and so elevate the race which he serves. Through the press
the editor sees that the interests, as far as our freedom and rights
are concerned, are in no wise abridged, circumscribed or destroyed. In
a large measure this has been one of the great benefits to the race;
through the medium of the press we have been awakened to our
condition, and our rights, and we jealously guard and clamor for their
enjoyment and recognition. Although dark clouds of prejudice and
lawlessness obscure our pathway, yet we are surely though slowly
moving on in the pathway already blazed before us.

In the hands of the Negro, the press has been an educator to the
whites as well as to the Negro, reflecting his manhood and capacity;
this, too, has elevated the Negro's appreciation of manhood and
appreciable standing among men.

Before Negro newspapers we were unknown in history, art and science.
Like the Negro exhibits at all the great fairs, they have served to
open the eyes of the blind, and to remove an ignorant prejudice which
was against us.

To-day we find the leading journals of this country clipping and
editorially commenting upon topics discussed and articles appearing
originally in Negro newspapers, and more than this, find the Negro
newspapers for sale on the principal stands where newspapers are to be
had, indicating the demand. In this city it would be hard not to find
the "Colored American" and "Washington Bee" at the newsdealer's. "Yes,
we keep them," I have heard to the query about the above papers; "they
are good sellers." Now what is true in this city is no doubt true in
other places where the local papers have secured recognition from
their standing and worth.

The Negro newspaper has taken such a stand that its columns are read
by white patrons, many of whom take pride and interest in noting the
advancement of their brother in black.

Many newspapers published by whites have taken advantage of this
condition, and the Negro's interest in the press, and have set aside
columns devoted to his individual interest; have procured competent
Negro reporters to gather all facts and doings of the race of special
interest to it, and are published daily.

This has increased the circulation by thousands of new subscribers who
eagerly seek to know just what is going on among them. The causes of
non-support of the Negro press is no argument that the press has not
been elevating, nor any argument against its possibilities. This is
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