

BAPTISTS. 



53 



during the year by loan or gift. The report con- 

 tained a summary of financial facts for the past 

 ten years, in which it was shown that the amount 

 of educational endowments had grown from 

 $132,258 in 1890 to .$274,352 in 1900, and the per- 

 manent trust funds from $138,928 to $244,904. 

 The whole amount received from legacies during 

 this period had been $1,065,517, of which $109,120 

 had been received during the past year. A resolu- 

 tion was unanimously passed at the meeting of 

 the society requesting the sister Baptist societies 

 to join with it in appointing a commission to con- 

 sider the relative amounts which the denomina- 

 tion should be asked to furnish for its different 

 benevolent enterprises, and to make such other 

 recommendations as they may deem Avise; this 

 commission to be composed of three representa- 

 tives each from the Missionary Union, Home Mis- 

 sion Society, and Publication Society, and two 

 representatives from each of the three women's 

 societies; and to be requested to make its re- 

 port at the anniversaries in 1901. A committee 

 of seven persons was appointed to act with like 

 committees from the other Baptist national so- 

 cieties as a joint committee to devise and formu- 

 late a method whereby the Baptist people of the 

 United States may most suitably commemorate 

 the beginning of the new century of the Christian 

 era, with the understanding that it publish the 

 conclusions that may be agreed upon not later 

 than December, 1900. A resolution was passed 

 approving the decision of the Government to with- 

 draw support from denominational schools among 

 the Indians, and to provide an unsectarian edu- 

 cation for those people, and urging that there be 

 no backward step in the matter and that the prin- 

 ciple of separation of Church and state be the rule 

 of American policy permanently and universally. 



Missionary Union. The eighty-sixth annual 

 meeting of the American Baptist Missionary 

 Union was held in Detroit, Mich., May 28 and 29. 

 The Executive Committee reported that the re- 

 ceipts from living givers had increased during the 

 year from $313,935 to $350,609. A large decrease 

 in legacies was mentioned, the amount received 

 therefrom being $36,398, and the debt had nearly 

 doubled, being now $111,041. The total appropri- 

 ations for the year had been $599,706. The per- 

 manent fund had been increased by $114,795. The 

 report suggested that the form in which specific 

 gifts to missions are made be modified, so that 

 instead of a church or person supporting an indi- 

 vidual missionary, it assume the responsibility 

 for a station or some part of the work of one. 

 Of the contributions to the treasury of the soci- 

 ety, $111,169 had come through the four women's 

 societies of the East, of the West, of California, 

 and of Oregon. An amendment w r as proposed to 

 the constitution, which has to lie over for a year 

 before it can be finally acted upon, the purpose 

 of which is to eliminate from the terms of mem- 

 bership in the union all qualifications based on 

 the contribution of money, and to make eligible 

 smy Baptist in good and regular standing who at 

 the last meeting of his State association has been 

 duly elected as a delegate to the meetings of 

 the Missionary Union. Among the resolutions 

 adopted was one deprecating the diversion of gifts 

 from the general fund to specific objects except 

 such as may be approved by the board. Provision 

 was made for suitable observance of the coming 

 in of the twentieth century. 



From the missions to the heathen (in Burmah, 

 Assam, south India (Telugus), China, Japan, 

 Africa, and the Philippine Islands) were returned 

 94 stations, 474 missionaries, 3,482 native helpers, 

 928 organized churches, 506 of which were self- 



supporting, 1,090 churches and chapels, 1,510 out 

 stations where regular meetings were held, 105,210 

 church members, 843 Sunday schools with 34,867 

 members, 1,445 schools (including 8 theological 

 and 71 boarding and high schools), 433 of which 

 were self-supporting, 37,297 pupils of all grades, 

 722 accessions during the year, and $87,977 of 

 native contributions. The European missions (in 

 Sweden, Germany, Russia, Finland, Denmark, 

 Norway, France, and Spain) returned 1,213 preach- 

 ers, 985 churches, 101,534 church members, 77,801 

 pupils in Sunday schools, and $402,500 of contri- 

 butions. 



Meetings of the American Baptist Historical 

 Society and of the Commission on Systematic 

 Benevolence were held in connection with the an- 

 niversary meetings of the missionary societies. 

 At the former meeting progress was reported in 

 the effort to replace the collection of books which 

 had been destroyed by the burning of the build- 

 ing of the American Baptist Publication Society 

 a few years before. The Commission on System- 

 atic Benevolence presented an account of what it 

 had done to promote the organization of members 

 and churches for regularity and method in contri- 

 bution. 



Wpmen.'s Societies. The Woman's American 

 Baptist Home Mission Society (Boston) returned 

 its receipts for the year as having been $33,369, 

 and its expenditures $32,274. At its annual meet- 

 ing in Boston, May 2, the " Paper Mission " re- 

 quested a supply of " Anti-Mormon " and " Anti- 

 Christian Scientist " literature, and a number of 

 " State workers " described features of their labors 

 in various fields in the United States, etc. 



The twenty-third annual meeting of the Wom- 

 en's Baptist Home Mission Society was held at 

 Detroit, Mich., May 21. The total cash receipts 

 of the society for the year had been $74,040, and 

 the disbursements $73,036, besides which goods 

 having an estimated value of $9,583 had been sent 

 to missionaries. A debt of $5,000 had been ex- 

 tinguished. One hundred and forty-nine mission- 

 aries, 24 of whom were colored, had been employed 

 at 101 stations in 57 States and Territories, who 

 recorded among their labors the organization of 

 21 Sunday schools, besides visitations, conducting 

 and attending meetings, and holding conversa- 

 tions. Missionary training schools were sustained 

 at Chicago, 111., Raleigh, N. C., and Dallas, Texas, 

 from the former two of which 19 students had been 

 graduated. 



Southern Baptist Convention. The forty- 

 fifth meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention 

 was held at Hot Springs, Ark., beginning May 11. 

 The Hon. W. J. Northen, ex-Governor of Georgia, 

 was chosen president. The Home Mission Board 

 reported that its total receipts for the year, in- 

 cluding a special annuity gift of $4,000, had been 

 $79,366. All the States except one had shown an 

 increase in cash contributions. Six hundred and 

 seventy-one missionaries had been employed, serv- 

 ing 2,168 churches and stations, who returned 

 5,696 baptisms, 11,951 additions in all, 195 

 churches constituted, 71 houses of worship built 

 and 63 improved, with an expenditure of $68,223, 

 and 639 Sunday schools organized, with 24,675 

 teachers and pupils. The State boards of Ala- 

 bama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indian Terri- 

 tory, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, 

 Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma Territory, 

 Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia were in co-opera 

 tion with the board in part or the whole of their 

 work. The report designated as frontier work to 

 which it was giving much attention the effort to 

 provide churches and preaching for the population 

 which was pouring rapidly into a strip of terri- 



