Prefer The Latter
Cleaning out an old file cabinet recently I stumbled across some news stories I had copied and saved from The Enterprise, dating back to July, 1927. The Central Missouri Press Association were holding a convention in Warsaw and according to the articles the Editors from around the state had all voted to make Warsaw the destination as they were all hoping to find a chance to do a little fishing in the Osage River or one of its many tributary streams.
When I read the list of Editors that would be attending, I was very impressed. There was H.J. Blanton, Editor of the Monroe County Appeal from Paris, Missouri. It was his office and newspaper that Saturday Evening Post illustrator, Norman Rockwell made famous a few years later.
Ella Pearl Smith of the Clinton Eye spoke on “The better items in a country weekly.” And Walter Williams from the MU School of journalism talked about a common interest. It was titled “Newspapers.” C.H. Miles of the Warsaw Times and E.M. White of the Enterprise shared their thoughts on why a town needs a newspaper. It was an illustrious group of Editors that came to Benton County all those years ago.
The pamphlet handed out to attendees described many of the area’s features. It noted there was a swinging bridge spanning the Osage River at Warsaw. It went on to say it was supported by two large cables that were embedded in the limestone bluff on the south side and anchored deep in the ground on the north side of the river.
It was undoubtedly describing the middle bridge as it went on to say a half mile down the river the state was building a huge concrete bridge across the stream, some eight hundred feet long. 65 Highway was being constructed at that time and the description was of the first 65 highway bridge.
From the accounts I discovered there was good attendance from both the daily and the weekly papers. Time in the Ozarks fishing may have been a draw, as well as the promise of fish fries and delicious fried chicken dinners but these journalists all knew the importance of their chosen profession. Lincoln didn’t have a paper at that time but Cole Camp had the Courier. From reading the old reels of microfilm, the Courier, under that Editor was the worst in its long history. There was very little news, local or national and the Editor finally left town in disgrace, following a fling with another gentleman’s wife.
Because of that Editor’s lack of commitment to his profession, Cole Camp has very little of its day to day happenings recorded for about three years. Local newspapers are not just sources of news but also bring communities together to understand important issues facing the town in well researched and documented articles instead of the gossip floating around in the Barbershop.
They showcase local events, highlight achievements and amplify the voice of the community members. Newspapers can provide a sense of belonging and identity, promoting civil engagement and strengthening community bonds. They serve as historical records, documenting significant moments in time.
Walk into the local library and read the old papers on microfilm or come to the museum and pull a year of news off the shelf and see for yourself why Cole Camp has always been a tight knit community, preserving not only their culture from generation to generation but how they worked together and supported all the clubs and churches by patronizing their fund raising dinners to rolling up their sleeves and volunteering to help. Walter Cronkite once wrote, “A newspaper is a public trust, and we will suffer as a society without them.”
Always remember the press is the fourth estate of government. It keeps the other three, the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial in check. Thomas Jefferson, that formed so much of our great democracy firmly stated, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”
