Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/467

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OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN.
459

organize the moral and religious forces and set them in motion to bring the pulpit, printing-press, school-room, college, board of trade, and farm, in communication with each other, and fight against sin, crime, intemperance, ignorance and poverty; to cultivate in every man a personal pride, in every home a family pride, in every individual a race pride; to encourage charitable and benevolent societies and the organization of co-operative associations; to support each other in business, encourage young men to learn trades, and to start some in business.

Thirdly: By encouraging the formation of organizations for the care of the living, instead of burying the dead; to buy clothes, instead of shrouds; to buy houses, instead of coffins; to buy lots in the city of the living, instead of in the city of the dead; and to teach our people that money, education, religion, morality and integrity, are the powers of race elevation; that the spelling book, Bible, and blank book are as potential as the ballot, and that one of the greatest needs of the race is "commercial power." We cannot enjoy, to its fullest extent, our social, civil, political and religious rights, without the aid of it.

Opinion of Rev. J. C. Price, D. D.

Yes, I think the Press in the hands of the negro has been a decided success, especially if we take into consideration the great disadvantages under which the negro has labored. The Afro-American editor has been instrumental in demonstrating the intellectual capability of the race and its eminent fitness for literary work. He has been the means of informing the public as to the negro's development, achievements and progress. I do not think that the Press has received a proper support on the part of the Afro-American. This is attributable to more than one cause. In the first place, the masses