BAPTISTS. 



creased during tlio past year. Stonily advance was 

 reported in Mexico. Several men \veiv desirous of 

 going there as missionaries, hut the financial con- 

 dition did not permit an enlargement of the work 

 at present. The church-edifice department had 

 aided in the erection of !;5 meeting houses, and had 

 aided other churches in embarrassed conditions. 

 lt> receipt shad been 22.02(5; the aggregate amount 

 of its gifts to r>4 churches was 138,890, an average 

 of $442.41 to each church. The management of 

 the eight higher schools and colleges had been di- 

 rected flrsl to providing the colored people with a 

 suitably trained ministry. Mesides the society's 

 schools' others had been established through the 

 South, controlled by negro boards of trustees and 

 taught almost exclusively by negro teachers ; these 

 had been assisted by the aid of a special contribu- 

 tion in such sums as were necessary to supplement 

 t lie income received from the colored people, so as 

 to maintain them in a fair degree of efficiency. 



Missionary Union. The American Baptist 

 Missionary I/nion held its eighty-second annual 

 meet ing at Asbury Park, X. J., beginning May 22. 

 Dr. H.'F. Colby, of Ohio, presided. The treasurer 

 of the society had received ffom all sources $666,- 

 56!), and had' expended $606,825, adding $35,615 to 

 the permanent funds. Despite all difficulties the 

 appropriations for the year had been met, and the 

 debt reduced $26,129. Twenty-five new mission- 

 aries had been sent into the field. Four hundred 

 and fifty-nine missionaries had been in service in 

 the heathen field, with 1,543 native helpers. The 

 missions returned 820 churches, with 98,030 mem- 

 bers. 4.657 persons baptized during the year, and 

 1.136 schools with 27,628 pupils. The European 

 missions returned 1.149 native preachers and help- 

 ers. !)03 churches, 97,787 members, and 6,895 bap- 

 tisms during the year. A committee appointed to 

 confer with representatives of the women's societies 

 concerning the election of women to the Executive 

 Committee of the Union, reported that they found 

 no general desire on the part of the women's so- 

 cieties for such representation, but rather a convic- 

 tion that it would be unwise, and recommended 

 that no further action be taken in the matter. A 

 special report on finance related that it was of the 

 utmost importance to the conduct of missionary 

 affairs, that the sum of $600,000 should be received 

 in the coming year from the gifts of the living, 

 which would require an increase of 50 per cent, in 

 contributions, and the increase could not be ob- 

 tained unless better methods were adopted; that in 

 view of this circumstance, it was not expedient to 

 make a special effort at this time to liquidate the 

 debt; that all moneys received from legacies and 

 gifts designated for that special purpose be applied 

 to that object,; that in case the debt was increased 

 it would be necessary to curtail the work, and 

 recommended that steps be immediately taken 

 toward the formation of a general commis'sion, for 

 the denomination, on the whole subject of Christian 

 beneficence, to be known as the Commission on Sys- 

 tematic Christian JJeneficence ; that it be composed 

 of three representatives, each one of whom shall be 

 a general >ccretary of cadi of the. three societies 

 named, from each of the following organizations: 

 the American Haptist M issionarv Union, the Arncri- 

 taptist Home Mission Society, the Am. rican 

 Baptist Publication Society, and the Haptist V.Ming 



get her with the corresponding 



Men's societies, both American 

 and I'or.-ign ; that the commission, serving three 

 consecutive years, devote itself to the investigation 

 of the whole question 01 denominational beneficence 

 and the maturing of plans for a more systematic 

 method ot giving by the denomination as" a whole 

 ;d causes, and report progress 



from time to time. This report, with further pro- 

 visions for carrying out the plan outlined in it, was 

 unanimously adopted. 



Education Society. The eighth annual meet- 

 ing of the American Baptist Education Society was 

 held at Asbury Park, N. J., May 25. Vice-Presi- 

 dent D. B. Purinton presided. The report showed 

 that of $62,602 added to the endowment of 14 col- 

 leges and seminaries the society had furnished 

 $15,257, while the institutions themselves had col- 

 lected $47,345. Including certain special grants 

 made to Des Moines College, Iowa, the total appro- 

 priations of the society had been $18,545. Apart 

 from the society's work, several institutions of 

 learning had been financially strengthened during 

 the year. The resources of the University of Chi- 

 cago had been increased more than $2,000,000 ; and 

 $1,500.000 more were promised contingent upon 

 the raising of an equal amount by the institution. 

 The total of subscriptions and contributions re- 

 ceived since 1889 was $11,500,000. Columbian 

 University, Washington, D. C., had nearly com- 

 pleted the effort to raise a guarantee fund of $15,- 

 000 per year for five years for additional instructors 

 and equipment. This was equivalent, for the time, 

 to the income of $300.000. 



Women's Home Mission Society. The nine- 

 teenth annual meeting of the Woman's Baptist 

 Home Mission Society was held at Asbury Park, 

 N. J., May 18. Mrs. J. N. Crouse presided. The 

 total amount of receipts for the year had been $66,- 

 275, or $2,145 more than in the preceding year. 

 The expenditures had been (including amounts un- 

 paid) $70,480. The value of the contents of boxes 

 and barrels of clothing for missionaries' families, for 

 distribution among the poor, and as material for in- 

 dustrial schools, was estimated at $14.677. The 

 Baptist Missionary Training School had graduated 

 a class of 24 young women, two thirds of whom 

 were under appointment before graduation. One 

 hundred and thirty missionaries had been employed 

 as follows: On the frontier, 19; to the Chinese, 7; 

 to the Jews, 1 ; to Germans, 21 ; to Danes and Nor- 

 wegians, 3 ; to Swedes, 10 ; to Indians, 13 ; to Mex- 

 icans, 6 ; to negroes, 52. 



Historical Society. The forty-third annual 

 meeting of the American Baptist Historical Society 

 was held in Asbury Park, X. J., May 21. The Rev. 

 Lemuel Moss, D. D., presided. The principal event 

 in the year's history of the society was the total de- 

 struction of its library and archives by the burning 

 of the American Baptist Publication House in Phil- 

 adelphia, Pa., Feb. 2. The society had for its new 

 beginning $2,500 insurance money and other funds 

 sufficient to give it $4,500 available for use. A com- 

 mittee was appointed to arrange for the publication 

 of a series of studies of Baptist history. 



Young People's Union. The Baptist Young 

 People's Union of America met in its sixth annual 

 convention at Milwaukee, Wis., July 16. Mr. John 

 H. Chapman presided. The report of the Board of 

 Managers represented that the year had been one 

 of growth in local organization, particularly in the 

 Southern States. A corresponding interest was 

 manifested in the formation of junior societies. 

 It had been impossible as yet to secure a satisfac- 

 tory enrollment of local organizations, but there was 

 reason to believe that there were in the United 

 States and Can ad a not less than 8,000 societies, with 

 a total membership of more than 400,000 ; of which 

 about 1.500 were junior societies with about 40.000 

 members. Forty-two State and provincial unions 

 had been formed. The Christian Culture Courses 

 which the Union prescribes to its members had met 

 with great favor, and the board had thought it ad- 

 visable to project three advanced courses, which 

 would introduce those graduating from the existing 



