The American Missionary. Volume 42, No. 06, June, 1888

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

In drafts, checks, registered letters, or post office orders, may be sent to H.W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

FORM OF A BEQUEST

"I bequeath to my executor (or executors) the sum of – dollars, in trust, to pay the same in – days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the 'American Missionary Association,' of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes." The Will should be attested by three witnesses.

THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY

AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION

This Number of the Missionary will reach our friends, the pastors and the churches, about the first of June, one month before the usual vacation time sends many of the pastors to their much-needed summer rest, and when the churches enter upon the months of small congregations. We wish to remind our friends that the expenditures of a missionary society have no vacation, and to ask them that in this remaining month, special efforts be made to prepare us for the months when there is the usual outflow with only a small stream coming in.

The showing of our receipts is favorable. For the seven months to April 30th, they aggregate $158,921.20, an increase of $5,082.75 over last year. The increase in collections and donations is $9,241.84, but there is a decrease in legacies of $4,159.09, leaving the net increase as above stated. On the other hand, however, the expenditure that has been absolutely demanded by our growing work has been $23,778.24 over the receipts. Our committee has denied many appeals pressed upon it, from the workers in the field, for needed growth and strengthening; but some calls have come with such urgency to save the work already in hand, that it felt constrained to grant the additional appropriations, and we are very confident that if our constituents had been present, they, too, would have concurred heartily and unanimously in the votes.

We might reasonably hope that this debtor balance would be wiped out during the five months of our fiscal year yet before us, but there is a special reason for anxiety that it should soon be materially reduced. It is at this time that we are compelled to plan the work, and make estimates, for the next fiscal year, beginning October 1st. We are now endeavoring to cut down these estimates to the lowest possible point, but if, before the close of June, there shall be no marked reduction of this balance, we shall be obliged to cut still further, even to the arresting or crippling of work already begun. We ask our friends to rally to the rescue.

A NOBLE WORD FROM THE OHIO CONGREGATIONAL ASSOCIATION

REPORT ON THE A.M.A. BY REV. WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D.D

The work of the American Missionary Association appeals to the churches of Ohio with cumulative urgency. "A.M.A.," as our stalwart brother Pike used to say, are letters that stand for the darkened races of this continent—the American, the Mongolian and the African. To the Christian people of America, these tribes are entrusted; for their enlightenment and Christianization, we are responsible. The Government at Washington can do something toward protecting these people in their political rights; but there is very little, after all, that can be done for any people which does not know how to assert and maintain its own rights. Liberty can never be a gratuity, it must always be an achievement. Peoples, as well as individuals, must work out their own salvation. The Negro at the South is cheated out of his political rights, simply because he does not know how to claim them; the Indian on the plains is defrauded of his property, because he does not know how to protect himself. No matter how favorable the laws may be to these hapless people, they will be oppressed and impoverished and kept in a condition of semi-slavery, unless they know how to use the laws in their own advantage. Education, therefore, is the only effectual remedy for their wrongs. To awaken their minds, to arouse the energies of hope, to show them that they are made in God's image and that they have a right to all the liberties of the laws of God, is the only way to complete and secure their emancipation from bondage and from barbarism.

This is the work to which the American Missionary Association calls us all. It is our just pride as Congregationalists that through this Association more has been done for the true enfranchisement of the freedmen than through any other agency, and it is our duty to see that this great work, in which we have borne so large and honorable a part, halt not nor slacken in its energy because of our failure to keep its treasury replenished and its faithful laborers re-enforced and supported by our gifts and our prayers.

FACTS AND FIGURES

The sum total of all the contributions of all the benevolent agencies for the evangelization and education of the Negro in the South, is seventeen cents per year for each person.

This seventeen cents includes whatever is done in missionary colleges and in all educational missions, as well as in the direct church work.

In twenty-one years from 1841 to 1861 there were twenty-one crops of cotton raised by slave labor, which aggregated 58,441,906 bales.

In the twenty-one years from 1865 to 1885 there were twenty-one crops of cotton which aggregated 93,389,031 bales.

