There is no factor in the development of a country more potent than the press. To it more than to any other agency (save the modern railway) are due the establishment of town and the progress of those material interests upon which the nation is dependent. In a volume of this character it is therefore fitting that appropriate mention be made of one who has from boyhood been identified with newspaper work, and who is now the popular and successful editor of the Manistee Advocate.

By birth and parentage Mr. Madison is a Southerner. He was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, December 25, 1854, and has been an orphan from his earliest recollections. At the age of thirteen years he came to Manistee County, and was adopted into the family of Thomas Simpson, of Bear Lake, where he grew to manhood, and under whose hospitable roof he has always found a pleasant home. His entire mature life has been spent in this county, and he is therefore intimately associated with its growth and progress. The rudiments of his education were gained in the local schools, but he soon left school in order to earn his own livelihood, becoming an employee in the lumber-mills, where he remained until 1875.

Mr. Madison's connection with the printing business began in 1875, when he entered a printing office in Manistee as an apprentice. There he gained a thorough knowledge of the "art preservative," which later enabled him to publish and edit a paper with success. After learning the trade, he entered school, realizing that a more thorough education was necessary for proficient journalistic work. Three years were spent in school, and then he bought the Manistee Standard, the paper upon which he learned his trade. The name of this he changed to the Manistee Sentinel in 1885. A year later the paper was consolidated with the Times, the new publication taking the name of the Times-Sentinel. As such it was managed by the firm of Hilton & Madison until 1892.

In October, 1892, Mr. Madison bought of J.P. O'Mally a half-interest in the Manistee Advocate, but after six months he became the sole proprietor. The Advocate is a weekly newspaper, republican in political sentiment, and devoted to the welfare of the city and county of Manistee. Its editorials are strong, its local items spicy, and its comments upon the questions of the age forcible and interesting. It favors all public-spirited measures, and is a friend to all progressive enterprises. It has a large patronage, and a most encouraging future outlook. It has the distinction of being the only paper in the city that favors protection and the other principles of the Republican party and is therefore very popular in the ranks of the political organization. Through its influence, less than to the efforts of the many energetic citizens of manistee, is due the development of the place, both as a business center and as the headquarters of the lumbering interests of Northern Michigan.