Messrs. Pinn and Beckley with The Advocate was brief, and so was that of Mr. Harris, leaving Mr. Cromwell the sole proprietor before it had been in existence more than three months.
Then came the question: What shall be done with it? which was solved by a determination to continue it as a permanent enterprise, though the month of December showed receipts amounting to but sixty-six cents. The persistent advice of his wife Lucy not to give up, proved the turning point. In June, 1887, he bought a second-hand outfit, and published his first "all-at-home" sheet June 29, in the city of Washington, Mr. T. T. Fortune supervising its mechanical work. The Advocate has been published ever since, with varying fortunes; and it has never missed but one issue.
Among its editors at different times, besides its proprietor, may be named the late Charles N. Otey, George H. Richardson, and Rev. S. P. Smith, who were its regular contributors and correspondents at different periods, as were also well-known journalists, now in other fields of labor. Young men who learned to stick type on The Advocate have found employment at the government printing-office, and with The Christian Recorder, The New York Age, The Conservator, and doubtless other journals.
Mr. Cromwell's specialty is in the collection of facts, which he presents with such clearness and force as to command universal attention. His "Negro in Business," prepared for a syndicate of Northern newspapers, received editorial notice in The Forum, and in one form and another was published widely throughout the country. Having had several years of experience as a teacher, his editorials on educational topics, race organizations, etc., reveal his trained bent of mind and unselfish ambitions. A writer in Dr. William J. Simmons' "Men of Mark," speaks gloriously of our subject's work in this field. He says: "All praise and honor should be
