The morning news., 1889-05-21
NEGRO PRESBYTERIANS.
THERE ARE 277 MISSIONA ARIES
WORKING AMONG THEM.


Last Years Contributions to the Work
Aggregated $134,45o - The secre-
tary OF the Fund Points Out That
Tliteracy is on the Increase -
Emigration to Africa Declared Inn
possible.
New York, May 20.--In the Presbyte-
rian general assembly TODAY DR.. J. F.
MoGill, chairman of the standing commit
tee oa the board Of missions for freedmen,
made his report. He said there were 2T7
missionaries working under the board, of
whom 2J2 were colored, and ZOE Of the 1l6
ordained ministers were oolorsd also. The
contributions to the work last year
amounted to sis4.45o. an increase of
s2,797 ever the previous year. The
freedmen themselves gave s31, ,0se for vari-
Gus parts Of the work. DR.. MoGill said
Nat although there was diversity of
opinion among Prssbyterians in regard to
matters Of administration in the missions
for freedmen, uhey were all agreed that the
work must be pushed. He suggested that
in the future contributions be paid directly
to tse board, and he moved that four naeai-
bers of the committee, whose term of office
Rev. W. G. Burehard, Rev. George f.
Purvis, n. @. Totten and s. P. HARRISON.
uLITERAcY ON THn INCREASE.
Rev. DIR. Allen, secretary Of the fund for
missions amsng the freedmen, spoke of the
necessity for evangelical work among the
celorsd race. "ln th4 south, he salA, there
are 1.S40, $50 colorsd ehildrsn o. school age,
and of this number only Sos, ,5s5 autead
school Illitsracy is on Increase. 1t
can be seen in the rapidly growing nua bsrs
Of illiterate voters of VII IN unscrppulous
dHty Of America to care fer the negro.
have heard IT suggested
that they should be shipped to Africa, but
as there are 1000, 900 of them in tae United
States, and as they are born ~ ths rate Of
609 day, il would be Impossible 10 bald
ships enough for that purpose. The negro
has come TO stay with us aud We must give
him an education that va ht bin fer his
duty to God and mar. HIS past has been q
dark one. If he looks eOk twenty-five
years he sees no happy christiaa hsms-he
hears only the clank Of the slave chain. II
he locks back fifty years, or 100 years, it is
the same. la his race Z ere is not even q
family name. The holiness Of the bond of
marriage was unknown among the colored
people for 26o years"
THE SPEAKER SLAVE OWNER.
Much interest was added TO Rev. DR..
Aliens address when il was kHown that his
grandfather, his father and himself were
slave ownsrs. The speaker then asked for
"Old Uncle Joe" Williams, an oxNslavs, S4
years old, who addressed the assembly
twenty years ago in Albany. He walked
up to the platform and received an ovation.
His experis ceS during slave days, told In
negro dialect, won the entire attention of
the large audieAes. "Uncle Jse" said that
Presby terianisn was the best religion under
heaven and hs could not be anything else
than Presbyterian il he tried.
B. J. Saunders another colored man, and
editor of the a African American Prssbyte-
ridn, also spoke. He said that he set type
and edited his paper himself, aad worked TO
make his race all good Prssbytsrians.
A resolution recommending the adoption
Of the repsrt, and the recommendations Of
the standiag committee of the board of
missions for freedme n, was carried
Consideration Of the clause in the report
of the special committee oa the same sub
jeet, which prep ssd to give that committee
full admi Illustrative powers, but which was
objected 10 by Rev. DR.. Hamlin of Wash
ingtsn, was left over till Tomorrow morn
ipg.