"I say _most_ newspapers. And I say it with a purpose, sir. I don't suppose you can guess what it is?" He smiled archly, and when Roger could not guess, he added, with profound conviction, "_The Dispatch_, thank God, is not like most papers. It is free, daring, original. I ask you, sir, to use it in a cause worthy of all its freedom, its daring, its originality. I ask you--yes, I _command_ you--to put its tremendous and growing power behind the greatest movement of the age, that..." "You mean..." "I mean," said Mr. Burdick with solemnity, as if he were conferring an accolade, "I mean that I seek the enlistment of _The Dispatch_ under the glowing banner of the single-tax." He folded his arms and waited for a reply. Roger cast a troubled glance at Good, and turned away helplessly from the blank countenance which met him. It seemed to the tall man, studying his protégé narrowly through half-closed lids, that he was indecisive. But he waited hopefully. He was not certain. Presently Roger bit off the end of a cigar, and chewed it thoughtfully. Then he squared his shoulders and the light of resolution came into his eyes. Good sighed contentedly. He had been mistaken. "I guess you don't quite understand _The Dispatch_, Mr. Burdick," said Roger quietly, but none the less firmly. "It doesn't take sides." "But the single-tax...." "It makes no difference what the side is. We're not partisan." "But, my dear sir," cried Mr. Burdick, a quite unsuspected temper manifesting itself. "It's not a political party. It's not a religion. It's not--dogmatic in any sense. It's just--an _idea_. You seem to favour advanced ideas. You give space ... why, you had two columns about a socialist meeting that was raided by the police!" "I know," said Roger gently. "But--that was news." The subtle distinctions implied in that sentence appeared to halt the little man for a moment. But he was not long daunted. "Well," he cried triumphantly, "wasn't the abolition of slavery _news_? Wouldn't the abolition of poverty be _news_? My dear young man--" His tone became unmistakably patronising. "It would be the most tremendous piece of news you could possibly print. Everything else would pale into insignificance beside it. Why...." "Mr. Burdick," Roger's voice was a trifle cold. The intimation of patronage had annoyed him. "Personally I might have all kinds of sympathy with the idea you represent. But that has nothing to do with it. We're running a _news_paper--nothing else. We print news--not opinions. The distinction must be clear to you, I'm sure." His momentary irritation had vanished, and he finished with a friendly smile. But Mr. Burdick's wrath was not to be thus easily assuaged.