Benjamin Orange Flower (October 19, 1858 – December 24, 1918), known most commonly by his initials "B.O.", was an American

muckraking The muckrakers were reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers in the Progressive Era in the United States (1890s–1920s) who claimed to expose corruption and wrongdoing in established institutions, often through sensationalist publ ...

journalist of the

Progressive Era The Progressive Era (1890s–1920s) was a period in the United States characterized by multiple social and political reform efforts. Reformers during this era, known as progressivism in the United States, Progressives, sought to address iss ...

. Flower is best remembered as the editor of the liberal commentary magazine '' The Arena,'' published in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

by the Arena Publishing Co. 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, 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 Britain. History The sett ...

, 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 Engli ...

after speaking with

Edward Coles Edward Coles (December 15, 1786 – July 7, 1868) was an American abolitionist and politician, elected as the second Governor of Illinois (1822 to 1826). From an old Virginia family, Coles as a young man was a neighbor and associate of presi ...

, 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, wi ...

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 ...

. Benjamin Flower was first educated in a religious school in Albion before moving with his family to

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is Indiana's List of cities in Indiana, third-most populous city after India ...

, where he attended the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

high school. Following his high school graduation, Flower wished to become a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

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 Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. It was founded in 1780 and is the oldest university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is Higher educ ...

in Lexington. Flower's religious and philosophical views evolved, however. He embraced

Unitarianism Unitarianism () is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian sect of Christianity. Unitarian Christians affirm the wikt:unitary, unitary God in Christianity, nature of God as the singular and unique Creator deity, creator of the universe, believe that ...

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 Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 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

.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. His wife was soon stricken with

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

which forced her permanent institutionalization.

''The Arena''

In 1886, Flower's brother opened a

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

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 '' The Arena.'' 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 ** ''Union ...

, 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 is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

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 A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

and populists to philosophical anarchists,

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

, and devotees of

Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, Social philosophy, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of ...

and the

Single Tax A single tax is a system of taxation based mainly or exclusively on one tax, typically chosen for its special properties, often being a tax on land value. Pierre Le Pesant, sieur de Boisguilbert and Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban were ear ...

. 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

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...

s, 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, for

prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, reduce recidivism or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are ...

, against

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

, and for the

prohibition of alcohol Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

. Multiple articles were dedicated to

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

, reform of

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

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 and currency reform, Flower came out strongly for the candidacy of

William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...

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 A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...

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 John Clark Ridpath (April 26, 1840 – July 31, 1900) was an American educator, historian, and editor. His mother was a descendant of Samuel Matthews, a colonial governor of Virginia. Among his most notable works is a series of volumes on a his ...

and the writer

Helen Hamilton Gardener Helen Hamilton Gardener (1853–1925), born Alice Chenoweth, was an American author, rationalism, rationalist public intellectual, political activist, and government functionary. Gardener produced many lectures, articles, and books during the 188 ...

. 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 Au ...

. He then edited the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

-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 Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...

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 A monopoly (from Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic competition to produce a particular thing, a lack of viable sub ...

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 which are 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 in ...

, a Christian religious movement founded by

Mary Baker Eddy Mary Baker Eddy (née Baker; July 16, 1821 – December 3, 1910) was an American religious leader and author, who in 1879 founded The Church of Christ, Scientist, the ''Mother Church'' of the Christian Science movement. She also founded ''The C ...

, which had come under attack in a lengthy series of exposés in ''

McClure's Magazine ''McClure's'' or ''McClure's Magazine'' (1893–1929) was an American illustrated monthly periodical popular at the turn of the 20th century. The magazine is credited with having started the tradition of muckraking journalism ( investigative, wat ...

'' 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 (or anecdata) is evidence based on descriptions and reports of individual, personal experiences, or observations, collected in a non- systematic manner. The term ''anecdotal'' encompasses a variety of forms of evidence. This ...

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 American Unitarian Universalists Journalists from Boston Writers from Illinois Journalists from Illinois American Unitarians