The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-27
A
Tho RISE Of CYRUS CURTIS FL: f.; GA: :: :: 8: !:

From Printers Ink.
Under this heading Art in Advertise
ing recently published a sketch Of Cy-
rus H. K. Curtis from which the para
graphs that follow are extracted:
Like Franklin, Curtis is a New Eng
lander born and bred Like Franklin,
he came to Philadelphia in hazard Of
new fortunes. From the windows of
his office on Arch street Curtis can look
down on the quiet corner Of Christ
church cemetery, wherein is contained
all that is mortal of Americas most il
luStriouS publisher The hall wherein
the continental congress met and where
the Declaration Of Independence was
signed is within a stones throw of the
same windows, and the whole atmo-
sphere is redolent with the memory Of
the great events with which Benjamin
Franklin was so closely Identified
Across the street is the same dingy old
office occupied at one time by Benjamin
himself; the paper which he published
is still being issued. And the wharf at
the foot Of Market street Where for
many years Curtis took the ferryboat
to his home in Camden was the iden-
teal site on which Franklin landed on
his return from France, where he had
rendered such memorable services to
his country. Such is the environment
which has produced the successor of
Benjamin Franklin.
Cyrus Curtis is a man possibly forty
five years of age For the past ten
years he has enjoyed an income which
must have surpassed his widest
dreams of avarice The ten years pre-
ceding were the crucial years of his life
and witnessed the culminati Of a.
struggle that has rarely been equaled
in the publishing business and seldom
surpassed. In that period he passed
from abject poverty and failure to a
studied Poor Richards Almanack'
and laid it's JUNCTION to his SOUL His
| first venture, the Tribune and Farmer,
! was a rank failure. A column in it,
| written by Mrs. Curtis for the women
folks, was the only thing in it that
| gave signs of vitality. With the failure
| of the Tribune and Farmer Mr.. Curtis
sought an opening wherein his own
| ability as a business manager, coupled
| with his Wife's literary ability could
| be successfully combined. And the re-
| suit was the Ladies' Home Journal 1t
| was originally named the Ladies' Jour
| nal, and being 50-cent paper 1t was de
| rlgueur to call it ladies' and not wom-
| ans. The artist who designed circle
cut for centerpiece,. showing mommer,
| pepper and the baby on the floor, add
| ed the word home as a title to the
| picture. Subscribers, however, read the
whole thing together and called it the
| Ladies' Home Journal. And so it has
| remained ever since
The editorial force comprised at that
| time Mrs. Louise F. Knapp instead of
the present formidable array And
! Knapp was the maiden name of Mrs.
| Curtis. The business department was
! run by the redoubtable Cyrus himself.
The first advertisements of the Ladies'
Home Journal offered asome paper pat
| terms and the Journal for three months
| for the modest sum Of 10 cents The
| position subsequently assumed by Mr..
| Curtis regarding premiums, clubbing
| schemes. ETC., was identically the op-
posite of what he originally practiced.
And his utter contempt Of schemes
| of all sorts of late years is only one of
the surprises in the career of a man
whose life has been full of surprises.
For the Journal in its early days was
the wrsot- case of grab-bag premiums.
But perhaps the most important fac
tor in his life was his association with
the advertising agency Of N W. Aver
& Son. For several years it was stoutly
maintained that Aver owned the Jour-
nal. and, while there is no doubt that
Aver & Son might have become pos
sessed of the property through some