The position of the magazine in the public estimation was unquestioned; it had never been so strong.

Its circulation not only had outstripped that of any other monthly periodical, but it was still growing so rapidly that it was only a question of a few months when it would reach the almost incredible mark of two million copies per month.
With its advertising patronage exceeding that of any other monthly, the periodical had become, probably, the most valuable and profitable piece of magazine property in the world.
The time might never come again when all conditions would be equally favorable to a change of editorship.

The position of the magazine was so thoroughly assured that its progress could hardly be affected by the retirement of one editor, and the accession of another.

There was a competent editorial staff, the members of which had been with the periodical from ten to thirty years each.

This staff had been a very large factor in the success of the magazine.