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 Report of tfje Joint deputation 
 to ilexico of %\]t American 
 Haptisit Home Jlts&ton ^ocietp 
 anb e Womans American 
 Hapttet Home Jflis&ion Hwtetp 
 
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 JJoljtmlier, 1910 
 
THE AMERICAN BAPTIST 
 HOME MISSION SOCIETY 
 
 23 East 26th Street New York City' 
 
 THE WOMAN’S AMERICAN BAPTIST 
 HOME MISSION SOCIETY 
 
 2969 Vernon o^venue Chicago, Ill. 
 
Report of deputation to jfflextco 
 
 The Deputation was in Mexico thirty-two days (September 3d to 
 October 5th, 1910). Seven days were devoted to the National Baptist 
 Convention and the National Sunday School and Young People’s Conven¬ 
 tion, the most representative and largest evangelical gatherings ever held 
 in the Republic. We saw also in the capital the opening of the new and 
 noble Y. M. C. A. building by President Porfirio Diaz. Two days were 
 given to the significant and instructive observances with which the cen¬ 
 tennial celebration of Mexican Independence culminated. The rest of the 
 time we were studying mission work elsewhere in the Republic, from Neuevo 
 Laredo, on the Rio Grande, to Oaxaca, near the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, 
 a thousand miles southward. In all we visited sixteen Baptist mission 
 stations, including two of the Southern Baptist Convention. Incidentally, 
 eight stations of other denominations were visited. At the conventions 
 we were in close touch with the workers of other Baptist fields and had 
 invaluable opportunities of conference with the leaders of other denomi¬ 
 nations. 
 
 In the nature of the case, however, our findings make no pretence of 
 being exhaustive, and the report of them must be put in the briefest form 
 consistent with the seriousness of our mission and with an earnest en¬ 
 deavor to present facts essential to the prosecution of the work. 
 
 After calling attention to (1) General Conditions, (2) the Character 
 of Our Workers, (3) Baptist Unity, (4) Relations with Other Denomina¬ 
 tions, (5) Evangelization, (6) Immediate Advances, (7) Education, (8) 
 Medical Work, (9) Woman’s Field Work, (10) Church Edifice Work, (11) 
 American Colonists, (12) Volunteer Work, and (13) Some Guiding Prin¬ 
 ciples, we shall state together our (14) Recommendations for Immediate 
 Action by the Two Societies. 
 
 I. (general ConbtttmKf 
 
 General conditions cannot be described in the space at command. 
 Some of them must be merely named, however, both well known and 
 seldom considered conditions, because they are so essential in the missionary 
 situation. 
 
 1. The population of Mexico is about 15,000,000, or greater than 
 that of the United States when Abraham Lincoln entered public life. The 
 area is 757,760 square miles, or equal to that of Great Britain, France, 
 Germany and Austria-Hungary all combined. Only a beginning has been 
 made in the development of the agricultural, mineral and other resources 
 of the country. 
 
 2. The prevailing religion is Roman Catholicism, but of a type which 
 is so different from the Roman Catholic standard in the United States, that 
 many churchmen going to Mexico cannot in conscience identify themselves 
 with the Church there. Multitudes of the aborigines are not yet within 
 the pale of Christianity. Other multitudes, including many of the in¬ 
 fluential and best educated men, are distinctly religious. 
 
 3. Moral standards among vast numbers of people are distressingly 
 low. It would not be seemly to dwell on what are the undoubted facts 
 in this most vital matter. 
 
 4. Church and state are legally divorced so that there is perfect legal 
 freedom for evangelical work. The Hierarchy and the Government are in 
 relations sometimes hostile and sometimes cordial. This relationship and 
 the liberality of public opinion differ greatly in different localities. In 
 two places the present year our workers have suffered persecution at the 
 
 3 
 
hands of incited mobs to the extent not only of chapel wrecking, but also 
 of stoning and other severe personal violence, including shooting. In both 
 cases the local authorities have apologized for the outrages, and promised 
 complete protection in the future. In one place this result was secured 
 in connection with the visit and representations of the Deputation. The 
 3,000 priests in the country have vast influence. In one crowded city 
 we saw the majority of the people on the streets drop to their knees and 
 remain there till a carriage containing a priest with the elements for 
 administering extreme unction passed out of sight. The Archbishop in 
 his carriage, without the sacred elements, is said to be reverenced in the 
 same way. 
 
 5. The influence of evangelical Christianity in Mexico is consider¬ 
 able, much greater than its relative numbers. Estimates as to the number 
 of communicants vary from thirty to sixty thousand. The Deputation 
 instituted measures for ascertaining more closely. In 67 Baptist churches, 
 2,871 members are reported. It is known that we have more than three 
 thousand communicants. The evangelicals are “like unto leaven hid, till 
 it was all leavened.” One great need of Mexico is a middle class, the 
 strength of republics. Such a class has been wanting. Evangelical religion 
 is creating it. The signs of this are unmistakable. The costly Y. M. C. A. 
 building at the capital, erected largely with Mexican money, is significant. 
 
