Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-05-18
OH Sire Dress.
TROUBLE IN THE BAPTIST UNION.
Charges of Bad Faith, or Worse-An
ALLEGED Discrepancy of over $50, 900
ia Official REPORTS.

is society of that church having mission.
aries Ia Europe, Asia ard Africa. Its head
quarters are In Boston, and its New York
lingham, No. 0 Murray street. Its president
is tile Rev. George Dana Boardman, of
Philadelphia. Its secretary is j. NJ. Murdoch
and its treasurer until year ago was the
Rev. f. A. Smith. Since the last anniversary
meeting in New York city in May last Mr..
Smith has resigned The next Anniversary
meeting Will be held in Saratoga during
the PRESENT month, when it is understood
that serious charges will be preferred by sew
eral missionaries of the union affecting the
conduct of certain Of its officers and the
management OF ii financial affairs
Al various times during a number of years
pasl the missiOnarits of the union in Burmah
have forwarded to the home office in Boston
complaint that there is discrepancy between
the amount Of salaries paid them and the
amount charged by the treasurer against the
union for these salaries. They now claim that
these complaints have been met with either
silence or Cvasive answers, and therefore
they have determined TO bring the matter
formally before the whole body of the union
at The forthcoming meeting
Inc inevitable deduction from the charges
made is that the compainants believe tina,
one or more OF the financial officers of the
Union have not accounted to the Union for
The difference between the moneys paid to
the missionaries aud the amount drawn from
the treasury OF the society for that purpose
IL appears from the papers submitted by the
complaining missionaries that within the past
eight years there has been Il great dcprecia-
tinn III the value of the rupee vet they are
now mid thp guIup bumhnr nf ri,no,o "a ,,hn,,
the amount OF their SALARIES charged against
the Union represented much larger value
for lnslhrcc, missionary IL allowed by the
Union $500 a year. That $1,000, say ten
years ag', purchased certain number Of
rupees. Since that date the rupee has large
ly declined in value, but the missionary, as
the compliments charge, is paid the same
number of rupees now as thee, while the
Union is charged now as then with the $1,000
salary 10 tie missionary. The compliinants
desire to know what has lccone of the
money saved by this process, and allege that
even up to tue date Of the last report no
mention is made of il in the relsurers state.
mcnts.
The First Complaint.
ln October, 1876, several missionaries, in
Guiding the Revs. Z. b. Cross, d. L. Bray
ton, John Packor,A. L. Rose, S. T. Goodell,
VIM. George Henry w. Hale and William IL.
5. llascall, and Elizabeth Lawrence, Maria
{. Douglass aud Katherine f. Evans, all en-
ployed in Burmah and India by the Ameri-
can Baptist Missionary Union, alleging that
they had been unfairly dealt with by the of.
Ulcers OF that soccty,or certainly by its treas.
urtr, Who Lad the management of its finances
more ttan any one else, particularly in the
matter OF paying salaries, joined in formal
complaint, which they put in type and for
warded to the headquarters Of the society in
Boston. In this complaint the missionaries
said they intended to charge the society ''the
dllf,rtnce between the sums Of rupees paid
them us salaries and the gold value of their
Salaries The circular AMI those following
it intimate that some person, after deductinv
this difference from the salaries of the mis-
slonari,s, must have applied ii TO his own
fuipostS,a' none OF the annualreports appear
TO show The difference to have been put into
the treasury.
The Reply.
To this the officers of the society replied in
printed circular, dated Boston, January %.
1877, and signed j. n. Murdoch, correspond
ing secretary. In this circular one of the
missionaries is quoted as putting the com.
plant Of all while m king his own. as fol-
lows: ''ln my contract with the American
Baptist Missionary Union ii was specified
that WAS to give my whole time to the
work of the mission, for which the Union
was TO pay me annually, for the first three
years, $1,000 gold, and for the remainder of
my service $1,000 per year" Mr.. Murdoch
quoted from the rules adopted in 1859 res
pecling the employment of missionaries, as
follows: In all Asiatic missions the salaries
OF missionaries, excepting th0s. appointed
previously to 1859, shall be hereafter, during
the first ilfrcc years they are in the field,
SlOUO Il year, aud after the expiration of that
period, duing The whole term of their SER
vice a road $1,000 year" Mr. Murdoch
adds; ut viii be seen that the rule says
nothing about gold" The circular further
says In India and Burmah WE have UNI
folmy paid all salaries in rupees. For Bur-
mai and ln'.ia We use rupees for the Chi
nesc ard the japanese we use Mexican for
France We Use francs, etc. However our
currency may have iuctuatcd, we have al
ways kept the salaries al q tixei sum in these
various curlcncics, merely stating in our
home accounts what the rupees. francs, etc.,
have cost us"
Sharp Words,
Tie missionaries replied in June following,
and among ether things said :--"You have
never paid us in excess of gold, as your cir
cular claims; you have for the last four
years paid fifteen per cent less than gold.
You enter the Rangoon market, not with
goldin hand, but with time bills on London,
and buy rupees at from thirty-sx to forty
cents each, and compel us to lake them on
our salaries at forty-five cents How can
you call this keeping faith with your mission
arits! What would be thought of an associ-
alton of merchants in England who should
engage agents 10 conduct their business in
Burmah at astipulated salary of say $1,000 u
year, and should insist that said agents must
accept 1000 rupees for each fl00 when each
flOO WIS worth at least ll50 rupees /?
The case is parallel and the principle Apo
site.
Asking what Becomes Of the Differ
Coming more directly to the matter at is
sue the missionaries say to the officers in
Boston: You say the committee are not
responsible for this reduction. The commit
tee, of course, are not responsible for the de-
probation Of the rnrcc but when, owing to
this depreciation, they are enabled to pur.
at, say thrty-six cents, and
then pass them TO us at forty five ceuts, who
is responsible -
The missionaries further charge that ian
average premium on their (lhe society's) bills
for the year ending September 80, 1876. of
twenty per cent was realized, and that the
officers were aware of this fact when they is.
sued their circular. They quote from the
circular issued from the Office in Boston as
follows: "The rupee costs 45.4 cents gold