Illinois newspaper directory. History of the Illinois press association

Illinois Newspaper Directory and History"We are whirled by a new motor, which has yet to reach its centennial, from theplain to the mountain, and from the mountain to the sea — carrying with it civilizationand progressive ideas wherever it goes — and, in our rapid flight for purposes of pleasure,we take our wives and children, and they scarcely miss the comfort, the quiet andthe luxury of home. As we see before our eyes, mighty rivers are spanned by thewonderful triumphs of genius and art; and monuments of this character dot our greatpublic highways from Maine to California, and from the lakes to the sea. To bruteforce and the march of batallions, to the career of the conqueror and prowess of war,have, we hope, forever in this noble land of ours succeeded the arts of substantial peaceand the trophies of profound intellect."Science has penetrated into the arcama of nature, and unveiled its innermostshrines. The fruits of civilization and refinement seen on every hand, like the grapesof Eschol, indicate the glory of our land.Instead of the gaudy trappings of the warrior,rolled in blood and subjecting man to his will, Reason has taken the throne. Mind hastriumphed over matter; and it is the intellect, and not force, that commands the respectof the thinking world. Men have acquired nobler ideas of the value of civil and religiousliberty, and have been elevated to a nobler plane of feeling and thought. For this upwardand onward march of human progress, and the nobler manhood which is so characteristicallytypified by the two representative men of our civilization — Washington thefounder, and Lincoln the preserver of our Republic — the world is largely indebtedto THE INFLUENCE OF THE PRESS, that powerful enginery for the diffusion ofknowledge and the spread of letters. The Press has been the great educator of thepeople; the storehouse of learning, from which they have received lessons of liberty,and learned by what means only it can be maintained. It has been the great textbook,whose study has disciplined the minds and improved their hearts. It has cheerfullyproclaimed truth; and has as cheerfully denounced error. It has thus been at once theinstructor and guardian of the people — giving ever to virtue its due meed of praise,and putting'In every honest hand a whipTo lash rascals naked through the world.'"What an engine has the press been to promote good and to defeat dangerous andcorrupt legislation in our State and National Assemblies. It is the faithful watchmanupon the walls, who descries from afar the inroad of danger and lifts up his voice towarn the people, who look to him to gua'd their liberties and protect their rights. Letsome important measure be proposed, either by our law-makers or by the lobby, 'thatpower behind the throne, often greater than the throne itself,' and by the morrow'ssun a free press spreads it broadcast throughout the land. It is thoroughly ventilated;its merits or demerits are discussed; the attention of the people is aroused; the wonderfulinfluence of the press is brought to bear, for or against the measure as the publicinterestsmay seem to demand, and it is either enacted into law, or else 'consigned tothe tombs of the Capulets.' Practical illustrations of this influence of the press, andmore particularly the Country Press, have been demonstrated many times during thesession of the General Assembly of Illinois which has just terminated; and this leadsus to say, the Press may well be thought to be a fourth estate of the realm, againstwhose united voice no dangerous law, if it pass, can long encumber our statute books.This indicates a healthy state of mind and heart in the body politic; for although thereare, and always will be corrupt men, yet under the surveillance of an unsubsidized Press,they are held in check, and are becoming more and more harmless as the stream ofintelligence widens and is diffused. It is at all times the mission of the Press, andespecially when clouds lower in the political sky, as it was of the old Roman consuls,34