Benjamin Flower

January 19, 1858 (age 60)

Albion, Illinois, United States

Flower had originally intended to follow the example of his father and an older brother, George Edward, and enter the ministry of the Disciples of Christ, but a change in his theological views, which ultimately resulted in his becoming a Unitarian, led him to turn to journalism. His first venture was in connection with the American Sentinel of Albion, Illinois, a social and literary weekly, which he edited until 1880. He then went to Philadelphia where he was associated in a secretarial capacity with his brother, Doctor Richard C. Flower. Becoming increasingly interested in social reform, Flower soon left Philadelphia for Boston and began an agitation for betterment in human relations through various publications and other agencies, which he continued until his death. He had a lively sympathy for the poor and oppressed, a passion for what he conceived to be justice, and an enthusiastic belief in a coming reign of human brotherhood with all its attendant blessings. Frequently his motives were more to be praised than his insight and wisdom, and in his later years especially, a fanatical zeal distorted his outlook, and unbalanced his judgment. At Boston Flower established in 1886 the American Spectator, merging it later with the Arena, "a liberal in the field of magazines, " which he founded in 1889 and edited until December 1896. From June 1897 to March 1898, with Frederick U. Adams he edited the New Time, Chicago, "a magazine of social progress" formerly known as the New Occasions. He was co-editor with Anna C. E. Reifsnider of the Coming Age, St. Louis and Boston, until it was merged with the Arena in the fall of 1900, after which he was on the editorial staff of the latter and in 1904 again became editor-in-chief. Flower founded and for two years, October 1909 to November 1911, edited the Twentieth Century Magazine, Boston, a forum for the discussion of great social, political, and educational questions, and an advocate of direct legislation through initiative, referendum, and recall, government ownership of public utilities, equal suffrage, and compulsory arbitration. In his later years, he became obsessed with the idea that the supreme menace to democracy is "the monarchial and democracy-destroying, upas-like Roman hierarchy, which is in effect a government within our Government, whose theory of rule is in direct opposition to vital and fundamental principles of our liberal democracy". As president of the Menace Publishing Company, Aurora, Missouri, and editor of the Menace, a virulent anti-Catholic publication, he made his last journalistic enterprise an attempt to arouse opposition to this alleged peril. In addition to his editorial work, Flower was a frequent contributor to magazines, and the author of a number of books. Among the latter are: Lessons Learned from Other Lives (1891); Civilisation’s Inferno, or Studies in the Social Cellar (1893); The New Time (1894); Gerald Massey: Poet, Prophet, and Mystic (1895); The Century of Sir Thomas More (1896); Whittier: Prophet, Seer, and Man (1896); Persons, Places, and Ideas: Miscellaneous Essays (1896); How England Averted a Revolution of Force; a Survey of the Social Agitation of the First Ten Years of Queen Victoria’s Reign (1903); Christian Science, as a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent (1909), a defense; Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-five Years (1914); and The Patriot’s Manual (1915). His death occurred on December 24, 1918, in a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Works

book

The Century of Sir Thomas More, etc.

(Mark Twain once famously said "there was but one solitary...)

The Arena, Volume 13

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-five Years

(This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

The Arena, Volume 30

(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

The Arena, Volume 40

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

The Arena, Volume 33

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

Gerald Massey : Poet, Prophet, and Mystic

The Arena, Vol. 38: July to December, 1907, 212 to 217 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The Arena, Vol. 38: July to December, 1907, ...)

Christian Science As a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent: -1909

(Originally published in 1909. This volume from the Cornel...)

The Gate Beautiful; Principles and Methods in Vital-Art and Education

(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

How England averted a revolution of force; a survey of the social agitation of the first ten years o

(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

The Arena, Volume 27

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

The Arena, Volume 29

(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

The Arena, Volume 41

(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

The Arena, Volume 32

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

The Arena, Volume 14

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

The Arena, Volume 25

(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

The Arena, Volume 31

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

The Arena, Volume 23

(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)

The Arena, 1896, Vol. 16 (Classic Reprint)

(Excerpt from The Arena, 1896, Vol. 16 DID god put all ti...)

The Arena, Volume 22

(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

Benjamin Orange Flower Edit Profile

also known as B. O.

editor journalist

Background

Benjamin O. Flower was born on October 19, 1858, in Albion, Illinois, founded by his grandfather George Flower, an Englishman who, having visited the United States in 1816, finally came here to settle in 1818, bringing with him his father, Richard, his mother, and several brothers and sisters.

