Benjamin Orange Flower (October 19, 1858 – December 24, 1918), known most commonly by his initials "B.O.", was an American muckraking journalist of the Progressive era. Flower is best remembered as the editor of the liberal commentary magazine ''

The Arena An arena is an enclosed area that showcases theatre, musical performances or sporting events. Arena, ARENA, or the Arena may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions * Arena, Saskatchewan, Canada * Arena, Iran * Arena, Calabria, Italy * La ...

,'' published in Boston, New York City, and Trenton, New Jersey by the

Arena Publishing Co. Arena Publishing Company was an American book and magazine publishing firm of the late 19th century, founded by author and editor B. O. Flower. Company history Headquartered in Copley Square in Boston, the firm specialized in fiction and non-fi ...

from 1889 until 1909.

Biography

Early life and education

Benjamin Orange Flower was born in

Albion, Illinois Albion is a city in and the county seat of Edwards County, Illinois, Edwards County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,971 at the 2020 census. The city was named "Albion" after an ancient and poetic reference to the island of Great Bri ...

, on October 19, 1858, the son of Alfred Flower, a

Disciples of Christ The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The denomination started with the Restoration Movement during the Second Great Awakening, first existing during the 19th ...

minister, and his wife Elizabeth, née Orange.Ralph E. Luker
"Benjamin Orange Flower,"
''American National Biography Online,'' Feb. 2000. His grandfather George Flower had emigrated from England with his friend

Morris Birkbeck Morris Birkbeck (January 23, 1764 – June 4, 1825) was an English agricultural innovator, author/publicist, anti-slavery campaigner and early 19th-century pioneer in southern Illinois, in the United States. With George Flower he founded the Engl ...

after speaking with Edward Coles, and with their followers founded the

English settlement ''English Settlement'' is the fifth studio album and first double album by the English rock band XTC, released 12 February 1982 on Virgin Records. It marked a turn towards the more pastoral pop songs that would dominate later XTC releases, wit ...

in the

Illinois Territory The Territory of Illinois was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 1, 1809, until December 3, 1818, when the southern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Illinois. Its ca ...

. Benjamin Flower was first educated in a religious school in Albion before moving with his family to Evansville, Indiana, where he attended the public high school. Following his high school graduation, Flower wished to become a Protestant minister, like his father and an older brother before him. He thus began studies at the Disciples of Christ's School of the Bible at Transylvania University in Lexington. Flower's religious and philosophical views evolved, however. He embraced Unitarianism and abandoned his religious career.Edd Applegate, "Benjamin Orange Flower (1858–1918)," in ''Muckrakers: A Biographical Dictionary of Writers and Editors.'' Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2008; pp. 58-60.

Early career

After college, Flower returned to Albion where he launched a short-lived journal, the ''Albion American Sentinel,'' which was terminated in 1880.Robert L. Gale (ed.), ''The Gay Nineties in America: A Cultural Dictionary of the 1890s.'' Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992; pp. 127-128. He then moved to Philadelphia, where he worked for a time as a secretary for his brother, a physician who operated a successful mail-order business. In September 1886, B.O. Flower married Hattie Cloud of Evansville, Indiana.Richard Herndon with Edwin N. Bacon (eds.)
''Men of Progress: One Thousand Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Leaders in Business and Professional Life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.''
Boston: New England Magazine, 1896; pg. 131. Tragically, not long after their marriage his wife was stricken with

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

which forced her permanent institutionalization.

''The Arena''

In 1886, Flower's brother opened a sanatorium in Boston and moved there with him. At this time, Flower returned to the world of publishing, launching a new literary magazine called ''The American Spectator.'' This venture proved successful, achieving a circulation of more than 10,000 copies within three years. In December 1889, Flower merged this publication into a new social reform magazine he launched called ''

.'' Flower was an advocate of bolstering public morality as a means of social improvement. In 1893, he proposed the establishment of a "League of Love" or "Federation of Justice" to better mobilize progressive-minded individuals for the betterment of humanity. This effort led to the formation of a new organization called the