 6. The present time is auspicious. Mexico is experiencing tremen¬ 
 dous material development. More than that, “Liberty” and “Progress’’ 
 are in the air, so much so, that those are the two words hung in great 
 letters of electric light on the massive towers of the cathedral itself in 
 Mexico City. The centennial celebration of Mexican independence has 
 accentuated the progressive movement. This is the time to strike with 
 vigor for the complete spiritual liberation of the people. 
 
 7. Mexico is the region where one of the supreme tests of the power 
 of Christianity is to be made, its power to regenerate one of the grand 
 divisions of the human race, the American division. 
 
 In the United States the human race in its European stock is coming 
 to its highest development, we fondly believe. In Mexico the human race 
 in its truly American stock may well come to its highest development. 
 In the life-tide of our own nation, taken as a whole, there is scarcely a 
 trace of American blood. In Mexico 81 per cent, of the people, including 
 their great President and leading citizens generally, have aboriginal blood 
 in their veins, and 38 per cent, of them are unmixed Americans, like Juares, 
 their greatest President before Diaz. The people are justly proud of their 
 Indian blood, more so than of their Spanish blood. Your Deputation saw 
 at Mitla the splendid remains of a pre-Columbian civilization, in some 
 respects unmistakably superior to what is even yet the average attainment 
 of European America. Perhaps the most significant features of the cen¬ 
 tennial pageant in the capital were the long files of Indians in studiously 
 reproduced aboriginal costumes. But the figures themselves were not far 
 fetched nor their faces tinted for the occasion. They were pure-blooded 
 Aztecs and kindred races. Some of the suburbs of the capital itself are 
 peopled with them. We prospected for a mission station in a quarter 
 where ten thousand of them live. In thinking of Mexico we may well be 
 dispossessed of our customary provincial thoughts about Indians and, con¬ 
 sidering their glorious past and their splendid present here, we do well 
 to eagerly seize the privilege of helping to prove what God can do with 
 real Americans by giving His well-beloved Son a free hand among them. 
 
 8. As a denomination we have peculiar obligations to minister in 
 Mexico. The “Reform Laws” separating church and state, which are 
 generally regarded as the fundamental expression of the new life creating 
 modern Mexico are essentially Baptistic. They enunciate the principles 
 which were embodied in civil government for the first time on earth by our 
 Baptist forefathers in the Colony of Rhode Island, the principles which 
 
 4 
 
later spread throughout the United States and are exerting an increasing 
 influence over the whole human race. We are inherently fitted and there¬ 
 fore called upon to minister to Mexico in her present stage of development. 
 When under terrific odds she is asserting our fundamental principle of 
 “soul liberty,” our obligation to strengthen her hands is immeasurable. 
 We are under obligation also because our democratic form of church life 
 furnishes the complete and winsome contrast to the ecclesiastical type from 
 which progressive Mexicans are breaking away. 
 
 9. It is impossible to justly estimate the work in Mexico without 
 keeping one other general condition in mind. Mexico is the pivotal point 
 of the Kingdom of God in Latin America. There are twenty-one republics 
 on our side of the world. Nearest our own evangelical country is Mexico. 
 It is in every way situated and fitted to become the seed-plot and nursery 
 for the planting of the nineteen republics beyond it. Kome recognizes its 
 natural leadership by recently making the sanctuary of the Virgin of 
 Gaudalupe, near the capital of Mexico, the outranking shrine of all America. 
 By reason of neighborhood with us, by reason of racial and linguistic op¬ 
 portunities with the other republics, by reason of inherited leadership in the 
 higher development of native America, by reason of inherent progressive¬ 
 ness, Mexico is called upon to reinterpret Christianity for all our sister 
 republics on this hemisphere. Members of the Deputation who have visited 
 the lands of the Bible, were impressed with resemblances many and striking 
 in Mexico. This goes beyond outward appearances, remarkable as they are. 
 Biblical life and Mexican life show profound similarities in ways of think¬ 
 ing, feeling and expression. When we give it a full chance the Bible will 
 be most welcome and at home in Mexico. Ultimately Mexicans ought to 
 interpret it to the world better than Anglo-Saxons can. Shall we open 
 our eyes to this unique mission of Mexico and lend a hand at the present 
 critical hour? 
 
 II. Character of our Workers 
 
 The character of the workers whom God has given us is cause for 
 profound gratitude. The General Missionary combines optimism and 
 energy with caution and persistence. He has rapidly acquired an unusually 
 good use of the Spanish language. Mexican missionaries connected with 
 other societies speak of this. More important still is his appreciation of 
 the people and sympathetic understanding of them. They confidently turn 
 to him as a brother beloved. The entire Deputation is impressed by the 
 evidences of his comprehensive grasp of the field—seeing it whole—and 
 of his impartial administration of details. The advantage to the cause 
 of having a general superintendent of the work is beyond question. 
 
