Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1893 — THE COUNTRY NEWSPAPER. [ARTICLE]

THE COUNTRY NEWSPAPER.

influence Wielded by the Rural Press—ita Responsibilities. There is a place and an opportunity not to be despised for the country newspaper worker, and with thia, as with every large opportunity, rfserious obligation to careful, thorough, honest work, writes Edwin A. Start, in the New England Magazine. It is not too much to say there is no better field for i n intelligent, well-equipped nan of large sympathies and vigorous personality than the editorial chair of a country newspaper, nor is there a position whioii places upon a man greater duties to the community In which he Uvea The editors of the great metropolitan newspapers rest on tho heigtbs of impersonal journalism, flinging their thunderbolts with a freedom born of almost entire personal irresponsibility; and while the thunderbolts ore in great part shattered on the rooks below, tho country editor walks with the multitude in the valley, gives the weight of his personality to the impersonal words of his paper, which come to the people like the warm handclasp of a friend, measures hia words iu accordance w.th the peculiarities of his constituents, and influences the thought and feeling of hundreds where tho thunderbolt oi the unapproachable Jove strikes one.* It was a successful country editor in a thriving Massachusetts town who once sagely remarked that, If he were a candidate for office, and must take his chance between the combined support of the metropolitan dailies and that of the country press, he would choose tho latter, and accept with equanimity the hostility of his city brethren. Every country editor knows tbathe.was right. The great dailies, so-called, are received in lhe abstract os venders of the world’s news. Their resources in this direction are gre.it and cannot in the nature of things be rivaled by those al the command Of country papers of limited circulation. But the country paper comes closer to the hearts of the people at large, it is more thoroughly read, and it has an in fluence tho greater because it is.one of the subtH, unrealised. every-day forces of life it is held rigidly to account for the honesty and fairness of its utterances. It cannot pdm off upon its readers what are known in the slang of the newspaper fraternity as "lakes;” It must be reliable first of ait Neither can it violate moral decency to any marked extent and prosper, as can its neighbors in the great citiea In most communities. in Now England, at least, its constituency is largely found in the churches, and will not tolerate vulgarity. The country newspaper stands to dwellers outside the large cities in the place of a friend and regular home visitor, and It is essential above all things that it maintain the good character aud good breeding that are required of other friends, it it would keep warm its welcome in the hoots jircla.

The oldest living criminal in the United States is John Mount, of Cov.ngtan, Ky, He was a good one In bis days. He is now nearly ninety years pt age, and fifty-sig years of his life have Men apsnt in various penitentiaries In tM United States. He has oommitted almost every crime except that of murder. He is Uving avery sectud* ed life at present, and seldom goes on the atroota. _____________ It Is claims J that phosphate Is found in only three places throughout Urn United States—South Ceroliga, Now Mexico and Florida, la Now Mexico It io about exhausted, while in Florida It is tn-xu exton-1 sire than in South LL.ra.tua aud assays 23 per cent more.