Common Cause: A Novel of the War in AmericaAdams, Samuel Hopkins
General
Common Cause: A Novel of the War in America
Adams, Samuel Hopkins
World War, 1914-1918 -- United States -- Fiction
“What you want to do? Ruin my business?” he demanded.
“Is that account true?” asked Jeremy.
“Neffer mind if it’s true. It didn’t have to get printed.”
“Your business ought to be ruined, from what the Court thinks of it.”
“You take my money for advertising it all right,” the protestant pointed
out with justice.
“So we do. We won’t any more. The Guardian won’t carry your installment
business, Mr. Levy.”
“Maybe you’re too good to have my ads in your paper at all!”
“Oh, no. We’ll be glad to have everything but that one line.”
“You can’t run my business for me, don’t you think it!” adjured Mr.
Levy in one emphatic breath, and departed with a righteous conviction of
unmerited injury.
The Fashion’s one-eighth pages no longer graced The Guardian. Too
shrewdly devoted to his trade to stay out entirely, Mr. Levy confined
himself to terse announcements in the briefest and cheapest possible
space. He also helped to spread the evil rumor that young Robson was
“sore on the business men of Fenchester.” Business men there were,
however, shrewd, fair-minded, and far-seeing enough to appreciate The
Guardian’s one-standard policy, even while they deprecated what they
regarded as its abuse of independence. These formed a strong minority of
defenders and supporters. Little by little their ranks were increasing.
Andrew Galpin’s optimism, and the debt which represented it, seemed
fairly justified as the election of the fall of 1913 drew near.
Already The Guardian had far outstripped The Record in circulation and
in advertising revenue. The rival paper was being hard pressed to make
a respectable showing, and had adopted a decidedly acidulous tone toward
Jeremy and his publication, letting no opportunity pass to impugn its
motives and jeer at its principles. Ever ready for a fight, Jeremy was
for joining issue on the editorial page, but Galpin’s wiser counsel
withheld him.
“Nobody cares for newspaper squabbles but newspaper men,” said that
sage. “We’re not making a newspaper for newspaper men. We’re making a
newspaper for Bill Smith and Jim Jones and their missises. And we’re
getting ’em!”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account