 If space permitted it would be a pleasure to speak of every missionary 
 whom we met, both American and Mexican. We expected a high type 
 among the American missionaries and were not disappointed. The Mexican 
 brethren were a revelation to us and a joy. There is a great variety of 
 gifts and of interesting personalities. But without an exception there is a 
 remarkably high standard of ability and of devotion. It is a positive self- 
 denial to us to refrain from describing the charm and strength of Christian 
 character which we found conducting our work in place after place. If 
 Baptists in the North do not back up such people as are in charge of our 
 work in Mexico we are not fit to live. As with all men, and peculiarly 
 with ministers, especially missionaries in foreign lands, the wives are a most 
 vital factor in the work. 
 
 III. Paptisit Unit? 
 
 The relations of our missionaries with those of the Foreign Board of 
 the Southern Baptist Convention are ideal: (a) in the Baptist Conven¬ 
 tion of Mexico where there is no North and no South, but all are one in 
 
 5 
 
Christ Jesus; (b) in the joint publication of a weekly denominational 
 paper, “El Bautista;” (c) in the proposal to have a united Training School 
 for Ministers; (d) in the occupation of fields. When the workers of either 
 Board are in one of the states of the [Republic, those of the other Board 
 do not undertake work in that state. Your Deputation expressed to the 
 Mexico Baptist Convention emphatic approval of its methods in this 
 respect and prayer for their unbroken continuance. 
 
 IV. delations tnitf) otfjer denominations 
 
 Our relations with other denominations are fraternal. In Sunday 
 School, temperance and evangelistic work there is active co-operation. 
 Many years ago, after repeated conference, an informal agreement was 
 reached that in places of less than thirty thousand population, if one 
 evangelical body is at work there others will not enter. On such a basis 
 as that, at the present rate of advance, it will be a long time before the 
 absolute destitution is overtaken. It would be an advantage in obviating 
 confusion of thought among Mexicans if convenient areas could be allotted 
 among denominations as they are in Porto Rico. If the entire Republic 
 is to be thoroughly leavened with the Gospel an energetic, harmonious 
 advance is needful. 
 
 V. Cbangelpatum 
 
 Ordinary methods of evangelizing the world such as public preaching, 
 the Sunday School and visiting in the homes are employed with success. 
 Much evangelical work is done in our day schools. Many adults are won, 
 yet our great hope for the evangelization of Mexico lies in the children. 
 Many parents who have not the courage to break with their old customs, 
 yet desire their children to follow our Lord. In the school at Monterey 
 15 per cent, of all the pupils are converted. 
 
 We find that the churches under the direction of the American Baptist 
 Home Mission Society number 21, have 1,141 members, and had 155 bap¬ 
 tisms last year. There are 42 other mission stations, some of which are 
 about ready for church organization. We have 16 Mexican men in the 
 service and 5 from the United States. There are 10 Mexican women and 
 3 from the United States. Comparative figures with churches under other 
 auspices show that for number of workers and money spent we are realizing 
 as large results as any, considerably larger than some. In fact, there is 
 an increase by baptism of 15 per cent. 
 
 Our General Missionary and some of our pastors, notably Rev. Alejandro 
 Trevino, have rendered fruitful service in evangelistic campaigns. The 
 students of our Theological School at Monterey have been sent out on 
 pastoral and evangelizing missions during their vacations and with most 
 excellent results. This work ought to be extended as much as possible. 
 Plans are under way whereby during the coming year special meetings 
 will be held in every church and an efficient worker employed to give his 
 entire time to such work. 
 
 The development of missionary activity on the part of our Mexican 
 churches is one of the best signs of the success of our work for them. 
 The Convention has been for a year or two supporting a mission among 
 the Indians at Coenea without outside help. There are said to be 5,000,000 
 Indians in Mexico yet who have not acquired Spanish. The churches have 
 also been contributing generously to our Baptist Home and Foreign Mission 
 Societies. The combined missionary offerings of all the Baptist churches of 
 
 6 
 
the Republic were, last year, $1,098 (gold) an average of 40 cents per 
 member. When we remember that most of our converts are very poor and 
 their wages pitifully small, we regard it as a remarkable showing. The 
 churches fostered by our Society are not behind others in this regard. 
 At the Convention of 1910 it was decided to support a missionary in 
 Chile at a cost of $30.00 (gold) each month, and over $550 were pledged 
 for the Convention’s missionary work during the coming year. 
 
 VI. Kmmetuate Sifoattces 
 
 There are many directions in which we ought to make immediate ad¬ 
 vance. The following may serve as examples: 
 
 At Encarnacion, with a population of 6,000, where our brethren have 
 been violently persecuted, the work should be strengthened. A port of 
 entry for the Republic has 30,000 people and but one small evangelical 
 work, which hardly touches the field. As in other coast towns, the people 
 are inclined to be liberal minded. It is thought that the Tampico results 
 could soon be duplicated here. A suburb of Mexico City has 10,000 people 
 with no work of any sort. The populous state of Oaxaca has only one 
 mission station to every 150,000 people. A city of 100,000 has only one 
 small mission. One city has 20,000 people and absolutely no evangelical 
 work of any kind. But why multiply instances? All over the Republic 
 are large cities manned in a wholly inadequate way, and scores of com¬ 
 munities with from 3,000 to 30,000 people each without the Gospel. Two 
 new stations a year ought to be occupied until we have undertaken our 
 full share of responsibility for the evangelization of Mexico. 
 