That is, by free labor there was an excess over the productions of slave labor of 34,947,125 bales, or nearly 35,000,000 bales. The value of 35,000,000 bales of cotton produced by free labor in excess of the product of slave labor cannot have been less than $2,000,000,000, or about the full valuation of all the slaves who were made free by the war, had they been sold at the ruling prices. The gain is due not only to the emancipation of the blacks, but to the emancipation of the whites from enforced idleness.

The cotton factories of the world annually require about 12,000,000 bales of cotton, American weight. Good land in Texas produces one bale to the acre. The world's supply of cotton could be grown on less than 19,000 square miles, or upon an area equal to only seven per cent. of the area of Texas.

THE COLOR-LINE QUESTION: WHAT IS IT?

1. It is not the question of social equality. No one doubts the right of individuals, or the family, or the social circle, to draw their lines of association and fellowship at their own pleasure, whether at wealth, rank, fashion, talent, or anything else. To confound this with the real question, is not candid.

2. Still less is it the question of the inter-marriage of the races. Here, individual preference is undeniable. To claim that this is the question, and to ask tauntingly: "Do you want your daughter to marry a nigger?" is ungentlemanly and unworthy of an answer.

3. The question is: Shall a line be drawn between the white and black races, giving rights and privileges in Church and State to the one race, which are denied to the other, solely because of race or color? In other words: Shall a line be drawn which shall separate the Negroes, and assign them as a race to the position of inferiors irrespective of merit or character, and merely on the ground of race or color?

To narrow the discussion, we leave out of view the civil or political aspect of the question and confine ourselves to the religious, and we propose to give a few illustrations. A Negro in every way qualified, in character, piety, and intelligence, applies for membership in a white church. Shall the color-line be drawn and he be refused admission for no other reason than that he is a Negro? This does not imply that the whites and blacks should be urged or persuaded to unite in all churches or in any church. It may be conceded that the blacks generally do not desire to unite with white churches, and that, in their present state of culture, it may not always be for their edification to do so. But where an individual Negro does believe that it would be for his edification and growth in grace to belong to a white church, shall the color that God stamped on him, or the race in which God gave him his birth, be a sufficient reason for refusing him? The question and the principle apply equally if the Negro should be given to understand that while he would not actually be refused admission, yet the preference of the church would be that he should not apply; nay, we do not see why the principle is not the same if the well-known attitude of the church on the race question should be such that the Christian self-respect of the Negro would not allow him to make the application.

Again, shall colored churches, conferences or presbyteries be formed on the same territory in order that the colored members may not unite with the white churches, conferences or presbyteries? Shall a line be run between the races on the simple ground of race or color, and irrespective of character, convenience or choice, so that the Negro as a church member shall not be allowed to choose the church he shall join, or as a minister the option as to his conference or presbytery? For one race to demand such a line of separation, is to consign the other race to a position of inferiority as humiliating as it is discouraging. Such is the demand of race prejudice, and such the position of inferiority in which it insists on placing the Negro. Slavery held the Negro there, and since emancipation, this race-separation is intended to accomplish the same purpose. The Southern white man makes no objection to the race or color of the Negro, but only to his position as an equal. He was not merely tolerated, he was more than tolerated, as a slave, and he is now as a servant.

The present controversy in regard to the color-line is calling forth some frank admissions from intelligent white men at the South. Thus the Rev. Wm. H. Campbell, an Episcopal clergyman of South Carolina, vindicates his refusal to sit in Convention with the Negroes by the inferiority which the Almighty has stamped upon them. Mr. Campbell says:

"The Bishop does not understand or appreciate the reasons why some of us cannot, under any circumstances, sit in Convention with Negroes. The objections commonly made need not here be referred to. The difficulty with some of us is not 'on account of color,' as it is usually, but not with strict accuracy, put; for some Negroes are as white as some white men, but because they are of an inferior race, so made by the Almighty and never intended by him to be put on an equality with the white race, in either Church or State."

