Viewing page 18 of 27

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

34 THE CRISIS

[[image - photograph of a desk]]
[[caption]] THE CRISIS "SANCTUM SANCTORUM" [[/caption]]

printed 17,000 copies. It was a magazine of fifty-five pages of reading matter, was illustrated and well edited. The whole story of its final failure has not been written, and perhaps ought not to be for some years to come. Suffice it to say that the fault did not lie with Mr. Barber. The editorial work was well done. The business side, on the other hand, under a succession of men, was not well attended to; nevertheless, it was not a failure, and the magazine might still be alive had it not been for sinister influences within and without the race that wished either to control or kill it; and finally, had it not been for the Atlanta riot. Mr. Barber found himself continually hampered by interests which were determined to edit his magazine for him. When he asserted his independence these interests appealed to the firm which was backing him and finally so impressed them that they determined to unload the proposition on a new corporation. Stock in the corporation sold slowly, but it was beginning to sell when the instigators of the Atlanta riot drove Mr. Barber from the city. Removing to Chicago, Mr. Barber found himself facing the task of re-establishing his magazine with practically no capital. He made a brave effort, but finally had to give up and The Voice of the Negro ceased publication. Its successor is THE CRISIS, and it looks as though this latest candidate for popular favor was going to be permanently successful. 

Since then THE CRISIS represents so interesting a series of magazines, perhaps a word should be said for its force and dwelling place. As one rides down Broadway, New York, past the tallest building in the world, one comes to the old postoffice on City Hall Park and Park row, the center of newspaperdom. Vesey Street is the westward extension of Park Row across Broadway. There; opposite the moss-grown graves of St. Paul's churchyard, rises a brownstone building of the older office design. You come up a long flight of stairs and enter our rooms.

The big library and workroom greets you first. From this you pass by the agents and subscription clerks to the two editorial offices or to the offices of the secretary of 



THE COLORED MAGAZINE IN AMERICA      35

[[image - photograph of part of THE CRISIS staff]]
[[caption]] THE CRISIS BUSINESS FORCE - Messrs. Turner and Holsey; Misses Allison, Jarvis and Soysa  [[/caption]]

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and her assistant. Turning the other way you find the cashier in his den and the advertising man, and finally the store and mailing room with their periodicals and machine. The present force of THE CRISIS consists of an editor, three clerks, a bookkeeper and advertising man, four unpaid editorial assistants and 489 agents in the field. 

Many persons do not understand the relation of THE CRISIS to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The association owns and publishes THE CRISIS

[[image - photograph]] 
[[caption]] GEORGE WESLEY BLOUNT, of Hampton, Va. 
The First Subscriber to THE CRISIS
[[/caption]]

and uses the magazine as its especial organ of publicity. At the same time it aims to make THE CRISIS more than a mere bulletin of its work, and to conduct it as a magazine of general information in its sphere. The two institutions make, therefore, parts of one great whole. 

To no part of its force does THE CRISIS owe more than to its little army of agents scattered over the world. They sell every month from six to 1,400 copies each. Finally, we cannot forget, and would not have our readers forget, our first paid-up subscriber: Geo. W. Blount, of Hampton Institute, Virginia.