The Clarion

denly become the master loomed to the skies. Together with the rest of the outer world, he had comfortably and vaguely regarded a newspaper as a sort of automatic mill which, by virtue of h

-out of the final product, he was wholly unwitting. He could as well have manipulated a linotype machine as h

upon hooks, boxes, and copy-boys, and, the immediate task being finished, lapse upon his desk and fall asleep. Meantime, the owner himself faced the unpleasant prospect of being smothered under the downfall of proofs, queries, and scribbled sheets which descended upon his

all of these things," replied his bo

yee drowsily. "The more stuff you throw away, the bett

he paper would get along bet

ut of his chair, he ambled over to Hal's desk and evolved out of the chaos some sem

e enthusiasm. If only

he borrowed a uniform from an absent friend, shinned aboard a five-thousand-ton brigantine, and ordered all hands to put out to sea immediately in

like it. But never mind that. The

n all right. Are yo

a

ust going to p

. I don

e eye, long and steadily. Ellis's h

t me to

es

urnalism in the infant class?" The tone of the ques

made worth

ght; I'

ily. "I think you'll find I'm

e grimness. "But I know the game. Well, let's get down

est, decentest new

n't think it

know it

that from D

rtl

the othe

ons. I've been going

he

o'clock th

what

ce of property, I natural

plant yet? That's

re from the files. I've bought

s favored his employer in reply to this

Clarion,'" he said after a pa

it's sensational

plimentary in the oth

to enough people to pay for the z's in one font of type. People are vulgar. Don't

it, forever smelling out something rot

hing but the surface of things. Why, if any one started in really to muckrake this

lis, I don't lik

pleasant lies?" querie

pleasant truth as well as the next

the nickname

ather told

rrion,' they call us, and they said that our triump

ause of the paper's l

ying that the 'Clarion' doesn't lie. All papers do, I guess. They have to

e an in

sewing-girl

d labor leader and a no

We're supposed to be a sort of tribune of the common people. Rights of the ordinary citizen, and that

y n

nd dollars in advertising, though, and gained an extra blot on our reputat

e of currying favor wit

is tipped back in his chair and contemplated the ceiling. When he spoke his voice fl

ha

w honest you ar

I don't think you

else will I

strictly and absolutely honest

s wearily. "'Strictly and absol'-see h

than

as simple as blindman's-buff. I don't. It's some differe

nition be hanged. H

licy. And bankrup

see the c

ter of good intentions. It's a matter of eternal watc

e likely to make mi

ll. I mean that it's harder for a newspaper to be

make me bel

iness, and I'm wasting time trying to throw light into the deep places where i

ructure of t

lls. The editorial page is a survival. At its best it analyzes and points out the significance of important news. At its worst, it is a mouthpiec

ake it so on t

me in any two places. In Arizona a shower is news. In New Orleans the boll-weevil is news. In Worthington anything about your father is news: in Denver they don't care a hoot about your father; so, unless he elopes or dies, or buys a fake Titian, or breaks the flying-machine record, or lectures on medical quackery, he isn't news away from home. If Mrs. Festus Will

a paper ge

ial department, another at the political headquarters, another in the railroad offices, another at the theaters, another in society, and so on. At each of these a reporter is stationed. He knows his own kind of news as it comes to him, ready-made, and, usually, not much else. Then there's the general, unclassified news of the city that drifts

s not

ading citizen. The 'Banner' is strong on that sort of local stuff. I think I'll jack up our boys in the city room by h

s of the out

very city and town of any size, but it covers the national sources of news with special reporters. Also the international. Theoretically it gives only the plainest facts, uncolored by any bias.

it get hone

gh. The funny business is done hig

other associatio

worth a lot of money. Besides," he concluded, yawnin

office and back, five times. At the end of this

ing to plant an imp

N

e doin

hat s

iness. I feel as if you had your hands on a curtain that you might pull

e what you want

act

you can understand them. I don't want to t

as an exp

e runs the newspap

er.' Mr. Ford owns the 'Press

t of his face. "I don't mean the different papers.

ns them al

m all; Pierce, Gib

. Pi

iddleton

th him yesterday,

ou got your notions

hem spoke of any n

he Publication Committee of

is t

d, as such, they can dictate to every Worthingt

nse

ng the '

u're wron

town could get along without them. If they want a piece of news kept out of print, they t

ver been

to tell you about the St

w of it? He's in the print

fanatic, too. But an A1 man all right. Get the composing-room," he directed

Hal was struck again w

he asked, looking at the "

e newspapers and the Store

d, with the very slightest of accents. "We can't organiz

lease. I know nothin

ng to organize a union of

hey well

wanted shorter hours and extra pay for overtime at holiday time and Old Home Wee

y fair

t, the health officer, and a number of women. It was a good news feature, and that was what we

t w

s orders. He

which is supposed to

per bitterness when he snapped his teeth upon a word which sounded to Hal suspici

on't give the 'Clari

will," said V

omething distinctly t

mpositor gleamed suddenly. "Do you mean

he impassioned and incredulo

s 'hone

uy your paper the stra

e paper will b

og," put in McGuire Ellis,

" he said: and again "Yes-s-s." But the lif

hank you,"

lance," said Ellis, as the door closed. "He's the stuff t

rouble-maker

graphs for the editorial page; and when they're not too radical, I use

ing that. It's so che

ught to run it every day. But th

is

stand. Protégée of Veltman's, He brought he

l you one thing

ha

Can Follow.'" Hal pointed to the "black-face"

hing in i

alice Toward None: Wi

newspaper. Shall I tell Veltman to set it up

start it i

as honesty; and he dreamed of a roomful of advertisers listening in sodden silence to his own grandiloquent announcement, "Gentlemen

f the shrill "Clarion" stood guard at ei