ADVENTURES IN ART AND IN CIVICS
The influence of his grandfather and the injunction of his grandmother
to her sons that each "should make the world a better or a more
beautiful place to live in" now began to be manifest in the grandson.
Edward Bok was unconscious that it was this influence. What directly
led him to the signal piece of construction in which he engaged was the
wretched architecture of small houses. As he travelled through the
United States he was appalled by it. Where the houses were not
positively ugly, they were, to him, repellently ornate. Money was
wasted on useless turrets, filigree work, or machine-made
ornamentation. Bok found out that these small householders never
employed an architect, but that the houses were put up by builders from
their own plans.
Bok turned to _The Ladies' Home Journal_ as his medium for making the
small-house architecture of America better. He realized the limitation
of space, but decided to do the best he could under the circumstances.
He believed he might serve thousands of his readers if he could make it
possible for them to secure, at moderate cost, plans for well-designed
houses by the leading domestic architects in the country. He consulted
a number of architects, only to find them unalterably opposed to the
idea. They disliked the publicity of magazine presentation; prices
differed too much in various parts of the country; and they did not
care to risk the criticism of their contemporaries. It was
"cheapening" their profession!
Bok saw that he should have to blaze the way and demonstrate the
futility of these arguments. At last he persuaded one architect to
co-operate with him, and in 1895 began the publication of a series of
houses which could be built, approximately, for from one thousand five
hundred dollars to five thousand dollars. The idea attracted attention
at once, and the architect-author was swamped with letters and
inquiries regarding his plans.
This proved Bok's instinct to be correct as to the public willingness
to accept such designs; upon this proof he succeeded in winning over
two additional architects to make plans. He offered his readers full
building specifications and plans to scale of the houses with estimates
from four builders in different parts of the United States for five
dollars a set. The plans and specifications were so complete in every
detail that any builder could build the house from them.
A storm of criticism now arose from architects and builders all over
the country, the architects claiming that Bok was taking "the bread out
of their mouths" by the sale of plans, and local builders vigorously
questioned the accuracy of the estimates. But Bok knew he was right
and persevered.
Slowly but surely he won the approval of the leading architects, who
saw that he was appealing to a class of house-builders who could not
afford to pay an architect's fee, and that, with his wide circulation,
he might become an influence for better architecture through these
small houses. The sets of plans and specifications sold by the
thousands. It was not long before the magazine was able to present
small-house plans by the foremost architects of the country, whose
services the average householder could otherwise never have dreamed of
securing.
Bok not only saw an opportunity to better the exterior of the small
houses, but he determined that each plan published should provide for
two essentials; every servant's room should have two windows to insure
cross-ventilation, and contain twice the number of cubic feet usually
given to such rooms; and in place of the American parlor, which he
considered a useless room, should be substituted either a living-room
or a library. He did not point to these improvements, every plan
simply presented the larger servant's room and did not present a
parlor. It is a singular fact that of the tens of thousands of plans
sold, not a purchaser ever noticed the absence of a parlor except one
woman in Brookline, Mass., who, in erecting a group of twenty-five
"_Journal_ houses," discovered after she had built ten that not one
contained a parlor!
For nearly twenty-five years Bok continued to publish pictures of
houses and plans. Entire colonies of "_Ladies' Home Journal_ houses"
have sprung up, and building promoters have built complete suburban
developments with them. How many of these homes have been erected it
is, of course, impossible to say; the number certainly runs into the
thousands.
It was one of the most constructive and far-reaching pieces of work
that Bok did during his editorial career--a fact now recognized by all
architects. Shortly before Stanford White passed away, he wrote: "I
firmly believe that Edward Bok has more completely influenced American
domestic architecture for the better than any man in this generation.
When he began, I was short-sighted enough to discourage him, and
refused to co-operate with him. If Bok came to me now, I would not
only make plans for him, but I would waive any fee for them in
retribution for my early mistake."
Bok then turned to the subject of the garden for the small house, and
the development of the grounds around the homes which he had been
instrumental in putting on the earth. He encountered no opposition
here. The publication of small gardens for small houses finally ran
into hundreds of pages, the magazine supplying planting plans and full
directions as to when and how to plant--this time without cost.
