"We'll be
denounced as a defender of depravity, a foe of purity. They'll thunder away
at us from every pulpit. The other newspapers will take it up, especially
those that expect to sell millions of papers containing accounts of the
'exposure' of the dives and dens."
"That's good. I hope we shall," said Howard cheerfully. "It will advertise
us tremendously."
The three were better pleased than they would have admitted to themselves
by the seeming certainty of Howard's impending undoing.
"No, gentlemen," Howard said, as they were about to go to their rooms for
the day's work. "There's no danger in attacking any hypocrisy. Don't attack
beliefs that are universal or nearly universal--at least not openly. But
don't be afraid of a hypocrisy because it is universal. People know that
they are hypocrites in respect of it. They may not have the courage
publicly to applaud you. But they'll be privately delighted and will admire
your courage. We'll try to be discreet and we'll be careful to be truthful.
And we'll begin by making these gentlemen show themselves up."
The next morning the _News-Record_ published a double-leaded
editorial. It described the importance of improving political and social
conditions in New York; it went on to note the distinguished names on the
committee for the destruction of vice; it closed with the announcement that
on the following day the _News-Record_ would publish the views of
these eminent reformers upon conditions and remedies.
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