ARTHUR CAPPER

ARTHUR CAPPER,* the owner of the Capper building and the Capper publications, was born in Garnett, Kan., July 14, 1865. He learned the practical side of the printing business during his school days. He came to Topeka in 1884 and secured work as a typesetter on the Daily Capital, of which he is now owner and publisher. Later he became a reporter on this paper and then city editor. He spent some time in New York in work on the New York Tribune, and in Washington as the Daily Capital's Washington correspondent.

Mr. Capper was married in 1892 to Florence Crawford, daughter of Samuel J. Crawford, third governor of Kansas.

In 1893 Mr. Capper started in business for himself by buying the North Topeka Mail. Later he purchased and combined with the Mail a paper known as the Kansas Breeze, now known as the Farmers Mail and Breeze. The other Capper publications—Missouri Valley Farmer, Capper's Weekly, Nebraska Farm Journal, Missouri Ruralist, Oklahoma Farmer and the Household—were added from time to time.

Mr. Capper has been president of the Kansas State Editorial Association, president of the Kansas State Good Roads Association, a member of the executive committee of the state and local Y. M. C. A., president of the board of regents of the Kansas State Agricultural College from 1909 to 1913, and a director for several years past of the Topeka Provident Association for the relief of the poor. He is vice president for Kansas of the National Welfare League. The Goodfellows' Club of Topeka was organized by Mr. Capper and has given timely assistance to hundreds of needy persons. One of its functions has been the operation of a free employment bureau for those in need of employment—a labor exchange between the employers and the workers, without cost to either.

Mr. Capper is president of the International Peace and Equity League, a member of the League to Enforce Peace, and the World's Court League, and an honorary member of the Kansas Woman's Christian Temperance Union. He is a member of the following secret organizations: Masons, Odd Fellows, A. O. U. W., National Americans, Modern Woodmen, Knights of Pythias, Fraternal Aid Association, Knights and Ladies of Security, United Commercial Travelers, Loyal Order of Moose, as well as member of the board of governors of Mooseheart, the home and school conducted at Mooseheart, IL., by the Moose lodge.

In November, 1914, Mr. Capper was chosen governor of Kansas, being the first native-born Kansan to attain that office.

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