etic being and glorious
significance. He said it was foolish to edit a magazine when one
couldn't trust a cheap newspaper not to come flaming forth into
literature which turned one's most conscientious and aspiring efforts
into tinsel. He also said "Damn!"

Io Welland (for it was Io Welland and not Io Eyre whom the soothsayer
saw before him as he declaimed), instrument and inspiration of the
achievement, said no word of direct praise. But as she wrote, her
fingers felt as if they were dripping electric sparks. When, at the
close, he asked, quite humbly, "Is that what you wanted?" she caught her
breath on something like a sob.

"I'll give you a title," she said, recovering herself. "Call it 'If
there were Dreams to Sell.'"

"Ah, that's good!" he cried. "My readers won't get it. Pinheads! They
get nothing that isn't plain as the nose on their silly faces. Never
mind. It's good for 'em to be puzzled once in a while. Teaches 'em their
place.... I'll tell you who will understand it, though," he continued,
and laughed queerly.

"All the people who really matter will."

"Some who matter a lot to The Patriot will. The local merchants who
advertise with us. They'll be wild."

"Why?"

"They hate the mail-order houses with a deadly fear, because the
cataloguers undersell them in a lot of lines. Won't Rome howl the day
after this appears!"

"Tell me about the relation between advertising and policy, Ban,"
invited Io, and summarized Willis Enderby's views.

Banneker had formulated for his own use and comfort the fallacy which
has since become standard for all journalists unwilling or unable to
face the issue of their own responsibility to the public. He now gave it
forth confidently.

"A newspaper, Io, is like a billboard. Any one has a right to hire it
for purposes of exploiting and selling whatever he has to sell. In
accepting the advertisement, provided it is legal and decent, the
publisher accepts no more responsibility than the owner of the land on
which a billboard stands. Advertising space is a free forum."

"But when it affects the editorial attitude--"

"That's the test," he put in quickly. "That's why I'm glad to print this
editorial of ours. It's a declaration of independence."

"Yes," she acquiesced eagerly.

"If ever I use the power of my editorials for any cause that I don't
believe in--yes, or for my own advantage or the advantage of my
employer--that will be the beginning of surrender. But as long