Utes of Nevada. Among most, if not all these nations and tribes, the Society has missionaries now. The number under ap pointment last year was 15, of whom 6 were white and 9 natives. Adding the II teachers in the schools, (referred to elsewhere), the total among the Indians has been 26. If to this is added 11 appointees laboring among the colored people, the grand total for the Territory is 37. For several years, as at the present time, the principal missionary and educational work of Baptists for the Indians has been done through the agency of this Society.

Rev. Daniel Rogers, General Missionary for the Territory, estimates the number of baptisms therein for the year at nearly or quite 600. A decided missionary spirit is being developed by the Christian Indians for the conversion of their pagan kindred in the Territory. The Territorial Baptist Convention supports two native missionaries to the western tribes. Several churches have made commendable efforts to erect better houses of worship.

The opening of the A. T. & S. F. R. R. through the central portion of the Territory, from north to south, makes new demands on the Society for more missionaries in the country thus opened to travel and traffic. Brother Rogers reports the number of Baptists among the Cherokees, 1,687; Delawares, 133; among the Creeks and Seminoles, 1,173; among the Choctaws and Chickasaws, 2,376; among the Wichitas, 72; Sacs and Foxes, 25; Peorias and Ottawas, 60. The net increase in members has been 280. This gives a total of 5,526 members in the Indian churches of the Territory. In addition to these there are 2,774 members of colored churches, making a total of 8,300. The number of Baptist churches is 162 and of ordained ministers 137.

At Pyramid Lake, Nevada, gradual progress is apparent in securing the attendance of the adults at preaching service and of the children at Sunday School.

In Alaska, Rev. W. E. Roscoe and wife have continued their work at Kadiak Island, and Rev. James A. Wirth has labored under

the Society's auspices at Afognak, an island about thirty miles northeast of Kadiak. Most of the people here are nominally, at least, members of the Greek Church, but are so deficient in the knowledge of the Gospel and so depraved in life as to make them proper subjects for missionary effort. There is a moderate degree of intelligence among them, and the recent commendable action of the government to establish a better and even a compulsory system of education for Alaska has in it the promise of a better state of things in the future.

MEXICO.

During the past year there have been six. English-speaking missionaries and seven native missionaries under appointment in the Republic of Mexico. Of the former, Rev. T. M. Westrup has been superintendent of the work in the northeast, and Rev. W. H. Sloan superintendent in Central Mexico. Rev. Robert Whitaker and wife arrived at Aguas Calientes July 21, 1887, from which field Rev. S. Gorman, who had labored with great devotion, was compelled to retire in the fall on account of the failing health of his estimable wife, who subsequently died. Rev. A. J. Steelman and wife arrived at the City of Mexico October 31, 1887. Rev. W. T. Green and wife went to San Luis Potosi October 10, 1887.

The native missionaries are Rev. F. T. Treviño at Monterey, Rev. M. Flores at Laredo and Lampazos, Rev. E. Quiñones at Montemorelos and vicinity, Rev. M. T. Flores at Apodaca and Cadereita, Rev. T. Armendariz at Camargo and vicinity. Besides, there have been several native assistants for longer or shorter periods during the year.

It is a matter of much regret that Rev. Mr. Sloan has decided that he must leave his work in the City of Mexico in order that his children may have proper educational advantages, which are not obtainable there. He has labored most assiduously, and in addition to his duties as pastor of the church in that city has edited La Luz, and has furnished the Baptist churches of the Republic with a

large amount of needed Gospel literature. Brother Steelman remains in charge of the work in that city.

is

San Luis Potosi, occupied the past year, the capital of the State bearing the same name, and on the line of railway from Laredo to the City of Mexico, as well as on the line of a projected railway from the Gulf of Mexico westward.

In the northeastern portions of the Republic there is a growing disposition to receive the truth. The sowing of past years has not been lost. Baptist principles, the very opposite of those of the Romish church, are finding hearty acceptance. Recently, at Camargo, near the Rio Grande River, Rev. T. Armendariz, who for several years had been preaching to an independent evangelical congregation, publicly embraced our views. He is a man of decided ability, and in high repute by all who know him.

THE STATES OF NEW LEON AND TAMAULIPAS,

Rev. T. M. Westrup, General Missionary, furnishes the following summary of the year's

work :

New churches organized, two-San Isidro and Sombreretillo-making a total of twelve, with 295 members.

New fields supplied with missionaries: Camargo, on the Texas border, embracing four towns and some smaller localities, under the care of Brother T. Armendariz, missionary of this Society. Sabinas, occasional services held there by Brother P. N. Flores, of Sombreretillo church, working gratuitously.

New fields not so supplied: Higueras, Cerralvo, Los Aldamas, and Bustamante, towns where there has been preaching and favorable indications. In very many villages and ranchos the Gospel may be preached without the least opposition, and will be heard and welcomed.

