In January we sent the Rev. J. J. Kilpin Fletcher to the Canal Zone to report on moral conditions there and the need and opportunity for mission work. After a month of very careful investigation he reported to us a mission field of pathetic urgency. He found the total white population to be about three thousand and constantly increasing; the colored population to be about fifteen thousand and also constantly increasing, about one-half of whom are English-speaking Negroes.

The only Protestant Churches on the Zone are the Protestant Episcopal, the Methodist and the Baptist. The call for missionary help is loud, and there are some peculiar difficulties to be encountered which our representative summarizes in these words:

"The sad moral condition prevailing; the entrenchment of the forces of evil; the past two years of neglect; the general spirit of indifference; the enervating climate; the fact that most of those who are on the Zone are there principally to make money; the migratory character of the population at each center, and the consequent lack of interest in local affairs, or of any community feeling; the cosmopolitan character of the population, gathered from almost every state and country; the many denominational interests involved; the conflicting ideals of Christian life and work; the need to devote a good deal of strength to promoting pure and healthy recreations for the men; the trials incidental to pioneer work in a new field; all these are indications of difficulties which will call forth all the faith and heroism of any Christian minister."

What is needed is, of course, vigorous prosecution of ordinary church work, together with a good deal of attention to the peculiar social conditions which prevail, and a strong effort to provide innocent amusement and recreation and thus wean the men from places of evil resort which abound on every hand. The Church will have to care for the whole man in a special manner, on the Canal Zone, or fail of her saving mission. Mr. Fletcher

says:

"I believe this field is one which the Presbyterian Church dare not neglect. By the duty laid upon it as an aggressive army in the Master's Kingdom, by the claim presented by

Mr. Fletcher has been holding services among the colored laborers in Cristobal at what is known as the Fox River settlement. The heavy afternoon rains of the tropics have rendered it hard to maintain these services, yet there are at least two hundred attendants. Through special gifts the Board was enabled in August to ship to Mr. Fletcher a tent suitable for these Sabbath afternoon meetings. For seating the tent, the men themselves will provide rough benches. That a hundred of the evangelistic hymn books used at their meetings have been bought by the laborers shows their desire for such opportunities and the outlook for a permanent work among them.

For the white settlers on the Canal Zone, Mr. Fletcher has been holding services in the dining room of one of the hotels, through the courtesy of the proprietor and with the assistance of the waiters.

A site for mission purposes has recently

been secured at a nominal rental in Cristobal, convenient alike for residents of either Cristobal or Colon. The question of church and missionary's home must immediately be taken up and missionary history in the Canal Zone should develop rapidly during the coming weeks.

And indeed, one may look beyond the Canal strip and consider that the Church that lays a good foundation there and builds well upon it, is the Church that in coming years will be a great power for righteousness and possibly a center for missionary activity throughout Central America.

The door is open. Our sons in their need are calling for our help. Our Church dare not be indifferent.

The Board appeals for special funds for the securing of church property and the support of the missionary, that the work thus begun may go forward.

We are happy that this ASSEMBLY HERALD presents to its readers the face of the Rev. B. P. Fullerton, D.D., of St. Louis, the Home Board's field secretary, whose appointment was announced in our July number.

As editor of the Missionary Record, the official organ of the Cumberland Board of Missions and Church Erection, he has presented to our friends of the Cumberland Church some statements we have asked him to let us share. Regarding the work of their Board during the present fiscal year, Dr. Fullerton says in part: "It is not the policy of the Boards of Missions in the re-united Church for the Board located in St. Louis to turn over its work to the Board in New York during the year ending with May, 1907. Our people are expected to make their offerings just as they have been making them; our Board is expected to provide for all work which it has on hand at the present time. . . . .

"It is agreed between the Board in St. Louis and the Boards in New York that no new work will be undertaken by our Board without the approval of the Boards in New York. This is manifestly right and approved itself to all of us, but it may be as well said here as anywhere, that the Board in New York is anxious

to do the very best thing for this great and needy field of the re-united Church.