 VII. Cbucation 
 
 More than 8,000,000 people in the Republic who have reached their 
 majority can neither read nor write. The educational work carried on by 
 our societies is very limited in extent. At Monterey a theological school 
 is maintained in rented quarters with some twelve students and two in¬ 
 structors. The services of the well-organized church and Sunday School 
 at Monterey, with the various mission stations in connection therewith, 
 serve as a practical laboratory for the students who have, in connection 
 with their studies, weekly training in active mission work. At Monterey, 
 Mexico City and Guadalupe good day schools are maintained by the 
 Woman’s Society, and at Puebla a similar school is being maintained, with 
 partial support from the Home Mission Society. The Monterey school is held in 
 the church building, those in Mexico City and Puebla in rented houses. 
 At Oaxaca the wife of our missionary is conducting a day school in the 
 mission house without salary, the equipment having been furnished by 
 the Home Mission Society. This is all that we are doing in an educational 
 way. We own no school property nor has anything been done in the way 
 of advanced education, except in the theological school already mentioned. 
 
 Under the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention 
 boarding schools are maintained, one for girls only, at Saltillo, and one for 
 each sex, at Tolucca. This Board also maintains a Theological School at 
 Torreon. In these places school properties of considerable value are owned 
 by the Board. 
 
 Some opportunity was afforded the Deputation of inspecting educa¬ 
 tional plants owned by other bodies. In Monterey the Southern Methodists 
 have a well-established school, with two large buildings and a residence 
 for the director. At Coyocan, a suburb of Mexico City, the Foreign Board 
 
 7 
 
of the Northern Presbyterian Church is developing a school for boys. The 
 property consists of some seven acres of land, and there is upon it a 
 handsome church building, a recitation hall substantially built of stone, and 
 two dormitory buildings, besides a president’s residence. The entire plant 
 is valued at $50,000 (gold). The same Board is conducting a boarding 
 school for girls in Mexico City which will soon be removed to new 
 quarters near the boys’ school at Coyocan. Under this Board also a day 
 school for both sexes is maintained at Aguasealientes. At Puebla the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church North has a large and well-equipped boarding 
 school for girls, and has just opened one of the handsomest school buildings 
 in the ^Republic on the outskirts of the city, for boys. This church has 
 also a boarding school for girls in Mexico City, in a building equally 
 fine. Other good schools there are, such as the “ Friends’ ” school at 
 Victoria; the Presbyterian schools at Montemorelos, and the Congregational 
 school at Guadalajara. 
 
 The Deputation are agreed unanimously that as fast as our resources 
 will permit we should aim at the development of an educational system 
 m connection with our mission in Mexico, comprising the following features: 
 
 A. The enlargement of the work of theological instruction. 
 
 B. The establishment of a boarding school in some central location, 
 for boys and girls, similar to the school at Cristo, Cuba. 
 
 C. The maintenance of a day school on each important mission field. 
 
 D. As a guiding principle the training of Christian workers should be 
 kept steadily in mind, and equipment should be provided, not for large 
 numbers, but for small numbers carefully selected with reference to this 
 main purpose. 
 
 It is of course understood that the educational work here outlined 
 could not all be attempted at once. It will probably take several years 
 to put the plan into complete operation, but it appears to us that it is 
 important that what educational work we do should be done in accordance 
 with this definite policy. 
 
 For the immediate future the Deputation would recommend the 
 following: 
 
 1. That an attempt be made to unite with the Foreign Board of the 
 Southern Baptist Convention in the work of theological education. The 
 cordial relations existing on the field among the workers of our two Baptist 
 Boards encourage the belief that some feasible plan of work can be agreed 
 upon. A conference was held in Mexico City upon this subject with mis¬ 
 sionaries of both Boards, and as a result a committee was appointed by 
 the National Baptist Convention, then in session, to confer with the repre¬ 
 sentatives of our Boards looking to a union theological school. The Boards 
 will be approached by this committee in the near future. The National 
 Convention appeared to our company to be a body of much strength and 
 vitality which might serve as a unifying element in the work of our 
 two Boards. 
 
 2. In the event of a conference being held between representatives 
 of our Boards operating in Mexico we recommend that our representation in 
 that conference be instructed to raise the question of the possibility of 
 further co-operation: 
 
 (a) In the maintenance of a department of instruction in Sunday 
 School work, and methods in connection with the theological school. 
 
 8 
 
tb) In the maintenance of a Baptist Publishing House. 
 
