UNIVERSALISTS. 



793 



The votes of Florida, Louisiana, and South 

 Carolina, giving Hayes a majority, were dis- 

 puted by the friends of Tildeii, and the reader 

 is n-fi-rrrd to tliosi- Stairs respectively. 



Tin- Constitution of the United States makes 

 it tin- duty of Congress to canvass the electoral 

 votr< and to declare the name of the person 

 elerteil. Hut as the Lower House of Congress 

 was Democratic by a large majority and the 

 Senate Republican, and as the Democrats of 

 the House denied the correctness of the re- 

 turns from the three States above mentioned, 

 it became probable that the two Houses would 

 not agree in declaring the result ; therefore 

 neither candidate could hold the office of Presi- 

 dent as a result of the election. 



To avoid the uncertainties and excitement 

 of the country in prospect, an arrangement 

 was made, under the legislation of Congress, 

 which resulted in uniting the two Houses in 

 declaring Rutherford B. Hayes as the successful 

 candidate. But the history of all these proceed- 

 ings forms a part of the record of 1877, which 

 will be found in the next volume of this series. 



(For the commerce of the United States, see 

 COMMERCE; for the condition of the military 

 and naval forces, tee AHMY and NAYY ; for 

 the foreign relations of the United States, see 

 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE ; for the finan- 

 cial affairs of the Government and the people, 

 see FINANCES ; for civil and internal affairs, see 

 the States respectively.) 



UNIVERSALISTS. The following is a sum- 

 mary of the statistics of the Universalists in 

 the United States and Canada, as given in the 

 Unwerzalist Register for 1877 : 



Number of State conventions, 22; of asso- 

 ciations, i;y ; O f Church organizations, 656 ; of 

 Sunday-schools, 640; of teachers nnd j upil- 

 in the same, 59,468; of church-edifices, 766; 

 total valuation of church property above 

 indebtedness,. $7,465,495. The fourteen I ni- 

 ver>alist theological schools, colleges, and 

 seminaries, reported for 1876 a total of ninety- 

 nine professors und teachers, 1,086 students, 

 and $2,385,000 of assets. The total net assets 

 of the Universalist Publishing House at Bos- 

 ton were $80,000. It also published six period- 

 icals. The entire list of Universalist periodicals 

 includes five general weekly papers, one bi- 

 weekly paper, four Sunday-school papers, one 

 monthly magazine, the Vnitersalist Quarterly, 

 and the annual Keginter. 



The General Convention of Universalists in 

 the United States met at Rochester, N. Y., 

 October 18th. The Rev. Henry W. Rugg, of 

 Rhode Island, was chosen president. The 

 treasurer reported that the present value of 

 the Murray Centenary fund was $12,742.54. 

 Defaults in interest had occurred on two loans, 

 of $6,678.75 and $9,000 respectively. The 

 principal of the John G. Gunn Memorial fund 

 remained at the amount of $8,000. Gifts to 

 the amount of $600 had been granted during 

 the year from this fund. The debt of the con- 

 vention had been reduced $4,300 during the 

 year, and was repoited to be now $25.200. 

 The total amount of moneys passing through 

 the hands of the treasurer on general account 

 during the year had been $42,884.33. The 

 Board of Trustees reported that the actual in- 

 come of the general fund for the year had 

 been $20,655.88, and the actual expenditures, 

 $19,689.34. Forty scholarships had been in 

 force during the year, and ten beneficiaries of 

 the convention had been graduated. The 

 amount of the aid rendered by the convention 

 to students had been $7,200, and $1,092 had 

 been received in repayment of former loans on 

 this account. There had been expended in 

 this department, since the establishment of 

 theological scholarships by the convention, 

 $50,280, of which sum $5,520 appeared as a 

 free gift, and $540 had been remitted or can- 

 celed by the Board of Trustees, leaving $44,- 

 220 as the amount of loans which had been 

 made in rccordance with the existing rules. 



The General Convention called the attention 

 of the State conventions to the desirableness 

 of electing a class of officers called State super- 

 intendents, and advised the trustees to define 

 for these officers their relations to the General 

 Convention, and their duties in connection with 

 it. It recommended the appointment of a 

 committee of six persons in Western mission- 

 ary work, to be made by the convention on 

 nominations by the united delegates to the 

 convention each year from west of the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains; the committee to report to 

 the Trustees of the General Convention, and 

 work in harmony with them, and with the 

 General Secretary, and to be the agents of the 

 trustees in disbursing such sums as may be ap- 



