an as yet unborn civilization, they must seize with
alacrity, resolution and utter consecration. The initiation of momentous
projects in other continents of the globe, and particularly in Africa, as
a result of the growing initiative and the spirit of enterprise exhibited
by their fellow-workers in East and West, cannot leave unmoved the
vanguard of a host summoned by 'Abdu'l-Baha, its Divine Commander, and in
accordance with the provisions of a God-given Charter, to play such a
preponderating role in the spiritual conquest of the entire planet. Above
all, the rapid prosecution of an enterprise transcending any undertaking,
whether national or local, embarked upon by the followers of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, destined to attain its consummation with the erection of the
dome of the Bab's holy Sepulcher, imposes an added obligation, owing to
unforeseen circumstances, on the already multitudinous duties assumed by a
community wholly absorbed in the various tasks it shoulders. In fact, as
the Centenary of the birth of Baha'u'llah's prophetic Mission approaches,
His American followers, not content with the successful conclusion, in
their entirety, of the tasks assigned to them, must aspire to celebrate
befittingly this historic occasion, as becomes the chosen recipients, and
the privileged trustees, of a divinely conceived Plan, through emblazoning
with still more conspicuous exploits, their record of stewardship to a
Faith whose Author has issued such a ringing call to the rulers of the
American continent, and the Center of Whose Covenant has entrusted the
American Baha'i Community with so glorious a mission. Indeed the present
stage in the construction of the superstructure of so holy a shrine
imperatively demands a concentration of attention and resources
commensurate with the high position occupied by this community, with the
freedom it enjoys and the material means at its disposal. The signing of
two successive contracts, for the masonry of the octagon, the cylinder and
the dome of the edifice, necessitated by a sudden worsening of the
international situation, which might cut off indefinitely the provision of
the same stones used for the erection of the arcade and the parapet of
that Sepulcher, and amounting to no less than one hundred and ninety
thousand dollars; the subsidiary contracts for the provision of steel and
cement for the erection of the wrought iron balustrade and the metal
window frames of both the octagon a