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442 demonstrated their claims to pre-eminence and distinction, except through trials and much suffering. The Afro-American is no exception to this rule. The guarantees in the amended Constitution are all right; so, also, are the enforcement laws on the statute books. The legacy is ours. Our cause is in the courts of public opinion, and if our advocates are strong, learned, zealous and untiring, the verdict in the end will justify our dearest hopes.

I think there can be no doubt that the negro press has been a success. My opinion is, that the Press voices the feelings of the public toward the negro, and puts him upon a more amicable plane with respect to all nations, both abroad and in America; and it has presented the true status of our race, so that a fair mind could not be mistaken in its comprehension of the great questions relative to the negro.

Were it not for the negro Press, the country would be in comparatively total darkness as to the negro's real condition, on all the lines of human treatment and improvement; and his freedom might as well be taken from him, as to deprive him of his journalistic privileges. In my opinion, the greatest boon of our American citizenship is the free Press; quench it, and we shall begin to wane.

Many of our papers are shamefully neglected. We should ascertain which of them deserve to live and which should die; and that as early as possible. I fear that the poor support of our Press is largely due to the lack of a proper conception the majority of the race have of the importance of its unity, and of its concert of action in all matters pertaining to the race's weal or woe. Our daily papers should be more liberally patronized by our people. The negro Press has no specific lines upon which to move, other than the presentation