The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-10-11
WHO SHALL Be CHOSEN !?
The Question Which Cenfronts the
American Board.
UNUSUAL INTEREST IN THIS
YEARS SESSION.

Honorary Members Offer IsuggestionlEfor
the Settlement of the Existing Difficult
ties-The Opening Meeting OF
the Conv vention-The Report of the
Treasurer--Work in the Foreign Field
The Outrages Suffered by the Mission
aries in Turkey.
Worcester, October 10-The S4th annual
meeting of the American Board of Com
missioners for Foreign Missions opened
at three O'Clock this afternoon in Me-
chanics' hall. There was a large attend
ance of members of the corporate board,
| missionaries, invited guests and any
| ladies. This meeting of the Board has an
especial interest because of the effect it
| may have on the dissensions now existing
as to the spiritual qualifications of can
| didates for the mission field. An honorary
| member of the board has written letter
| for publication in which he proposes a
way out of the difficulties which con-
| front the board. He proposes to change
the method of ascertaining the theologi-
| cal bias and beliefs of those who desire
| to go abroad as missionaries. The follow
ing is the plan:
Let each state association elect a
| representative minister and layman at
| the annual meeting for a year, eligible
| for reelection.
| 2.-Let those men be grouped together
| in different sections of the country. They
are mem bers-elect severally of certain
I councils
IT,. n
women come for credentials to the Amer
| lean board. They meet these representa-
| tives of the churches personally.
4-They go to the prudential commit
| tee with the Endorsement of a council,
and ask to be sent to China, Japan,
| India and some other country. The pru-
| Dental committee decides on everything
| concerning their case save theology.
| Another honorary member calls for
| this action: make half dozen vacancies
| in the personnel of the administration,
! and elect as new officials, men who nave
no extreme partisanship to marrow them,
| no iron-clad tradition to fetter them, no
| deep seated prejudices to be concll1ated,
| and no personal animosities to be graft
| fed. It is conceded on every hand that
| the present leading officials have lost
their influence very largely both at
home and abroad; then their usefulness
as the servants of the board is at an end.
At today's session Rev. Daniel Merrl-
man, d. D., of Worcester, welcomed the
members of the board and their friends
| to Worcester, in behalf of the committee
| of arrangements. The president, Rev.
| Richard s. Storrs of Brooklyn thanked
| DR. Merriman for the board. Rev. ii. ID.
! Stimson, d. D., New York, recording sec
retary, read the minutes of the last an
nual meeting and the president then ap-
| pointed the committees. DR.. Edmund K.
1 A IA L, ,fc,r ,0rfn on,
partment and the report of Treasurer
-LangdonssS. Ward was read. Thes-reports
| are voluminous, taking up in detail the
work in al, it's branches. Interest, how
ever centres largely in the work abroad
and the boards financial status.
| The Foreign Field.
The annual survey of the work in the
foreign field by the foreign secretaries,
Rev. N. G. Clarke, DID,, and Rev. Judson
Smith, DID, says:
| "Under the care of the Board, at more
| than 1900 strategic points, amid popu-
lation of not less than 100, 100000 souls,
\ engaging the efforts of 557 missionaries
and 2, 738 native helpers, including 442
churches with Al, 566 members, 8, $40
| having been received this year, gathering
| a host of 4S, 5s5 pupils in schools of all
| .rades, from the Kindergarten on the one
! hand up through high school and college
| to the theological seminary on the other
| hand, administering medical relief to 120,
| 900 patients, and distributing the Bible
and Christian literature by millions of
| yancing to victory. The movement is
| slow, the agencies are many, the OBJ
| stacles most diverse; but on the whole,
as we look abroad over all the field the
darkness is passing, the dawn deepens,
and everything thrills with opening life.
The day of salvation, the day OF God to
a redeemed world is at hand"
The general summary shows:
MISSIONS.
Number of missions 20.
| Number of stations 81.
Number of out stations l, 12S.
Places for stated preaching 1928.
Average congregations 69,357.
LABoRERs EMPLOYED.
Number Of ordained missionaries (ten
| being physicians) 1873.
4 Number of male physicians not or
| dained (besides six women) IL.
| Number of male assistants g.
| Number of women (six of them physi-
clans, wives 1876, unmarried 171) 356.
| Whole number of laborers sent from
this country 557.
I
Total of American and native laborers
1895.
| THE CHURCHES,
| Number of churches 49,
| Number of church members Al 566.
| Added during the year 3, $40.
| Whole number from the first, as nearly
| as can be learned 1876, 593.
| EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT.
| Whole number under instruction 4S, 5S3.
Native contributions SO far as reported
| 112, 507.
The report says that the work in
| Turkey needs an increase of $780, 900 in the
annual appropriation. Of the troubles in
the Sultan's dominions, it says:
"The note of the year in Turkey is
| governmental interference with mission
airy work, emphasized and set out in
clear proportions by the arrest and exile
of two of the leading teachers in Anatolia
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