Next the editor decided to see what he could do for the better and
simpler furnishing of the small American home. Here was a field almost
limitless in possible improvement, but he wanted to approach it in a
new way. The best method baffled him until one day he met a woman
friend who told him that she was on her way to a funeral at a friend's
home.
"I didn't know you were so well acquainted with Mrs. S----," said Bok.
"I wasn't, as a matter of fact," replied the woman.
"I'll be perfectly frank; I am going to the funeral just to see how
Mrs. S----'s house is furnished. She was always thought to have great
taste, you know, and, whether you know it or not, a woman is always
keen to look into another woman's home."
Bok realized that he had found the method of presentation for his
interior-furnishing plan if he could secure photographs of the most
carefully furnished homes in America. He immediately employed the best
available expert, and within six months there came to him an assorted
collection of over a thousand photographs of well-furnished rooms. The
best were selected, and a series of photographic pages called "Inside
of 100 Homes" was begun. The editor's woman friend had correctly
pointed the way to him, for this series won for his magazine the
enviable distinction of being the first magazine of standing to reach
the then marvellous record of a circulation of one million copies a
month. The editions containing the series were sold out as fast as
they could be printed.
The editor followed this up with another successful series, again
pictorial. He realized that to explain good taste in furnishing by
text was almost impossible. So he started a series of all-picture
pages called "Good Taste and Bad Taste." He presented a chair that was
bad in lines and either useless or uncomfortable to sit in, and
explained where and why it was bad; and then put a good chair next to
it, and explained where and why it was good.
The lesson to the eye was simply and directly effective; the pictures
told their story as no printed word could have done, and furniture
manufacturers and dealers all over the country, feeling the pressure
from their customers, began to put on the market the tables, chairs,
divans, bedsteads, and dressing-tables which the magazine was
portraying as examples of good taste. It was amazing that, within five
years, the physical appearance of domestic furniture in the stores
completely changed.
The next undertaking was a systematic plan for improving the pictures
on the walls of the American home. Bok was employing the best artists
of the day: Edwin A. Abbey, Howard Pyle, Charles Dana Gibson, W. L.
Taylor, Albert Lynch, Will H. Low, W. T. Smedley, Irving R. Wiles, and
others. As his magazine was rolled to go through the mails, the
pictures naturally suffered; Bok therefore decided to print a special
edition of each important picture that he published, an edition on
plate-paper, without text, and offered to his readers at ten cents a
copy. Within a year he had sold nearly one hundred thousand copies,
such pictures as W. L. Taylor's "The Hanging of the Crane" and
"Home-Keeping Hearts" being particularly popular.
But all this was simply to lead up to the realization of Bok's
cherished dream; the reproduction, in enormous numbers, of the greatest
pictures in the world in their original colors. The plan, however, was
not for the moment feasible; the cost of the four-color process was at
that time prohibitive, and Bok had to abandon it. But he never lost
sight of it. He knew the hour would come when he could carry it out,
and he bided his time.
It was not until years later that his opportunity came, when he
immediately made up his mind to seize it. The magazine had installed a
battery of four-color presses; the color-work in the periodical was
attracting universal attention, and after all stages of experimentation
had been passed, Bok decided to make his dream a reality. He sought
the co-operation of the owners of the greatest private art galleries in
the country: J. Pierpont Morgan, Henry C. Frick, Joseph E. Widener,
George W. Elkins, John G. Johnson, Charles P. Taft, Mrs. John L.
Gardner, Charles L. Freer, Mrs. Havemeyer, and the owners of the
Benjamin Altman Collection, and sought permission to reproduce their
greatest paintings.
Although each felt doubtful of the ability of any process adequately to
reproduce their masterpieces, the owners heartily co-operated with Bok.
But Bok's co-editors discouraged his plan, since it would involve
endless labor, the exclusive services of a corps of photographers and
engravers, and the employment of the most careful pressmen available in
the United States. The editor realized that the obstacles were
numerous and that the expense would be enormous; but he felt sure that
the American public was ready for his idea. And early in 1912 he
announced his series and began its publication.
