LUTHERANS. 



333 



operations of the body are carried on in the 

 interim. 



Foreign Missions. The thirty-first biennial re- 



Eort of the Board of Foreign Missions was read 

 y the Rev. George Scholl, D. D., of Baltimore, 

 Md., secretary of the board. The board has 

 charge of missions in India and Africa. The total 

 receipts for this work were $120,254.72. Of this 

 amount the district synods contributed $62,399.89, 

 the Woman's Missionary Society $24,160.81, the 

 Sunday-schools, $22,148.51, and from legacies were 

 received $2,804.54. For the famine sufferers in In- 

 dia $23,881.13 was received. The total expendi- 

 tures, exclusive of the amount received for famine 

 relief, were $97,253.68. During the two years em- 

 braced in this report, the missionary force in In- 

 dia, with Guntur in the Madras presidency as the 

 central station, consisted of 11 ordained American 

 missionaries, 5 subpastors, 17 catechists, 100 as- 

 sistants, 4 Bible and tract colporteurs, and 54 

 helpers. These labored in 607 villages, having 

 432 organized congregations and 139 chapels. The 

 baptized membership is 17,811. The mission also 

 engages 11 woman missionaries, 23 Christian and 

 29 secular teachers,, in 16 schools, with 1,057 pu- 

 pils; and 15 Sunday-schools, with 761 pupils. 

 The medical department is in charge of two physi- 

 cians and has a hospital and dispensary. The 

 famine in India in 1900 called for special efforts 

 on the part of the board and the missionaries in 

 the field. Already toward the close of 1899 the 

 dark cloud of famine began to lower over the 

 great Indian Empire, with its 300,000,000 souls, 

 and before March 1, 1900, the country was in the 

 grip of the most terrible famine known in its 

 annals. At the call of the India Conference the 

 board issued an appeal to the Church for $5,000 

 or $7,000 for famine relief. The appeal was no 

 sooner made than funds began to flow in until 

 the board had received $23,888.13, and the work 

 of feeding the hungry began. The missionaries 

 threw themselves into the work with energy, and 

 no worthy case within their reach was overlooked. 

 Large camps were established, and the most gen- 

 erous provision was made for the needy. About 

 60,000 persons were fed. 



The work in the Muhlenberg mission, Africa, 

 was carried on under great disadvantages. Four 

 missionaries died of African fever, leaving only 

 a few laborers in this important field and sug- 

 gesting the necessity of abandoning the field. 

 Owing to the disturbed condition of the -mission, 

 no reliable data can be given concerning this part 

 of the work. The mission in India is in a flourish- 

 ing condition, and has fine prospects for continued 

 success. 



Home Missions. The sixteenth biennial report 

 of the Board of Home Missions was presented by 

 the secretary, the Rev. A. Stewart Hartman, D. D., 

 Baltimore, Md. The total receipts for this work, 

 including a small balance in the treasury, were 

 $101,342.57. Of this amount the district synods 

 contributed $66,055.38 and the Woman's Mis- 

 sionary Society $11,758.77. The expenditures 

 amounted to $94,090.38. The report of the fif- 

 teenth biennium showed an enrolment of 141 mis- 

 sions. Of these, 3 were dropped, and 28 new fields 

 were added, making the total number assisted by 

 the board, during the whole or part of the time 

 covered by this report, 166, an increase of 6 over 

 the preceding two years, and the largest number 

 ever aided in any single biennium. These are 

 located as follow, as to States: California, 8; 

 Colorado, 5; District of Columbia, 1; Illinois, 9; 

 Indiana, 8; Iowa, 7; Kansas, 14; Kentucky, 3; 

 Maryland, 9; Michigan, 3; Missouri, 2; Nebraska, 

 17; New Jersey, 6; New Mexico, 1; New York, 



14; Ohio, 16; Pennsylvania, 39; South Dakota, 1; 

 West Virginia, 2; Wyoming, 1. 



Church Extension. The sixteenth biennial re- 

 port of the Board of Church Ex ton. -ion was pre- 

 sented by the secretary of the board, which showed 

 receipts amounting to $113,044. The total a~s.et.s 

 of the board are $366,677.79. The number oi ap- 

 propriations made during the bienniurn, either as 

 gifts or loans, was to 266 congregations. 



Publications. The assets of the Publication 

 Society, including a well-equipped publication 

 house in Philadelphia, are valued at $161,242.12. 

 The society publishes Sunday-school and mission- 

 ary periodicals, of which the monthly issues num- 

 ber 300,000 copies. The society issued, in the 

 period covered by the report, 14 new books, 14 

 new editions of books previously published, and 

 12 books published for the authors, making a 

 total of 40 books. 



Education. The eighth biennial report of the 

 Board of Education was presented by the secre- 

 tary, the Rev. Henry C. Haithcox, D. D., of Co- 

 lumbia. City, Ind. The board supports Midland 

 College and the Western Theological Seminary, at 

 Atchison, Kan. These institutions, established 

 a few years ago, are doing excellent work for the 

 Church in the West. About one-third of the pas- 

 tors in the synods of Kansas and Nebraska are 

 graduates of the college and the seminary. The 

 German department is gaining in favor and is 

 meeting the most sanguine expectations of its 

 friends. Carthage College, at Carthage, 111., has 

 also been aided by the board. Hartwick Semi- 

 nary, New York, is a link through which the 

 synods of New York have cooperated with the 

 board in its important and far-reaching work. 

 The aggregate value of the property of these 

 institutions is $264,000. The receipts for this 

 work, as reported by the board, amounted to 

 $26,993.67. 



Deaconess Board. The pastor of the Mother 

 House of Deaconesses, at Baltimore, Md., the 

 Rev. Frank P. Manhart, D. D., reported a steady 

 development of the deaconess work in the general 

 synod. There has been progress in the training- 

 force, improvement in the equipment of the insti- 

 tution, and an advance in the grade of work. 

 The mother house has 14 deaconesses, 9 proba- 

 tioners, and 2 candidates. The regular out-sta- 

 tions have been New York city, York, Pa., Tress- 

 ler's Orphanage, and parish work in Baltimore. 

 A new property has been acquired for the institu- 

 tion at Baltimore, at a cost of $26,850, once the 

 home of Roger B. Taney, Chief Justice of the 

 United States, on which are buildings that will 

 accommodate this growing institution for some 

 time to come. 



Miscellaneous. The other business of the con- 

 vention consisted in considering reports of vari- 

 ous standing committees. Among these were re- 

 ports of the National Lutheran Home for Aged, 

 at Washington, D. C., which has property valued 

 at $50,000, and has cared for 16 inmates; the 

 orphanage at Loysville, Pa., with property valued 

 at $75,000 and 175 inmates; the Sunday-school 

 work; and .statistics. The synod authorized the 

 appointment of a representative to act with two 

 others, one each from the General Council and 

 the United Synod of the South, in holding a " Free 

 General Conference." A conference of this kind 

 has since been called to meet in Philadelphia, 

 March 25, 1902. In response to the proposition 

 made by the official visitor from the general coun- 

 cil, a committee was appointed to consider in 

 what ways the synod may enter into practical co- 

 operation with the general council " without com- 

 mitting either body to any. entangling alliances, 



