Swing (Jan-Dec 1953)

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The Newspaper That Christ Tn/ilf"Pn *n 1900, the Topeka, Kansas, Daily Capital -I— 'LilLCCA boosted its circulation from 15,000 to 367,000 — for a week. Professor LoBello of the UniverBy NINO LO BELLO sity of Kansas describes this experiment in journalism. THE time set for the experiment was the second week in March. Hardly anyone knew what to expect. Perhaps it would be the unique jour' nalistic venture of all time. Even before the first issue came off the press, the normal circulation of the Topeka Daily Capital had boomed from 15/ 000 to a staggering 367,000. From every state in the union orders for copies came. From all the South American countries, from Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, from cities as far from Topeka as London and Moscow samples of the Kansas newspaper were in demand. In one day's mail alone the Daily Capital's circulation department received 100,000 new subscriptions from all over the United States and Canada. For six days press history was being made. By what hocus-pocus abracadabra did a relatively unknown newspaper in the heart of America engineer such world-wide attention? The gimmick was a simple one. Publisher F. O. Popenoe had decided to put out for one week a newspaper edited as nearly as possible by the standards that Jesus Christ would probably use if He were publishing the paper. TO EDIT the Christ edition Popenoe summoned Rev. Charles M. Sheldon since Sheldon had earned a global reputation for himself as a "spokesman" for Christ. In fact, his book, In His Steps, had inspired the whole newspaper idea. Treating earthly situations as Christ would have dealt with them, the book appeared in 16 languages, sold 23 million copies and became the second best-seller of all time.