The record-union., 1897-05-25
Showing What Has Been Done During
the Past Year.
Two Large and Fully Equipped Board
ing Schools for Girls Opened the
Past Twelve Months-Reports or
the Special Committee OF Home
Missions and the Board of Educa-
ton Also Read Before the AS
SembIy.

EAGLE LAKE 0nd.), May 24.-Tht
sessions of the General Assembly or the
Presbyterian Church We're opened to-
day with devotional exercises led bA
Elder Kilian Van Rensselaer, of New
York BY general consent reference tt
the parliamentary tangle on Saturday
regarding the Presbyterian building was
omitted from the minutes.
Fraternal greetings We're received
from the convention of the United
Brethren at Toledo, Ia, and from the
General Assembly of the Southern Pres
byterian Church at Charlotte, n. {. Re
plies We're authorized to these and greet
ings sent to the Cumberland Assembly
and General Synod of the Reformed
Churches now in session.
The first regular order was the report
of the Board of Missions to Freedmen,
summary of which follows:
Although no new work has been pro
jected for the past four years, the boarc
found itself operating two large anc
fully-equipped boarding schools fol
girls that We're not on the list last year
one at Admission. Ala, and the other al
West Point, Miss. The former was
the generous gift of Mrs. Phineas NJ
Barber of Philadelphia, the other the
Mary Holmes Seminary, starting again
after a lapse of nearly two years, the
first building having been burned. The
aforementioned cost $4,000 and is out
of debt. The latter cost $50, 600 and Is
mortgaged for $1,000. Besides these
two schools all the other seventeen
boarding schools had been retained, but
the terms have been reduced. Twelve
are allowed only six months EACH two
five months and the parochial schools
four months The number of the lat
ter had been reduced by twenty. The
board had endeavored to carry on the
work within its reduced limits with the
least possible outlay and in the interest
of economy. The services of the Treas
urer as "a salaried officer. also of the
Field Secretary, had been dispensed
with. These changes effected a reduc-
ton of expenses of s., ,966 An increase
in the real estate item, together with
the fact that the receipts fell to lower
figure than they had fallen in the last
eight years, had operated to increase
the debt, the amount last year
being sol 30 as against S26 II:
the previous one. The real estate item
amounted TO S49.613. larger than il
would probably be again for years, the
bulk of the amount going toward the
rebuilding of the Mary Holmes Semi
nary Buildings had been completed
as follows:
Boys Dormitory at Oak Hill. church
and school at Newport News, Ho
Springs Church. basement of new
church at Chattanooga, and aid wa.
given to build churches at Columbus
S. c.: Savannah, Ga; Charlotte, \. c.
Statesville, n. c.: Roanoke, Va; Bir
mingham, Ala; Spartanburg. S. c., anC
Maryville, Tenn.
The board desired that at least $40,
000 of the debt should be paid thi!
year. An increase of S11. 900 in in
come over last year would make this
possible. \ reduction of e., pense.
would accomplish the same thing, bu
a reduction of the work to that exten
meant almost its destruction to tha
extent.
The bodies contributing to the caus,
were: Churches 1863. women's socie
ties l 500 young peoples societies 256
Sunday schools 469. The amount con
1ributed for self-support, none of which
entered into the boards accounts, wa'
S10.011, an increase compared with tn,
previous year of S1.91S. The Freed
men gave to the support of their owl
ministers and churches S36. BOO. and t,
the support of their own schools S33
f61
The standing committee on the repor
reported through DIR. Thomas Lawrence
Asheville. n. c.. Chairman. After re-
viewing the work of the board, resolu
tions We're introduced commencing tht
work. and urging the boards claims or
the 5000 non-contributing churches anC
individual givers. Special stress wa:
laid on the liability of endowments fol
Biddle University, Charlotte. N c. TIL,
Secretary of the board. DR.. Edgar p
Cowan. Pittsburg, then addressed the
assembly.
The order of the morning was the re
port of the special Committee on HON,
Missions appointed last year to confe
with the board in New York in refer
ence to the methods of work and re
trenchment and expenses 1t was pre-
scented by Dr. William P. Kane o
Bloomington, III. Its main points are "a
IOIIOWS-
The report began with review Of tn
financial conditions of the past fey
years and their bearings upon the deb
of the board During three year
there has been a decline in receipt
amounting to $213. 900 in 1896 a
compared with that of 1922. AT tn
beginning of the present fiscal year tn
board had a debt of S3i0.00O whicl
had been reduced to S141.2I6 by an ex
cess of receipts over expenditures o
nearly $4,000, by the use of about tn
same amount derived from prominen
funds available for current work, an
by the receipt of over $4,000 fror
special collections and from the quartz
century anniversary fund Other mon
eys in course of collection or other
wise available further reduce the ne
debt to S121.176
For the purposes of current work tn
board received a total of $500. at
nearly 100000 of which was credite
TO the Women's Executive Committe
of Home Missions. The total contrib
uted by the churches was $416 115, an