Benjamin was the son of Reverend Alfred Flower and Elizabeth Orange.

Education

Flower was educated in the public schools of Evansville, Indiana, to which place the family moved in his boyhood, and at Kentucky University.

Career

Flower had originally intended to follow the example of his father and an older brother, George Edward, and enter the ministry of the Disciples of Christ, but a change in his theological views, which ultimately resulted in his becoming a Unitarian, led him to turn to journalism.

His first venture was in connection with the American Sentinel of Albion, Illinois, a social and literary weekly, which he edited until 1880. He then went to Philadelphia where he was associated in a secretarial capacity with his brother, Doctor Richard C. Flower.

Becoming increasingly interested in social reform, Flower soon left Philadelphia for Boston and began an agitation for betterment in human relations through various publications and other agencies, which he continued until his death. He had a lively sympathy for the poor and oppressed, a passion for what he conceived to be justice, and an enthusiastic belief in a coming reign of human brotherhood with all its attendant blessings. Frequently his motives were more to be praised than his insight and wisdom, and in his later years especially, a fanatical zeal distorted his outlook, and unbalanced his judgment.

At Boston Flower established in 1886 the American Spectator, merging it later with the Arena, "a liberal in the field of magazines, " which he founded in 1889 and edited until December 1896.

From June 1897 to March 1898, with Frederick U. Adams he edited the New Time, Chicago, "a magazine of social progress" formerly known as the New Occasions. He was co-editor with Anna C. E. Reifsnider of the Coming Age, St. Louis and Boston, until it was merged with the Arena in the fall of 1900, after which he was on the editorial staff of the latter and in 1904 again became editor-in-chief.

Flower founded and for two years, October 1909 to November 1911, edited the Twentieth Century Magazine, Boston, a forum for the discussion of great social, political, and educational questions, and an advocate of direct legislation through initiative, referendum, and recall, government ownership of public utilities, equal suffrage, and compulsory arbitration. In his later years, he became obsessed with the idea that the supreme menace to democracy is "the monarchial and democracy-destroying, upas-like Roman hierarchy, which is in effect a government within our Government, whose theory of rule is in direct opposition to vital and fundamental principles of our liberal democracy".

As president of the Menace Publishing Company, Aurora, Missouri, and editor of the Menace, a virulent anti-Catholic publication, he made his last journalistic enterprise an attempt to arouse opposition to this alleged peril.

In addition to his editorial work, Flower was a frequent contributor to magazines, and the author of a number of books. Among the latter are: Lessons Learned from Other Lives (1891); Civilisation’s Inferno, or Studies in the Social Cellar (1893); The New Time (1894); Gerald Massey: Poet, Prophet, and Mystic (1895); The Century of Sir Thomas More (1896); Whittier: Prophet, Seer, and Man (1896); Persons, Places, and Ideas: Miscellaneous Essays (1896); How England Averted a Revolution of Force; a Survey of the Social Agitation of the First Ten Years of Queen Victoria’s Reign (1903); Christian Science, as a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent (1909), a defense; Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-five Years (1914); and The Patriot’s Manual (1915). His death occurred on December 24, 1918, in a hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Achievements

Benjamin Orange Flower was a muckraking journalist, who is best remembered as the editor of the liberal commentary magazine The Arena, published in Boston, New York City, and Trenton, New Jersey by the Arena Publishing Company from 1889 until 1909.

Works

The Century of Sir Thomas More, etc. The Century of Sir Thomas More, etc.

The Arena, Volume 13 The Arena, Volume 13

Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-five Years Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-five Years

The Arena, Volume 30 The Arena, Volume 30

The Arena, Volume 40 The Arena, Volume 40

The Arena, Volume 33 The Arena, Volume 33

Gerald Massey : Poet, Prophet, and Mystic Gerald Massey : Poet, Prophet, and Mystic

The Arena, Vol. 38: July to December, 1907, 212 to 217 (Classic Reprint) The Arena, Vol. 38: July to December, 1907, 212 to 217 (Classic Reprint)

Christian Science As a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent: -1909 Christian Science As a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent: -1909

The Gate Beautiful; Principles and Methods in Vital-Art and Education The Gate Beautiful; Principles and Methods in Vital-Art and Education