The most wonderful Rembrandt, Velasquez, Turner, Hobbema, Van Dyck,
Raphael, Frans Hals, Romney, Gainsborough, Whistler, Corot, Mauve,
Vermeer, Fragonard, Botticelli, and Titian reproductions followed in
such rapid succession as fairly to daze the magazine readers. Four
pictures were given in each number, and the faithfulness of the
reproductions astonished even their owners. The success of the series
was beyond Bok's own best hopes. He was printing and selling one and
three-quarter million copies of each issue of his magazine; and before
he was through he had presented to American homes throughout the
breadth of the country over seventy million reproductions of forty
separate masterpieces of art.
The dream of years had come true.
Bok had begun with the exterior of the small American house and made an
impression upon it; he had brought the love of flowers into the hearts
of thousands of small householders who had never thought they could
have an artistic garden within a small area; he had changed the lines
of furniture, and he had put better art on the walls of these homes.
He had conceived a full-rounded scheme, and he had carried it out.
It was a peculiar satisfaction to Bok that Theodore Roosevelt once
summed up this piece of work in these words: "Bok is the only man I
ever heard of who changed, for the better, the architecture of an
entire nation, and he did it so quickly and yet so effectively that we
didn't know it was begun before it was finished. That is a mighty big
job for one man to have done."
In 1905 and in previous years the casualties resulting from fireworks
on the Fourth of July averaged from five to six thousand each year.
The humorous weekly _Life_ and the _Chicago Tribune_ had been for some
time agitating a restricted use of fireworks on the national fête day,
but nevertheless the list of casualties kept creeping to higher
figures. Bok decided to help by arousing the parents of America, in
whose hands, after all, lay the remedy. He began a series of articles
in the magazine, showing what had happened over a period of years, the
criminality of allowing so many young lives to be snuffed out, and
suggested how parents could help by prohibiting the deadly firecrackers
and cannon, and how organizations could assist by influencing the
passing of city ordinances. Each recurring January, _The Journal_
returned to the subject, looking forward to the coming Fourth. It was
a deep-rooted custom to eradicate, and powerful influences, in the form
of thousands of small storekeepers, were at work upon local officials
to pay no heed to the agitation. Gradually public opinion changed.
The newspapers joined in the cry; women's organizations insisted upon
action from local municipal bodies.
Finally, the civic spirit in Cleveland, Ohio, forced the passage of a
city ordinance prohibiting the sale or use of fireworks on the Fourth.
The following year when Cleveland reported no casualties as compared to
an ugly list for the previous Fourth, a distinct impression was made
upon other cities. Gradually, other municipalities took action, and
year by year the list of Fourth of July casualties grew perceptibly
shorter. New York City was now induced to join the list of prohibitive
cities, by a personal appeal made to its mayor by Bok, and on the
succeeding Fourth of July the city authorities, on behalf of the people
of New York City, conferred a gold medal upon Edward Bok for his
services in connection with the birth of the new Fourth in that city.
There still remains much to be done in cities as yet unawakened; but a
comparison of the list of casualties of 1920 with that of 1905 proves
the growth in enlightened public sentiment in fifteen years to have
been steadily increasing. It is an instance not of Bok taking the
initiative--that had already been taken--but of throwing the whole
force of the magazine with those working in the field to help. It is
the American woman who is primarily responsible for the safe and sane
Fourth, so far as it already exists in this country to-day, and it is
the American woman who can make it universal.
Bok's interest and knowledge in civic matters had now peculiarly
prepared him for a personal adventure into community work. Merion,
where he lived, was one of the most beautiful of the many suburbs that
surround the Quaker City; but, like hundreds of similar communities,
there had been developed in it no civic interest. Some of the most
successful business men of Philadelphia lived in Merion; they had
beautiful estates, which they maintained without regard to expense, but
also without regard to the community as a whole. They were busy men;
they came home tired after a day in the city; they considered
themselves good citizens if they kept their own places sightly, but the
idea of devoting their evenings to the problems of their community had
never occurred to them before the evening when two of Bok's neighbors
called to ask his help in forming a civic association.
A canvass of the sentiment of the neighborhood revealed the unanimous
opinion that the experiment, if attempted, would be a failure,--an
attitude not by any means confined to the residents of Merion! Bok
decided to test it out; he called together twenty of his neighbors, put
the suggestion before them and asked for two thousand dollars as a
start, so that a paid secretary might be engaged, since the men
themselves were too busy to attend to the details of the work. The
amount was immediately subscribed, and in 1913 The Merion Civic
Association applied for a charter and began its existence.
