IS YOUR MAGAZINE PROGRESSIVE?
Kittle, William
Is Your Magazine Progressive? By WILLIAM KITTLE THE EDITORIALS and articles in fourteen magazines from January 1, 1910, to January 1, 1912, have been carefully examined with reference to their...
...The Independent is another magazine which has published more articles for, than against the progressive measures, but this periodical, like the Review of Reviews, is conservative...
...Only 52 were published in opposition to that movement...
...On August 19, 1911, appeared an editorial on "The Folly of the Recall...
...and one week after that, an article by Mr...
...Mr...
...Its editorials have been brief, but uniformly on the side of real democracy...
...Far from it...
...McClure's Magazine is another example of a great magazine which might have continued to lead in the cause of the common people...
...The Striking Force of the Magazines EXPERTS on the relative efficiency of the navies of the world say that the striking force of a navy depends upon the number, displacement and speed of the battleships, the personnel of the officers and men and the organization and relative proportion of the constituent fighting units...
...The "Comments on Congress" by Mark Sullivan have laid bare the sources of power and corruption...
...In one of these, on June 25, 1910, Mr...
...The "Roll Call" is a special feature of this magazine, giving a brief statement' of the actual voting record of many members of Congress...
...A large number of articles have ably taken the side of the public interests...
...The editorials do not disclose even a clear conception of the movement which has awakened the hopes of millions of people...
...Fifteen years ago, the thirteen-inch gun was fired once in three minutes while at the present time, it hurls two shots per minute, giving six times the striking efficiency...
...The Twentieth Century Magazine ranks third in the number of its articles and editorials in favor of the progressive movement...
...It may be fairer to both magazines to state that they do not recognize the issue raised by the progressives...
...Its editors have been zealous in the cause of good government and they have secured as contributors a number of progressive members of Congress...
...La Follette's is taken by a large number of public men and its influence is felt in many states...
...A single series of articles in a magazine with a circulation of a hundred thousand copies a month, may strike a harder blow at the control of government by Big Business than all the brief editorials and articles in a periodical which has a circulation of a million copies...
...Roosevelt declared that "The elimination of special privilege must be accomplished gradually...
...There no longer appeared the class of great articles which had made the magazine famous and which had made progressive public opinion...
...No clear and well defined stand has been taken...
...They disclose caution and reserve in the contest between public and special interests...
...A week later, an editorial practically took the side of the Steel Trust...
...Abbott writes: "The Southern states have in this respect set an example which it would be well, if it were possible, for all the states to follow...
...The North American Review is frankly conservative...
...Counting the Blows THE FOLLOWING TABLES (printed on page 12 of this magazine) show at a glance the number of editorials and articles for and against the progressive movement for the years 1910 and 1911...
...Soon, it was changed in form and appearance as well as in ownership and policy...
...Others have published articles on both sides and taken no stand in the contest...
...In plain terms, the chief editor of the Outlook does not believe in universal manhood suffrage, and he is still more explicit against woman suffrage...
...have been irritating in turn, perhaps deliberately so...
...Week after week, and month after month, more than a million readers were informed of the real forces back of Ballinger...
...In effectiveness and in loyalty to the interests of the common people of America, the following magazines stand foremost: 1. La Follette's Weekly Magazine...
...Roosevelt on August 19, 1911 defended his action as President in allowing the merger of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Co...
...The efficiency of the magazines in striking at abuses, at monopoly, at special privilege and the control of government by corrupt forces, is measured by the number and circulation of the magazine, by the personnel of the owners, managers, editors and writers and by the total output of all the editorials and articles...
...But for the last two and one half years, this magazine has published very few articles which could give any offense to "The System...
...It also has the value of being the only periodical published by a United States Senator who knows at close range the real forces back of the government at Washington...
...The series of articles by Senator La Follette has arrested the attention of every public man in America...
...What Zola did in the Dreyfus case in France, Collier's Weekly has done in the Ballinger case in America...
...But in the summer of 1911, the magazine changed ownership and a little later, its output of editorials and articles showed a marked change in its policy towards the progressive movement...
...The series of articles on "The Beast and the Jungle," by Judge Lindsey, showed exactly what Senator La Follette's articles have disclosed,—the corrupt connection between Big Business and government...
...But the Outlook cannot be in sympathy with the real and vital force back of the progressive movement,—the genuine spirit of democracy, which demands, not a government by the best, but rather, a government of, by and for the common people...
...with the Steel Trust in 1907...
...An article by Mr...
...A close examination of the editorials shows a most cautious policy on most of the phases of the progressive movement...
...Its editorials do not show any clear vision of the new, widespread democratic movement...
...On the contrary, almost all of its editorials and articles have supported the progressive measures...
...Some of these magazines have had no part in the inspiring struggle for economic and political freedom...
...But this does not prove that these magazines were all progressive...
...Turn to these tables and count the blows, either for or against the progressive cause, that have been struck by each of the magazines listed...
