and wants have swept outward and
upward into the years to come and toward the Mysterious Future."

Several hundred weekly newspapers, a dozen monthly magazines,
conducted by Negroes, are feeding the mind of the race, binding
communities together by the cords of common interest and racial
sympathy. The conditions around which the Negro was surrounded years
ago have disappeared and the Negro is as proud of his own society as
the whites are of theirs. Sociological study and laws have given to
our present generation the will power and tenacity to establish and
maintain a social standing equal with any of the races of the world.
Without a question of doubt he has shown moral qualities far in
advance of those which dominated in slave history and under which he
was constantly subjected.

Has the Negro made any achievements along the lines of wealth? needs
only a review of statistics to answer the above question, for where
once was the rude cabin, and one-room hut, we now see the beautiful
homes with well kept stock and farm, hygienic stables as well as
artistic lawns. The first experiment the general masses of negroes had
in the saving of money was under that institution known as "The
Freedman's Saving and Trust Company." The institution started out
under the most favorable auspices. The depositors numbered among its
rank and file, day laborers, farmers, mechanics, house-servants,
barbers and washerwomen; thus showing to the entire country that the
emancipated Negro was not only working but by industry and economy was
saving his earnings. We know too well of the misplaced confidence in
that bank and how after a short time the bank failed and thousands of
colored men and women lost their earnings. During the brief period of
its existence $57,000,000 were deposited. Although the Freedman's Bank
caused many a colored person to shrink from any banking institution,
yet some were hopeful and again began to save money. Throughout the
entire South we find scores of colored men who have excellent farms,
elegant homes and small fortunes.

"In Baltimore a company of colored men own a ship-dock and transact a
large business. Some of the largest orange plantations in Florida are
owned by colored men. On most of the plantations, and in many of the
large towns and cities colored mechanics are quite numerous."

The total amount of property owned by the colored people in all the
states is rated at over $400,000,000.

In the North, East a