Page:Oregon Exchanges volume 8.djvu/29



Vol. 8

THE American newspaper represents speed. It helps America think quicker and make quicker decisions. It presents in minutes, hours and seconds the intelligence of the world to industry, that industry may make quick decisions intelligently. Our whole American life has been built on the tradition that we have got to get and know the facts to function intelli gently. The actual news collected through out the world every day through the in genuity and enterprise of American newspapers is an aid to American pro gress in that it gives us vast background of facts which determine our actions, economic and political. The newspaper is the University of Today. It is perhaps the most important factor in the steady rising of the level of intelligence of America. In millions of instances, perhaps, it is the only printed intelligence that our citizens consult. One of the most important characteristics of the modern newspaper is its cosmopoli tanism. The newspaper is the enemy of provincialism, and provincialism is a threat against any social organization. The newspaper develops that something in the individual which inspires him to look beyond his own little world and teaches him to develop his community on broader lines out of the experience of many other communities. You cannot read the modern newspaper and stay in side of your own immediate circle men tally. I am not speaking entirely of the news or editorial aspects of the newspaper. I amume that most educators will agree that the advertising sections of a modern newspaper are almost as informative as its other columns. The best advertising today as presented to America’s reading public in the newspaper is both inspir ational and educational. The influence of the newspaper upon community life in America is deeply marked. It is not too daring to say that no other factor in community life is as important as the newspaper. It is responsible to a high degree for community progress. A community can grow in only two ways. It has to have either new people, new capital or both. Not so many years ago a man entering a new community with an industry had to depend upon the long, tedious process of developing per sonal acquaintanceships in order to sell his product, and his chances for success were very slim. To educate the people of the community was a colossal task, and failure was most often the rule rather than success. Today that has been changed. The newspaper has changed it. And communities, especially in the West, have driven forward with amazing rapidity because of the ability of the <7!