"Insolent? Yes; he"s that. But the worst of it is, I"m afraid he"s right." And he telephoned for Shearson.
The advertising manager came up, puffing.
Hal held out the clipping to him.
"How long has that been running?"
"On and off for six months."
"Throw it out."
"Throw it out!" repeated the other bitterly. "That"s easy enough said."
"And easily enough done."
"It"s out already. Taken out by early notice this morning."
"That"s all right, then."
"_Is_ it all right!" boomed Shearson. "_Is_ it! You won"t think so when you hear the rest of it."
"Try me."
"Do you know _who_ the Sewing Aid a.s.sociation is?"
"No."
"It"s John M. Gibbs! That"s who it is!"
"Yell louder, Shearson. It may save you from apoplexy," advised McGuire Ellis with tender solicitude.
"And we lose every line of the Boston Store advertising, that I worked so hard to get back."
"That"ll hurt," allowed Ellis.
"Hurt! It draws blood, that does. That Sewing Aid a.s.sociation is Gibbs"s scheme to supply the children"s department of his store. Why couldn"t you find out who you were hitting, Mr. Surtaine?" demanded Shearson pathetically, "before you went and mucksed everything up this way? See what comes of all this reform guff."
"Are you sure that John M. Gibbs is back of that sewing-girl ad?"
"Sure? Didn"t he call me up this morning and raise the devil?"
"Thank you, Mr. Shearson. That"s all."
To his editorial galley-proof Hal added two lines.
"What"s that, Mr. Surtaine?" asked the advertising manager curiously.
"That"s outside of your department. But since you ask, I"ll tell you.
It"s an editorial on the kind of swindle that causes tragedies like Maggie Breen"s. And the sentence which I have just added, thanks to you, is this:
""The proprietor of this scheme which drives penniless women to the street or to suicide is John M. Gibbs, princ.i.p.al owner of the Boston Store.""
Words failed Shearson; also motive power, almost. For reckonable seconds he stood stricken. Then slowly he got under way and rolled through the door. Once, on the stairs, they heard from him a protracted rumbling groan. "Ruin," was the one distinguishable word.
It left an echo in Hal"s brain, an echo which rang hollowly amongst misgivings.
"_Is_ it ruin to try and run a newspaper without taking a percentage of that kind of profits, Mac?" he asked.
"Well, a newspaper can"t be too squeamish about its ads." was the cautious answer.
"Do all newspapers carry that kind of stuff?"
"Not quite. Most of them, though. They need the money."
"What"s the matter with business in this town? Everything seems to be rotten."
Ellis took refuge in a proverb. "Business is business," he stated succinctly.
"And it"s as bad everywhere as here? This is all new to me, you know. I rather expected to find every concern as decently and humanly run as Certina."
One swift, suspicious glance Ellis cast upon his superior, but Hal"s face was candor itself. "Well, no," he admitted. "Perhaps it isn"t as bad in some cities. The trouble here is that all the papers are terrorized or bribed into silence. Until we began hitting out with our little shillalah, n.o.body had ever dared venture a peep of disapproval.
So, business got to thinking it could do as it pleased. You can"t really blame business much. Immunity from criticism isn"t ever good for the well-known human race."
Hal took the matter of the "Sewing Aid" swindle home with him for consideration. Hitherto he had considered advertising only as it affected or influenced news. Now he began to see it in another light, as a factor in itself of immense moral moment and responsibility. It was dimly outlined to his conscience that, as a partner in the profit, he became also a partner in the enterprise. Thus he faced the question of the honesty or dishonesty of the advertising in his paper. And this is a question fraught with financial portent for the honorable journalist.
CHAPTER XXII
PATRIOTS
Worthington"s Old Home Week is a gay, gaudy, and profitable inst.i.tution.
During the six days of its course the city habitually maintains the atmosphere of a three-ringed circus, the bustle of a county fair, and the business ethics of the Bowery. Allured by widespread advertising and encouraged by special rates on the railroads, the countryside for a radius of one hundred miles pours its inhabitants into the local metropolis, their pockets filled with greased dollars. Upon them Worthington lavishes its left-over and shelf-cluttering merchandise, at fifty per cent more than its value, amidst general rejoicings. As Festus Willard once put it, "There is a sound of revelry by night and larceny by day." But then Mr. Willard, being a manufacturer and not a retailer, lacks the subtler sympathy which makes lovely the spirit of Old Home hospitality.
This year the celebration was to outdo itself. Because of the centennial feature, no less a person than the President of the United States, who had spent a year of his boyhood at a local school, was pledged to attend. In itself this meant a record crowd. Crops had been good locally and the toil-worn agriculturist had surplus money wherewith to purchase phonographs, gold teeth, crayon enlargements of self and family, home instruction outfits for hand-painting sofa cushions, and similar prime necessities of farm life. To transform his static savings into dynamic a.s.sets for itself was Worthington"s basic purpose in holding its gala week. And now this beneficent plan was threatened by one individual, and he young, inexperienced, and a new Worthingtonian, Mr. Harrington Surtaine. This unforeseen cloud upon the horizon of peace, prosperity, and happiness rose into the ken of Dr. Surtaine the day after the appearance of the sewing-girl editorial.
Dr. Surtaine hadn"t liked that editorial. With his customary air of long-suffering good nature he had told Hal so over his home-made apple pie and rich milk, at the cheap and clean little luncheon place which he patronized. Hal had no defense or excuse to offer. Indeed, his reference to the topic was of the most casual order and was immediately followed by this disconcerting question:
"What about the Rookeries epidemic, Dad?"
"Epidemic? There"s no epidemic, Boyee."
"Well, there"s something. People are dying down there faster than they ought to. It"s spread beyond the Rookeries now."
This was no news to the big doctor. But it was news to him that Hal knew it.
"How do you know?" he asked.