Union for Practical Progress Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, which attempted to establish itself on a national basis through the organization of local clubs.Regier, ''The Era of the Muckrakers,'' pg. 30. Local groups such as the

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

Union for Public Good received favorable coverage of their activities and publicity in ''The Arena.'' This effort failed to achieve critical mass and soon failed, however. ''The Arena'' was an eclectic magazine, its pages open to writers of a wide range of ideological perspectives, ranging from advocates of cooperatives and populists to

philosophical anarchists Philosophical anarchism is an anarchist school of thought which focuses on intellectual criticism of authority, especially political power, and the legitimacy of governments. The American anarchist and socialist Benjamin Tucker coined the term '' ...

, socialists, and devotees of Henry George and the Single Tax. Uniting it all was Flower's evolutionary rather than revolutionary view of social change and his deep-seated faith in the perfectibility of mankind through enlightenment about the world and reasoned response to its problems. Flower advocated for kindergartens, libraries, and improved housing. He criticized ostentatious, costly, and encumbering women's clothing, "materialistic commercialism," and the wealthy class which monopolized society's economic resources. The magazine consistently advocated for

initiative and referendum Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are represen ...

, for prison reform, against capital punishment, and for the prohibition of alcohol. Multiple articles were dedicated to women's suffrage, reform of divorce law, the relationship between poverty and crime, and race relations between the white and black populations of the United States. New-Time-cover-Dec1897

Long an advocate of

free silver Free silver was a major economic policy issue in the United States in the late 19th-century. Its advocates were in favor of an expansionary monetary policy featuring the unlimited coinage of silver into money on-demand, as opposed to strict adhe ...

and currency reform, Flower came out strongly for the candidacy of William Jennings Bryan during the heated United States presidential election of 1896. Flower portrayed Bryan as the defender of freedom, prosperity, and the Republic. Flower urged ''Arena'' readers to support Bryan as the last best chance to stave off encroaching plutocracy in America. The year 1896 marked the end of Flower's first stint at the helm of ''The Arena,'' with the magazine being transferred to the editorship of historian John Clark Ridpath and the writer

Helen Hamilton Gardener Helen Hamilton Gardener (1853–1925), born Alice Chenoweth, was an American author, rationalist public intellectual, political activist, and government functionary. Gardener produced many lectures, articles, and books during the 1880s and 1890s ...

. Under its new editors, Flower's magazine continued to pursue the same political and ethical mission originally envisioned by its founder. Flower continued to contribute articles to the journal regularly throughout the subsequent interval. From the latter part of the 1890s and into the first decade of the 20th century, Flower was associated with a number of radical reform magazines. He was the co-editor of former Unitarian Charles H. Kerr's Chicago magazine ''The New Time'' — a forerunner of '' International Socialist Review'' — from 1897 to 1898, working with

Frederick Upham Adams Frederick Upham Adams (December 10, 1859 – August 28, 1921) was an American inventor, writer, editor, and political organizer. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of an American Civil War veteran and mechanical engineer. He died on A ...

. He then edited the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

-based magazine ''The Coming Age,'' moving it to Boston where it merged with ''The Arena'' in 1900. ''The Arena'' was sold in 1903 to Charles A. Montgomery, a short-lived ownership situation which abruptly ended in 1904 with the magazine's sale to book publisher Albert Brandt. Upon purchasing the magazine, Brandt immediately brought back Flower as Editor-in-Chief of the publication that the latter had founded fifteen years before. Flower would remain in this position until the journal went bankrupt in 1909.

Political philosophy

As has been noted by the historian Louis Filler, B.O. Flower did not consider himself a socialist.Louis Filler, ''The Muckrakers.'' Second Edition. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1993; pg. 40. Flower believed that the body of socialist ideas was thoroughly utopian and unachievable, and that revolution would result only in chaos and destruction. Instead, Flower advocated for a "neo-Christianity" based upon the re-establishment of personal character, and the rejection of greed and inequality and its propagation by self-interested men of wealth and their political adjutants. Direct democracy was seen by Flower as the path to spreading freedom and opportunity to the greatest number of Americans. Social ills were not to be dismissed or ignored however, Flower believed, but rather were matters to be addressed forthrightly, with a broad range of opinions solicited in the process of bringing about their rational solution. Monopolies and monied interests promoting the sale and use of alcohol were seen as impediments to the morally based rectification of fundamental problems.