The question at issue is not one of expediency, but of principle; and, among Christians, whether in the individual church or the ecclesiastical body, it is a question of Christian duty to be settled by the Divine authority of the Master himself. We propose no argument on the subject, but content ourselves by quoting a few well-known passages of Scripture, which, though familiar, have lost neither their significancy nor their authority. In the end, the voice of God must be decisive.

"And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

"God hath showed me that I should call no man common or unclean."

"Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted with Him."

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ."

"Inasmuch as ye have not done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have not done it unto me."

Secretary Roy, in the Advance, controverts the statement of the Herald and Presbyter, that the Congregationalists have come to consent to separate ecclesiastical bodies on the ground of color. Dr. Roy supposes that this conclusion may have been jumped at because of the formation of a new Congregational Association in Georgia, which is an outcome from the Congregational Methodist churches there. The Interior, evidently with gladness, makes the same assertion. The Christian Union replies to this, saying, "We do not think this is true; but, if it is, so much the worse for the Congregationalists!" We may say with Dr. Roy, that nothing is more certain than that in the New Empire that is growing before our eyes, the Congregational churches of this century will not turn towards the dark ages, and will not put themselves to shame by refusing to fellowship with the disciples of Christ on the ground of caste. Such a proposition would have the scorn of our National Council.

The Christianity of our churches will not fall behind the humanity of Victor Hugo, who said, "I have had in my hand the gloved and white palm of the upper class and the heavy black hand of the lower class, and have recognized that both are the hands of man."

The Congregational churches may not be quoted as countenancing this great wickedness against God and man.

FROM ADDRESS OF REV. E.T. FLEMING OF GEORGIA, IN THE BROADWAY TABERNACLE OF NEW YORK

"I suppose it will be necessary to tell you that I am a Negro, that I was born a slave. We are struggling against difficulties. We meet with a great deal of opposition. A case comes to mind which shows something of this opposition. I went out into what we call the Bottom District. The church there was dirty. I went to work and got a sufficient amount of money to buy a barrel of lime. It took me a week to get enough money to buy a barrel of lime. Another brother and myself got the barrel of lime there on a wheel-barrow. We whitewashed the church inside and out, and finished the job about half-past eleven o'clock. It was too late to return to the city, and we agreed to sleep in the church. The next morning, I was surprised to hear a great noise on the outside, and opening the door, looked out and saw a lean, lank, white woman. She was calling to her daughter, "Louisa, Louisa, come here." Her daughter came to her mother and said, "My – –, they have painted the nigger church white. We must put a stop to that." They said we would have to move the church, on the ground that they were not going to stand anything of that kind. These are the things that meet us in opposition there. I was myself refused admittance to a Gospel Tent where a distinguished evangelist from the North was preaching."

A STRIKING STATEMENT

In one of the hotels in Columbia, South Carolina, among the collections of an excellent library, is a book which bears the seal of the State of South Carolina, giving much statistical information as to the geological character of the State, its agricultural resources, its mineral products and the peculiarities of its population. From its pages, the following extract is taken, which is reproduced here for its suggestiveness. It seems incredible, and yet the authority is wholly Southern and has the imprint of the State. It is as follows:

"No effort adequate to even an approximate determination statistically of the intermixture of the White and Negro races has as yet been undertaken. Mr. Patterson, quoted in an authoritative work upon 'The Resources and Population of South Carolina,' and published by the State Board of Agriculture in 1883, as one who has given much attention to the subject, says, even now there are no longer Negroes. One-third has a large infusion of white blood, another third has less, but still some, and of the other third it would be difficult to find an assured specimen of pure African blood. This, continues the report, is a startling statement; but in the absence of statistics, whoever puts it to the test among his Negro acquaintance will be surprised at the degree in which it conforms to the facts. If the lineage of those Negroes whose color and features seem most unmistakably to mark them as of purely African descent, be traced, indubitable evidence may often be obtained of white parentage more or less remote."

MISAPPLIED BENEFACTIONS

The judicious placing of benefaction is a large part of the good of it. Is it wisely located? Will it be permanent? Will it be reproductive? Will it be in the hands of persons suitably responsible for the administration of it? Will it be under a fitting supervision? The cause appeals to sympathy; does it also carry the mark of good judgment? For lack of this double endorsement, not a little of generous giving is thrown away. It is a fine piece of romance; does it proffer a sufficient security upon the proffered investment of the Lord's money?

