“An Age of Reform and Improvements: The Life of Col. E. Hofer (1885–1934)”

Swensen, Rolf. “An Age of Reform and Improvements: The Life of Col. E. Hofer (1885–1934).” PhD Dissertation, University of Oregon, 1975.

Swensen describes Hofer as one “… who enjoy[ed] fighting for various causes regardless of their chances of success” (1). Hofer’s career as a “lifelong journalist and political maverick” (1) included his own newspaper and magazine, the Capital Journal and The Lariat, membership in the Oregon legislature and Salem city council, and an unsuccessful candidacy for governor. His unceasing fight was for individualism and decentralized government. In his Appendix, Swensen takes up Hofer’s Christian Science affiliation with its emphasis on the individual’s role in salvation. Hofer’s newspaper often became a platform for sharing his faith and championing Christian Science, including his defense against the Oregon State Senate’s 1899 “Medical Trust Bill… [to] further establish and monopolize medical practices…” (239). As the ‘yellow journalism’ of McClure’s Magazine and Pulitzer’s New York World portrayed Eddy as a charlatan and decrepit, Hofer’s newspaper supported her. But after the harsh publicity of the ‘Next Friends’ suit, Boston Church leaders warned local churches to retreat: “Our Cause has reached that stage of development where it does not need advertising, but protection…” (244). Soon thereafter a new Church missionary was published, The Christian Science Monitor “to injure no man…” (244). Hofer’s editorials were now mostly replaced by reprints from the Monitor.

See also annotation: 

“A State of Unrest and Division: Christian Science in Oregon, 1890–1910” by Rolf Swensen