 An active propaganda for the improvement of the Sunday Schools in our 
 churches in the Republic is a need deeply felt by our missionaries. The 
 Foreign Board of the Southern Convention is maintaining a publishing house 
 with good initial equipment at Leon. One plant is ample for all our work, 
 and a union of forces in the work of publication seems eminently desirable. 
 
 3. That a boarding school for girls be opened next year in the 
 premises now occupied by the day school in Mexico City. This house could, 
 with the expenditure of $600 (gold) for equipment, be made to accommo¬ 
 date comfortably some 10 or 12 boarding pupils. For the permanent home 
 of such a school, a location in the heart of a large city is not desirable. 
 A site in some suburban town affording room for a school for boys, as well 
 as girls, and an ample campus is necessary for the best work. 
 
 4. That day schools be established next year at the following points 
 and in the following order: At Puebla, where, as indicated above, a good 
 start has been made; at Aguascalientes, where our missionary is building 
 solidly, and where there is every prospect of immediate success in school 
 work; at Montemorelos, where we already have the necessary equipment, 
 and where school work was suspended some years ago. Schools are also 
 urgently needed at San Luis Potosi, Tampico and Oaxaca and should, if 
 possible, be established the following year. 
 
 These day schools should not be regarded as competing in any way 
 with the Mexican Public Schools. Their aim is entirely different. They 
 are evangelizing agencies of proved value, and selective agencies whence 
 come our best workers. The splendid results of the school at Monterey, 
 out of which some twelve young men have come to enter the native ministry, 
 and similar results in other places afford a sufficient justification of these 
 schools and their maintenance by a Christian body. 
 
 It is not proposed to furnish buildings for these schools. The rooms 
 occupied by the Sunday Schools will, in most cases, be ample, and by using 
 them every day, property that would otherwise be idle during the week 
 will be used to advantage. Thus also if at any time it should seem best 
 to discontinue these schools, there will be no unused property on our hands. 
 
 5. That a division of this educational work between the societies 
 be made such as exists in Cuba, whereby the maintenance of the day 
 schools, and for the present the boarding school for girls, be assumed by 
 the Woman’s Society, leaving the support of the theological school and of 
 the boarding school for boys, when established, to the Home Mission 
 Society. 
 
 VIII. jffleDtcal Work 
 
 A good beginning has been made in the form of work which is so 
 exactly in line with that of the Master Himself. 
 
 (a) Dr. C. E. Conwell, our medical missionary in Mexico City, is a skill¬ 
 ful surgeon and physician of broad experience, with a large acquaintance and 
 practice. His wife is studying medicine. Both have a dominating evan¬ 
 gelistic purpose. A plan should be provided for this expanding work. 
 There is no hospital in Mexico City where evangelistic religious work can be 
 done. 
 
 Dr. Conwell is now in the employ of our Society, but he came to 
 Mexico under a strong impulsion of duty without the backing of any 
 Society. He remains in like spirit in spite of repeated offers of a salaried, 
 professional position in his home city in the United States at many times 
 
 9 
 
his income as a missionary. Mrs. Conwell devotes her exceptional gifts in 
 the same spirit. They are now conducting large free clinics connected 
 with religious services, both at his office, on San Francisco Avenue, and at 
 the chapel in Guadalupe, and are reaching more cases of need than any 
 other physician in Mexico City. God himself has given us the work and 
 the workers. We must provide a place where the work can be done. The 
 value of Christian hospital work as an auxiliary evangelizing agency has 
 been abundantly demonstrated in other mission fields in Mexico and else¬ 
 where. 
 
 We recommend that steps be taken at once for the establishment and 
 maintenance of a hospital in the immediate neighborhood of Mexico City. 
 
 (b) In Puebla, medical work has recently been opened. The physician 
 in charge has been compelled to leave the field on account of illness. There 
 is a good opening for medical work in this important city and we may well 
 expect great blessings here also on this most Christlike method of work. 
 
 (c) At San Luis Potosi we have a good church house, two promising 
 outstations (one in a populous slum district, the other in a needy suburb), 
 and an earnest Mexican pastor. The field is ripe for an American mis¬ 
 sionary physician. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Oman’s Jfielt) < 
 
 orfe 
 
 A large part of the work of our Woman’s Society is educational and 
 is covered in section seven of this report. The -present section concerns 
 only what is distinguished as “Field Work.” 
 
