ironic smile._

Yes.

GROSVENOR

[_Excitedly._

What?

CONROY

[_Deliberately._

Are you sure?

GROSVENOR

How can you be sure?

POLLEN

I have two reasons. One, because the biggest banker in the country told
me so. That's unimportant. He may have been lying. The other, because--

[_He smiles quietly._

my papers tell me so.

[_He picks up one of the papers off the floor._

I see you have been honoring me by reading them. Don't my papers tell
you that there's going to be war?

CONROY

No one pretends, Pollen, that your papers are wonders of undecorated
truth.

POLLEN

Well, this time, trust them. What if they do lie about facts
occasionally? I am not interested in facts. Facts are always misleading.
But I know something about psychology--

CONROY

And you're sure?

GROSVENOR

How can you be sure?

POLLEN

[_Standing at the window._

Because the people are smelling blood. That's why. And now they won't
let up till they're satisfied. I've watched the war-feeling growing for
a year. I tried 'em out on headlines and editorials, first little mild
fellows to set them thinking. Then, when their thoughts were set toward
trouble, well, we increased the percentage of oxygen.

[_Thoughtfully._

It's been extremely interesting. The psychology of crowds is one of the
most satisfying subjects I have ever studied. Say, fifteen, twenty
millions, that individually hate you, but as a crowd, a body of readers,
unconsciously, perhaps, even against their will, do exactly what you
say. We're going to have war, because the people have now got to a state
in which they believe that nothing short of war will save them from
utter ruin. They want war. I know it. The circulation of my papers has
mounted by the hundred thousand daily. And it isn't only because the
people want the news. They want the excitement. It's the gambling
instinct in them. They've seen the ball rolling, and they can't keep out
of the game. The very bigness of the thing lures them on; the bigger the
issue, the bigger the fascination. The millions of men and the billions
of dollars--that lures them. And the awfulness--the dead, the wounded,
the horrors, that lures them like nothing else. There was one thing
missing until tonight.

GROSVENOR

[_Fascinated._

What was that?

POLLEN

Fear. They were too cocksure. But I gave them fear in the eight o'clock
extra. There was a rumor that the rest of Europe woul