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Show Sparks for Minds . . . Almost five centuries ago, Gutenberg's Gu-tenberg's invention of movable type started a revolution. It has been going on ever since. For five times five centuries eons before a few men were the privileged rulers by accident of birth or of circumstance. The people peo-ple were subjects, supporting those thus kept in authority. However, movable type, by cut-ing cut-ing the cost of printing, began the process of making knowledge more widely available. People's understanding under-standing then grew. Sparks of hope were awakened in the minds of men . . . When it became apparent ap-parent to entrenched authority that permitting wide dissemination of information and ideas might in time destroy their sinecures, censorship cen-sorship was exercised. In a search for greater freedom, men of many races and creeds crossed the ocean to establish homes on this continent. They and their children founded here a nation dedicated to a new principle: princi-ple: government by the people, and for the people. And knowing that liberty could be overthrown only by subduing freedom of speech and the press, they provided further fur-ther that this basic freedom should never be abridged. That system of government created an opportunity for all men to advance, limited only by their efforts. In but a few generations genera-tions it won for this people a higher high-er standard of living and of human hu-man welfare than had ever before been dreamed possible. America's freedom of the press has proved to the world that the patriotic instinct of an informed plain people can be relied on to govern wisely and well. Intertype Corporation. |
