METHODISTS. 



METHODISTS. I. Methodist Episcopal 

 Church. The Conference organization of this 

 Church consists of 127 annual conferences, 12 mis- 

 sion conferences, and 14 missions. The ollicial 

 statistics for the year from Dec. 1, 1900, to Nov. 

 30, 1901, furnish the following summary: Number 

 of ministers in full connection and on trial, 17,- 

 879; of local preachers, 14,092; of lay members 

 and probationers, 2,948,137 ; of Sunday-schools, 

 32,120, with 349,277 officers and teachers and 

 2,708,469 pupils; of churches, 27,574, having a 

 probable value of $120,610,850; of parsonages, 11,- 

 474, valued at $19,592,025. 



The valuation of the Book Concern in 1901 

 gives, for the New York plant, $1,650,201; for the 

 Western plant, $1,339,900. Besides the main es- 

 tablishments in New York and Cincinnati, there 

 are four depositories connected with the New 

 York house and two with the Cincinnati house. 

 The total amount of sales reported for the four 

 years ending in 1900 was $7,858,034. Thirty-six 

 official periodicals were published, in the Eng- 

 lish, German, and Swedish languages. 



Church Extension. The General Committee 

 of Church Extension met at Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 

 6. The receipts for the year had been $229,298 

 on the General fund and $324,185 on the Loan 

 and Annuity funds, the total, $553,483, showing a 

 net increase tor the year of $43,649. The entire 

 capital of the Loan fund, $1,189,571, together with 

 the amount which had been returned by borrow- 

 ing churches, gave, as the aggregate available for 

 use by loans to date, $2,744,845. Three hundred 

 and forty-one churches had been aided during the 

 year, making the whole number aided from the 

 beginning 12,018. The total net receipts since 

 1865 had been $7,371,711. The work of aiding 

 frontier churches by supplementing special gifts 

 of $250 had been largely extended, and by this 

 means about 700 churches had been made pos- 

 sible. The operations of the society had been ex- 

 tended to Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. 

 In fulfilment of a call for $1,000,000 for Twentieth 

 Century thank-offerings, the board had received 

 $235,832 for the erection of new churches, and 

 $362,776 for the payment of debts upon churches. 

 The sum of $345,375 was asked from the confer- 

 ences for the ensuing year. 



Board of Education. The Board of Educa- 

 tion had received $129,137, and had aided 1,668 

 students, with loans amounting to $80,108. From 

 its institution in 1866 to July 1, 1901, it had aided 

 11,036 students with loans aggregating $1,075,938. 

 The 194 educational institutions of different kinds 

 and grades returned in all 2,914 professors and 

 teachers, 46,461 students, $17,050,175 of property 

 and $16,165,654 of endowments, $11,950,442 of 

 which were productive. 



Sunday-School Union. The income of the 

 Sunday-School Union for 1900 was $21,727, and 

 the expenditures were $19,896, of which about $4,- 

 545 were to missions in foreign countries. 



Tract Society. The Tract Society received for 

 the year ending Nov. 30, 1900, $19,522, and ex- 

 pended $18,923. It circulates tracts throughout 

 the United States and in the foreign mission 

 fields, having a list of 1,400 tracts in 14 languages 

 and dialects. It also publishes a weekly period- 

 ical Good Tidings. Four tracts were added to 

 its list in 1900. 



Epworth League. The enrolment of the Ep- 

 worth League for 1901 included 21,000 regular and 

 7,600 junior chapters, with 1,900,000 members. 

 The General Convention was held in San Fran- 

 cisco, Cal., and was attended by more than 20,000 

 delegates. Resolutions were adopted recording a 

 deepening interest among the members and ap- 



proving of measures which \\:\<\ ! ' n rl<-viscd by 

 the direction for a " forward iiiovciin-ni. or <_T<-at 

 campaign on behalf of missions ami other I) MI \ () - 

 lences, and of plans for Epworl.h LI,I<_MI<- exten- 

 sion providing for the systematic tnunui^ oi tin- 

 young people in Christian work. 



Freedman's Aid Society. The thirty lin ! 

 nual meeting of the General Committee <.t she 

 Freedrnan's Aid and Southern Education SorjH \ 

 was held in Allegheny, Pa., Nov. 11 and 12. I h< 

 treasurer reported that the entire receipts had 

 been $379,496, and that the amount derived from 

 conference collections, $110,040, was nearly $2,500 

 in advance of that contributed in the previous 

 year. The debt of $154,479 standing at the close 

 of the preceding year had been decreased by $19,- 

 000, in addition to which $23,900 had been re- 

 ceived on the annuity plan and invested for the 

 payment of the debt; and nearly $12,000 more 

 were available in subscriptions, bequests, and an- 

 nuities, all of which would suffice to bring the 

 debt under $100,000. 



The schools had been attended by 10,297 pupils. 

 Nearly 3,000 students had received training in 

 the industrial departments. The students had 

 paid on account of tuition, board, room rent, and 

 incidentals, $113,237 toward their education. 



Unusually large sums had been collected for new 

 buildings and improvements. Thirteen important 

 buildings were being completed, four of which 

 would be available for school work by Jan. 1. 



General Missionary Society. The annual 

 meeting of the General Missionary Committee was 

 held in Pittsburg, Pa., Nov. 13 to 19. The receipts 

 for the year were shown by the treasurer's report 

 to have been $1,233,186, and the expenditures for 

 all purposes had been $1,279,930. In addition to 

 the regular income, $111,705 had been received in 

 special gifts and $14,160, the addition of which 

 would make the total amount received $1,359,051, 

 showing an increase for the year of $39,123. 



Appropriations were made for the coming year 

 on the basis of the amount of the regular con- 

 tributions of the past year ($1,233,186), as fol- 

 low: For foreign missions, in Europe, South 

 America, Mexico, Africa, China, Japan, Korea, 

 India, and Malaysia, $578,232; for missions in the 

 United States, including conference missions, the 

 mountain region, the Pacific coast, white work in 

 the South, colored work, mostly in the South, 

 non-English speaking peoples (12 nationalities), 

 and special appropriations for cities, $436.210; 

 miscellaneous appropriations (including $40,744 

 for debt), $218,744. A resolution was adopted, re- 

 citing that whereas open doors were inviting mis- 

 sionary labor in all parts of the world as never 

 before; and whereas, notwithstanding increased 

 collections from the churches, and by reason of 

 the indebtedness accumulating from large suc- 

 cesses, instead of embracing these opportunities, 

 it had been necessary to reduce all appropriations 

 about 8 per cent, below the inadequate appropria- 

 tions made for the previous year, and the com- 

 mittee had been unable for years, for lack of funds, 

 to make appropriations for the improvement of 

 mission property in foreign countries or for the 

 removal of debts from it; an increase of mission- 

 ary contributions be asked from the Church, so 

 that at least $1,500,000 could be secured from col- 

 lections only in 1892. The Board of Managers was 

 authorized to employ such additional secretaries 

 as might be necessary for the furtherance of this 

 appeal, and was advised to constitute a special 

 committee, to be called the Open Door Emergency 

 Committee, to have such powers and functions in 

 relation to increasing the missionary collections 

 as it might from time to time prescribe. 



