 Crowell Publishing acquired "The American Magazine" in 1911 from the Phillips Publishing Company.The magazine had muckraking roots but with the decline of muckraking journalism it had turned into a general interest magazine.However, an article in the New York Times noted that "the purchase of "the American Magazine" by Crowell Publishing Company meant that 'the interests' were bent on swallowing up the muckrakers..." They pointed to the fact that one of the heavy stockholders in the Crowell firm was Thomas W. Lamont who was also a partner of the newly formed J. P. Morgan & Company.