The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1894 no. 55

              NUMBER  55.                                          ATLANTA,   GEORGIA.                                           APRIL,   1894. ATLANTA  UNIVERSITY Is a Christian Institution, unsectarian in its management and influence, wholly controlled by an independent Board of Trustees, and receiving no aid from city, state, or national government, or benevolent society. Has 500 students in College, Normal, College-preparatory, Grammar, and Primary departments, tinder 27 officers and teachers. Trains teachers and leaders of their race from among the sons and daughters of the Freedmen of the South. Gives industrial training in wood-work, iron-work, mechanical drawing, printing, farming, cooking, sewing, dressmaking, millinery, laundry-work, and nursing the sick. Has sent out 252 graduates from College and Nor— mal courses, nearly all of whom, together with hundreds of past under-graduates, are engaged in teaching and other useful work  in  Georgia and surrounding states. Owns four large brick buildings, on seventy acres of land, one mile from the centre of Atlanta, Ga., library of 8000 vols., apparatus and other equipment — all valued at not less than a quarter of a million dollars. All students pay from one to two dollars a month tuition — the majority, a dollar and a half. These charges fall far short of meeting the actual cost of the instruction. Boarding students pay ten dollars a month for their board, receiving for this sum their room, which is furnished, heated, and lighted, together with their food and washing. Boarding students also give an hour of productive labor every day to the Institution, and thus, with cash and labor, meet almost the entire cost of their board. Having no endowment (except about $33,000, mostly  for special objects), the Institution requires at least $25,000 a year in donations from its friends to continue the work now in hand, and a fund of about $500 000 to put that work on a permanent basis. Annual scholarships of $40 each are asked for to provide for the tuition of one student for one year over and above the nominal tuition fees paid by the student. Subscriptions of $100 and upwards, or any smaller sums, are solicited for general current expenses. Remittances of donations or inquiries for further information may be addressed to Pres. Horace Bumstead, D. D. Atlanta, Ga, OUR SERIOUS SITUATION. We make earnest appeal to our friends for prompt and liberal aid. We ask them to consider carefully the situation we are in, and to help us to avert impending disaster. In view of the hard times we made, at the beginning of the scholastic year, large retrenchment in our work, which had previously been carried on at very low cost. We have thus saved over four thousand dollars on expenses up to April, 1st. On the other hand, the diminished ability of our students to pay their dues has resulted in the loss of over two thousand dollars of income from them as compared with last year. More serious still, is the inability of many of our Northern friends to send us their usual donations. Crippled by the hard times, some cannot do anything for us, while others can only send fractional portions of their former gifts. We need $30,000 in gifts to meet the expenses of this year. Only $15,000 has thus far been secured, including payments and pledges. We must secure the remaining $15,000 before July 1st or make a serious addition to our debt. Our total debt at the close of last year was about $21,000. We cannot afford to increase it. We ought to extinguish it. Still further and more radical retrenchment in our work must follow next year if we do not meet the expenses of this year.