64 



BAPTISTS. 



on during the quarter of a century now com- 

 pleted at a total cost of $1,122,054; in addition 

 to which goods and supplies valued at $223,173 

 had been distributed. The receipts for the past 

 year had been $88,501. One hundred and twelve 

 centers of work were established in 34 States and 

 Territories of the United States, 3 states of Mex- 

 ico, Cuba, Porto Rico, Canada, among Americans 

 in frontier States, among the Indians, and among 

 Chinese, Syrian, Bohemian, Jewish, Scandina- 

 vian, and negro populations in the United States. 

 The woman's society in northern California had 

 given up its separate organization and become 

 one with this society. 



The twenty-fourth annual meeting of the 

 \\ Oman's American Baptist Home Mission So- 

 ciety was held in Boston, Mass., May 7 and 8. 

 The receipts for the year had been $34,733 for 

 the general work and $4,798 for the Alaskan 

 work; but deficiencies were left in the accounts 

 of both branches amounting together to $3,094. 

 The larger portion of this sum was obtained dur- 

 ing the meetings, whereby the debt was reduced 

 to $805. The labors of the society were prose- 

 cuted among the negroes of the South, among the 

 Indians, among foreign populations, and in Porto 

 Rico and Alaska. 



The thirty-first annual meeting of the Wom- 

 an's Baptist Foreign Missionary Society of the 

 West was held in St. Louis, Mo., May 6 and 7. 

 The receipts for the year had been $42,000 for 

 the general work of the society and $1,700 for 

 the home for missionaries' children. The soci- 

 ety had under its care 220 schools, 231 teachers, 

 0,771 pupils, and 100 Bible wornen, 2 hospitals, 

 and 2 dispensaries, in which 9,818 patients had 

 been treated, with 387 outside patients. The re- 

 port of the joint Committee on the Relation of 

 the Missionary Union and its Auxiliary Wom- 

 an's Societies, recommending the continuance of 

 woman's work as now carried on, was approved, 

 and the Woman's Baptist Missionary Societies 

 of California and Oregon were invited to unite 

 organically with this one. 



Young "People's Union. The Baptist Young 

 People's Union of America held its eleventh an- 

 nual meeting in Providence, R. I., July 10 to 13. 

 Mr. John H. Chapman, of Illinois, was chosen 

 president for the year. The report of the Board 

 of Managers showed that all outstanding obli- 

 gations, including a debt of $20,000, had been 

 paid. There had been a total return in the past 

 year of 10,927 examination papers, and in ten 

 years of 108,189. The net receipts for the year 

 had been $17,982, besides $40,196 in the business 

 department of the Baptist Union. The assets 

 amounted to $33,271. 



Southern Baptist Convention. The South- 

 ern Baptist Convention met in its forty-seventh 

 annual session at Asheville, N. C., May 8. The 

 Hon. James P. Eagle, ex-Governor of Arkansas, 

 was chosen president. The report (eleventh) of 

 the Sunday-School Board showed that the total 

 receipts for the year had been $89,345, or $10,- 

 904 more than in the preceding year. The re- 

 serve fund had been increased by $6.000, and 

 stood at $50,000, safely invested. Twelve thou- 

 sand dollars additional had been set aside to 

 start a building fund, and the house and lot 

 in which the board transacted its business were 

 included in the table of assets. The appropria- 

 tions for the year aggregated $15,880, not in- 

 cluding the missionary boxes. By the " Book 

 Endowment Plan" gifts of $500 constitute a 

 fund, bearing the donor's name, to be applied to 

 publishing books, which is used continuously in 

 the issue of new books as fast as it is restored 



by sales. The list of Sunday-school periodicals 

 had been enlarged. An annual lecture course 

 on Sunday-school work was provided lor at the 

 Louisville Theok>gical Seminary. The Bible de- 

 partment was increasing in importance every 

 year. An agency for the circulation of mission 

 literature was maintained by this board and the 

 Home Mission Board jointly at Baltimore, Md. 

 The Home Mission Board had received $98,950 

 cash during the year, an increase of $12,045 over 

 the receipts of the previous year, besides special 

 gifts, subject to annuities, of $1,500. The church 

 building and loan department, established about 

 two years previously, had received less than $100 

 additional to the $4,110 received during the first 

 year of its operation. It had made a* number 

 of loans, of from $150 to $400 each, for periods 

 of from three to five years. Work in the moun- 

 tain regions was done in cooperation with the 

 State mission boards, mainly in the establish- 

 ment and maintenance of schools, which were 

 mostly in the charge of preachers serving in the 

 county adjacent, and of other teachers. Thir- 

 teen schools were maintained, and others would 

 be established as circumstances might allow. 

 In cooperative work among the negroes the 

 board had expended $1,917 in the States of Geor- 

 gia, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, and 

 Virginia, the American Baptist Home Mission 

 Society and the State boards paying like sums. 

 Sixteen missionaries had been employed, w'ho had 

 held 110 institutes and reported 408 baptisms. 

 The board had also cooperated with the National 

 Baptist Convention (colored) in the support of 

 two general missionaries, expending $1,350. Five 

 stations besides Havana were maintained in 

 Cuba, with 5 missionaries and 8 teachers. The 

 year's receipts of the Foreign Mission Board had 

 been $173,849, and the board entered the new 

 year with a balance in bank of $13,379. The 

 missions in China, Japan, Africa, Mexico, Italy, 

 and Brazil returned 139 churches, with 171 out- 

 stations, 115 missionaries, 38 ordained native 

 preachers, 133 native helpers, 7,821 members, 

 with 1,439 baptisms during the year, and na- 

 tive contributions amounting to $18,350. Two 

 training-schools for young preachers were main- 

 tained in China, 1 in Africa, 1 in Italy, 1 in 

 Mexico, and 2 in Brazil. Publication societies 

 were established at Rio, Brazil, and Canton, 

 China. Twenty of the 25 missionaries ordered 

 sent out by the previous convention had been 

 sent, and 6 more were under appointment. The 

 Southern Baptist Theological Seminary reported 

 a prosperous year. While other seminaries were 

 complaining of a falling off in the number of 

 students, this institution had gained 12, and now 

 had 243. The report of the Committee on Co- 

 operation, which was unanimously adopted, rec- 

 ommended that associational members to the 

 convention be regarded as messengers to their 

 associations and requested to represent the work 

 of the convention; that a statistical secretary 

 be appointed; and that the secretaries of the 

 State boards and the State boards constitute 

 a committee on cooperation to make suggestions 

 for uplifting the people of the South. 



The contributions of the Woman's Mission- 

 ary Union Auxiliary to the Southern Baptist 

 Convention had been $54,776 in cash and $33,153 

 in boxes. 



Education Society. The American Baptist 

 Education Society, holding its session for 1902 

 in connection with the meetings of the Southern 

 Baptist Convention, met at Asheville, N. C., May 

 8. The report showed that grants had been 

 made during the year to 10 institutions of $127,- 