Christian Science

One particularly heated topic during the first decade of the 1900s was

Christian Science Christian Science is a set of beliefs and practices associated with members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Adherents are commonly known as Christian Scientists or students of Christian Science, and the church is sometimes informally know ...

, a Christian religious movement founded by Mary Baker Eddy, which had come under attack in a lengthy series of exposés in '' McClure's Magazine'' in 1907. Flower spoke in defense of the Christian Science movement, charging that the Christian Scientists were the objects of a "persistent campaign of falsehood, slander and calumny." Further moved by his self-proclaimed love of "fair play and all things that make for a nobler and purer life," Flower would publish ''Christian Science As a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent'', a book defending Christian Scientist practice in 1910, though he was not himself personally an adherent of the sect. Although initially a skeptic, Flower made note of

anecdotal evidence Anecdotal evidence is evidence based only on personal observation, collected in a casual or non-systematic manner. The term is sometimes used in a legal context to describe certain kinds of testimony which are uncorroborated by objective, independ ...

of cases of illness cured through

-based treatment, which had baffled the medical practitioners of the day. Flower thus lent support to this growing Christian Science movement.

Later years, death, and legacy

Following the termination of ''The Arena,'' Flower launched a new publication in Boston dedicated to social reform called ''Twentieth-Century Magazine.'' This magazine proved short-lived, terminating in 1911. B.O. Flower died on December 24, 1918. He was 60 years old at the time of his death. Although Flower or his heirs destroyed many of his personal papers, some (mostly articles for publication) are with his family's papers at Knox College in Illinois. Flower was posthumously recognized for his leading place among the muckraking journalists of the Progressive era. In 1932, historian C. C. Regier remembered him as a man who "somewhat naively...believed that if people would but see the evil effects of their acts they would themselves mend their ways", a philosophy which led to upbeat and optimistic editorial tone in Flower's work.Regier, ''The Era of the Muckrakers,'' pg. 18. Flower was also recalled as one who was "sensitive to beauty in any form, loved painting, sculpture, and literature, and always kept flowers in his office."

Works

''Fashion's Slaves.''
Boston: Arena Publishing Co., 1892.
''Civilization's Inferno; or, Studies in the Social Cellar.''
Boston: Arena Publishing Co., 1893.
''Gerald Massey: Poet, Prophet, and Mystic.''
Boston: Arena Publishing Co., 1895.
''Whittier: Prophet, Seer and Man.''
Boston: Arena Publishing Co., 1896.
''The Century of Sir Thomas More.''
Boston: Arena Publishing Co., 1896.
''Persons, Places and Ideas: Miscellaneous Essays.''
Boston: Arena Publishing Co., 1896.
''How England Averted a Revolution of Force: A Survey of the Social Agitation of the First Ten Years of Queen Victoria's Reign.''
Trenton, NJ: Albert Brandt, 1903. * ''In Defense of Free Speech: Five Essays from the Arena.'' New York: The Free Speech League, 1908.
''How England Averted a Revolution of Force: A Survey of the Social Agitation of the First Ten Years of Queen Victoria's Reign.''
Trenton, NJ: Albert Brandt, Publisher, 1909.
''Christian Science as a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent.''
Boston: Twentieth Century Co., 1910. * ''The Bubonic Plague.'' New York: National League for Medical Freedom, 1910.
''Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-Five Years.''
Boston: The Arena, 1914.
''Righting the People's Wrongs: A Lesson from History of Our Own Times.''
Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing Co., 1917.

Footnotes

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flower, Benjamin Orange 1858 births 1918 deaths American male journalists American magazine editors People from Albion, Illinois Transylvania University alumni Progressive Era in the United States Christian Science Unitarian Universalists Writers from Boston Writers from Illinois Journalists from Illinois American Unitarians