The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1918-11-19
GREAT TASK FOR
GEORGIA BAPTISTS
REMARKABLE MONEY-RAISING
CAMPAIGN is NEARING A
SUCCESSFUL CLOSE.
BAPTISTS GETTING OUT OF DEBT

Only $4,000 Remains to Be Raised
of a Half Million Dollar Fund to
Free All of Denominational Insti-
tutions From Debt.
The Baptists of Georgia are coming
down to the home stretch of very
remarkable money-raising campaign.
1t has been something like a Y. M. c..
A. or Red Cross drive on a small
scale, and it has been so quietly con-
Quoted that comparatively few peo-
pie knew anything about it. For a
number of years the annual conven-
ton, made up of representatives from
all the Missionary Baptist churches in
the state, has been greatly troubled
about large debts resting upon its
properties, especially its institutions
of learning.
In recent years the growth of Mer-
Ger University, the college for men
at Macon, Bessie Tiff College for
women at Forsyth and the Orphans
Home at Hapeville has been so rapid
that debts had to be incurred in erect
ing buildings and in carrying on the
work. The needs of these institutions
were so imperative that delay was out
of the question. The money had to
be raised at once if the work was to
be kept up to the high standard upon
which it had been started. The credit
of the denomination was good for any
! amount, and the debts were made.
When the convention met in Fitz-
gerald in 1915 the delegates began to
agitate the question of paying off
these debts. They ran all the way
from high school with debt of one
hundred and fifty dollars to Mercer
University with one of two hundred
and thirty thousand dollars. There
was a debt of forty thousand dollars
on the mission board, one of one hum
dred thousand on Bessie Tiff College
and one hospital, another on the or
phans' home. There were smaller
debts on a number of high schools
owned by the denomination in differ
ent parts of the state. The next year
at the Commerce convention the debts
amounted to half million dollars in
round numbers.
After giving the question careful
consideration it was decided to raise
this money and wipe out all of the
debts.
The Baptists have carried on their
regular work, costing about million
dollars, have bought their share of
liberty bonds, have contributed lib
orally to the Y. M. G. A. and the Red
Cross and have raised in cash and
subscriptions for this debt the sum
of four hundred and fifty thousand
nine hundred and twenty-one dollars.
They have in sight money enough to
wipe out the entire debt that was re-
ported to the Fitzgerald convention.
1t had grown by the time the Com
merce convention met, and then some
of the subscribers have died and in
terest has accumulated which has re-
duced the amount to about three hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars. This
makes it necessary to raise about one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars be-
tween this and the tenth of Deem
Der, when the convention meets at
Forsyth. This will free every insti-
tuition from debt.
Two thousand dollars a day must
be raised. The Baptiste feel that
they are so near the goal, and fail
they will if the whole sum is not
raised. 1t was decided at the start
that no gift was binding unless the
entire amount was raised.
1t is a strenuous undertaking, a
heroic effort, but these are strenu-
Gus times, heroic days, and people of
all religious faiths will watch this
movement with more than the usual
amount of interest. Every church
that has not given will be asked to
contribute, every associational meet
ing will be visited and the three hun
bred thousand white Baptists of
Georgia will repudiate the credit sys-
TEN, which has cost the South mil
lions of dollars, and will hereafter
conduct their business on a cash
basis.