Upon going to St. Paul, Minn., in 1886, Mr. Adams accepted the position of editor of The Western Appeal, which was then in a very weak condition. A writer says this of The Appeal: "Under his management the paper has thrived, and has become a power in the country." In 1888, Mr. Adams moved the headquarters of The Appeal to Chicago, where, as one says, it has had "phenomenal success." The Indianapolis Freeman says this of The Appeal, which expresses our own sentiment, and cannot be bettered: "From a circulation of thirty-eight copies, it has, in twelve months, increased to over two thousand." The Appeal is published simultaneously in Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Louisville. Mr. Adams has been continuously engaged in journalism since 1879, and unless lightning should strike him under the present Republican administration, he will, in all probability, for years to come, be counted among the 'pencil pushers' of the country."
Mr. Adams's journalistic turn of mind led to the calling of the first Colored National Press Convention, and he was honored as its first president.
But what of his reputation as a writer? The success which has attended his efforts would very probably suggest this inquiry. By way of reply, we produce a clipping from the editorial columns of The Appeal, which, while it shows his style, manifests, also, his spirit in defence of the race. He refutes, in no uncertain tones, the insult daily put upon the colored people in classifying them with the vile and degraded. "If a colored man steals a hog, commits a rape or murder, or engages in a riot, he at once takes a conspicuous position in the eyes of the white community and is regarded with great interest. The court house is thronged when he is tried, and even when he passes along the street in custody of an officer, there is great curiosity to know what he has been doing. Thus the white community is constantly
