ch
they spring. Many are crude specimens of the "art preservative,"
dealing heavily in "boiler plate"--to use a professional term--and
very lightly in original matter. A few have taken steps out of the
beaten path and are giving striking evidence of what the resourceful
and energetic Negro journalist could do under circumstances more
encouraging. Our editors are, for the most part, men of strong
personality, with standing and influence in their respective
"bailiwicks." Without notable exception they speak for manhood, for
race elevation, and for material development in every avenue of
industry.

How many of us have paused and candidly considered just what Negro
journalism is doing for the uplift of the masses? Notwithstanding the
hard fact that the editorial work of many writers is done late at
night, after protracted hours of labor in other fields; and
notwithstanding that where a journalist is able to give his entire
time to the business, he is often sole solicitor, clerk, compositor,
pressman, collector, office boy, and editorial staff combined--despite
all these disadvantages, the beneficent effect of the Negro press is
felt all over the land. The dozens of able men and women who are
engaged in this noble work, most of them doing so at a tremendous
sacrifice, are true patriots, bearing burdens from which the timid
shrink, leading cheerily where none but the brave dare follow,
contending with malicious opposers, every inch of ground, this sturdy
band struggles on year after year, hoping patiently for the "joy that
cometh in the morning." Through their efforts Negro writers have been
given a fair hearing, and, while the Caucasian journal is giving space
to the police court episodes of our lower orders, the alert Negro
sentinel finds in the church, the schoolroom, the inventor's studio,
the author's desk, and in honorable political or social station, a
most fertile field for his operations. Negro newspapers have aroused
in us the commercial and industrial spirit, and are giving employment
to hundreds of young colored men and women as bookkeepers,
stenographers and canvassers. They are lending practical aid in
solving the race's labor problem by yearly instructing and providing
employment to printers, book-binders, pressmen and other artisans.
They are building up a market for Negro labor, and neutralizing to a
great extent the baleful influence of the trades unions' hostility.
The Negro editor has increased the self-