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26    THE CRISIS

United states, in order that the cause for which is was fighting might be known.

For this purpose it appointed as one of its executive officers a Director of Publicity and Research. When the Director entered his office September 1, 1910, he was faced by a baffling difficulty. He was receiving a salary but had practically no funds to expend for publicity work because the Association had no funds. He sought publicity for a cause which was markedly unpopular with the white periodical press. He faced a colored press which did not know or understand the objects and ideals of this Association and which could not afford to give it much publicity. what should be done? The Director of Publicity determined that it must have an organ. The executive board of the Association assented to this proposition provided such periodical did not entail any expenditure of money on the part of the Association. This stipulation has been carefully kept.

THE COST OF THE CRISIS

When the Director of Publicity issued THE CRISIS as a small part of his publicity work and as a method of publicity it was fair to charge his salary to the Association and to require THE CRISIS simply to pay expenses of publication. But as THE CRISIS became a larger and larger institution until it occupied the whole time of the Director of Publicity and left practically non of his time for the Association, except by way of advice, lectures and general committee work, it was fair that the step should be taken which will be taken January 1st and the whole salary of the director charged to THE CRISIS fund.

Meantime there comes the interesting question as to just what the establishment of THE CRISIS has cost. We may look at this from two points: We may ask what THE CRISIS has cost if we charge against it everything which it might fairly be asked to pay if it were considered simply as an independent business institution. Or, on the other hand, we may ask what it has cost if we charge against it only such expenditure as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People would not have made if THE CRISIS had no existed. For instance: THE CRISIS was for the first five months published in the offices of the National Association and paid no rent. As a business institution some portion of the rent should be charged against it during this period; bus as a matter of fact the Association occupied no more room during this time on account of THE CRISIS than it would have occupied otherwise. Carrying out the calculation in this way we may say that as a business proposition THE CRISIS has cost $12,000 but that on the other hand it has cost the National Association an actual expenditure of only $9,000 for its establishment outside of what it would have expended if THE CRISIS had not been founded. These figures have been reached by charging to THE CRISIS such portion of the editor's salary as THE CRISIS has successively taken of his time. During the last two years the whole of his salary is charged against THE CRISIS as it has taken practically all of his time.

To this material and money cost must be added the intangible but vastly more important spiritual cost. We must not forget first of all the splendid and unlimited sacrifice of the late Mary Dunlop McLean without whose initial aide THE CRISIS would hardly have been possible; the disinterested friendship and advice of the late Robert N. Wood who 



EDITORIAL

did so much for the mechanical side of the magazine during the first three years of its life and whose interest in it never flagged. To these must be added the names of volunteer workers like Mary White Ovington, Maud Cuney Hare, Martha Gruening and others.

THE RESULT

For this expenditure of love and effort and money we have today a well established vehicle of news and thought to carry on the propaganda for equal rights in the United States and, to a degree, to inform, guide and entertain thousands of readers. We occupy today twelve hundred square feet of space on the fifth floor of one of the most convenient office buildings in New York City. We employ eight salaried workers not counting our force of several hundred agents. 

It costs approximately ten dollar an hour for each working hour of the year to run THE CRISIS; or in other words about $23,000.00 a year.

We have above all accumulated working capital under circumstances which the ordinary onlooker would not appreciate. The furniture, machines and appliances in our office today are carried on our books as worth $2,000, and as a matter of fact could not be duplicated for $3,000. In most businesses of this size this would represent invested capital; the THE CRISIS had no capital invested and it must from the beginning get its working materials and machines out of its income beside paying expenses. Since many of these appliances are absolutely necessary to accurate modern business methods this lack of capital has sorely oppressed us at times and it has put upon the editor and manager an amount of financial responsibility which has often been a serious burden.

From the beginning the editor of THE CRISIS has made himself personally responsible for every single debt which has been incurred. He has used his own salary and borrowed money to tide it over difficulties and given his personal notes to meet emergencies. In not a single case has the Association or anybody connected with the Association, except the editor, assumed the slightest responsibility or risk or advanced a single cent. There is both precedent and moral right that legal ownership in whole or in part should rightly follow such financial risk. But not only has the editor refused to press this point in the slightest degree but he has even in one case yielded to an invasion of his rights which he did not and does not consider fair.

He and the other officers of the Association have kept steadily in mind that beyond and above all questions of power, responsibility and money must be kept clear and high the great ideal of establishing in the United States a dignified and authoritative organ of public opinion which should stand for the fundamental principles of American democracy. This ideal has not been reached. It has scarcely been approximated but a foundation has been laid, solid and broad, and of the utmost promise.

THE FUTURE

The reaching of the stage of self-support by an institution like THE CRISIS does not mean that the day of difficulty or even danger is passed. The present industrial and financial conditions in this country make it extremely difficult to foresee the business future and to predict how long our income can be made to meet our expenditures without serious curtailment. We have, however,