 We have in the City of Mexico and its suburbs six points where 
 efficient evangelistic work is being done. At Gaudalupe, that stronghold 
 of Catholicism, we have in addition to the day school, a vigorous Sunday 
 School and weekly prayer meeting. These are conducted by Mrs. Conwell 
 who, with her husband, a skillful physician, gives medical aid to any who 
 will come to them before these two services. Also, each day, from 10 to 
 12, in their downtown office, they give time to the poor for consultation 
 and dispensary work. The brief Bible lesson which always precedes the 
 medical help, offers a great opportunity for good. As many of these cases 
 as possible are followed to their homes. The San Pablo Mission, in one 
 of the poorest districts of the city, under the care of one of our oldest 
 native workers, is doing excellent service in industrial and Sunday School 
 work, giving access as all this work does to the homes. The crowded con¬ 
 dition of the room now occupied is a great hindrance to the growth of 
 the work. We must find a larger and better place. Another worker has 
 rendered most effective service in reaching the better class of young men 
 and women through evening classes in English and Bible. In Miscoax, 
 one of the best suburbs of the city, is our newest mission with industrial 
 and Sunday School work. Recently a Sunday School has been opened in 
 our day school building in the city. This is largely attended and is 
 reaching another group of children. With scarcely an exception, these 
 children come from Catholic homes, but the parents are so anxious that 
 their children shall have educational and industrial advantages that they 
 will brave the displeasure of the priests and send them. We are gratified 
 to find that our representatives in Mexico City are doing such good work 
 and that there is among them such a beautiful spirit of harmony and 
 co-operation. 
 
 In Puebla we have one field worker only, but her knowledge of medicine 
 gives her a twofold influence upon the hearts of these poor and needy 
 people. 
 
 10 
 
In Aguascalientes the Society supports one field worker, a native 
 Mexican, a woman of fine character and tact. Her work among her own 
 people in the church, and also among the Americans, is spoken of in the 
 highest terms. 
 
 In San Luis Potosi we have had no missionary for some time, but on 
 October 1st one of the Mexican graduates of the Training School is to 
 begin work in connection with the church there. It was in a mission of 
 this ehurch, Encarnacion, that they so recently suffered great persecution, 
 so there is special need of wise and diligent work. 
 
 At Nuevo Laredo we have one native worker co-operating with the 
 pastor in the church work. 
 
 We have in Mexico a splendid corps of women, both native and Ameri¬ 
 can. We rejoice in what they are and in what they are doing for this 
 great Republic, so full of opportunity and promise. 
 
 X. Cfjurtfj ©JtficE Mlorfe 
 
 We now have at our mission stations in the Republic 15 church build¬ 
 ings, valued at $95,322.50 (gold). This leaves nearly fifty other stations 
 with nothing better than rented quarters. 
 
 (a) Monterey is the oldest and strongest of our mission fields. The 
 church numbers over three hundred and is the largest evangelical church 
 in the Republic. The Sunday School numbers over 200. The building 
 will seat only about 200 comfortably, and the school rooms in the basement 
 are manifestly too small for effective work in either the Sunday School 
 or day school. 
 
 The Monterey church and school should be immediately equipped with 
 a building of sufficient size and architectural proportion to preach its own 
 Gospel. The recent floods at Monterey have greatly weakened the financial 
 ability of the church. But it owns two pieces of property of nearly equal 
 size and about four blocks apart. The original property on which stands 
 the present church building is valued at $15,000 (gold), the new lot at $3,500. 
 
 There are about $11,500 now available for building and equipment, 
 $10,000 being a grant already made by the Home Mission Society. A 
 building covering the entire new lot, and accommodating the church with 
 500 sittings, the Sunday School with 500 sittings, the day school with 
 space for 500 pupils, and the theological seminary with space for 20 stu¬ 
 dents and dormitories for same, can be built from plans already in hand 
 for $25,000. If to the $11,500 now available could be added, say $2,500, as 
 a loan from the American Baptist Home Mission Society, with an extension 
 of present loan of $2,500, there would be available $14,000 which, with 
 probably local help, could be increased to $15,000, leaving the house and 
 lot now occupied by the church for use during the building period and, if 
 possible, to be sold during that time for money enough to complete the new 
 structure. If the sale could not be effected, the plans could be drawn 
 so that accommodations for day school and Sunday School could be com¬ 
 pleted, leaving the audience room to be completed when the lot was sold, 
 or the church and basement could be finished, leaving the new Sunday 
 School room and provision for theological seminary to be built when lot 
 was sold. The advantages of this plan over rebuilding on the old lot are 
 opportunity for immediate beginning, use of old plant while building, and 
 reduction of aid required from Society to so reasonable an amount that it 
 could be granted at once. 
 
 11 
 
(b) Tampico is one of the newest and most promising of our fields. 
 A capable American missionary is gathering a Mexican church of unusually 
 good material, and is at the same time developing an important English- 
 speaking work in this great gateway of the Republic. We have an ideally 
 located lot and ought to appropriate $5,000 (gold) at once toward a building. 
 
 (c) The growth of both the Mexican and American Baptist churches in 
 Mexico City makes it impossible for them to longer occupy the same building 
 with advantage. There is room at the side of the present church building 
 to construct an addition seating 200 people. This could be made to ac¬ 
 commodate the American Baptist Church and Sunday School for the 
 present. The whole structure would appear as one harmonious building, 
 only of more impressive proportions than now. 
 
