The Torch Bearer | Page 7

L. Blackwell, Alice Stone Blackwell, Grace A. Johnson Upper
row Maud Wood Park, Agnes E. Ryan]

In this connection a suffragist can scarcely help coveting for her paper
the circulation which the various women's magazines of fashion have
attained. The thought leads almost inevitably to the question, How did
they get their large circulation?
Now whenever there is large use made of any article under the sun, the
reasons for its extensive use simmer down to three; First, the article
must be something that practically everybody needs; Second, the
marketers of the article must spend a lot of money in advertising the
article and making the public think it wants it; or, Third, the article

must carry with it some great interest and attraction that makes people
want it.
The first kind of article is usually one of the necessities of life. The
second is in a greater or less degree usually one of the comforts of life.
The third kind is neither a matter of physical necessity nor of physical
comfort; it is usually something that feeds the mind, diverts the mind,
or kindles the emotions. Obviously the manufacturer of the third kind
of article must mind his P's and Q's or he will not sell his product at all.
Newspapers, periodicals, and magazines, of course, come under the
third class. Now while a good daily paper and a good weekly review of
events have become almost necessities for the mass of mankind, a
propaganda paper is neither a necessity nor a physical comfort, and for
its circulation it must depend to a great extent for financial support on
making itself so interesting and attractive that a larger number of
people than the already converted, the reformers, will want it.
How then shall a propaganda paper make itself so interesting and
attractive that those outside its fold will want it and want it badly
enough to pay for it and read it--when there are so many attractive and
interesting publications to read in busy days?
The problem solves itself if the paper records news of vitality, of
heroism, of martyrdom, of stinging injustice in connection with
everyday life,--if the doings within the movement are vital and
challenging and kindle the imagination.
[Illustration: Mrs. Fredrikke S. Palmer, Staff Artist]
One of the biggest "strikes" in the recent history of the Woman's
Journal has been the addition of Mrs. Palmer to the staff. Her drawings,
contributed gratis, have attracted country-wide attention, because of
their artistic quality. Mrs. Palmer studied art in Christiania, Norway,
and is the wife of Prof. A.H. Palmer, of Yale University.
[Illustration: Mrs. Oakes Ames, Staff Artist]
One of Mrs. Ames's cartoons brought down the disapprobation of
Ex-President Taft but the approbation of a great many suffragists. Mrs.
Ames is treasurer of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association
and wife of the director of the Botanic Garden of Harvard University.
But women's lives are full of just such vitally interesting matters. There
are such glaring cases of inequality before the law, such abuses and
atrocities in women's working world today, such humiliation and

insinuation in the personal life of womankind, simply because of sex,
that, were the half of it told, the suffrage movement would take on such
proportions as even the leaders do not dream of.
Because an experience is common in the life of womankind, because an
abuse is as old as the hills, it is no less vital, no less thrilling, no less in
need of righting. And because some men are opposed, secretly or
openly, to its righting is no reason why we should be silent. Before the
women of this country are fully enfranchised, a hard fight, an almost
life and death struggle for liberty, must be fought, and it will be a
shorter fight the hotter it is. And the heat of the battle and the shortness
of the struggle will depend almost entirely on our courage in presenting
vividly and with power woman's case to women themselves.
=Members of the Firm of E.L. Grimes Co.=
Printers of The Woman's Journal
[Illustration: M.J. Grimes]
[Illustration: E.L. Grimes]
[Illustration: W.P. Grimes]

=Our Volunteer Suffrage News Service=
Instead of a staff of paid correspondents and a special news service, the
Woman's Journal has a large unnumbered staff of volunteers and its
news service which extends all over the civilized world also is
voluntary.
The editorial output is, therefore, greatly enhanced each week by the
careful vigilance of its many volunteer workers. In this service all
readers are invited to join by mailing to the Journal clippings, news,
articles, items, poems, pictures, jokes, examples of discriminations
against women, examples of women's achievements, and ideas of all
kinds.

=The Connecting Link=
When I think of the Circulation Department of the Woman's Journal, I
feel as I