Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/824

 8o8 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

many, Russia, Hungary, and Japan. The theory of the pub- lisher was that the American reading public, while made familiar with the politics, crime, and superficial events of the foreign countries through the daily newspapers, has no means of know- ing the literature of the nations as it grows from month to month. As the Worlds' Fair had spread before American eyes the products of the industrial arts of all peoples, so the Inter- national was to lay before them regularly the typical literary productions of the times. It was printed in regular 7X10 inch covered magazine form, and on supercalendered instead of coated paper, thus giving a medium for exceptional half-tone illustrations.

A successful organizer of an industrial trust, Mr. A. T. H. Brower, was the founder, editor, and publisher of the Inter- national. Mr. Brower had been a prosperous business man in the printing-press and type-founders' trade at Chicago for many years, and in 1892, during the first period of the industrial con- solidations, had been the promoter of the American Type- Founders' Company, which includes all the leading type-found- ing concerns in the country. He was its secretary and manager until 1894, when he retired from active participation in its affairs, though retaining a place on the directorate. As a mature business man of the captain-of-industry type, going into maga- zine-publishing at Chicago, he stands out in contrast with the many young men who, without business experience and capital have undertaken to establish periodicals here. Being well supplied with capital, Mr. Brower went into the venture confident that he was prepared to see it through on a business basis. But his ambition was also spiced with local pride. A man of general culture, born in New York, but proud of his place as a Chi- cagoan, Mr. Brower then said, as he repeats today:

Chicago is called "Porkopolis." But there is as much culture in pro- portion to population here as anywhere. Chicago as well as New York ought to have successful literary magazines.

One experiment after another was tried by him in the deter- mination to make the International successful. An entire year was taken for preliminary preparations for No. I of Vol. I. To