It was some 110 years ago, around today, I guess, that William Wesley Young clip-clopped up Carroll Street on his horse to drop off the inaugural issue of The Daily Cardinal at the printer.
In the interim between then and now, the Cardinal has offered a voice to the voiceless, a leg up to the downtrodden. Young saw the prestige of the university grow before his very eyes and astutely realized that it needed a chronicle'one based in the tenets of fair play and truth, the most valuable commodity.
The Cardinal has not failed its muse. But this newspaper did not stop at telling the tale of a Midwest land-grant university. No, Cardinal staffers were able to march with Dr. King, travel on the Freedom Ride buses and vociferously oppose the war in Vietnam. For a long while, the Cardinal was Madison, during its radical hotbed days. The \Berkeley of the Midwest"" had its journal, and readers had themselves a tireless advocate for individual rights and liberties.
This paper has not been all business, however. Musical luminaries like Lou Reed and George Clinton have graced our pages, and the Cardinal was there when The Dead took the stage at the Dane County Coliseum. And from Ameche to Dayne, from Crazylegs Hirsch to Roadrunner Ferguson, the Cardinal has stood on the sidelines to cover the gridiron grind.
In essence, the Cardinal has been everywhere and seen virtually everything. Perhaps that is why every staff member, past and present, looks upon his or her training ground as a sacred place. A number of people have met their future spouses here, while countless others have simply learned a bit about themselves.
What it comes down to is that the Cardinal has meant a lot of things to many people. For some, it was a liberal ally in the fight against injustice; for others, it was simply a communist rag.
Whatever the perception, the Cardinal is a part of Madison, just as much as Bascom Hall, just as much as State Street. And whatever the cost, this paper will continue to foster the sort of independent thought and action that it has since Young originally conceived of it.
It is that type of independent thought and action'the stuff revolutions are made of'that inspired, inspires and will continue to inspire for an additional 110 years, if not more.
