A report, published at Kuyper’s request, in which he provisionally distances himself from a position of unconditional support for emigration to the state of Maryland. In the Anti-Revolutionary newspaper De Zeeuw (October 28, 1899 and November 4, 1899) “and other papers,” an advertisement had been run by the State Bureau of Immigration in Baltimore. The advertisement extolled the benefits of emigrating to Maryland. (The same advertisement was also printed in De Standaard, no. 8486, October 30, 1899, in no. 8491, November 4, 1899, and once again in no. 8543, January 8, 1900.)

According to the The Christian Intelligencer (December 28, 1898), Kuyper, who had made “a personal investigation of the Holland settlements and of lands in the old state of Maryland” during his stay in the United States (see also the article in 1899.01), considered the undertaking poorly prepared and felt that a committee of experts from Maryland should first have traveled to the Netherlands to report on conditions in the state. Kuyper also thought that “our friend,” the Rev. R.H. Joldersma (1854–1913) from Chicago, who had become a missionary to the Dutch in Maryland and was serving as the spiritual supervisor of the immigration project, should also have come to the Netherlands to provide additional information. In Kuyper’s view if such efforts had been taken originally, then perhaps the undertaking would now be worthy of recommendation.

This submitted report was also reprinted in De Zeeuw 14 (1899/1900), no. 19, November 14, 1899 (ZA).