DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. 



205 



sented by the Governor-General, M. Stephensen. 

 The area of Iceland is 40,450 square miles, but 

 only 16,240 square miles are habitable. There 

 were 70,927 inhabitants in 1890, of whom 33,089 

 were males and 37,238 were females. In 1895 the 

 population was estimated at 73,449. The value of 

 imports in 1899 was 2,403,000 kroner, and of ex- 

 ports 2,660,000 kroner. A bed of excellent coal 

 was discovered at Nordfjord in 1901. For many 

 years the Icelanders have been at variance with 

 the Danish Government and divided among them- 

 selves on the question of self-government. Ac- 

 cording to the existing Constitution the Minister 

 for Iceland is the Danish Minister of Justice, re- 

 siding in Copenhagen. The Government bills are 

 laid before the Althing by the Governor. In 1882 

 the Althing approved a scheme of autonomous 

 government, according to which the King should 

 appoint a viceroy to reside at Reykjavik and 

 nominate a separate Icelandic Cabinet of 3 min- 

 isters. Bills embodying these demands were twice 

 carried through the Althing, but did not receive 

 the royal assent. The Radicals of Iceland have 

 since been insistent in their demand for the fullest 

 measure of home rule, while the Conservatives are 

 content with the present system. In 1897 Dr. Val- 

 thyr Gudmundsson suggested a compromise which 

 was adopted as a platform by a middle party. He 

 proposed that the King should appoint a special 

 minister for Iceland who must be an Icelander 

 or familiar with the Icelandic language, and dur- 

 ing the session of the Althing reside in Reykjavik, 

 between sessions taking his place in the Minis- 

 terial Council in Copenhagen. This plan received 

 the approval of the Danish Government. The 

 Althing rejected it when it was first proposed, 

 and on a second occasion the votes were evenly 

 divided. The election held in October, 1900, hung 

 upon this issue. In the result Dr. Gudmundsson's 

 party gained a majority over both the others, 

 electing. 16 candidates. Several of the members 

 appointed by the King favored his project, and 

 several of the members elected by the opposing 

 parties gave their adhesion to it in the end. Dr. 

 Gudmundsson's constitutional reform bill was 

 passed by the Althing on Aug. 17, 1901. The Min- 

 ister for Iceland can hold no other portfolio, must 

 be present to explain the Government policy in 

 the Althing, and will be responsible to the Althing 

 for all governmental acts. 



Colonies. The territory free from ice in Green- 

 land has an extent of 34,000 square miles. The 

 population in 1890 was 10,516, comprising 5,064 

 males and 5,452 females. The trade is carried on 

 by the Danish Government, which sends ships 

 with supplies that bring away the products of the 

 fisheries and chase. The imports in 1898 were 

 703,000 kroner in value, and exports 401,000 

 kroner; imports in 1899 were 631,000 kroner, and 

 exports 325,000 kroner. 



For an account of the Danish Antilles see WEST 

 INDIES. 



DISCIPLES OF CHRIST. The meetings of 

 the General Christian Convention, representing 

 the several missionary and benevolent societies 

 of the Disciples of Christ, were held in Minne- 

 apolis, Minn., beginning with that of the Chris- 

 tian Woman's Board of Missions, Oct. 11. The 

 total receipts of the board for the year had 

 been $148,602, of which $95,147 constituted the 

 general fund. Deducting various loans, etc., the 

 actual receipts proper had been $135,441. The 

 society included 1,796 auxiliaries, with 37,299 

 members. A report on Young People's work rec- 

 ommended the continuance of the special method 

 of awarding prizes, etc.; fixed "$25,000 25,000 

 members," as a special object to be aimed at; ad- 



vised the building of a boys' or|>h,ni;i;/e at Baya- 

 mon, Porto Rico, and tin- r-niiitm>ri'-i7innt of a 

 building in India; suggested i he. jir. |>:r..:tion and 

 publication of a history of the Yoiiii;r People's 

 department; and offered pri/os tor the' i,.--t mis- 

 sionary story and the best plan oi' Voun^ People's 

 work. 



The American Christian Missionary Society '"i 

 Home Board of Missions met Oct. J2. The. ;mnu;ii 

 report represented that the total receipt* had been 

 $91,716, a gain of $28,089 over the receipts of t h- 

 previous year. The board had aided 225 mission 

 aries, or 30 more than in any previous year, and 

 had assisted 342 places and organized or reorgan- 

 ized 93 churches; while 3,660 members had been 

 received by confession and baptism (6,912 mem- 

 bers in all), and 28 church buildings had been 

 erected. State boards in 39 States reported 415 

 missionaries employed, 1,359 churches and places 

 helped, a total of 17,623 members received, 184 

 churches organized and reorganized, and $2,147,- 

 685 collected on fields for local work, and $182,215 

 for State missions. The reports of the State and 

 National Boards of Home Missions showed 640 

 missionaries employed, 27,535 additions (total) to 

 churches by missionary effort, 227 churches or- 

 ganized and reorganized, and $213,921 raised for 

 State and general home missions. A total of $13,- 

 700 had been received on the annuity plan. Two 

 funds of $5,000 each had been received as named 

 memorial funds from Dr. Henry Gerould, late 

 of Cleveland, Ohio, and George Bates, of Ne- 

 braska, in consideration of which the board agreed 

 to keep a missionary preaching during all the 

 year. Special attention was called to the work 

 among the German population, for whom two 

 churches had been organized in Cleveland, Ohio. 

 City evangelization was carried on in many cities, 

 of which 16 were named. Three mission stations 

 were maintained in Porto Rico. A plan of mis- 

 sionary protracted meetings was suggested, to be 

 held by ministers at some weak point away from 

 their own church. In adjusting appropriations 

 to missions a policy was followed intended to en- 

 courage and develop self-support. 



The meeting of the Foreign Christian Mission- 

 ary Society was its twenty-sixth. The receipts 

 for the year had been $171,898 an amount which, 

 deducting the special gifts of $15,149 contributed 

 in 1900 for famine relief, was $7,031 in excess of 

 that received last year. But fewer churches had 

 contributed, and they had given less, while the 

 contributions of the' Sunday-schools and Chris- 

 tian Endeavor Societies, and the bequests ($14,- 

 611) had increased by $12,000. Seven gifts to the 

 Annuity fund amounted to $22,742, or $7,683 less 

 than in 1900. Of the Annuity fund, $12,300 had 

 been put into real estate. The Christian En- 

 deavor Societies had undertaken to support most 

 of the boys in the orphanage in India. Five 

 churches had been added to the Living Link of 

 churches, which had given enough to support a 

 missionary each. The churches in Canada, Eng- 

 land, and Australia were cooperating in the work 

 of the society. The reports from the mission 

 fields related to work in famine relief, and men- 

 tioned a larger number of additions to the churches 

 than in any previous year; progress of recovery 

 from the disasters in China, where the property of 

 the mission had been protected by the Viceroy of 

 Nankin ; uninterrupted progress in Japan ; preach- 

 ing, medical work, and the opening of a school 

 at Bolengi, on the Congo, Africa; the churches in 

 Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, where the society 

 in Copenhagen had celebrated its twenty-fifth an- 

 niversary ; movements toward self-support and 

 the support of missions in England; unsatisfac- 



