138 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



gational Home Missionary Society and each aux- 

 iliary for the past year and the coming year, and 

 consider all questions ef common responsibility 

 and mutual helpfulness. The principal effect of 

 the new plan is considered to be to make the na- 

 tional society free to appeal directly to any Con- 

 gregational church for funds, leaving with every 

 such church the responsibility for the precise di- 

 rection of its gifts, and to give a clear recogni- 

 tion and definition of the importance of the work 

 in auxiliary States. 



American Missionary Association. The 

 fifty-fifth annual meeting of the American Mis- 

 sionary Association was held at Oak Park, 111., 

 Oct. 22 to 24. The Rev. Washington Gladden, 

 D. D., presided. The treasurer reported that the 

 total receipts for the year had been $351,750, and 

 the expenditures $353,352. The receipts were $15,- 

 970 more, and the expenditures $17,523 more than 

 in the previous year. The contributions of the 

 women's societies amounted to $24,733. For four 

 years the association had reported all obligations 

 paid and no debt at the close, and it had created 

 no new debt for seven years. The report of the 

 Executive Committee mentioned a slight increase 

 in the number of the schools, with more than 

 1,500 additional pupils, and enlarged church work. 

 The educational work in the South included 6 

 chartered institutions, 43 normal and graded 

 schools, and 32 common schools, with totals of 

 474 instructors and 14,668 pupils, 2,078 being 

 boarding pupils. Included in these were 12 moun- 

 tain schools, with 67 instructors and 2,190 pupils, 

 of whom 463 were boarding pupils. Of these 

 pupils, 94 were classed as theological, 308 as 

 collegiate, 392 as college preparatory, and 1,547 

 as normal. The higher institutions were Fisk 

 University, Nashville, Tenn.; Talladega College, 

 Talladega, Ala.; Tougaloo University, Tougaloo, 

 Miss.; Straight University, New Orleans, La.; 

 Tillotson College, Austin, Texas; and the J. S. 

 Green College, Demorest, Ga. All of the moun- 

 tain schools except Lincoln Academy, Kings 

 Mountain, N. C., were among the white people 

 of the hills. The common schools were chiefly 

 parochial schools in rural places where public 

 schools were wanting, and were in close relation- 

 ship with the churches in the States of North 

 Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, 

 and Tennessee. The new educational work in 

 Porto Rico consisted of 2 schools, with 8 teachers 

 and 306 pupils. The 228 churches in the South re- 

 turned 140 ministers and missionaries, with 12,050 

 chuich-members, 1,454 additions during the year 

 on profession, 17,347 pupils in Sunday-schools, 

 benevolent contributions of $2,707, and $48,859 

 raised for church purposes. From the Indian mis- 

 sions were returned 20 churches, 52 out-stations, 

 1,414 church-members, 2,665 pupils in Sunday- 

 schools, 48 white and 53 Indian missionaries and 

 teachers, and contributions of $2,988 to benevo- 

 lence and church support. The schools at Santee, 

 Neb., Oahe, S. Dak., Plumb Creek, S. Dak., 

 Fort Berthold and Elbowoods, N. Dak., were 

 attended by 211 pupils. The 21 Chinese mis- 

 .sions reported 15 Chinese workers and 46 work- 

 ers in all, with 1,386 pupils in the schools, 

 401 of whom had given evidence of having been 

 converted. One hundred and eleven members 

 had been added during the year to the Congre- 

 gational Association of Christian Chinese. The 

 addition, the largest ever had in one year, 

 brought the number of Chinese converts up to 

 2,000. Work had been begun among the Japanese 

 in Los Angeles and Fresno, Cal. The Alaskan 

 mission comprised one school, 4 missionaries, and 

 100 pupils. An amendment to the constitution of 



the association was adopted, providing for rota- 

 tion in office of members of the Executive Com- 

 mittee. A proposition for the election of salaried 

 officers by the Executive Committee instead of at 

 the annual meeting of the association was re- 

 ferred. A proposition for having a joint annuai 

 meeting of the six Congregational societies in 

 October was approved, and the Executive Com- 

 mittee was instructed to communicate with the 

 other home societies on the subject. Propositions 

 for the cooperation of the other five societies in 

 the publication of a united magazine, and for the 

 appointment of a single joint treasurer in New 

 York for this society and the Congregational 

 Home Missionary and Church Building Societies, 

 were concurred in. The society recommended the 

 appointment of a committee of the six societies 

 for the promotion of harmony and cooperation 

 in the collection of funds, and to suggest plans for 

 the preservation of gifts and property to the pur- 

 poses for which they were intended. A resolu- 

 tion was sent by telegraph to President Roosevelt 

 approving of certain courtesies which he had 

 shown to Booker T. Washington, " a justly hon- 

 ored representative of his people." A special re- 

 port of the Bureau of Woman's Work showed that 

 451 women had been in the missionary work of 

 the society during the year. 



The American Board. The annual meeting 

 of the American Board of Commissioners for For- 

 eign Missions was held in Hartford, Conn., be- 

 ginning Oct. 8, the Hon. Samuel C. Capen presid- 

 ing. The Prudential Committee reported that 

 the total receipts of the year from all sources, in- 

 cluding $2,253 for the debt, had been $697,371, a 

 decrease from the previous year of $40,586. The 

 bulk of the deficit was in shrinkage of legacies. 

 The regular donations from individuals, churches, 

 and various societies had been $509,198, of which 

 $198,655 had come through the several Woman's 

 Boards (Woman's Board of Missions, Boston, 

 $127,874; Woman's Board of the Interior, Chicago, 

 $65,243; Woman's Board of the Pacific, $5,538). 

 While the total amount of contributions had de- 

 creased $7,338 from the previous year, the gifts 

 for the distinctive work of the board had in- 

 creased $8,780. The expenditures had been $717,- 

 081, or $14,970 less than in the previous year, 

 while the debt had increased by $19,710 to $102,- 

 341. The general summary of the mission fields 

 gave as the numbers in the 20 missions: Of sta- 

 tions, 97; of out-stations, 1,209; of places for 

 stated preaching, 1,661; of ordained missionaries 

 (17 being physicians), 167; of physicians not or- 

 dained, 14 men and 9 women; of other men as- 

 sistants, 4; of women (including 9 physicians, 168 

 wives, and 182 unmarried), 350; whole number 

 of laborers from the United States, 544; of native 

 laborers (including 240 pastors, 513 preachers and 

 catechists, 1,930 school-teachers, 293 Bible women, 

 and 507 others), 3,483; making a total of 4,027 

 American and native laborers; of churches, ,505,. 

 with 50,892 members, of whom 4,551 had been 

 added during the year; number of members from 

 the first as nearly as could be learned, 157,658; 

 of members of Sunday-schools, 66,601 ; of persons 

 under instruction, 62,188, including 228 students 

 for the ministry in 17 theological schools and 

 seminary classes, 10,225 pupils in 103 boarding 

 and high schools, and 49,375 pupils in 1,135 com- 

 mon schools; amount of native contributions, so 

 far as reported, $147,879. In Africa, improved 

 conditions were noted among the Zulus, with steps 

 taken toward the beginning of systematic church 

 organization. In Micronesia, Ponape had been 

 reopened to missionary residence after ten years 

 of virtual exclusion, and Guam, in the Ladrone 



