BAPTISTS. 



75 



business done by it, including sales on credit, 

 amounted to $502,702. One hundred and 

 twelve new publications had been added to t!ie 

 list, and 29.3i 17. 7;i7 copies of all publications 

 books, pamphlets, tracts, and periodicals, new 

 and old had been printed : of these, 28.115. '2-25 

 were ''graded helps" and papers for Sunday- 

 schools. The receipts in the missionary de- 

 partment, including the balance on hand at tiie 

 beginning of the year, had been $105,190. 

 highty-seven missionaries had been employed 

 in the United States, two in Germany and 

 Sweden, and five special missionaries native 

 Armenians in the Turkish empire. These 

 returned 42 churches constituted, 299 Sunday- 

 schools organized, and 93-4 persons baptized. 

 The receipts for Bible work had been $29,439, 

 while $21,482 had been expended for the pur- 

 chase of Scriptures and for appropriations of 

 Scriptures for the Missionary Union and the 

 Southern Baptist Convention. 



Home Mission Sodety. The fifty-sixth annual 

 meeting of the American Baptist Home Mis- 

 sion Societv was held in Washington, D. C., 

 May 16. The Hon. C. W. Kingsley presided. 

 The total receipts during the year had been 

 351.596. Among the matters of special note 

 which had marked the year's history of the 

 society were mentioned in the report, the 

 completion and occupancy of the mission head- 

 qr.arters in the city of Mexico and the enlarge- 

 ment of the work in that republic; the com- 

 pletion of a subscription of $15.000 for Chinese 

 mission headquarters in San Francisco, and the 

 purchase of a site on which a building is being 

 erected; the securing of a larger amount thrn 

 usual for church-edifice work; the appoint- 

 ment of an additional superintendent of mis- 

 sions for a new Western district, and of a dis- 

 trict secretary for the Southern States : the be- 

 ginning of mission work among the Poles and 

 Bohemians in the United States: and the adop- 

 tion of a new school for Indians in the Indian 

 Territory. Missionary operations had been 

 conducted in 45 States nnd Territories, and in 

 Ontario, Manitoba, British Columbia, Alaska, 

 and three Mexican states. The whole number 

 of laborers employed had been 743. French 

 missionaries had labored in 6 States; Scandi- 

 navian in 16 States and Territories ; and 

 German in 18 States and Territories, On- 

 tario, and Manitoba ; 161 persons had labored 

 among the foreign population, and 217 mis- 

 sionaries and teachers among the colored peo- 

 ple. Indians, and Mexicans; 1.594 churches 

 and out-stations, returning 30.974 members. 

 had been supplied ; 2,886 members had been 

 received by baptism; 137 churches had been 

 organized: and 734 Sunday-schools, returning 

 -17.41i:i attendants, had been under care. In 

 the church - edifice department, 88 churches 

 had been aided by gifts or loans, or both ; the 

 aggregate amount of gifts being 832.737. and 

 of loans, $20.510. With the aid of these sums, 

 property valued at about $200,000,000 had 

 been secured to the denomination. Thirtv- 



three churches had paid off their loans ; 232 

 loans were outstanding ; and the whole number 

 of churches aided by gifts and loans had been 

 931. The amount of the loan fund was $120,- 

 555 : and the receipts for the Benevolent Fund 

 had been $45.305. The schools included 12 

 incorporated and 6 unincorporated institu- 

 tions, in which 137 teachers had been en- 

 gaged and 3.741 pupils enrolled : 17 colored 

 schools returned 115 teachers, 14 of whom 

 were colored, with 2,995 pupils, 318 of whom 

 were studying for the ministry, 980 preparing 

 for teachers, and 36 medical students. Indus- 

 trial education had been systematically im- 

 parted at 8 institutions, and more or less at- 

 tention given to it at the others. The three 

 schools for the Indians in the Indian Territory 

 returned 232 pupils. The Indian University, 

 near Muscogee, had 86 students enrolled. The 

 third school, a new one for the society, was 

 at Sa-sak-iva. in the Seminole nation. Six 

 schools, with an aggregate enrollment of 250 

 pupils, were conducted in Mexico. 



Missionary Inion. The seventy-fourth annu- 

 al meeting of the American Baptist Missionary 

 Union was held in Washington, D. C.. beginning 

 May 21. The Hon. George A. Pillsbury, of 

 Minnesota, presided. The receipts of the year, 

 from all sources and for all purposes, had been 

 $411.385; the appropriations for current ex- 

 penses had been $390,586; and $20,550 had 

 been added to annuity funds and permanent 

 accounts. A committee which had been ap- 

 pointed at the previous annual meeting to con- 

 sider and report upon the advisability of ac- 

 cepting from the Publication Society the Bap- 

 tist missionary work which had been begun in 

 Turkey reported a unanimous agreement of its 

 members that it could not recommend accept- 

 ance. ' The claims of other fields, in still more 

 pro-ing need, and brighter still in promise," 

 it represented, "are more, far more, than 

 enough to employ the utmost resources at the 

 command of the Missionary Union." A com- 

 munication was ordered made to the officers 

 of the Congo Free State expressing the con- 

 viction of the members of the Union that the 

 welfare and spiritual prospects, and even the 

 continued existence, of the native population 

 of that state require immediate suppression of 

 the traffic in intoxicating liquors within its 

 borders; and a request to be addressed to the 

 Government of the United States to use its in- 

 fluence to secure the same result in the Congo 

 Free State, other parts of Africa, and the West 

 Pacific islands. A recommendation was made 

 that a fund of $100.000. to be called the " Jud- 

 son Centenary Fund." be raised by individual 

 subscriptions of not less than $1,000 each, to 

 be expended in sustaining the foreign missions. 

 From the missions to the heathen the Burmese, 

 Karen. Shan. Kachin, Chin, Assamese, Garo. 

 Xaua. Telugu. Chinese, Japan, and Congo mis- 

 sionswere returned 67 stations. 831 out-sta- 

 tions, 262 missionaries, 826 native preachers. 

 98 Bible-women, and 257 other native helpers 