"What we need now, in this critical time of the Church, is to be much in prayer, and remember that where the need is increased there we must increase the supply. We are at a time when we must bear one another's burdens. The need of one must be met by the abundance of the other."

His itinerary as field secretary began with August, during which he was to visit presbyteries (Cumberland) meeting that month. Dr. Fullerton writes further of his plans for the autumn: "It is the purpose to visit all the synods this fall where it is at all possible, and arrangements are being made for an hour in these meetings on the subject of missions. From the number of calls that come to the office now for just the work which the Field Secretary is expected to do, one can judge how ripe the field is for this work, and one grows eager to get at it.

"This one thing I do, stir up the people on the subject of home missions especially, and upon the great, world-wide evangelization that should attract all the people now. I am not an adjuster, but a promoter, and the brethren will permit me to follow the call

ST. LOUIS, July 17, 1906. To the Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Missions and Church Erection:

DEAR BRETHREN-Having accepted the position of Field Secretary for the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church, I hereby present to you my resignation as a member of this Board.

I have been connected with this Board for almost fifteen years continuously. The relation which I have sustained to the members and employes has been pleasant and agreeable. I am happy that I have had for so many years such pleasant fellowship, in such a delightful cause. I am conscious that I have made mistakes in my judgment, but they have not been made with purpose. I lay down the privileges of the position with the profoundest regard for every member and employe of the Board, and will always pray for the largest possible success for each and every one of you, and also that the Board may be guided in the future by Him who is the head of the Church. I beg you to accept this resignation and that it take effect at the close of the present meeting of the Board.

Very fraternally,

B. P. FULLERTON.

WHEREAS, Our dear brother and fellow worker in Missions, Rev. B. P. Fullerton, D.D., having accepted a call to a more active service in this great cause, has tendered his resignation, therefore

Resolved, That in accepting this resignation we do so with a full appreciation of the devotion and faithful service he has rendered both as a member and as President of the Board of Missions and Church Erection. That we hereby tender him our heartfelt thanks for the cordial and candid manner with which he has always conducted the business of the Board in all its meetings.

Resolved, That we take this occasion to commend Dr. Fullerton's faithful and efficient work as editor-in-chief of the Missionary Record, and to return to him the gratitude of not only the members of the Board, but of every lover of Missions in the entire Church, for it must be remembered that his work as President of the Board and as editor of the

T. H. PERRIN,
J. M. PATTERSON,
Committee.

Kennewick, Washington

The cut on page 453 shows the energetic Ladies' Guild of the First Presbyterian Church of Kennewick, Washington. How many other churches have a bona fide subscription list to the ASSEMBLY HERALD of fifty per cent. of their church members? That this is true of Kennewick is due in large measure to the ladies of this guild.

While not a health resort, so called, yet many have settled in Kennewick and have found much physical benefit from the climate. It is free from blizzards, hail storms, cyclones and violent electric disturbances. As in other western towns, the people are very cordial and make strangers feel at home at once.

On the bank of the great Columbia River, three hundred miles from the Pacific Ocean, the opening of the Portage Road on the Oregon side of the river will give water transportation to the sea. This insures for Kennewick an important commercial future.

The missionary who was stated supply there last year says that he thinks Kennewick has more church-going people than any other town in Washington and in that respect is the best town in which he has lived during an active ministry of thirty years.

The church was organized three years ago with nine charter members. Failure of an irrigation scheme, with other causes, led to frequent changes of population. A new irrigation scheme, however, was organized under the Northern Pacific Railway Company. Then the people began to come into the valley in larger numbers and the little church has grown until the Assembly Minutes for 1906 report a membership of sixty-one. Of these last year eighteen were added on profession of faith and five by certificate.

The Ladies' Guild, a missionary society nearly as large, a Sunday-school of about a hundred members, with senior and junior Endeavor societies, show a well organized and live church. The outlook for continued growth is encouraging.