New laborers: Rev. M. Treviño, at Cadereita, a large town. He is missionary of this Society and of the N. Leon Association. Rev. E. Quiñones, at Montemorelos, also a large town. He is missionary of this Society and of the Mexican Baptist Mission Society. Both seem to do good work and please the churches they serve. Brothers Armendariz and Flores, mentioned

Since that time the whole has been finished, with the exception of a spire to the church, and affords commodious and elegant quarters for our missionaries and their work. The church, day school, printing office and mission residence have no superiors in the city, and the Society owns land enough to put up another building in connection with these, should it ever be needed.

Our work in the city of Mexico is carried on under great difficulties, but progress is being made. The day school under charge of Miss Ora Osborne, is a valuable auxiliary, while the press exerts a power that can hardly be overestimated. Twelve thousand copies of our Baptist paper, La Luz, have been published and circulated during the year; lesson leaves have been printed for all the Baptist Sunday schools in the country, and a half-million pages of tracts printed, besides a large amount of miscellaneous work. This literature is scattered broadcast, and is doing its share in liberalizing and christianizing the people.

At Aguas Calientes, Rev. Robert Whitaker is laboring amid manifold difficulties to establish a mission, but he writes hopefully of the prospect. The field is a very hard one; the few evangelical people in the place are Pedobaptists, and there is reason to believe that their secret opposition to Baptist work is as strong as the more open and avowed hostility of the Romanists. A new station in the suburbs of the city is about to be opened, and the outlook is favorable there for a good work.

Rev. W. T. Green went to the City of San Luis Potosi in October last, and the reports from him are very cheering. He has secured a favorable location for his work, and has a small attentive congregation to listen to the Gospel. These three cities, Mexico, Aguas Calientes, and San Luis Potosi are the present centres of our operations, and while we must report small congregations and only one school, we believe that gospel truth is reaching a larger number of people than ever before, and that multitudes are preparing to abandon their idols to serve the living God. Our great need is a native ministry, men of zeal and character. With such, we see no reason why a great harvest of souls should not be gathered; without them, the work must of necessity move slowly.

DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS LITERATURE.

It appears that the missionaries of the Society have sold and distributed during the year 6,430 copies of the Scriptures and 571,987 pages of tracts. The most of these supplies were furnished, on application, by the American Baptist Publication Society, though in Mexico a larger proportion of the tracts were issued from our own press in the City of Mexico.

III. CHURCH EDIFICE DEPARTMENT.

REV. O. C. POPE, D.D., GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT.

GRANTS TO CHURCHES.

The number of churches aided in obtaining houses of worship by appropriations from the Gift Fund, general and designated, is 66; and the number aided by loans is 42, making the total number of grants by gift and loan 108; but 20 of this number received both gifts and loans, making the number of churches

aided by both funds 88, which is 26 more than was reported last year. These churches are located in 20 States and Territories, British Columbia and Mexico.

Those having gifts are as follows: In British Columbia, 2; California, 3; Colorado, 2; Dakota, 5; Iowa, 4; Illinois, 2; Indiana, 1; Indian Territory, 5; Kansas, 7; Minnesota, 10; Mexico, 2; Montana, 1; Nebraska, 7 ; New York, 1; Oregon, 5; South Carolina, 1; Texas, 2; Virginia, 1; Wisconsin, 3; West Virginia, 2. Total, 66.

Those having loans: In British Columbia, 2; California, 3; Colorado, 1; Dakota, 1; Florida, 1; Iowa, 1; Illinois, 3; Indiana, 1; Kansas, 8; Minnesota, 4; Montana, 1; Missouri, 2; Nebraska, 4; New York, Oregon, 2; Texas, 2; Virginia, 3; West Vir Total, 42. ginia, 1.

2;

The number of churches that have paid off their loans during the year is 33. The whole number of outstanding loans is 232. The whole number of churches aided by gifts and loans has been 931.

RECEIPTS.

The receipts for the Loan Fund have been $4,694.57, interest on loans; $800 from the church of Topeka, Kansas; $37.50 contributions; $250.00 Legacy and $13.54 rents.

This Fund amounts to $120,555.10, and there is cash enough in the treasury to meet all probable demands that may be made upon it.

The receipts for the Benevolent Fund have been $45,304.81; from contributions, $38,791.50; from legacies, $1,392.29; from interest on investments, 3,571.02; and gifts repaid $550; from General Fund, $1,000. Of the contributions there have been no large amounts designated, except for the Chinese Mission headquarters in San Francisco, Cal., and so the contributions to the general Benevolent Fund have been about three times as large as last year.

The treasurer's report shows a balance of $27,688.66 cash on hand, but of this amount $6,703.86 is designated by the donors for houses not yet completed; $6,493.31 has already been appropriated to churches whose houses are not yet completed and proper papers furnished; and $8,500 mostly belonging to the $10,000 fund for the erection of twenty-five chapels in the West during the present spring and summer, so that practically there are no unappropriated funds. At least one hundred new churches in the West should be aided in the erection of chapels during the present year in addition to those provided for as above, and numerous and large offerings are greatly needed for this purpose.

