The receipts for April were $29,519.61, an increase of nearly 38 per cent. over those of last year. The total receipts for the seven months ending April 30, are $161,542.16, being $35,632.25, or 28 per cent. more than for the corresponding months last year. If this ratio of increase is continued for the remaining five months of the fiscal year, the $300,000 will be obtained, and we shall close the year without a debt, notwithstanding the unusually heavy expenses that the progress of our work has necessitated. These cheering facts, we hope, will stimulate our friends to realize the expectations of the annual meeting, and the pressing needs of the field.
JOHN F. SLATER, ESQ., of Norwich, Conn., has enrolled his name with Peabody, Seney and others as the wise benefactors of mankind, by the appropriation of a million of dollars for the education of the colored people of America. This munificent fund he has entrusted to the care of a Board of Trustees, made up of persons well known for their patriotism and their philanthropy, and from whose honorable character a wise administration of the trust may be expected. Mr. Slater has not only shown his generosity in the gift, but his wisdom as well in the broad and liberal instructions to his trustees. The letter containing these directions is a model of wise forethought, guarding against the limitations so often imposed on executors and trustees, which, in changes of circumstances, often render the gift well-nigh useless. This letter, we believe, will have a salutary influence on other donors in this respect.
We have no means of knowing the benefit that may accrue to the A. M. A. from the income of Mr. Slater’s benefaction, which will probably amount to $50,000 or $60,000 per annum. We only know that the Association has a large educational work among the people whom Mr. Slater wishes to benefit, and we believe that the Board of Trustees will wisely discriminate as to the amount to which we are entitled. In any contingency, however, that amount will probably not be so large as to release our friends from the responsibility of continuing and even increasing their donations to meet the demands of our constantly enlarging work.
AN earnest effort is made in Congress to secure a large appropriation for general education--the fund to be distributed on the basis of illiteracy. Something of this kind is imperatively needed to meet the demands of our growing and diversified population, and especially of the six millions of blacks recently emancipated and enfranchised, with nearly a million of their number unable to read or write the ballot they cast. In addition to these, about three-fourths of a million of the white population of the nation are equally illiterate. If to these we add the Indians, and the uneducated immigrants crowding to our country, we have an illiteracy of startling magnitude demanding the most efficient measures for its overthrow. There can be no question of the duty of the nation in this respect. A very marked change in public sentiment, especially in the South, is manifesting itself, and there is a fair prospect of the success of some well-digested bill for this purpose. The A. M. A. has taken an active part in pressing this matter upon the attention of Congress. No bill can benefit our schools directly, and the efforts we put forth are purely for the advancement of intelligence among the people. Our work is mainly in preparing educated and spiritual leaders, and the more rapidly the masses can be elevated the more effective and wide-spread will our efforts become.