A worthy Christian woman brings the scheme. It is laid upon the mountains of East Tennessee, thrust up into notoriety by the writing of Charles Egbert Craddock. A lady of faith and hope and energy, proposes to build up an industrial farm-school of high quality for the neglected girls of that mountain district. She has already been teaching a common-school among them. She comes up to a city of New England. She lays her plan before some of the noble women there. They take it up without further inquiry as to the feasibility of the undertaking. With their first contributions an old worn-out farm is bought in the lady's name, and in the cheap farm-house a small school is opened. The location is in an out-of-the-way neighborhood, three or four miles from the little, old, tumble-down county seat. Now a fine building is to be secured. The lady patrons raise their offerings up to six thousand dollars. Fine architectural plans are devised at the North. Meantime, speculators on the ground, who for a few cents an acre have bought up a great quantity of land adjoining and would be glad to sell it at a dollar an acre, have donated a hundred acres, more or less, to the school. On this tract the building is located and goes forward. The frame is put up and pretty much enclosed. For want of money the enterprise comes to a stand, and now for these four years the stranded structure has been taking damage from the storms.

The place has been visited repeatedly by the superintendents of the A.M.A., to find the state of the case and to see if anything could be done to utilize the partial plant. The pastor of the lady donors became interested to save the investment through the A.M.A., or to stop the pouring of more funds into the venture, but after all his correspondence and personal conference, he found that, if the whole property were to be offered to the Association, it could not afford to accept it and undertake to carry forward the school. It already has a prosperous academy in that county and another in an adjoining county, and these, wisely located in congenial communities, are all that is needed for those and for contiguous counties. There is no way to utilize it, Alas, "Wherefore this waste?"

An Orphanage for colored children is a tempting charity. The A.M.A early undertook such work. At Wilmington, N.C., and at Atlanta, Ga., it bought lands and erected ample buildings, but the experiment satisfied the authorities that the Association was not called to that department of work. The children's god-fathers and god-mothers, in devotion to their covenant, or grand-parents from personal interest, would soon be taking them out, and others having care of them would call them out as soon as, by some growth and training, the scholars were made profitable for work, and so those properties were sold and the avails put into the ordinary educational process. Then the conclusion was reached that this was the obligation of the local communities, and not of foreign charity. According to this idea, an Orphanage in a Southern city, undertaken not by the patronage or approval of the A.M.A., though made to appear so because the originator had been under its commission there as a missionary, has been transferred to a local board and to the support of the city and county. That is as it should be. Those local authorities ought to take care of their own orphans, and not appeal to the charity of the North to relieve them of their proper burdens of humanity.

Another so-called Orphanage at still another Southern city, started as an individual venture. It was allowed for a short time to have a conditional endorsement from the A.M.A., which was soon withdrawn and the enterprise disowned. This has swallowed up thousands of dollars of the money of benevolence, and yet it has all the time been a sham and a falsehood. There was nothing of it. When a lady newspaper correspondent called to visit the institution, ten or a dozen children from a neighboring private school were borrowed and paraded as orphans, when at the time there were only two little children in the concern, and they had grandparents living near and abundantly able to take care of them. "Wherefore this waste?"

In yet another Southern city, a couple of young ladies start a school. Having once been under commission of the A.M.A., in connection with its institutions, they appear to many to have its endorsement and they make appeal to its constituents. Money comes along for a work irresponsibly begun and without supervision. Only a year goes by before they appeal by their leaflet-paper for several thousand dollars to buy land and build a home and school property. Who but they shall hold and own the property? Whose shall it be when they marry or grow weary of the work and leave? What protection is there for such misplaced benefaction?

By no means would the Association seek to interfere with donations to individuals where the donors investigate for themselves and assume the responsibility, but it is not fair that we should be held as apparently responsible for movements that we disown, and it is not fair to our constituents that we should allow them to remain under the impression that in giving to irresponsible projects, they are favoring such as are endorsed by us.