It was too near the truth." "I don't see what you are going to do," commented Mary.

"So long as men are not afraid to sell their souls, there will always be a Devil's market for them." Greyson did not so much mind there being a Devil's market, provided he could be assured of an honest market alongside, so that a man could take his choice.

What he feared was the Devil's steady encroachment, that could only end by the closing of the independent market altogether.

His remedy was the introduction of the American trust law, forbidding any one man being interested in more than a limited number of journals.
"But what's the difference," demanded Joan, "between a man owning one paper with a circulation of, say, six millions; or owning six with a circulation of a million apiece?
By concentrating all his energies on one, a man with Carleton's organizing genius might easily establish a single journal that would cover the whole field." "Just all the difference," answered Greyson, "between Pooh Bah as Chancellor of the Exchequer, or Lord High Admiral, or Chief Executioner, whichever he preferred to be, and Pooh Bah as all the Officers of State rolled into one.

Pooh Bah may be a very able statesman, entitled to exert his legitimate influence.