We are all proud of the work which your Church, through the American Missionary Association, is doing in the South. It is impossible to measure the good results growing out of the efforts of the A. M. A. for the Christian education of colored youth. Through its instrumentalities, thousands of our youth have been measurably prepared for the successful discharge of the substantial and higher duties of life, and it must be gratifying to you to learn that most of those are doing life’s work well. The leading philanthropists of the South regard the colored youth now being educated in your institutions in that section as destined to exert a powerful influence for the conservation of healthy social and moral forces. Many of the graduates of your Southern institutions are the recognized leaders in their respective communities for the advocacy and advancement of every question of social and moral reform. Their fidelity to the principles of temperance is remarkable. In the memorable contest at Atlanta, Ga., none did more valiant work for prohibition than the students of your institution in that city. They are exerting an influence upon the thought and conscience of the South that must eventually show itself in favor of maintaining the better life among all classes. I might say that you do not know the amount of good you are doing in the South; for, if you did, I verily believe that you would try to do more. We do not look upon the Congregational Church in the South as an unfriendly rival, but as a stalwart ally in emphasizing the great principle of the brotherhood of man. Thus far you have refused to compromise with the spirit of evil by establishing churches and schools on the basis of what is known as the “color-line.” In this refusal you have answered to the highest needs of the hour. Unfortunately this cannot be said of all the Christian societies that are at work in the South. Color-line churches and schools, under the patronage of Christian organizations, have been established among us. This we greatly deplore, especially when such proceedings are begun and carried on by Northern societies. Christian churches and schools, like the gates of heaven, should be open to all, and we bitterly regret that anything further should be done to outrage the enlightened Christian conscience that this century has developed. It is mere mockery to cut off the branches from a tree of evil and leave its roots and trunk untouched. Lay the axe to the root of the tree, and the work of reformation, though necessarily slow, will prove substantial and enduring. Berea College, in Kentucky, has successfully demonstrated that the co-education of the two races is both possible and practicable, and what it has done all other institutions of learning in the South can and should do.