The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1911-01-20

1t has often been asked by strang-
ers, "Why can't ST Louis afford a
good Negro paper?" After two years
in the newspaper business in st.
Louis we are prepared to answer the
question with truthfulness and with
shame.
To begin with, we will take up the
savings of some of our oldest citizens
who claim that The Central Afro
American is the best the cleanest, the
most uo-to-date Negro paper ever pub
lished in this city. Next we stand
ready with proof positive that it has
never missed an issue since 1t was
first published and besides coming off
the press with systematic regularity,
it has published half dozen Extra
Editions The Central Afro-AmertcGn
offers the st. Louis postofice depart
ment's record as to the proof Of its cir
oulation. No other paper ever pub
lished in this city has so ardently
fought for the rights of Negro man
hood and citizenship. Always fear
less and truthful, it has ever stood
for the motto: "All men up" It's
record for printing more live news
than any four Negro papers in the
state of Missouri will stand for years
to come. Now, we will go into de-
tail as to its business prosperity.
Follow us closely, reader, that you
may not be deceived. Six Negro Groc-
cries in st. Louis-Two of them ad-
vertise in the Central Afro-AmericGn
Yet they all expect Negro patronage.
Fifteen Negro doctors and only five of
them take the central Afro-AmericGn
Four Negro Druggists, none of whom
advertise and only one of whom sub
scribes for the paper. Eight Negro
Lawyers; just Two of whom take The
Central AfrO-Americdn. OF the six
teen Negro pastors, eight of them are
regular subscribers We wish to call
attention to the fact that after we had
sent the paper months free to Rev.
]. w. Sexton he refused to subscribe
for it from one of our agents, who
is also a member of his church. Rev.
Sexton is pastor of St. Paul Chapel,
which is reputed to be the leading
church of the city. OF the six den
fists, Doctors Cathrell and Anderson
Negro undertakers none of them ad-
vertise and only three of them sub
scribe for the paper There are 154
Negro teachers employed in our city
schools at good salaries. Out of this
1874 only Is of them take the paper,
yet all of them take white newspa-
per. These teachers are instructing
Negro children for What? We pre-
sumo that they are schooling them to
support the white mans industries.
We wonder if the handwriting moth
ers and fathers who are striving to
educate their children can hold out
any tangible hope for the future Of
their little ones who will grow up
with a brain full Of knowledge and
nothing to apply it to- You cannot
expect the white merchant to make
positions for colored young men and
women. There will appear in the
white papers no. advertisements for
Negro bookkeepers, Negro salesladies,
Negro cashiers, Negro clerks, Negro
reporters, Negro stenographers and
Negro travelling men. But It will al
ways be as it is now, plenty of places
for educated Negroes who can scrub,
wash and iron, cook, clean cuspidors,
do homework and other mental labor
Now as for The Central Afro-Ameri-
can, we can say this: We have paid
ont in salaries and commissions since
January I, 1910 $1,5991O, almost an
averagE of $4,000 per month; this
money was paid to Negro collectors,
solicitors and clerks and it was paid
~ Negro newspaper-not a white
newspaper.
There are estimated to be over 200
Negroes in some kind Of business In
LC1-..La-...-1 -. D.