editor performs his last
function on the last revise without the 'contributor' knowing what is done.
The word _contributor_ is the proper one; it implies that he furnishes
materials without stating what he furnishes or how much of it is accepted,
or whether he be the only contributor. All this applies both to political
and literary journals. No editor acknowledges {16} the right of a
contributor to withdraw an article, if he should find alterations in the
proof sent to him for correction which would make him wish that the article
should not appear. If the _demand_ for suppression were made--I say nothing
about what might be granted to _request_--the answer would be, 'It is not
your article, but mine; I have all the responsibility; if it should contain
a libel, I could not give you up, even at your own desire. You have
furnished me with materials, on the known and common understanding that I
was to use them at my discretion, and you have no right to impede my
operations by making the appearance of the article depend on your
approbation of my use of your materials.'

"There is something to be said for this system, and something against it--I
mean simply on its own merits. But the all-conquering argument in its favor
is, that the only practicable alternative is the modern French plan of no
articles without the signature of the writers. I need not discuss this
plan; there is no collective party in favor of it. Some may think it is not
the only alternative; they have not produced any intermediate proposal in
which any dozen of persons have concurred. Many will say, Is not all this,
though perfectly correct, well known to be matter of form? Is it not
practically the course of events that an engaged contributor writes the
article, and sends it to the editor, who admits it as
written--substantially, at least? And is it not often very well known, by
style and in other ways, who it was wrote the article? This system is
matter of form just as much as loaded pistols are matter of form so long as
the wearer is not assailed; but matter of form takes the form of matter in
the pulling of a trigger, so soon as the need arises. Editors and
contributors who can work together find each other out by elective
affinity, so that the common run of events settles down into most articles
appearing much as they are written. And there are two safety-valves; that
is, when judicious persons come together. In the first place, the editor
himself, when