THE FARMERS' PUBLISHING CO. 109 



he preached what he believed. Since that 

 preaching was to a constituency which formed 

 the backbone of the temperance crusade of the 

 sixties and seventies, and of the Prohibition 

 crusade of a later date, the effect could not be 

 other than disastrous on the circulation of The 

 Weekly Sun. 



The course taken in the "Bystander" column, 

 which vigorously criticized the Boer War, was 

 also unfortunate, so far as the immediate effects 

 on circulation were concerned. But the ultimate 

 result, even from the narrow standpoint of 

 business success was beneficial. Men of 

 opposite view at the time came to respect a 

 man and a journal that had the moral courage 

 to stand up for convictions sincerely and honestly 

 held in the face of popular clamor. It is the 

 belief of many that the stand taken by Goldwin 

 Smith in the Boer War did more, in the end, to 

 establish public confidence in The Weekly Sun 

 than any other one thing in the history of the 

 paper, and proof of the soundness of that view is 

 found in the fact that in a few years lost circula- 

 tion was fully regained. But the victory won 

 entailed very heavy financial sacrifices. In 

 establishing The Weekly Sun in the first place, 

 and in carrying it through the period of trial 

 referred to, Goldwin Smith spent first and last 

 some thirty thousand dollars. That burden was 



