Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/524

 508 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Chicago in 1879, drawn by the centripetal force the city was exerting as the growing metropolis of the West. This was the Western Magazine the third in Chicago to bear that name. It had been established in Omaha three years before. The periodical was of regular magazine form, with two columns of neatly printed matter on each page, and many excellent wood- cuts illustrating mountain scenery and the towns from "British Columbia to the Gulf of Mexico." It was divided into two departments, whose character was told by the following headings : "The Original Department of 'The Western Magazine/ con- taining Select Articles from Our Best Western Writers;" and, "The Eclectic Department of 'The Western Magazine/ contain- ing the Cream of European Literature." Although containing original stories, the leading feature of the "original department" was illustrated articles and historical sketches on the towns of the western states, in the form of travel letters from John H. Pierce, the publisher. One of these referred to Kansas City as "the new Chicago of the West." These articles were accom- panied by local advertisements from the places written up, and thus brought the publisher his principal receipts, which were augmented by subscriptions secured in these towns, at $i a year. Like Chicago's pioneer literary journals, the Western Magazine, while at Omaha, said, May, 1879:

Give a prompt and willing support to the only periodical that illustrates our western country; and in the not far distant future we will furnish a magazine equal in size and variety of attractions to the standard monthlies of the eastern states.

When the Western Magazine came to Chicago, Mrs. Helen Elkin Starrett was engaged to be its editor. Mrs. Starrett, having in her youth contributed to Holland's Springfield Republican, in Massachusetts; having written a volume of poetry; having later edited a newspaper at Lawrence, Kans. ; having written editorials and literary criticisms for Joseph Pulitzer's St. Louis Post-Dispatch; and having been before the public as a lecturer on literary and social topics, particularly in the western states, was regarded as especially well qualified for