Though much has been achieved in the space of less than five years, though
the objectives of the Ten-Year Plan, in most of its essential aspects, may
be said to have been triumphantly attained long before the time appointed
for its termination, through a striking display, and a remarkable
combination, of American Baha'i initiative, resourcefulness, generosity,
fidelity and perseverance, the Plan, prosecuted hitherto so vigorously by
the rank and file of this community, may be said to be still suffering in
some of its vital aspects, from certain deficiencies, which, if not
speedily and fundamentally remedied, will not only mutilate the Plan
itself, but jeopardize the prizes won so laboriously since its
inauguration.
As I have already forewarned the energetic prosecutors of the global
Crusade in the North American continent, the home front, from which have
sprung, since the inception of the Formative Age of the Faith, the dynamic
forces which have set in motion, and directed the operation, of so many
processes, in both the teaching and administrative spheres of Baha'i
activity, and which must continue to act as a base for the steady
expansion of future operations in every continent of the globe, and the
extension of their ramifications to the uttermost corners of the earth,
and which must be increasingly regarded, as the forces of internal
disruption and the stress and danger of aggressiveness from without gather
momentum, as the sole stronghold of a Faith which cannot hope to escape
unscathed from the turmoil gathering around it--such a home front must, at
all costs, and in the shortest possible time, be spiritually
reinvigorated, administratively expanded, and materially replenished. The
flame of devotion ignited and the enthusiasm generated, during the
celebrations which commemorated the centenary of the birth of the Mission
of the Divine Author of our Faith, and which, in the course of the years
immediately following it have carried the members of the American Baha'i
Community, so far and so high, along the road leading to their ultimate
destiny, must, in whatever way possible, be fanned and continually fed
throughout the entire area of the Union, in every state from the Atlantic
to the Pacific seaboards, in every locality where Baha'is reside, in every
heart throbbing with the love of Baha'u'llah. The spirit that sent forth,
not so long ago, in such rapid succession, so many pioneers to such remote
areas of the globe, must at all costs and above everything else, be
recaptured, for the twofold purpose of swelling the number, and of
ensuring the continual flow, of pioneers, so essential for the
safeguarding of the prizes won in the course of the several campaigns of a
world-girdling Crusade, and of combatting the evil forces which a
relentless and all-pervasive materialism, the cancerous growth of militant
racialism, political corruption, unbridled capitalism, wide-spread
lawlessness and gross immorality, are, alas, unleashing, with ominous
swiftness, amongst various classes of the society to which the members of
this community belong.
The administrative strongholds of a Faith, bound to be subjected on the
one hand, to a severe spiritual challenge from within, through the
inevitable impact of these devastating influences on its infant strength,
and, on the other, to the onslaught of ecclesiastical leaders, the
traditional defenders of religious orthodoxy from without, must be
multiplied and reinforced for the purpose of warding off the inevitable
attacks of the assailants, of vindicating the ideals and principles which
animate their defenders, and of ensuring the ultimate victory and
ascendency of the Faith itself over the nefarious elements seeking to
undermine it from within, and its powerful detractors aiming at its
extinction from without.
Nor must the material resources, so vitally required to meet the challenge
of a continually expanding Faith, be, for a moment, either ignored,
neglected, or underestimated--resources which a home front, materially and
adequately replenished by a steady and marked influx of active and
wholehearted supporters from all ranks of society, can, in the long run,
provide. As the imperative needs of a Faith, now irresistibly advancing in
every direction, multiply, a corresponding increase in the financial means
at the disposal of its national administrators directing and controlling
its operations, within and beyond the confines of their homeland, to meet
these essential and urgent requirements, must be ensured, if its onward
march is not to be either halted or slowed down.