 The building, as planned, would cost, with furnishings, from $4,000 to 
 $5,000 (gold). It is recommended that the Home Mission Society con¬ 
 tribute $2,000 toward the building, provided the American Church pay the 
 balance of the cost. There are some ten thousand Americans in Mexico 
 City. No minister there has larger space accorded to his Gospel messages 
 by the English newspapers of the capital than Pastor Brown, of our 
 American Church. The President of the Republic witnessing an athletic 
 game in the new Y. M. C. A. building, asked who the American player 
 was. When told that it was this Baptist missionary, he expressed cordial 
 gratification and gratitude for such wholesome leadership given to Mexican 
 young men. 
 
 (d) Our promising work in Oaxaca is housed in a rented building 
 which can be bought now for $3,000 (gold). It is well adapted for both 
 church and school work. We are paying $288 rental per annum. That is 
 the equivalent of nearly 10 per cent, interest on what it would cost to 
 buy it. To purchase the property would be a safe investment, even though 
 it should be sold later to secure a more expensive site. 
 
 XI. American Colonists 
 
 There are twenty or more colonies of American agricultural settlers 
 in Mexico. At Medina, in southern Mexico, we have an organized church. 
 In several other places we have provided occasional preaching. The Depu¬ 
 tation visited the San Dieguito settlement, in eastern Mexico. Conditions 
 prevail and needs exist similar to those in new settlements of the western 
 United States. There is, however, a strong additional reason for endeav¬ 
 oring to make the Gospel triumphant over the forces of evil. The Mexican 
 authorities foster these colonies and watch them closely. Mexicans in 
 general assume that these communities represent Protestant Christianity. 
 We ought to provide at least one of the workers needed for the colonists. 
 All interests involved, including economy, would seem to be best served by 
 assigning to this work, while they are learning the Spanish language, 
 young men who have consecrated their lives to Mexico. Our work for 
 Americans in cities, which has been considered in section ten, strongly 
 confirms this view. All missionaries in Mexico from the United States 
 should be expected to acquire as fast as possible mastery of the Spanish 
 language. 
 
 XII. Volunteer Ulorfe 
 
 In Monterey is Miss Hole, a Baptist lady of some means, who has 
 built herself a home there and has learned the Spanish language in order 
 to advance the cause of Christ as a self-supporting missionary She is 
 
 12 
 
helping in our training school for ministers and in many other ways. 
 There are scores of others in the churches of the United States, so situated 
 that they could do likewise. It would give to life a new and noble zest, 
 making it actually divine like the life of Christ himself. The Deputation 
 issues a call for such women to help leaven Mexico with the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 Since Dr. Josiah Strong’s visit to South America he has written con¬ 
 cerning the great business opportunities there for enterprising, educated 
 young men, and has suggested that Christian college men, who are not 
 drawn to the ministry so-called, consecrate themselves for Christ’s sake to 
 business or professional careers in Latin America. Our Deputation to 
 Mexico is convinced that this is one of the great calls of God in the twen¬ 
 tieth century for high, heroic, altruistic endeavor. As compared with this 
 the work of Cortez and his comrades was poor and paltry. In these days 
 of the Panama Canal and of the Bureau of American Republics a call may 
 well ring through college halls for the enlistment of a company of modern 
 Conquistadores. As Cortez scuttled his ships that there might be no re¬ 
 treat in his destructive conquest, the chivalry of the Kingdom of God 
 ought now to enter Mexico with inflexible determination for peaceful, 
 constructive conquest. 
 
 XIII. g>ome ©ultima Principles 
 
 1. Our mission is the proclamation of a positive Gospel and the 
 injection of its principles in the life of the people. Sometimes mental 
 surgery is necessary. Obstructions to vital processes have to be removed. 
 Essentially, however, we are not in Mexico to tear down an old theology, 
 but to build up a new life. We commend our missionaries in reducing 
 controversy to the lowest degree. So far as possible let it be eliminated. 
 This principle has double application in relation to fellow evangelicals. 
 
 2. If the majority of the people were never.to become Protestants, 
 we should still have an imperative duty to build up the strongest evangeli¬ 
 cal communities possible for the sake of setting a pace and lifting a stand¬ 
 ard toward which the whole professedly Christian public would be inevitably 
 drawn. The Roman Catholic Bishop in another portion of Latin America 
 said to the writer of this paragraph: ‘‘Your work here is doing us good, 
 it is stimulating us to do better work ourselves.” The embodiment of 
 Christ’s ideal is our supreme ministry. Incarnation is the great work 
 of God. 
 
 3. The hope for Mexico is through an indigenous Christianity. We 
 rejoice in the exceptionally strong Mexican ministers whom God has given 
 us. Our great cry to the Lord of the harvest must be that he thrust forth 
 more such into the field. Ministerial selection and training are vital. 
 
 The long steps which some of the churches have taken toward self- 
 support inspire great hopes that evangelical Christianity is taking root in 
 Mexico. On an average about 20 per cent, of all salaries paid to our 
 Mexican workers is raised on their fields. The Deputation recommends 
 the formulation of a specific policy, looking toward self-support and pastors’ 
 salaries. Possibly by insisting on a gradual reduction each year of the 
 amount appropriated to each field, this might be accomplished. Self- 
 support should be a definite policy, and all self-respecting churches should 
 strive for that end. 
 
