its still greater debt and the still greater retrenchments that will be
inevitable unless during the coming year its receipts can be greatly
increased. It is not our aim to make a startling cry for transient
relief, but for a steady increase of receipts to remove debt and insure
the stability of the work.

At the close of our last fiscal year, September 30th, 1893, we reported
a debt of $45,028.11. In that year we received aid from the Government
for Indian work. During the eleven months of this year we have received
no aid from the Government, but our receipts from other sources have
increased over those of last year, and we have cut down our
expenditures, so that if we had received the Government aid as last year
our debt on the eleven months of the current year would be only
$5,409.80, but with that loss the actual indebtedness of these eleven
months is $23,937.10, which added to that of the last year makes the
total debt August 31st $68,965.21. From present indications we can
hardly hope for any material reduction of this amount during the current
month, and hence the prospect is that this sum must be reported at our
annual meeting.

A grave contingency confronts us as we enter (October 1st) on the new
year. Our great work, which has lifted thousands of young men and women
from ignorance and poverty into hopeful and useful lives, and which has
brought cheer and help to multitudes of homes where poverty has reigned,
must be carried forward; and our debt, which has hung as a weight upon
this work, must be wiped out. A constantly increasing debt must be
avoided at any cost. The next six or eight months (the harvest months
for collections) must decide the question. If pastors of churches will
lay the matter to heart and secure regular and increased collections,
and if benevolent friends of these struggling races will bear them in