My opinion as to what future course the Press should take to promote the good of our people, may be expressed in a very few words: Have all of our people, as far as possible, read our papers, and then make our papers just what they should be. The Press must devise its own means of extending its field of operation, and our people must open their hearts and purses. The direct benefits resulting will be reciprocal, and as a result the highest and best interest of our oppressed race will be promoted.
Opinion of Hon. Jere A. Brown.
Allow me to say, first, that I know the Press in the hands of the negro has been a success, when and wherever it has been conducted in the interest of the race and not for self-aggrandizement or mercenary motives. In arriving at this conclusion my mind reverts to the events of the past forty years, when I read, for the first time, a newspaper, owned and edited and controlled by the late Major M. R. Delaney, known as The Mystery, and published at Pittsburgh, Pa. Short-lived as it was, it clearly demonstrated its worth and the necessity for a race paper.
Coming down through the dark days of our history, here and there, throughout the northern states, newspapers edited by colored men sprang into existence. Their specific work and object was the overthrow of slavery, and well did they perform their work. Here was a channel through which we could advocate our cause, without the fear of having it misrepresented, smoothed over, or in any manner shorn of the truth; for, as a general thing, the Press was subsidized largely by the influences created through our enforced servitude. Thus it was that we brought our woes, burdens, and grievances before the enlightened world, pressing our own way against the monster, as the ax does its work for the
