In the fourth year of his ownership he felt that the time had come for the
change, that he could safely slip over to the other side--the side of
wealth and power, the winning side, the side with offices and privileges to
distribute. His debt was so far reduced that he had nothing to fear from
it. A presidential campaign was coming on and was causing unusual
confusion, a general shift of party lines. And he had put the
_News-Record_ in such a position that it could move in any direction
without shock to its readers.
The "great battle" was on--the battle he had in his younger days looked
forward to and longed for--the battle against Privilege and for a
"restoration of government by the people." The candidates were nominated,
the platforms put forward and the issue squarely joined.
The same issue had been involved in previous campaigns; but the statement
of the case by the party opposed to "government of, by and for plutocracy"
had been fantastic, extreme, entangled with social, economic and political
lunacies. And Howard had strengthened the _News-Record_ by refusing to
permit it to "go crazy." Now, however, there was in honesty no reason for
refusing support to the advocates of his professed principles.
But the _News-Record_ was silent.
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