Various - The American Missionary. Volume 43, No. 02, February, 1889

This number of the MISSIONARY contains the annual list of our workers, who go down the Jericho road to care for those who have been wronged, the poor and ignorant, who need the Gospel. Our ministers and teachers are not like the priest and the Levite, who looked upon the poor man and then "passed by on the other side;" nor do they merely pity and utter words of sympathy. They take right hold and help. They "pour in the oil and the wine," and they build the inns —that is, the churches and schoolhouses where they instruct and help the needy ones till they can take care of themselves and help to take care of others—the most genuine kind of assistance.

It must be remembered that this requires expenditure. The oil and the wine, the inn and the constant attendance, call for money. Our constituents, who furnish this, want the work done and well done, and they are willing to pay for it. But sometimes they need to be reminded of the cost. At our last Annual Meeting, the "two pence" which they had during the year put into our hands, counted in American money, amounted to $323,147.22; and they said: "Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again I will repay thee." We are very careful to watch the receipts and expenditures, and we find that for the three months since the Annual Meeting, we have received from all sources $66,958.43; whereas, the current expenditures for the three months require about $86,000. We give this timely notice that they who commit to us this work may remit to us what is needed.

Let it be understood that the generous gift of that noble friend of the Negro race was not entrusted to us to do the work of the good Samaritans of the Churches. We are not permitted to use it for this. The yearly income of the Daniel Hand Fund is to do the work of Daniel Hand—no more. For this, God will reward him and generations will bless him, but he leaves the churches and individual Christians to carry on their own work as before and to reap the blessings of it. We cannot give the Daniel Hand Fund to the churches. We cannot expend it for the churches. It relieves no one of duty and privilege. It is limited also, to its use. The churches and the schools to which we are already committed call for a great increase in self-denial and benevolence.

Pastors and members of the churches, the work is increasingly great. It enlarges itself. Other denominations are increasing their efforts to meet the pressing emergency. Let it not be said that our churches—the first in the field and the most efficient—are falling behind in the ranks. Let our banner be ever at the front. Let us do our work.

One of our missionaries was recently at the North soliciting aid in sustaining his work. His appeal was repeatedly met by the response: "The Association is rich—it has just had a gift of more than a million of dollars." When he explained that only the interest can be used, and this for educational work only, the reply was: "This interest can be used in payment of appropriations already made for schools, thus releasing just so much for other purposes."

Now this is exactly what cannot be done. The Daniel Hand Fund is for new work, and only in the industrial, primary and normal schools. It is a priceless boon in this department, for we can now make enlargements here which were greatly needed, but for which we had not the means; but no part of this Fund can be applied to meet appropriations for other portions of the work. If our constituents will not enable us to meet those other demands, we can only report a debt; the Daniel Hand Fund cannot help us. We are confident this needs only to be understood, for we cannot believe that the 457,584 members of our churches have any wish to shelter themselves behind Daniel Hand.

The question is sometimes asked in letters we receive, What are the privileges of a Life Member in the A.M.A.? We answer:

1. The privilege of voting at the Annual Meeting. Our amended constitution says: "Members of evangelical churches may be constituted members of this Association for life by the payment of $30 into its treasury, with the written declaration at the time or times of payment that the sum is to be applied to constitute a designated person a Life Member, and such membership shall begin sixty days after the payment shall have been completed."

2. A Life Member is entitled to THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY and to the ANNUAL REPORT gratuitously, if desired.

3. The highest privilege is that of being a live member, doing all that he can to promote the interests of the Association and of the needy peoples for whom it labors.

We have two objects in printing this magazine. First, to have it read, and, secondly, to have it paid for. The main purpose is the first, of course, for we wish to have it read if it is not paid for, yet we greatly prefer to have it both read and paid for. We believe that those who pay for it are most likely to read it, and for this reason we fear that this item will be seen only by those who do not need this reminder, but we draw the bow at a venture and tell our readers that the price of the magazine is 50 cents a year.

We wish to inform the pastors and churches that we have just issued a new Annual Leaflet , brief and packed with facts, and suitable for distribution in the pews before collections are taken for the Association. We shall be glad to furnish a supply gratuitously whenever called for.

Our Annual Report, also, is ready for distribution. Those who wish it will please send us a postal card requesting it.

Soon after the war the Roman Catholics seemed to have made a strong effort to win the Freedmen to their faith, and many Protestants felt a good degree of apprehension that the splendors of the ceremonial and the absence of race distinction might captivate the Negro. But the effort was unsuccessful and appeared for a time to have been abandoned. It has often been said, however, that the Church of Rome never surrenders an undertaking; it may delay and wait for more auspicious times, but in the end it perseveres. There are some indications of the renewal of the zeal of the Papacy for the Negro. The article in another part of the magazine, entitled "The Colored Catholic Congress," is an evidence.

One thing is certain. The Roman Catholic Church deserves praise for its disregard of the color-line. The rich and the poor, the white and the black, bow at the same altar, and one of the highest dignitaries of the church is not ashamed to stand side by side with the black man on a great public occasion. Protestants at the North and the South must not allow the Romanists to surpass them in this Christ-like position.

We ask our friends to read Mr. Dodge's article about the school at Pleasant Hill, Tenn. One thousand dollars has already been pledged for this building, on condition that the remainder of the $5,000 be secured. We ask that this remainder be given by individuals , and not taken from Church or Sunday-school contributions—all of which are needed for current work.

I have swapped horses—exchanged a Georgia mule for a New England thoroughbred—and hereafter the "Notes in the Saddle" will be written from this dignified seat. And what a change it is from the South to New England!

Take a map and look it over. Put down in each State the illiteracy, and make the comparison. In this good Commonwealth of Massachusetts only seven-tenths of one per cent. of the native born white population are illiterate, while in Georgia twenty-three per cent. of the native whites, and in North Carolina thirty-two per cent. of the native whites, are illiterate.