erior
ornamentation of the First Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar of the West, to all the
privileged attendants of such an epoch-making Convention, I, on my own
behalf, as well as in the name of all Baha'i Communities sharing with
them, at this great turning point in the history of our Faith, the joys
and triumphs of this solemn hour, feel moved to convey the expression of
our loving admiration, our joy and our gratitude for the brilliant
conclusion of what posterity will no doubt acclaim as one of the most
stirring episodes in the history of the Formative Age of the Faith of
Baha'u'llah, as well as one of the most momentous enterprises undertaken
during the entire course of the first Century of the Baha'i Era.

April 15, 1944

INTERNATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

Baha'is have established residence in seventy-eight countries, fifty-six
of which are sovereign states. Baha'i literature has been translated and
published in forty-one languages. Translations have been undertaken in
twelve additional languages. Thirty-one races are represented in the
Baha'i world community. Five National Assemblies and sixty-one local
Assemblies belonging to ten countries are incorporated and legally
empowered to hold property. The Baha'i international endowments held in
the Holy Land are estimated at a half million pounds sterling. National
Baha'i endowments in the United States are estimated at one million, seven
hundred thousand dollars.

The area of land in the Jordan Valley dedicated to the Baha'i Shrines is
over five hundred acres. The site purchased for future Baha'i Temple of
Persia comprises three and a half million square meters. The cost of the
structure of the first Baha'i Temple in the West has been one million,
three hundred thousand dollars.

In every state and province of North America Baha'i Assemblies are
functioning. In thirteen hundred localities of the United States and
Canada Baha'is reside. Baha'i Centers have been established in every
republic of Latin America, fifteen of which possess Spiritual Assemblies.
The Faith in the Western Hemisphere now stretches from Anchorage, Alaska,
to Magallanes, the world's southernmost city. Sixty-two Centers have been
established in India, twenty-seven with Spiritual Assemblies.

Among the historic sites purchased in Persia are the Tihran home of
Baha'u'llah, the Bab's shop in Bushire, the burial place of Quddus, part
of the village _Ch_ihriq, three gardens in Badasht, and the place where