Only four years have passed since the Woman’s Bureau became a recognized department of our work, although it existed in reality for many years before. These years have abundantly proven its efficiency. It is useful especially along three lines: First, in assisting the women who are engaged as teachers to understand and grasp their work; again, in reaching the mothers and sisters of the pupils with purifying Christian influences, as they could not be reached in any other way; and also, in bringing information to the benevolent women of the North in regard to the special needs of their degraded and helpless sisters in the South. The shocking story of their degradation can be told only by women to women. Along all these lines of service the Woman’s Bureau has been especially successful during the past year. Its usefulness is greatly increased because it is an organic part of a larger Association, and thus gains a wider field of vision. The range of its operations is constantly enlarging. FINANCES. RECEIPTS. From Churches, Sabbath-schools, Missionary Societies and individuals $189,483.39 From Estates and Legacies 52,266.73 From Income, Sundry Funds 10,561.07 From Tuition and Public Funds 28,964.81 From Rents 478.10 From United States Government for Education of Indians 17,357.21 From Slater Fund, paid to Institutions 7,650.00 ——————————— $306,761.31 The total disbursements for the year have been $298,783.80, a decrease in the expenditures of last year of $13,467. We entered this year with a debt of $5,783. The problem that taxed our skill and energies was this: How can we do the work which the Lord has put upon us, and at the same time not increase this debt? It looked, at times, as if it would prove impossible. For the month of February the receipts were $9,000 less than last year for the same month, and even so late as July there was a falling off of $17,000 for the month. The magnificent rally in September brought into the treasury a splendid sum, and the problem was solved. Through carefully studied economy in the expenditures, by persistent efforts in the collecting field, and by the large and generous benevolences of the churches, all under God’s good providence, this has been accomplished. The current expenses of the year are all paid; the debt with which we began the year is all cancelled, and we enter this new year with the good sum of $2,193.80 on the credit side of the ledger. But this will provide for the current expenses of the Association only about two days.