Edward W. Bok

Another torrent of incoherent abuse came forth, but after a while it became apparent that the woman's complaint was that she had sent a dollar for…

It was fully half an hour before Bok could explain to the irate woman that he never remembered receiving a letter from her; that subscriptions,…

The Journal had been calling the attention of its readers to the defacement of the landscape by billboard advertisers. One day on his way to New York…

"There are some of those ugly advertising signs that Mr. Bok says are such a defacement to the landscape. I never noticed them before, but he is…

"Oh, mamma, don't," said the girl. "That man is pampered enough by women. Don't make him worse. Ethel says he is now the vainest man in America."

He smiled, raised his hat, presented his card to the mother, and said: "Excuse me, but I do want to defend myself from that last statement, if I may.…

The strangling hold which the Paris couturiers had secured on the American woman in their absolute dictation as to her fashions in dress, had…

The Journal engaged the best-informed woman in Paris frankly to lay open the situation to the American women; she proved that the designs sent over…

This article was the opening gun of the campaign, and this was quickly followed by a second equally convincing--both articles being written from…

Bok now followed the French models of dresses and millinery to the United States, and soon found that for every genuine Parisian model sold in the…

The editor had now presented a complete case before the women of America as to the character of the Paris-designed fashions and the manner in which…

Meanwhile, he had engaged the most expert designers in the world of women's dress and commissioned them to create American designs. He sent one of…

The editor of The New York Times asked Bok to conduct for that newspaper a prize contest for the best American-designed dresses and hats, and edit…

In his own magazine, Bok published pages of American-designed fashions: their presence in the magazine was advertised far and wide; conventions of…

But there it ended. The women looked the designs over with interest, as they did all designs of new clothes, and paid no further attention to them.…

"You can rail against the Paris domination all you like; you can expose it for the fraud that it is, and we know that it is; but it is all to no…

"Not the least," was the answer, "when it comes to her adornment. What Paris says, she will do, blindly and unintelligently if you will, but she will…

Wherever Bok went, women upon whose judgment he felt he could rely, told him, in effect, the same thing. They were all regretful, in some cases…

And so it proved. For a period, the retail shops were more careful in the number of genuine French models of gowns and hats which they exhibited, and…

Bok's probe into the feminine nature had been keenly disappointing. He had earnestly tried to serve the American woman, and he had failed. But he was…

During his investigations into women's fashions, he had unearthed the origin of the fashionable aigrette, the most desired of all the feathered…

He published a succession of pages showing the frightful cost at which the aigrette was secured. There was no challenging the actual facts as shown…

He waited for results. They came. But they were not those for which he had striven. After four months of his campaign, he learned from the inside…

Bok could not and would not accept these conclusions. It seemed to him incredible that women would go so far as this in the question of personal…

"It will be hard for you to believe," said one of his most trusted woman-friends. "I grant your arguments: there is no gainsaying them. But you are…

"Yes," argued Bok. "But if there is one thing above everything else that we believe a woman feels and understands, it is the mother-instinct. Do…

"I won't say that this does not weigh with a woman. It does, naturally. But when it comes to her possession of an ornament of beauty, as beautiful as…

"Take my own case. You will doubtless be shocked when I tell you that I was perfectly aware of the conditions under which the aigrette is obtained…

But Bok was determined that this time he would not fail. His sense of justice and protection to the mother-bird and her young was now fully aroused.…

Where he had failed with women, he was succeeding with men! The outrageous butchery of the birds and the circumstances under which they were tortured…

The demand for the aigrette constantly increased and rose to hitherto unknown figures. In one State where Bok's measure was pending before the…

This was exactly what Bok had been playing for. The aigrettes were now useless; they could not be reshipped to another State, they could not be…

Bok had won his fight, it is true, but he derived little satisfaction from the character of his victory. His ideal of womanhood had received a severe…

He was aware that his mother's words, when he accepted his editorial position, were coming terribly true: "I am sorry you are going to take this…

He realized that he was paying a high price for his success. Such experiences as these--and, unfortunately, they were only two of several--were…

In 1892 The Ladies' Home Journal announced that it would thereafter accept no advertisements of patent medicines for its pages. It was a pioneer…

Into this army of deceit and spurious medicines, The Ladies' Home Journal fired the first gun. Neither the public nor the patent-medicine people paid…

The magazine attacked the evil from every angle. It aroused the public by showing the actual contents of some of their pet medicines, or the absolute…

"Mrs. Pinkham, in her laboratory at Lynn, Massachusetts, is able to do more for the ailing women of America than the family physician. Any woman,…

Next to this advertisement representing Mrs. Lydia Pinkham as "in her laboratory," Bok simply placed the photograph of Mrs. Pinkham's tombstone in…

The analysis had been furnished by the secretary of the State Board of Health of Massachusetts; a recognized expert, who had taken it from the…

Undaunted, Bok kept on. He now engaged Mark Sullivan, then a young lawyer in downtown New York, induced him to give up his practice, and bring his…

Sullivan next exposed the disgraceful violation of the confidence of women by these nostrum vendors in selling their most confidential letters to any…

Bok had now kept up the fight for over two years, and the results were apparent on every hand. Reputable newspapers and magazines were closing…

The weekly and the monthly now pounded away together; other periodicals and newspapers, seeing success ahead, and desiring to be part of it and share…

Bok began to read on the unsavory subject. It was exceedingly unpleasant reading, but for two years Bok persisted, only to find that Doctor Abbott…

The readers of his magazine fairly gasped; they were dumb with astonishment! The Ladies' Home Journal, of all magazines, to discuss such a subject!…

Thousands of subscriptions were stopped; advertisements gave notice that they would cancel their accounts; the greatest pressure was placed upon Mr.…

But The Journal kept steadily on. Number after number contained some article on the subject, and finally such men and women as Jane Addams,…

This series was known as The Edward Bok Books. They sold for twenty-five cents each, without profit to either editor or publisher. The series sold…

Slowly but surely the subject became a debatable one. Where, when Bok began, the leading prophylactic society in New York could not secure five…

The Ladies' Home Journal published a full-page editorial declaring that seventy of every one hundred special surgical operations on women were…

Letters from men now began to pour in by the hundreds. With an oath on nearly every line, they told him that their wives, daughters, sisters, or…

The tide of public opinion at last turned toward The Ladies' Home Journal and its campaign. Women began to realize that it had a case; that it was…

That was the public drinking-cup. Here was a distinct menace that actual examples and figures showed was spreading the most loathsome diseases…

"I can do nothing," said the President, "unless there is an awakened public sentiment that compels action. Give me that, and I'll either put the…

The next number of his magazine presented a graphic picture of the Horseshoe Falls as they were and the same Falls as they would be if more water was…

The Ladies' Home Journal urged its readers to write to their congressmen and they did by the thousands. Every congressman and senator was overwhelmed…

The power companies, of course, promptly sent their attorneys and lobbyists to Washington; but the public sentiment aroused was too strong to be…

The matter was then referred to the secretary of war, William Howard Taft, to grant the use of such volume of water as would preserve the beauty of…