The leading men in the community were elected as a Board of Directors,
and a salaried secretary was engaged to carry out the directions of the
Board. The association adopted the motto: "To be nation right, and
state right, we must first be community right." Three objectives were
selected "with which to attract community interest and membership;
safety to life, in the form of proper police protection; safety to
property, in the form of adequate hydrant and fire-engine service; and
safety to health, in careful supervision of the water and milk used in
the community.
"The three S's," as they were called, brought an immediate response.
They were practical in their appeal, and members began to come in. The
police force was increased from one officer at night and none in the
day, to three at night and two during the day, and to this the
Association added two special night officers of its own. Private
detectives were intermittently brought in to "check up" and see that
the service was vigilant. A fire hydrant was placed within seven
hundred feet of every house, with the insurance rates reduced from
twelve and one-half to thirty per cent; the services of three
fire-engine companies was arranged for. Fire-gongs were introduced
into the community to guard against danger from interruption of
telephone service. The water supply was chemically analyzed each month
and the milk supply carefully scrutinized. One hundred and fifty new
electric-light posts specially designed, and pronounced by experts as
the most beautiful and practical road lamps ever introduced into any
community, were erected, making Merion the best-lighted community in
its vicinity.
At every corner was erected an artistically designed cast-iron road
sign; instead of the unsightly wooden ones, cast-iron automobile
warnings were placed at every dangerous spot; community
bulletin-boards, to supplant the display of notices on trees and poles,
were placed at the railroad station; litter-cans were distributed over
the entire community; a new railroad station and post-office were
secured; the station grounds were laid out as a garden by a landscape
architect; new roads of permanent construction, from curb to curb, were
laid down; uniform tree-planting along the roads was introduced;
bird-houses were made and sold, so as to attract bird-life to the
community; toll-gates were abolished along the two main arteries of
travel; the removal of all telegraph and telephone poles was begun; an
efficient Boy Scout troop was organized, and an American Legion post;
the automobile speed limit was reduced from twenty-four to fifteen
miles as a protection to children; roads were regularly swept, cleaned,
and oiled, and uniform sidewalks advocated and secured.
Within seven years so efficiently had the Association functioned that
its work attracted attention far beyond the immediate neighborhood of
Philadelphia, and caused Theodore Roosevelt voluntarily to select it as
a subject for a special magazine article in which he declared it to
"stand as a model in civic matters." To-day it may be conservatively
said of The Merion Civic Association that it is pointed out as one of
the most successful suburban civic efforts in the country; as Doctor
Lyman Abbott said in _The Outlook_, it has made "Merion a model suburb,
which may standardize ideal suburban life, certainly for Philadelphia,
possibly for the United States."
When the armistice was signed in November, 1918, the Association
immediately canvassed the neighborhood to erect a suitable Tribute
House, as a memorial to the eighty-three Merion boys who had gone into
the Great War: a public building which would comprise a community
centre, with an American Legion Post room, a Boy Scout house, an
auditorium, and a meeting-place for the civic activities of Merion. A
subscription was raised, and plans were already drawn for the Tribute
House, when Mr. Eldridge R. Johnson, president of the Victor Talking
Machine Company, one of the strong supporters of The Merion Civic
Association, presented his entire estate of twelve acres, the finest in
Merion, to the community, and agreed to build a Tribute House at his
own expense. The grounds represented a gift of two hundred thousand
dollars, and the building a gift of two hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. This building, now about to be erected, will be one of the
most beautiful and complete community centres in the United States.
Perhaps no other suburban civic effort proves the efficiency of
community co-operation so well as does the seven years' work of The
Merion Civic Association. It is a practical demonstration of what a
community can do for itself by concerted action. It preached, from the
very start, the gospel of united service; it translated into actual
practice the doctrine of being one's brother's keeper, and it taught
the invaluable habit of collective action. The Association has no
legal powers; it rules solely by persuasion; it accomplishes by the
power of combination; by a spirit of the community for the community.
When The Merion Civic Association was conceived, the spirit of local
pride was seemingly not present in the community. As a matter of fact,
it was there as it is in practically every neighborhood; it was simply
dormant; it had to be awakened, and its value brought vividly to the
community consciousness.