 4. Distribution of the leaven must be studied. The importance of 
 seizing strategic centers of large population cannot be overestimated. But 
 we wonder if we have paid as much attention as we ought to the towns 
 
 13 
 
of from 3,000 to 10,000 people where no one is working. Large results at 
 small outlay may be possible in some such places. 
 
 5. For the next few critical years nothing less than a steadily ag¬ 
 gressive policy is justifiable. We ought to open up at least two new points 
 of promise each year, especially such places as are not worked by any 
 other denomination. It is thought that one point with a native worker, 
 and another with an American missionary can be opened at a cost of $2,500. 
 
 “The hope of Mexico as a nation lies in the success of Protestant 
 missions,” said Juarez, the great reforming President of Mexico. The 
 hope of Baptists in the United States as sincere followers of Christ is 
 in earnestly loving these near and needy national neighbors. 
 
 XIV. Sctionsi Kecommettiiei) 
 
 A. By Both Societies. 
 
 1. That each Society agree to the division of educational work in 
 Mexico, whereby the Woman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society 
 assumes the support of the teachers in the day schools and, for the present, 
 the teachers in the boarding school for girls, and the American Baptist 
 Home Mission Society, the theological school, and the boys’ school when 
 established. 
 
 2. That in view of the new relations of the United States to Spanish¬ 
 speaking lands, the American Baptist Home Mission Society and the 
 Woman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society respectfully suggest to 
 Baptist academies and colleges that instruction in Spanish be provided, 
 even, if necessary, in place of some language less vital at the present 
 juncture of American life. If to the nearly 10,000,000 Spanish-speaking 
 people now under the flag of the United States in Porto Rico and the 
 Philippines we add our near neighbors in North America, to say nothing 
 of South America, 25,000,000 people in closest relations with us use the 
 Castilian tongue. 
 
 3. That a regular system of graded examinations of all missionaries 
 from the United States in the Spanish language be used at the ends of 
 their three first years of service. 
 
 4. That the Guiding Principles suggested in section thirteen be 
 adopted. 
 
 5. That Latin North America have a large presentation at the next 
 anniversaries. 
 
 B. By the American Baptist Home Mission Society. 
 
 1. That the Society looks with favor on the action of the National 
 Baptist Convention of Mexico proposing that there be but one Baptist 
 Theological Seminary in the Republic, to be conducted jointly by the 
 Mexico Baptist Convention, the American Baptist Home Mission Society, 
 and the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. 
 
 2. That the wives of missionaries from the United States be com¬ 
 missioned, though without salaries. 
 
 14 
 
3. That there be plaeed in the missionary budget of 1911 for new 
 work: 
 
 For the opening of two new stations. $2,500 
 
 For salary and expenses of a medical missionary at San Luis Potosi. 1,500 
 
 For a missionary to work at present among American Colonists.... 800 
 
 For work at Encarnacion. 1,000 
 
 For a special evangelistic survey in the State of Oaxaca. 75 
 
 Total . $5,875 
 
 4. That there be placed in the Church Edifice budget of 1911: 
 
 For addition to the meeting house in Mexico City. $2,000 
 
 For the renovation of the existing portion of the house. 1,000 
 
 For a church house at Tampico. 5,000 
 
 Total. $8,000 
 
 Additional loan on Monterey building. $2,500 
 
 5. That a special item be placed in the budget: 
 
 For a hospital site and building.$10,000 
 
 6. That there be placed in the Educational budget of 1911: 
 
 For equipment of new day schools. $600 
 
 C. By the Woman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society. 
 
 1. That the Society approve of the opening of a boarding school for 
 girls in the premises now occupied in Mexico City. 
 
 2. That a matron be appointed for the boarding school in addition 
 to the present staff of the day school. 
 
 3. That teachers be appointed to have entire charge of the day 
 schools at Puebla, Aguascalientes and Montomorelos, under the super¬ 
 vision of the General Missionary in co-operation with the Woman’s Ameri¬ 
 can Baptist Home Mission Society. 
 
 4. That there be plaeed in the budget of 1911 of the Woman’s Ameri¬ 
 can Baptist Home Mission Society for new work: 
 
 For salary of matron in girls’ boarding department of the school in 
 
 Mexico City. $400 
 
 For teachers in day school in Puebla. 1,000 
 
 For teachers in day school in Aguascalientes. 500 
 
 For American teacher in day school in Monterey. 500 
 
 For teachers in day school in Montomorelos. 600 
 
 Total . $3,000 
 
 L. C. BARNES, 
 
 GEORGE SALE, 
 
 E. S. OSGOOD, 
 
 BRUCE KINNEY, 
 
 MARY C. REYNOLDS (Mrs. A. E.) 
 FANNY B. LESTER (Mrs. A. C.) 
 
 IS 
 
THE NIGHT AND DAY PRESS 
 NEW YORK