THE PEOPLE’S PRESS

Taranaki Daily News, 11 June 1932, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE PEOPLE’S PRESS

THE BRILLIANCE OF BOK

J.F.M.)

(By

A name that was a household word in the United States of America for over 30 years has been mentioned in connection with discussions upon the conditions that make for the ideal reception of music from the bells of a carillon. It has been pointed out that, when the late Mr. Edward Bok presented Florida with its beautiful carillon, he went thoroughly into the whole position and finally chose an isolated hill-top well away from traffic noises for the location of the tower. This thoroughness was typical of the whole life of the man and, in view of the fact that most of the newspapers of this country carry features that he introduced into journalism, a brief survey of his career should be of more than ordinary interest. Bok was one of those rare men who, born in one country, achieve distinction through natural genius by the medium of the language of another country. He was not a Pole like Joseph Conrad, but one of the sons of a family of the Netherlands, and the country whose language and ideals he adopted was not Britain, but the United States. Born at Holder in 1863, he was taken to his new country in 1870 and, as a little Dutch boy unable to make himself understood or to know what other persons were talking of, he was immediately plunged into school life. His education was so limited as to be almost negligible, and yet he was destined to write for a period of years to the largest body of readers ever addressed by an American editor —the circulation of the magazine he edited running into figures previously unheard of in periodical literature. From an assistant’s position in a bakery he graduated to a stenographer’s stool in the office of a telegraph company and later to two publishing companies in the same position. By this time he was on friendly terms with America’s foremost literary men of the day, the medium in this case being his collection of "personality letters.” In 1882, the year in which he joined the second publishing firm, Charles Scribner’s Sons, he became the editor of a small magazine, the organ of a society comprised of young men connected with the Plymouth Church. He was fortunate in procuring articles of significance from his friends in the worlds of politics and letters, and these he used, free of cost, in his magazine with the result that it soon advanced in reputation and circulation. 'Shortly after this time he conceived the idea of founding a syndicate for the supply of feature articles similar to those he had used in the magazine, to a group of papers, one in each city, for simultaneous publication. This venture met with almost instantaneous success, and resulted in the first appearance of one of the features, now used in our papers, for which Bok was responsible —the Women’s Page. He became interested in the fact that tne American woman was not a newspaper reader, and soon reached the conclusion that this was due in part to the absence of any disti.net material for women to read. He experimented and then laid under contribution all the famous women writers of the day; and the Women’s Page was introduced. The material supplied was of the best, and a high standard was maintained. Women bought the. papers containing the new page, and advertisers began to feel the presence of the new reader. Every paper that could not get the rights for the new page started a similar feature of its own, but the material obtained was of an inferior standard to the syndicate copy, for no single newspaper, could afford to pay what the syndicate, with 160 papers to share the expense, could pay. Thus, almost at birth, began the abuse of the new feature. “Bok’s Literary Leaves,” containing wider information regarding books of the day, was another of his syndicate successes. In the meantime he had retained his position with Charles Scribner’s iSons, and had risen to an executive position which not only,kept him in touch with all the leading authors of the day, but also acquainted him with the arts and advantages of advertising. It was in 1889 that he was approached by Cyrus K. Curtis, the ‘proprietor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, and offered the position of editor, hitherto held by Mrs. Curtis under her maiden name, Louisa Knapp. A solid foundation of principle and policy had been laid, and the magazine had then reached the not inconsiderable circulation of 440,000 copies a month. Bok, realising that the editor was the pivot upon which the success of a magazine depended, considered the question of his future policy very deeply before he accepted. He adopted the simple psychology that, if a magazine were to come down to the level which its public set, the public would immediately leave, for it always expected its leaders to keep a step ahead. It was upon this, that he based those authoritative services for women by which the Ladies’ Home Journal became famous. “Side Talks With Girls,” “Heart to Heart Talks” for the more mature woman, and the questions and answers department for young mothers were three.features he introduced that swelled the'circulation enormously, not so much by reason of the amount of this correspondence that was answered through the columns of the magazine, as by the efficient service of experts he maintained for that purpose behind the printed page. It was the building of this comprehensive personal service in the background of the magazine that gave it the secure hold it gained'upon its clientele. With all this accomplished, Bok remembered a message given to all his family from his old grandmother: “Make you the world a bit more better and beautiful because you have been in it.” r And he turned his magazine into the medium for the improvement of the small-house architecture of America. He began the work that made it possible for thousands of his readers to secure, at moderate cost, plans for well-designed houses by the leading architects of the day. This accomplished, he set about the general adoption of better interior furnishings and prettier gardens. The cleaning up of unsightly spots in different towns was the subject of another great campaign that was attended by success only after considerable abuse. The refusal of the Journal to accept patent medicine advertisements was the opening shot in the fight against over-much self-medica-tion. The most strenuous battle he staged was against the reticence of parI ents with children regarding the mystery of life, and the evil of its attendant results through the spread of disease. After useful war work, Bok relinquished his editorship in 19.19 with the I circulation in the vicinity of the two [million mark.