No less remarkable has been the share of this community, chiefly
responsible, on the morrow of 'Abdu'l-Baha's passing, for the fixing of
the pattern, the elaboration of the national constitution, and the
erection of the basic institutions, of a divinely conceived Administrative
Order, in the acquisition and establishment, in the course of two brief
years, constituting the second phase of the Ten-Year Plan, of practically
all of the future national administrative headquarters--numbering over
thirty--of Baha'i national assemblies in four continents of the globe,
involving the expenditure from the National Fund of over a hundred
thousand dollars.
An effort, hardly less meritorious and equally efficacious and
astonishing, has been exerted by the members of this alert,
forward-looking, ceaselessly laboring community, in the course of the same
two-year period, for the establishment of national Baha'i endowments in
more than twenty countries of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres,
entailing the expenditure of over twenty thousand dollars.
In other spheres of Baha'i activity, related to the prosecution of the
Ten-Year Plan, all of vital importance to the teaching work initiated
under that same Plan, and to the enlargement and consolidation of the
administrative structure of the institutions to be erected in the future,
the accomplishments of the members of this community, during the first two
phases of this world Crusade, have been no less significant. The
establishment of the Baha'i Publishing Trust; the translation of Baha'i
literature into more than fifteen languages, both within the scope of the
Ten-Year Plan and outside it, spoken in Europe, Asia, Latin America and
the North American continent; the purchase of the site of the first
dependency of the Mother Temple of the West; the practical completion of
the landscaping of its gardens; the provision of a considerable part of
the material resources required for the purchase of the sites of future
Baha'i Temples in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, as well as for
the construction of the two projected Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kars in the
European and African continents; the guidance given and the aid extended
to newly elected national assemblies, for the efficient conduct of Baha'i
administrative activities and the prosecution of Baha'i national plans;
the initial visits made by Baha'i teachers to countries within the Soviet
orbit, foreshadowing the launching of systematic teaching enterprises in
both Europe and Asia; the assistance given, through financial help as well
as through the dispatch of Baha'i pioneers, to various Baha'i communities
for the enlargement of the limits of the Faith and the consolidation of
its institutions; and, last but not least, the purchase of the sacred site
of the Siyah-_Ch_al of Tihran, the scene of the birth of Baha'u'llah's
Prophetic Mission, by a member of that community of Persian descent--these
stand out as further evidences of the enormous share the firmly knit,
highly organized, swiftly advancing, fully dedicated American Baha'i
Community has had in the prosecution and triumphant progress of the three
year old Ten-Year Plan, and augur well for a no less splendid contribution
to be made, in the years immediately ahead, for the attainment of its
remaining objectives.