The literary historian of that period usually gives
a different explanation. He is accustomed to say that the old-time
"quality" magazines, _Harper's_, _Scribner's_, and the rest, were
growing moribund when, by an effort of editorial genius, Mr. McClure
created a new and rebellious type of magazine, which was rapidly
imitated. We called it, as I remember, for want of a better title, the
fifteen-cent magazine. In the wake of _McClure's_, came _Collier's_,
_The Saturday Evening Post_, _The Ladies Home Journal_, and all the
long and profitable train which adapted the McClurean discovery to
special needs and circumstances.
I do not believe that this is a true statement of what happened in
the fruitful 'nineties. _McClure's_ was not, speaking biologically, a
new species at all; it was only a mutation in which the recessive
traits of the old magazine became dominant while the invaluable type
was preserved. To speak more plainly, the literary magazine, as
America knew it, had always printed news, matured news, often stale
news, but still journalism. Read any number of _Harper's_ in the
'seventies for proof. And, _pari passu_, American journalism was
eagerly trying to discover some outlet for its finer products, a
medium where good pictures, sober afterthoughts, and the finish that
comes from careful writing were possible.
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