allied public effort for victory
by a definite date, for the Committee on Arrangements, despite the
arguments of the weak-kneed among its number, and largely by virtue of
the militant optimism of its chairman, had decided to go on with the
centennial celebration if the city could show a clean bill of health by
August 30, thus giving six weeks' leeway.

Furthermore, it put the "Clarion" in the position of champion of the
city's commercial interests and daily bade defiance to those who
declared the paper an enemy and a traitor to business. In editorials, in
interviews, in educational articles on hygiene and sanitation, in a
course of free lectures covering the whole city and financed by the
paper itself, the "Clarion" carried on the fight with unflagging zeal.
Slowly it began to win back general confidence and much of the
popularity which it had lost. One of its reporters in the course of his
work contracted the fever and barely pulled through alive, thereby
lending a flavor of possible martyrdom to the cause. McGuire Ellis's
desperate fight for life also added to the romantic element which is so
potent an asset with the sentimental American public. Business, however,
still sulked. The defiance to its principles was too flagrant to be
passed over. If the "Clarion" pulled through, the press would lose
respect for the best interests and the vested privileges of commercial
Worthington. Indeed, others of the papers, since the "Clarion's"
declaration of independence, had exhibited a deplorable tendency to
disregard hints hitherto having the authority of absolutism over them.

In withholding advertising patronage from the Surtaine daily, the
business men were not only seeking reprisals, but also following a sound
business principle. For according to information sedulously spread
abroad, it was doubtful whether the "Clarion" would long survive. Elias
M. Pierce's boast that he would put it out of business gained literal
interpretation, as he had intended that it should. Contrary to his
accustomed habit of reticence, he had sought occasion to inform his
friends that he expected verdicts against the libeler of his daughter
which would throw the concern into bankruptcy, and, perhaps, its
proprietor into jail. No advertiser cares to put money into a
publication which may fail next week. Hence, though the circulation of
the "Clarion" went up pretty steadily, the advertising patronage did not
keep pace. Hal found himself hard put to i