[2] The magazine was founded by Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker in 1899, though he had little role in its actual operations.

In 1903, it had a circulation of 150,000, and Wanamaker sold the magazine for $75,000 to a group headed by Erman Jesse Ridgway.

A series of muckraking articles called "Frenzied Finance" in 1904 boosted circulation to well over 500,000, and it stayed above the half million mark for many years.

From 1912 to 1914, Trumbull White served as editor and published views on the progression to World War 1 by H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, and Gilbert K.

Writers who appeared in it include Jack London, Talbot Mundy, Victor Rousseau, O. Henry, A.