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Arthur Capper was born on July 14, 1865 in Garnett, Kansas, United States; the son of Herbert Capper, a tinner who had emigrated from England, and Isabella McGrew Capper, a Quaker from Pennsylvania. The family moved several times during Capper's youth, finally returning to Garnett.
Arthur learned the printing trade and graduated from high school in 1884. Capper's mother encouraged him to attend college, but instead he sought employment as a compositor.
In 1891 he went to work for the New York Tribune, becoming a correspondent in Washington.
In 1893 using his own savings and bank credit, he purchased the North Topeka Mail, a weekly. In spite of Populist control of much of Kansas, Capper espoused Republicanism and his paper prospered. He bought subscription lists from other publishers and absorbed many journals; by late 1904 he was the sole owner of the Topeka Daily Capital, his most important acquisition. With each new journal, Capper improved its content, quickly built up circulation, and devised ingenious schemes to obtain advertising revenue. Costs remained low and income grew rapidly. In 1908 he financed a new publishing plant, an expenditure of more than $355, 000, entirely from current profits. Until 1912 he continued to concentrate primarily on his publishing business while retaining an active interest in government. Capper's early reputation was based on lively journalism and his opposition to the dominance of railroad interests in Kansas politics. He became the Republican candidate for governor in 1912, but lost to George Hodges, a Democrat, by twenty-nine votes; it was his only loss in sixteen statewide primary and general elections. Capper was elected governor in 1914, served two terms, and in 1918 was elected to the first of five consecutive terms in the United States Senate. He was the first native-born Kansan to be elected to either office. During his publishing career, Capper owned at least twenty-seven different newspapers and journals, sometimes as many as twelve at one time. His properties in 1923 included the Topeka Daily Capital, Kansas City Kansan, Capper's Weekly, and a monthly woman's magazine, Household. His other publications were part of his "Farm Press, " which usually accounted for 40 percent of his total circulation; they included Capper's Farmer, Kansas Farmer, Oklahoma Farmer, Missouri Ruralist, Nebraska Farm Journal, Ohio Farmer, Michigan Farmer, and Pennsylvania Farmer. He later sold some journals and expanded into radio in Topeka and Kansas City. The key to Capper's success as a publisher was related to his ability to win elective office. He maintained an open-door policy with employees, readers, and his constituency and made an effort to identify readers' interests and the special needs of his agricultural region. He frequently polled his correspondents on specific questions and paid close attention to their answers. Capper's style puzzled political observers. He was a mild man and his speaking ability was marginal, but he loved to campaign and he did it all the time. Capper's years as governor brought no profound changes to Kansas. In the Senate his voice was rarely heard, although for a while he served as a leader of the Farm Bloc. Legislation bearing his name includes the Capper-Volstead Act of 1922 and 1926, a measure to aid co-operatives, and the Capper-Ketchum Act of 1928, a bill providing support for 4-H clubs (he had long promoted clubs for rural youth). In the 1930's he was criticized for his support of the New Deal. Having voted for the League of Nations with reservations, Capper remained a persistent isolationist until the outbreak of World War II. He retired in 1949 at the age of eighty-three. At the time of Capper's death in 1951, circulation of the Capper journals had grown to almost five million; a small group of employees became the principal owners of his business.
When Florence Capper died in 1926, Capper had made provision for transferring the bulk of his estate to the Capper Foundation for Crippled Children, which remains his principal memorial. A junior high school in Topeka and the Arthur Capper Dwellings in southeast Washington, D. C. , also bear his name. He was the owner of at least twenty-seven different newspapers and journal.
On December 1, 1892, Capper married Florence Crawford, the daughter of the third governor of Kansas. He had no children.
