REPORT ON EDUCATIONAL WORK, SOUTH.
BY REV. W. F. SLOCUM, CHAIRMAN.
Your committee, to which the report of the executive committee on educational work in the South was referred, would express at the outset their profound gratitude for the success that has followed the efforts that have been put forth in this large and important department of the work of the American Missionary Association.
While they deplore with all those who have the interests of this work at heart, the political attempts to limit the usefulness of the Association, that has grown out of unworthy partisan prejudices, yet they perceive with thankfulness that there is an element growing stronger every year at the South that appreciates the place, the importance and the value of these schools. Notably is this shown in Mississippi, where the State appropriation for the Tougaloo University was the only one not reduced. They would speak with appreciation of the Christian spirit that infuses all these schools, and the deeply religious character that is given to the work, and of the strong personal influences which are brought to bear upon the students.
Your committee feel that the time has come to push with greatest vigor a work that shall meet the demand for teachers in the public schools of the South, and to avail ourselves of the opportunity to reach the children and the homes of colored people through these; that every effort needs to be put forth to send out these teachers established in Christian ethics and feeling that the moralities of life are the basis of all true education.
Great pleasure is taken in the advance that is made each year in the matter of industrial and agricultural training; and every effort which tends to transform this people into an intelligent, upright Christian yeomanry, will be a profound blessing. Our constant aim should be to establish the true dignity of labor and the healthful desire to possess property and an intelligence that secures the best condition as property holders. Your committee are of the opinion that the opportunity for good through these schools was never larger than at present, and that the need of enlargement in many is imperative, and also that the time has come to push the work of special endowment for the larger institutions, that they may become independent of any financial pressure and may be put upon a permanent basis. And therefore of the three alternatives suggested by the claims of the work at present which they suggest in their report, can endorse one only, and do therefore most heartily recommend that instead of sacrificing the character of the work, instead of reducing the amount of work done, the Association shall have more money.
REPORT ON CHURCH WORK, SOUTH.
BY REV. CYRUS RICHARDSON, CHAIRMAN.