REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON THE PROPOSED EXCHANGE OF MISSIONS.
The Committee to whom was referred Secretary Strieby’s report, on recommending the simplification of the work of the American Missionary Association, by withdrawing from the foreign field, and assuming more fully the work among the Indians to which it is now providentially invited, approve in general of its proposals, but beg to recommend to the Executive Committee of the American Missionary Association, in considering and settling the questions involved, the following points which they suggest as conditions in effecting the changes contemplated:
1. That the entire Mendi Mission, with its long and checkered history, representing such heroic sufferings and achievements, and in the sustenance of which our British friends have so generously aided us, be continued by transferring it to the A. B. C. F. M. or to the United Brethren, who have a mission near by and who will entertain overtures for the same, and that to this end the churches, schools, and other property be made over to either party, with the interest of the Avery fund, in the one case at once and in the other for a limited time, as the Committee may arrange. That the steamer John Brown, to which the Sabbath-schools of our churches have contributed some $7,000, be built, and be given over to such parties as will use it for the purposes originally contemplated.
2. That the interest in, and funds for, the Arthington Mission be, so far as may be, transferred to the A. B. C. F. M., and that failing, to the United Presbyterians who are doing such excellent work in the Nile Valley.
3. That this Association will assume the Indian Mission in Dakota offered it by the A. B. C. F. M., and will withdraw from the foreign fields, and arrange ultimately for the transference of the interest of the Avery fund to the American Board.
And your Committee propose for your adoption the following resolution, covering the adjudication of this question.
Resolved, That the matter of accepting the Dakota Mission from the American Board, and of transferring our African Mission to that Board or some other organization, be referred to the Executive Committee with power, provided that it be made certain that the Mendi Mission, so dear to the hearts of many of the Association, be in some way sustained hereafter.
M. McG. Dana, Chairman.