Report of the Prudential Committee for the Home Department, 1909-1910 THE receipts of the Board for the first year in its history were $999.52. The receipts of the Board the past centennial year were $989,408.74. During the hundred years we find that the progress has not been uniform. There is advance, however, in all the decades except one, the first three decades naturally advancing more rapidly than the others. From 1841 to 1850 and from 1861 to 1870, owing to abnormal financial and political conditions in the country, only a slight gain was made. From 1891 to 1900 there was a falling off, due chiefly to the doctrinal controversy, but also to the lessened sense of responsibility on the part of the churches after the great Otis and Swett legacies were received. It is cheering to find that the rate of progress during the last decade of the century has been the greatest of any decade during the past fifty years. The total receipts of the Board for one hundred years are $40,161,789.43. This is an impressive figure. And yet when we compare it with expenditures in other lines it seems small. Forty million dollars is four millions less than the cost of the last four battleships ordered by the United States government. It is sixteen millions less than the people 1830 1860 1885 1910 Increase in Receipts of Massachusetts have put $83.019 into the purchase of the 28,000 automobiles which they now own. The great lesson of these figures is as to the remarkable economy of this work. It seems almost past belief that an enterprise of such magnitude has been brought into existence and maintained for a century for a little over forty million dollars. There is no line of work in the world where money will go so far as in foreign missions. We had hoped in this centennial year to reach the long-aimed-for goal of a million dollars in receipts, but that was not to be. We had also hoped to close the year without a deficit, but this, too, was denied us. We came within $10,591.26 of the million dollars and we fell short only $6,005.62 of ending the year without a deficit. We are happy to announce, however, that since our books were closed this indebtedness has been paid through the generosity of a few friends. The Treasurer's report, taken all in all, is a gratifying one. The great outstanding fact of the year is the gain in the giving of the churches and individuals, amounting to $53,999.67. This is distinctly encouraging. It is the first clear evidence that the churches are awakening to the new opportunities and responsibilities arising from new conditions abroad. Aside from the special interest in making our centennial year a success, all the factors which helped us during the past twelve months will be working in coming years. The Apportionment Plan The Apportionment Plan of benevolences, in whose benefits all our missionary societies share, is steadily gaining ground. Its beneficial influence is reflected in the gain already made. As the Apportionment Plan runs for the calendar year, and as under its working many churches make their offerings by weekly pledges, there is still a chance for a large gain to be realized in this, the first year when the plan has been tried on a wide scale. The Apportionment Plan calls for $560,000 for the treasury of the American Board as distinct from the Woman's Boards, and excluding incomes from legacies, interest, and kindred sources. Last year we received as applicable upon the apportionment $476,035. The churches have failed to raise their full amount by $83,965. If this amount can be gained during the coming year it will be an occasion of rejoicing indeed. Every one of our twenty missions and practically every one of our 101 stations would feel the forward impulse. The work would be increased far beyond what would seem to be indicated by the figures, as the surplus would be applied mainly to the work under the hands of our missionaries, in many instances doubling their effectiveness. It would also allow for a slight increase in the number of missionaries and enable the Board to relieve somewhat the heavy burden of personal expense resting upon many of our workers because of inadequate salaries and allowances. Clearly, the one plain duty of the denomination is to carry the Apportionment Plan through to success. We bespeak the personal influence of all our Corporate Members to this end. The Laymen's Missionary Movement Another factor which has helped toward the gain reported is the Laymen's Missionary Movement. Where so many different agencies are at work among the churches it is impossible always to trace gifts to one influence or another. But information reaching us from several of the cities where the laymen's conventions were held, as well as direct evidence coming in letters transmitting gifts, indicates that we owe much to this new movement. Since its function is inspirational and educational, rather than administrative, many good results should appear later on. Wherever the Laymen's Missionary Movement goes it advocates the weekly pledge system in giving, the pledges being secured at the beginning of the year by a personal canvass. In multitudes of churches the plan of having an annual collection has been abandoned and the more systematic way adopted. Such work is bound to reveal itself as the years go on. At the same time the Laymen's Missionary Movement has set a new standard of giving for men who do not wish to confine their donations to the church offering. Many gifts have come to us direct from the donors as the result of the lay appeal. The Committee of One Hundred Closely associated with the Laymen's Missionary Movement, yet independent of it, has been the estimable work of the Committee of One Hundred laymen of our own denomination, organized at the instance of the Congregational Brotherhood. The chairman of the committee, Mr. John B. Sleman, and the secretary of the Brotherhood, Rev. Frank Dyer, have been indefatigable in their efforts to advance the receipts of the American Board as well as those of the home societies. Other members of the committee have also contributed liberally of time and money in this campaign. Utilizing wherever possible the conventions of the Laymen's Missionary Movement, these brethren have by no means confined their labors to that agency, but by personal visitation, letters, circulars, and advertisements have kept before the men of the churches the aim of the denomination to raise $2,000,000 for all |