American Missionary | Page 2

missionaries and teachers with their fresh enthusiasm and fervent zeal, giving new impulse of activity all along the line. This long list of names represents years of self-denying attention and steady effort; it speaks of large progress in the past and is the presage of still greater progress in the future, for the list grows year by year. Our resources and forces were never before so large as during the past year, and we are encouraged to hope that they will be increased during the year to come.
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_FINANCIAL._
Our current receipts for December were nearly $52,000, an increase of $11,000 over those of December, 1889. For the first quarter of our present fiscal year the current receipts amount to $106,000, as against $100,000 for the corresponding period of last year. We thankfully appreciate every enlargement of our resources, and shall continue to use our best endeavors to keep the work within the means provided for it. How difficult this is can be understood only by those who are in constant receipt of numerous exigent calls for work in the great populations among which our service lies. As a matter of record, notwithstanding the utmost care on our part, while our receipts for this quarter have gained $6,000 over those of last year, our expenses have increased $12,000. We are profoundly grateful for the increasing public interest and Christian co-operation in the work of the American Missionary Association, and hope that the gifts of the churches will continue to be accompanied by their counsels and their prayers.
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_THEOLOGICAL INSTRUCTION._
The association is undertaking to supply the serious need, met all along its lines of missionary service, of a more intelligent and consecrated ministry. For the use of our Biblical Training School for the ministry, at Fisk University, we are engaged in the erection of the building; and the work has been taken hold of by the Fisk University Singers, who are meeting with cheering encouragement in the churches. It is our hope that, within the coming year, an adequate structure may be provided for this important work.
The theological department at Howard University has received a valuable accession to its faculty in the person of Prof. Ewell. This work will now be re-classified and developed, and will offer unexcelled advantages for practical training in preparation for the gospel ministry.
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_CONFERENCE WITH INDIAN COMMISSIONERS._
The Annual Conference of the Board of Indian Commissioners with the representatives of the various religious bodies having charge of Indian Missions was held in the parlors of the Riggs House, January 8th. The presence of Senator Dawes, Representative Cutcheon, and other distinguished persons, gave weight to the deliberations, and special interest was added to the meeting by the troubles now prevailing in the Dakotas among the Sioux Indians. Commissioner Morgan, Captain Pratt of the Carlisle School, General Armstrong of Hampton, and the Secretaries of the Missionary Societies presented an array of facts and of recent information that gave a more favorable aspect to the situation than is generally entertained. The disturbance among the Indians is confined to at most 5,000 among the 250,000, and strong hopes are entertained that serious bloodshed may be avoided. And yet, so great is the uncertainty hanging over this matter, that before these lines reach our readers, the daily press may give sad news of battle and disaster.
The discussions of the Conference were ended with a series of resolutions, the purport of which may thus be summed up: The Dakota trouble is confined to a small number of Indians, and is due to the inevitable opposition of the chiefs and anti-progressive elements among the masses of the Indians. The removal of experienced Indian Agents for political reasons was deprecated, and the importance of permanence in the lines of policy pursued in the educational and Christianizing influences was emphasized. Larger appropriations by the Government to establish an adequate system of common-school education, until every Indian child is enabled to attend school, compulsory education and the continued support to contract schools, and additional facilities for securing lands in severalty to the Indians, were endorsed.
The decision which it was understood the Government had made, not to transfer the care of the Indians to the War Department, was warmly approbated.
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_THE INDIAN PROBLEM._
The present difficulties among the Indians in the Dakotas will probably lead to a re-consideration of the whole system by which the Government and the nation deals with these people. As a contribution to that discussion, we present in condensed form some suggestions recently published in a Boston paper, from our esteemed friend, S.B. Capen, Esq., whose intelligent interest in the Indian entitles his opinion to thoughtful consideration:
While public attention is everywhere called to this matter, it is time to agitate for a radical change