or of the big departmental store which took a
full-page advertisement in every issue the year around. The editor
would have used it soon enough, but--the business office--!

Then there was the theatrical press-agent, a regular caller with his
advance notices and free electros of coming attractions, his press
passes.

"Give us a chance, old man," he pleaded, perhaps laying down a good
cigar. "Say, that was a rotten roast you handed us last week."

"Yes, and it was a rotten show!" the editor would retort. "I saw it
myself."

The telephone rings, maybe--the business office again.

"The Blank Theatre have doubled their space with us, Charlie. Go easy
on 'em for awhile, will you?"

The floor around the editor's desk was scuffed by the timid boots of
the man who wanted his name kept out of the paper and the sure tread of
the corporation representative who wanted his company's name mentioned
on every possible occasion. Business interests, railway corporations,
financial institutions--many of these had a regular department for the
purpose of supplying "news" to the press. Some American railroads
finally took to owning a string of papers outright, directly or
indirectly, and one big Trust went so far as to control a telegraphic
news service.

In fact, to such a pass did things come in the United States that the
exploitation of the press became a menace to public interest and a law
was passed, requiring every publication to register the name of its
proprietor; in the case of corporate ownerships the names of the
shareholders had to be filed and the actual owners of stock held in
trust had to be named also. This information had to be printed in
every issue and the penalties for suppression or falsification were
drastic.

No such law was passed in Canada, although the reflection of the
situation in the United States cast high lights and shadows across the
northern boundary. Partizan politics were rife in Canada and too often
have party "organs" and "subsidies" dampered down the fires of
independence in the past. A few journals, however, even in the days
before the great changes of the War, placed a jealous guard upon their
absolute freedom from trammelling influences and to-day they reap the
reward of public confidence.

While not a newspaper, the _Grain Growers' Guide_ was a highly
specialized journal for the Western farmer, aiming frankly at educating
him to be the owner of his land, his produce, his self-res