were but a little larger than a sheet of foolscap; but before the paper had been published three months, the editor, Mr. Waller, enlarged it to six columns, and in August, 1883, it became a seven-column folio. The Recorder soon took rank among many of the leading weekly journals of the state, and had a large circulation all over the South-west. In many of the Southern states this paper could be found. It was republican in politics, and was bold and outspoken upon all public questions.
Mr. Waller and his wife labored hard, night and day, to make The Recorder a success. Upon one occasion, the day before the issue of his paper, the typos, who were white, struck for higher wages. The editor, hard pressed, was about to succumb to the demand of his workmen, when Mrs. Waller said: "No, my husband, we cannot afford it. I will get the paper out. Let the typos go." Mr. Waller took her at her word. She seized a stick, mounted the printer's stool, and got the paper out only two days behind time. She continued to "set up" the paper more than five months, and until the typos, who sought to take advantage of them in their weakness, were almost on the verge of begging bread in the streets.
During the three years' existence of The Recorder, Mr. Waller was both traveling agent and editor, while Mrs. Waller was typo and local editor; but the unceasing labor incident to the successful operation of a negro journal at that time, soon wore the editor out, and on account of ill-health, he was compelled to sell The Western Recorder to Mr. H. H. Johnson of Kansas City, Mo., in February, 1885. As editor of The Recorder, Mr. Waller attended the Press Convention at St. Louis, in 1883, and took an active part in its deliberations.
As early as 1883, Mr. Waller placed at the mast-head of The Recorder the following national ticket: For President,
