The most important result of the Star’s article was that it was copied, more or less fully, by other papers throughout the country, owing to Congressman Baldwin’s prominence as a public man. A strike in his mills is not a good asset for a Congressman, and David Baldwin telegraphed his brother, from Washington, to grant the rag-cutters’ demands immediately. Zechariah Baldwin reluctantly complied with the order sent by wire.
The Honorable Zechariah Baldwin appeared, a very angry man, at the office of the Star.
“I want you to discharge that Wycliff,� was his first greeting to Mr. Terry, the proprietor.
“How long have you owned this office, that you assume to run my business?� rejoined Mr. Terry.
“But you know that we’re not used to being treated as the Star treated us yesterday,� protested the paper-manufacturer.
“Then the best thing that you can do is to get used to it,� retorted the publisher, who was now beginning to get angry on his own account. “You’ve been treated as if you were superior beings, but you are no better than other people. I have been suppressing the truth about you millionaires for years, and losing thousands of dollars by doing so. I might have sold thousands of copies of the Star, in Papyrus and throughout the county, had I not truckled to you Baldwins, like a dog, instead of being a man. Hereafter the truth is to be published about you, just the same as about other folks, and Wycliff is under contract to do it for a year. He is recommended as being entirely competent to deal with such cases as yours. Perhaps I shall go out and tell you how to run your mills. There’s the door, Zack Baldwin,� and the proprietor of the Star, now thoroughly angry, motioned the millionaire out.
But the lord of Papyrus, although more surprised than he had been before in years, was not to be thus easily thwarted.
“What will you take for your newspaper—for the entire plant?� he asked, in a more conciliatory tone.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars,� replied the publisher, immediately, naming a price so far beyond its true value that he felt sure it would be declined.
“A pretty steep price, isn’t it?� asked Baldwin.