It was a hope, not a performance.

The subjects were commonly suggested by the happenings of the time--an especially outrageous lynching, the trial of a clergyman for heresy, a new attack upon the Monroe Doctrine, the discovery of a new substance such as radium, the publication of an epoch-making book.

Page would then fix upon the inevitable men who could write most readably and most authoritatively upon these topics, and "go after" them.

Sometimes he would write one of his matchless editorial letters; at other times he would make a personal visit; if necessary, he would use any available friends in a wire-pulling campaign.

At all odds he must "get" his man; once he had fixed upon a certain contributor nothing could divert him from the chase.