NOTABLE EVENTS.

The two most notable events in this department during the year have been the dedication of the mission headquarters in the city of Mexico, and the purchase of a site for Chinese mission headquarters in the city of San Francisco, California.

On the 27th of November, the house of worship for the First Baptist Church, in the city of Mexico, was formally dedicated to God with interesting and impressive religious services. There were present, to participate in these services, not only the pastor, Rev. W. H. Sloan, Rev. A. J. Steelman, resident missionary, and the Baptist church in the city, but also Rev. T. M. Westrup, the Society's general missionary in northern Mexico; Rev. W. D. Powell and Rev. H. P. McCormick, missionaries in Mexico of the Southern Board; representatives of the missions of the Quakers, Methodist Episcopal, Methodist Episcopal South, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and the American Bible Society, and a large number of the citizens of the city. It is the first Protestant house of worship erected as such in that great city of over 300,000 inhabi tants; and, with the chapel for Sunday school and mission day school, and the mission home, furnishes all that will be needed for our mission work in that city for years to come. The entire cost of the grounds and buildings is $25,385.04.

The great need for a suitable building for our mission work among the Chinese in the city of San Francisco has been felt for years. Last summer an appeal was made for $15,000, with which to purchase or build a suitable house. J. D. Rockefeller, Esq., with his accustomed liberality, proposed to give $4,000, provided the whole amount could be secured by the 1st of September, which was accomplished through the co-operation of the Corresponding Secretary. Under the superintendence of Rev. J. B. Hartwell, D.D., a lot well located, and with buildings that can be utilized, has been purchased for $10,400,, and plans adopted for improvements, which, when finished, will give what is so much needed for the successful prosecution of our work among the thousands of Chinese on the Pacific coast.

THE $12,000 FUND.

In the early summer, J. D. Rockefeller, Esq., proposed to give $6,000 to this department, on condition that $12,000 should be secured by the 1st of September for the erec

tion of thirty mission chapels, when Messrs. W. A. Cauldwell, H. K. Porter, E. Nelson Blake, and E. Morgan subscribed amounts from $1,000 to $2,000, and others gave smaller sums, so that the whole amount was secured and paid in, and thus thirty churches have been aided in erecting houses of worship free of debt. There is a permanency of results in this form of benevolence, which must commend itself to those who have the Lord's money to invest.

THE $10,000 Fund.

An appeal was sent out in the fall of the year for one hundred individuals and churches to contribute $100 each, that $10,ooo might be secured by the 1st of April, as a certainty for chapel building in the early spring and summer. Responses came in, some exceeding $100 and some not so much; but the $10,000 was subscribed long before the 1st of April, and much of it has been paid in, thus giving a small working capital with which to begin the great work of the new year.

SOURCES OF INCOME.

With the exception of a small income from Permanent Invested Funds, the Society is entirely dependent upon contributions specially designated for this Department, to carry on this work. The annual report last year showed only two or three churches as contributors to Church Edifice work although the Society passed a resolution requesting the churches to make a special contribution, and where this was not practicable to designate a part of the regular collection for this Department. During the previous year the Superintendent was so occupied in raising the money required for the buildings in the City of Mexico and in superintending, for over three months, the erection of the same that he failed to press this subject upon the attention of the churches. This year, however, he has been able to do more in directing attention to the necessity of Church contributions for this work, and reports 135 contributing churches, and over half of this number took separate collections for this purpose. this number 81 were churches that had re

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ceived aid from this Fund in the past, thus showing their appreciation of this department of the Society's work, and their gratitude for past help. Contributions have been received also from 112 Sunday-schools and 19 mission. bands, societies and other Baptist organizations, not churches. The fact still remains that the larger proportion of the funds comes from personal contributions of liberal individuals in response to special appeals. Ten persons gave over one-third of the whole receipts for the current year; a lady, not a Baptist, contributing $1,350 for three chapels west of the Mississippi River. Special appeals and spasmodic efforts may do to bridge over such an emergency as has existed for the past two years, but if we are to do a tithe of what the necessities demand there must be some source of stated, regular income. Other denominations, less in numbers and no greater in wealth, are providing chapels for our members in the West, because their churches make regular contributions for this department of their work. Every means possible should be used to induce our churches and pastors to aid in giving the Society a regular, systematic basis of income.

CO-OPERATION.

Arrangements have been made with the State Conventions of Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska for co-operation in church edifice work as in mission work. These State Conventions furnish, according to their needs and ability, a certain proportion of the money appropriated to churches in their bounds. This has the twofold advantage of encouraging these newer States to do all they can to help themselves and of making them more careful to recommend for aid only worthy and hopeful fields. It would be well if a similar arrangement could be made with all the States and Territories needing aid from this department.