battle against the Whigs, Dryer, and a good many of the men who had put up the initial money for the paper he now controlled. Possibly by mutual consent, more likely from an intuitive desire on Dryer's part not to admit he had made a mistake in giving birth to a Democratic monster and on Wiley's part a desire to forget he started as a Whig employer, the "Barrier" both men pulled off in Northwest journalism was forgotten. Silent McElroy, who saved the paper for both men, finally had the last word'. . . simply by preserving the letters and documents he never expected to see published.