorville Courier,introduced the Mayor of Ottawa, James F. Farrell, who welcomed the members. GeneralSmith D. Atkins of the Freeport Journal responded.President Strother gave his address, urging high standards and increased membershipfor the Association. He said in part:Strother's View oi an Editor in 1909"There is no other line of professional endeavor to compare with the editor's work.You have all heard more or less about the unique position occupied by the editor, andit is unique when you come to consider it soberly and thoughtfully. The President of theMississippi Press Association, in his recent annual address, offered the suggestion in allseriousness, that men or women who desired to become editors of newspapers should berequired to pass a regular set and formal examination before being allowed to enter uponthe work. We have not read his address and do not know what reasons he advanced insupport of his suggestion. But if he thought an examination along educational lineswould necessarily elevate and ennoble the editorial profession, he was mistaken. It is notmore text book knowledge we need, but more soul, more courage to live worthily, andstrive mightily for the right, and these things cannot be put to the test of a formalexamination."Only a few physicians, lawyers, or ministers, who pass even creditable examinationsrise to eminence or distinction in their professions. Many of them score failures, andthe great majority of them are content to live in the indifference of mediocrity. Examinationsdid not save them. It is that which is born within the moral organism whichmakes the man a power in life for good or evil. Artificial acquirements may not takethe place of this power, but they may add to, or take from it, as the nature of oureducation or training may be."The position of the editor is a higher one in moral dignity and power than thatoccupied by the minister, or the lawyer, or the physician, and it is our fault if we donot sustain it properly. The editor in every community is more or less criticized, if hemakes himself felt at all, for everything he says, and he should have something to sayon the right side of every question affecting the welfare or morality of his community.Not the narrow morality of the decalogue, but the morality of civic government, thepractical equities of life. To enable him to do this he must possess a stiffer moral fiberthan the average minister, many of whom are paralyzed at critical times by liberal pew176