The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-25
THE WORK OF THE YEAR.
President EstuI Discusses the SOcie-
tvs Finances.

Fresident Esttll Discusses the Socie-
tvs Finances.
The reports of the president and other
officers review the work of the year and
give much information of public interest
concerning the society and its charge.
The report of the president Is a follows:
Bethesda, April "A. 19O0,-To the mem
bers of Union Society: The year that clos
IS to-day has been in several respects
better one than I anticipated at its be-
ginning. At the last anniversary we were
upon notice that, owing TO the compile
ton of the United States Court House
and Postofice, We would soon lose the
government as tenant of the Whitfield
building, and with it part of our reve-
nue. The prospect of another tenant i'm
mediately was not encouraging, and the
loss of rent meant a deficit in our In
come of about g. 500 net a year. Our us
ual good fortune, however, attended us,
and we succeeded in getting a reduced
income out of the property during the re-
mainder of the year which, with the
rents from the new annex to the build
ing, made the loss much less than we
feared it would be.
The annex twelve small brick stores.
the building of which was referred to in
my last report, was finished June l. 1889,
and is now a source of income to the So
fee, was 81 1s9.4 40, and we have already re-
ceived nearly $500 rent from the stores,
which is equal to about IS per cent. per
annum on the investment, minus the
value Of the lot. The neighborhood of the
Whitfield building and annex is rapidly
improving a a business center, and there
is every reason to expect that in the
course of couple of years the property
will yield double its present rentals.
The Technological building, used for
several years past as school house, was
totally destroyed by fire on June 6, 1899.
Besides the school furniture and books,
a lot of machinery belonging to the for
mer chronological department, farming
implements. benches, feed, etc, were lost
in the flames Fortunately, insurance to
the amount Of $1,000 had just been placed
on the building, though thar covered but
a small part Of the losses by the fire. A
new school house has been erected on the
site of the building destroyed. The work
of construction was done by Superntend-
ent Chaplin and PRINCIPAL McClory, as
sisted by the larger boys The material
was supplied by the stewards of the So
ciety with funds collected by them for
that purpose, and a small surplus which
they had on hand, the savings of many
years. The rebuilding of the school is
creditable to all concerned in the laudable
undertaking. The building, however, is
scholars, as it contains only two rooms.
and one Of the schools is taught in the
parlor of the orphan house. 1t is the hops
of the stewards that they will be able to
get together this year sufficient money to
erect another building, to be used as
school house and place of worship. If
anyone who reads this report wishes to
help this worthy undertaking of the stew
ards. by a cash donation or otherwise, the
gift viii be thankfully received and duly
acknowledged by MIR. A. S. Nichols, the
chairman of the stewards, to whom the
society is already greatly indebted for
very valuable services in raising funds
to build the new school house.
The Board of Education supplied school
furniture and blackboards in the place of
those destroyed in the fire. But we had
to take $500 out of the treasury to re-
place the school books.
The other holdings of the society are In
about the same condition as at my last
report.
For statement OF the exact condition
of your finances, / refer you to the treas
urer's report, and also to that of the Com
mittee on Finance and Property. BY the
latter you will see that there Is a pros
pect of a deficiency during the ensuing
year of about $1,000. This expected deficit
will doubtless be partly reduced by bet
ter rentals from the Whitfield property,
membership. BY a little effort last year
we added $500 to our funds by collections
from members in default, and by the con-
tributons from new members. We should
continue our efforts in that direction. In
this connection l take pleasure in calling
attention to the efficient work of our
treasurer, Capt. w. +. Coney, who has
been very earnest and active in the per-
Torrance OF the duties of his important
office.
The purchase of the half interest in the
Tipperary plantation, Bryan county, held
by other parties, has not yet been ad-
justed. You will remember that several
years since we bought the one-half inter-
est of the Barry orphan Asylum in that
property There has been, however, con-
siderable difficulty in getting a good title
to it. The lawyers of the society have
promised to have the titles perfected al
an early day, and l hope by the next
anniversary to be able to report that the
incident is closed" and that we are
owners of the whole property.
The special committee of zen members
appointed at the last annual meeting TO
present the needs of the society to the
citizens of Savannah, and TO work 10 in
crease it's membership, succeeded in Sc
curing quite a number of new members.
Mr. Reppard is chairman of this commit
tee and ! suggest that he be requested
to continue his efforts. 1t might be well
10 reorganize the committee, as I am In
formed that only a few OF it's members
were active.
/ would call especial attention to the
report OF Prof Otis Ashmore, superintend-
ent OF public education, on the condition
OF the school at Bethesda. He reports
that the classification ana distribution OF
the boys are such as 90 render the work
economical and effective and the course
Of study the same as that pursued I'm the
city schools Every class was thoroughly
examined by Prof. Ashmore and his as
sistants, and they report that the results
were highly satisfactory. They were all
impressed with the good quality OF the
work done, and the good management and
the efficiency Of the teachers.
Supt Chaplin reports The farming Oper-
atione ~ more satisfactory than usual
We have had some extraordinary on-
ponses, however. during the year. II hay-
ing been necessary 90 purchase two mules,
TO take the places " those unnt Tor work,