THE CHINESE.
The work among the Chinese on the Pacific Coast has been carried on under the able and energetic superintendence of Rev. W. C. Pond with unabated interest and success. Here there has been enlargement. The excess of teachers for the past year over the previous year has been six, that of pupils 76, and of hopeful conversions 13. A comparison of the statistics and work shows an improvement at all points. The total enrollment last year was 1,556; this year, 1,632. The number last year who gave evidence of conversion was 127; this year, 140. All reports that have come to us are exceedingly encouraging, and not the least among them is the repeated expression of the need there is of some well chosen point in Southern China for a mission station from which converted Chinamen returning to their fatherland may go forth to preach to their countrymen. We do not purpose to act hastily upon suggestions of this kind. We seek, however, to learn clearly the will of the Master, and to expand His work whenever and wherever it is evident He is leading the way.
FINANCES.
The financial success reported at our last Annual Meeting, while full of encouragement, cast upon us a shade of anxiety. It was not certain that the additional funds made necessary by the large gifts we had received for new buildings, and the plans we had adopted for enlargement at different points, would be forthcoming. Efforts were made throughout that meeting to impress upon all those present the urgent necessity we were under for at least 25 per cent. of increase in receipts over the previous year for current expenses. The same necessity was also set forth at the National Council at St. Louis, in our publications and in the pulpits, and at conferences and conventions wherever opportunity was afforded. We felt that God had called us to do an enlarged work, and that if we could convey the information to His people, and share with them the burden we felt ourselves, the responses would be sufficiently liberal to meet all demands. In this we were not disappointed. The receipts reported for the fiscal year closing Sept. 30, 1880, were, for current work, $187,480.02; this year, $243,795.23, a gain of $56,315.21. This shows an advance of 30 per cent. mainly in the ordinary subscriptions over last year, and indicates the people’s hearty appreciation and indorsement of our work. For this we return profound gratitude to Almighty God. The fiscal year was closed free from debt, and with a balance in our treasury of $518.80. We are sure that the liberality displayed augurs well for the future. We believe the money received was expended wisely. We do not see how we could have done justice to our work without it. But additional outlay for current expenses is sure to be needful. The Stone Hall just finished at Straight University will afford accommodations for the teachers and sixty girls. The cost, however, for student aid, for insurance and the care of the building, will require additional receipts. What is true at New Orleans is equally true at Talladega College, with its new dormitory for a hundred boarders, and at Tougaloo, Miss., with the facilities of its new Hall. When Livingstone Missionary Hall, at Nashville, is done, and Stone Hall, at Atlanta University, completed, two hundred additional boarding students will make new demands which must be met.
To all we have mentioned must be added the consideration that we are laying foundations for a mission in Africa on the Upper Nile, at a point further remote from the coast than any occupied by other societies, either home or foreign, and that the outlay for this, if carried forward, will be considerable in the near future. We believe, therefore, that it is our duty to ask the friends of this Association to give us during the coming year not less than $300,000 for the support and enlargement of the varied work we have in charge.
DEMANDS OF THE FUTURE.
Some of the demands indicated above may be summarized as follows:
1. The increase of students this year over last year is 1,056. A considerable number of these were boarding students, but with our additional accommodations we shall require the coming year from five to ten thousand dollars more than usual for student aid.
2. We have no boys’ dormitory at Straight University, the new Stone Hall being exclusively for the teachers and girls. We need immediately fifteen thousand dollars to supply this want.
3. Funds also are necessary for libraries in at least ten of our different institutions. An advanced school without a sufficient library labors under great disadvantages, and especially so when located amid a people who have but very few books of their own. From ten to twenty thousand dollars for libraries could be used very profitably at once.
4. Our theological departments need better facilities and an increased corps of instructors. The number of students graduating from the different schools at the South is rapidly increasing. Many of these would enter the Christian ministry if sufficiently encouraged to do so. We need funds for the endowment of professors’ chairs at least at three different points south of the Ohio.
5. We need also endowment funds for all our chartered institutions. No colleges thrive for a great length of time without endowments. The work of a missionary society primarily is to plant churches and religious institutions, and to sustain them until they can care for themselves. Its business is, and must be, aggressive. As soon as may be, its churches and its educational institutions must become self-sustaining by their own endeavors, while the society goes forward to new fields. We need now, we surely ought to have in the near future, not less than five hundred thousand dollars for the endowment of our different institutions.
6. We need also ten thousand dollars at once for a suitable steamer for our Mendi Mission.
The negroes in the West Indies, the millions in South America, the two hundred millions in Africa, have their claims upon us. We are of them as a missionary society, and they are of us as our brethren in distress, awaiting such benefits as we have been blessed in bestowing on the few representatives in our own country.
Finally, this Association needs, most of all, the prayers of God’s people everywhere for the guidance of His Holy Spirit, and the sufficiency of His grace to direct its affairs in days to come, and for this your Committee puts forth its most urgent appeal.