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1931-12-25 approve NYC Declaration of Trust USBN #59 - February 1932 - page 3-4 Shoghi Effendi approves New York Declaration of Trust The chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly .... of New York City has received from Shoghi Effendi a letter and also a cablegram.... The first portion of the letter was written through his secretary: "It is surely very important to give to the Local Spiritual Assemblies some legal standing, for as the Cause progresses and its adherents increase, they will be confronted with duties they cannot even imagine at present. Not only will they have to make contracts for acquiring halls for their meeting place, but also they will be obliged to create new institutions to care for their sick, pure and aged people. We hope that before long the Baha'is will even (be able to) afford to have schools that would provide the children the intellectual and spiritual education as prescribed in the writings of Baha'u'llah and the Master. "For such duties that will naturally devolve upon the Local Spiritual Assemblies there will be an increasing need for a legal standing. They will have to be considered as a legal person with the power of making binding contracts. "In small centers where the friends are still few, the taking of such steps is rather premature and may add to the complexity of Baha'i administration. Not so, however, with New York which, I suppose, is the largest center in the United States." The Guardian added the following words in his own handwriting: "Kindly convey to the members of your distinguished Assembly and through them to the entire Baha'i Community in New York, the expression of my heartfelt gratification, admiration and gratitude for the historic step that has been taken by the Baha'is of New York, the City of the Covenant, for the consolidation of their local activities. I am entirely in agreement with the provisions of the Declaration of Trust, endorse its principles, approve its purpose, and believe it to be eminently practicable, useful and serviceable to the interests of the Cause. It will serve as a pattern for every Baha'i Local Spiritual Assembly in America and a model for every local community throughout the Baha'i world. This document, being the first of its kind, should, I feel, be published, in its final form and in its entirety, in "The "Baha'i World ."
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