The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-08-18

Il a. -
ents able to use the English language,
arises the necessity for more books in
class room and library. Some regular
instruction in music, by a competent
teacher, so that the students may ac-
quire the ability to lead in singing, is
! desirable 4 considerable sum is re-
! quired for the furnishing OF students
rooms and repair of buildings. A still
/ larger amount is needed for the com
! pensatiOn of the students for the work
! performed on the school premises. and
! for the missionary service rendered in
| and about the city on Friday after
! moons and Sundays. It is on this
/ stipend, small as it is, that they depend
/ for their support. The total amount
which the school should have to cover
! all expenses, including salaries OF
! teachers, is about eight thousand dol
! lars a year. At present a little less
! than one-half of this sum is used. and
/ of this only about three hundred dol
! lars comes from funds already in hand
! The rest is drawn from the treasury
of the Hawaiian Board.
Reasons Will now begin to appear
| why an endowment should be raised.
| 1t should be borne in mind that the
! chief end of the Hawaiian Boards eXis-
! tence is it's evangelistic work. All else
! is subsidiary to this. The Theological
! School is a means to this end. But as
| the work of the Board is organized,
/ nearly everything depends on its effec-
! tiveness. When it is weak, all is weak.
! If it fails everything, pertaining at
! least to the native work. must fail too.
! 1t is desirable that the school should
/ be carried on with the greatest possible
! degree of efficiency. But, as we have
/ . h, 4,
| pendent for it's support on the treasury
| of the Hawaiian Board, and for the
! greater part of the time there is a de-
fciency in that treasury. Now what
can be done? No teacher can ask for
money to push the work of the school
when he knows that in order to get
| it some other object must be sacrificed.
Much less can he plan for enlargement
when he knows that there is no money
in the treasury at all to pay for it.
But the work of the school should
go on without interruption and with
such strengthening and enlargement as
| the case calls for, and apparently the
| only way to make this possible is to
! secure in some way fund by which it
can be carried on with reference to
other expenditures. The advantages of
| this course would seem to be great.
Not only would the school be free to
go on in the line of it's normal develop
ment, but the setting free of the funds
which are now used in it's support,
would greatly stimulate and strength
| en- the evangelistic work, and the total
result would be an all round progress.
From a broad view Of the situation,
a strong economic reason would seem
| to exist for this course. For merely
prudential reasons. if for no other,
strong and active churches are a neces-
! sity. The Government schools furnish
| no religious instruction. In the phil
| anthrOpic and charitable institutions,
! such as the KindergartenS and the in
dustrial and other schools for boys and
! girls moral and religious influences are
brought to bear upon those gathered
| into them, and the rudiments of right
character and living are instilled. Now
where is the institution which is to
supply the element in the child's train
! ing not furnished by the Government
schools, and which will also be the
conserving force that gathers up and
| continues in the right direction the
early impulses implanted in the chill
dren and young people from the other
! institutions? When these young peO-
pie pass out from under the fostering
| influence of teachers and wholesome
! associations, many of these tenden-
! cies toward right character and life
| will be diverted into other directions
! unless some power is at hand to take
! them up and continue them. 1t is safe
| to say that in a land like this where
! the home influences which make for
righteousness are still feeble, there is
no power working toward this end
equal to that of an active church under
! the lead of an efficient and sympathe-
! tic pastor. AS a means, therefore, OF
! saving and continuing the growth in
character already begun elsewhere,
every effort should be made to have
well-trained and wide awake pastors
in the churches. and hence the need
of a well-equipped school in which to
train them.
But it may be suggested, why have
| an endowment? Why not, rather, de-
pend on the voluntary aid which can
be gathered year by year among the
friends of the cause? 1t may, be ad-
mitted in this connection that vOlun-
tary aid in religious work is factor
of the greatest Importance. 1t would
/ be a vast misfortune if all such labor
was carried on by the aVails of invest
ed funds. Aside from the pecunlary
! value of the aid contributed, 1t is a
! means of moral growth in a people to
have the responsibility of supporting
such work in this way. But there is
a limit to the amount that can be done
by this method There is no means OF
enforcing the payment of such funds.
! Their amount depends upon the ability
and sense of duty and generosity of the
people, and so is always an uncertain
quantity. It comes about therefore
that, as any community becomes civil
lied and settled in its manner of life,
certain kinds of institutions, especial
~ those devoted to purposes OF educa-
ton, tend to take on established and
permanent form, as the colleges and
theological seminaries of the older
countries, while the voluntary contrl-
buttons are used in aid of newer and
] Sirnnlar. forms of activity. such funds