...It has secured such writers as Judge Ben Lindsey, Lincoln Steffens, Henry Beach Needham, R. W. Child, John L. Matthews and Frederic C. Howe...
...The Outlook is guardedly progressive...
...Roosevelt, stated that the recent suits against the Steel Trust demonstrated the need of LA FOLLETTE'S a bureau of corporations...
...By their fruits we shall know them...
...3. The American Magazine...
...An examination of the 104 issues in 1910 and 1911 shows a large number of monographs involving careful research work...
...Its articles are most carefully prepared by writers of national reputation, like Ray Stannard Baker, William Allen White and Ida Tarbell...
...The Atlantic Monthly is primarily a literary magazine and does not seem to have any editorial policy on public questions...
...Still others have delivered a limited number of sledgehammer blows against the menace of privilege...
...8. The World's Work...
...A series of articles on "The Spirit of Democracy" by the chief editor, Mr...
...5. Everybody's Magazine...
...An editorial on November 4, 1911, criticised President Taft for prosecuting the Steel Trust...
...The American Magazine is one of the reliable periodicals which has rendered the most valuable public service...
...The Public, edited by Louis Post and The Commoner, edited by William J. Bryan, stand for fundamental democracy...
...Abbott approves of the tendency from universal to limited suffrage, and says that, "That recent adoption of the Australian ballot system, of careful registration and of greater care in the naturalization of foreigners, has its secret cause in the recognized peril of unqualified suffrage...
...Collier's Weekly is most nearly our great national magazine, owing to its immense circulation and to its fearless editorials and articles...
...More than 90 per cent...
...In his article of September 10, 1910, on "Who Should Govern...
...By WILLIAM KITTLE THE EDITORIALS and articles in fourteen magazines from January 1, 1910, to January 1, 1912, have been carefully examined with reference to their representation of the progressive movement in the United States...
...A few have kept up an incessant attack on all forms of special privilege, have fought the good fight and have kept the faith...
...And yet, it would be entirely wrong to conclude that the Outlook is opposed to the progressive movement...
...Many of them have adopted in their constitutions a qualified suffrage...
...Their output is the best test of these periodicals...
...On January 28, 1911, an article by Mr...
...An editorial on January 29, 1910, referred to the progressive United States Senators as "reckless agitators among the insurgents...
...An editorial on December 23, 1911, speaks highly of George W. Perkins, the former partner of J. P. Morgan and now the ardent supporter of Mr...
...The Saturday Evening Post has aided the progressive cause by its general favorable attitude and by its circulation of more than one and one-half million copies each week...
...Greater skill in target practice with the heavy twelve and thirteen inch guns has extended the fighting range from 2,000 to 4,000 yards in the year 1898 to 10,000 to 12,000 yards in 1912...
...This magazine is a distinct force for the very-best in American public life...
...Since the Spanish-American war, greater skill in firing and reliability in the engines have increased the speed of the navy more than 25 per cent...
...Some have been colorless and published as though in a cloister...
...For six years, prior to July, 1909, about eight carefully written articles were published each year giving'publicity to various forms of special privilege...
...The Progressive Magazines LA FOLLETTE'S Weekly Magazine leads all others in the number and variety of its progressive editorials and articles...
...The World's Work is a progressive magazine...
...The Review of Reviews has published more articles for, than against the progressive movement, but this does not prove that this magazine is progressive...
...Lyman Abbott, shows a deep distrust of popular government by the great masses of the voters...
...The Other Magazines THE Hampton Magazine was at one time a tower of strength to the Progressive cause...
...During the two years of 1910-11, 826 editorials and articles appeared in these fourteen magazines in favor of some phase of the progressive movement...
...During all of 1909, 1910 and the first half of 1911, more than forty-two ably written articles showed the menace of special privilege...
...An editorial on February 18, 1911, stated that the Outlook "cannot declare for the Initiative, Referendum and Recall" as they are only as yet, but "promising experiments...
...4. The Twentieth Century Magazine...
...Collier's and La Follette's, by driving Ballinger from the Cabinet, protected the vast interests of the American people in the mineral and timber wealth of Alaska...
...On April 23, 1910, an editorial stated: "The Outlook holds no brief for the Insurgents...
...Everybody's Magazine nas rendered excellent public service...
...of all the progressive editorials and articles came out in ten of the magazines, and even these ten differed widely in effective work in the contest between special privilege and public interests...
...2. Collier's, The National Weekly...
...Some of them, irritated by the attack upon them by the President's Winona speech...
...Roosevelt for the presidency...
...7. The Saturday Evening Post...
...6. The Outlook...
...Every editorial takes the progressive side, and the editor has declared in favor of the movement in general, for conservation, for pure food legislation and for the initiative, referendum and the recall...
...This magazine can no longer be regarded as a factor in making public opinion for the progressive movement...
Vol. 4 • July 1912 • No. 30
