Editing Jacob Riis (section)

===Early journalism===
Riis noticed an advertisement by a [[Long Island]] newspaper looking for an editor, he applied and was appointed city editor. He quickly realized why the job had been available: the editor-in-chief was dishonest and indebted. Riis left within two weeks.<ref>Alland, p. 22.</ref>

Once again unemployed, Riis returned to the [[Five Points, Manhattan|Five Points]] neighborhood. He was sitting outside the [[The Cooper Union|Cooper Union]] one day when the principal of the school where he had earlier learned [[telegraphy]] happened to notice him. He said that if Riis had nothing better to do, then the New York News Association was looking for a trainee. After one more night and a hurried wash in a horse trough, Riis went for an interview. Despite his disheveled appearance, he was sent for a test assignment to observe and write about a luncheon at the [[Astor House]]. Riis covered the event competently and got the job.<ref name="alland23">Alland, p. 23.</ref>

Riis was able to write about both the rich and impoverished immigrant communities. He did his job well and was promoted to editor of a weekly newspaper, the ''News.'' However, this newspaper, the periodical of a political group, soon became bankrupt. Simultaneously, Riis got a letter from home which related that both his older brothers, an aunt, and Elisabeth Gjørtz's fiancé had died. Riis wrote to Elisabeth to propose, and with $75 of his savings and promissory notes, he bought the ''News'' company.<ref name="alland23" />

Riis worked hard at his newspaper and soon paid his debts. Newly independent, he was able to target the politicians who had previously been his employers. Meanwhile, he received a provisional acceptance from Elisabeth, who asked him to come to Denmark for her, saying "We will strive together for all that is noble and good". Conveniently, the politicians offered to buy back the newspaper for five times the price Riis had paid; he was thus able to arrive in Denmark with a substantial amount of money.<ref>Alland, pp. 23–24; Elisabeth quoted in Riis, ''The Making of an American'' (1904 ed.), p. 442.</ref>

After some months in Denmark, the newly married couple arrived in New York. Riis worked briefly as editor of a south Brooklyn newspaper, the ''Brooklyn News.''<!-- title not specified by Alland --> To supplement his income, he used a "[[magic lantern]]" projector to advertise in Brooklyn, projecting either onto a sheet hung between two trees or onto a screen behind a window. The novelty was a success, and Riis and a friend relocated to upstate New York and Pennsylvania as itinerant advertisers. However, this enterprise ended when the pair became involved in an armed dispute between striking railroad workers and the police, after which Riis quickly returned to New York City.<ref>Alland, p. 24.</ref>