How England averted a revolution of force; a survey of the social agitation of the first ten years o How England averted a revolution of force; a survey of the social agitation of the first ten years o

The Arena, Volume 27 The Arena, Volume 27

The Arena, Volume 29 The Arena, Volume 29

The Arena, Volume 41 The Arena, Volume 41

The Arena, Volume 32 The Arena, Volume 32

The Arena, Volume 14 The Arena, Volume 14

The Arena, Volume 25 The Arena, Volume 25

The Arena, Volume 31 The Arena, Volume 31

The Arena, Volume 23 The Arena, Volume 23

The Arena, 1896, Vol. 16 (Classic Reprint) The Arena, 1896, Vol. 16 (Classic Reprint)

The Arena, Volume 22 The Arena, Volume 22

book
- The Arena, Volume 13
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Arena, Volume 40
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Arena, Volume 33
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Arena, Volume 27
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Arena, Volume 32
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Arena, Volume 14
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Arena, Volume 31
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Arena, Volume 22
  (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
- The Century of Sir Thomas More, etc.
  (Mark Twain once famously said "there was but one solitary...)
- The Arena, Volume 30
  (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
- The Arena, Volume 29
  (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
- The Arena, Volume 41
  (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
- The Arena, Volume 25
  (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
- The Arena, Volume 23
  (This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
- The Gate Beautiful; Principles and Methods in Vital-Art and Education
  (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
- How England averted a revolution of force; a survey of the social agitation of the first ten years o
  (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
- Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-five Years
  (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)
- The Arena, 1896, Vol. 16 (Classic Reprint)
  (Excerpt from The Arena, 1896, Vol. 16 DID god put all ti...)
- Christian Science As a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent: -1909
  (Originally published in 1909. This volume from the Cornel...)
- The Arena, Vol. 38: July to December, 1907, 212 to 217 (Classic Reprint)
  (Excerpt from The Arena, Vol. 38: July to December, 1907, ...)
- Gerald Massey : Poet, Prophet, and Mystic

Religion

Benjamin O. Flower had intended to become a Disciples of Christ minister like his father, but his religious beliefs changed and he became a Unitarian instead.

Views

As has been noted by the historian Louis Filler, B. O. Flower was not himself a socialist. 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, 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.

Membership

Benjamin O. Flower was president of the National League for Medical Freedom, and of the Free Press Defense League.

Personality

Benjamin O. Flower was also recalled as one who was "sensitive to beauty in any form".

Interests

Benjamin O. Flower was much interested in psychical research. Also he loved painting, sculpture, literature, and always kept flowers in his office.

Connections

On September 10, 1885, Benjamin O. Flower married Hattie Cloud of Evansville, Indiana. Tragically, not long after their marriage his wife was stricken with mental illness which forced her permanent institutionalization.

Father:: Alfred Flower
Mother:: Elizabeth Flower (Orange)
Sister:: Elizabeth C. Willis (Flower)
Wife:: Harriet Susan "Hattie" Flower (Cloud)
Grandfather:: George Flower
great grandfather:: Richard Flower
Brother:: William F. Flower
Brother:: George Edward Flower
Brother:: Richard Charles "R.C." Flower
Brother:: Alfred Horace Flower

References

Roadside Meetings

Main Photo

Benjamin Flower

School period

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Other Photos

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Connections

book

The Century of Sir Thomas More, etc.

The Arena, Volume 13

Progressive Men, Women, and Movements of the Past Twenty-five Years

The Arena, Volume 30

The Arena, Volume 40

The Arena, Volume 33

Gerald Massey : Poet, Prophet, and Mystic

The Arena, Vol. 38: July to December, 1907, 212 to 217 (Classic Reprint)

Christian Science As a Religious Belief and a Therapeutic Agent: -1909

The Gate Beautiful; Principles and Methods in Vital-Art and Education

How England averted a revolution of force; a survey of the social agitation of the first ten years o

The Arena, Volume 27

The Arena, Volume 29

The Arena, Volume 41

The Arena, Volume 32

The Arena, Volume 14

The Arena, Volume 25

The Arena, Volume 31

The Arena, Volume 23

The Arena, 1896, Vol. 16 (Classic Reprint)

The Arena, Volume 22

Benjamin Orange Flower Edit Profile

Background

Education

Career

Achievements

Works

book

Religion

Views

Membership

Personality

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