METHODISTS. 



547 



been : On general account, $74,938 ; on loan 

 fund account, $27,148. The disbursements 

 had been : On general account, $63,845 ; on 

 loan fund account, $34,567, leaving a balance 

 of $3,673, against $14,362 in November, 1877. 

 The apportionment of calls on the Conferences 

 for contributions for 1879 was adjusted to a 

 total amount of $137,000, the same amount 

 which had been asked for for 1878. 



The annual meeting of the General Mission- 

 ary Committee was held in the city of New 

 York, beginning November 1st. The report 

 of the Treasurer showed that the receipts of 

 the Society for the year ending October 31st, 

 for missionary purposes, had been $551,365. 

 The expenditures had been about $511,000. 

 The indebtedness of the Society had been 

 diminished $51,452, and now stood at $117,- 

 000. Appropriations were made for the sup- 

 port of the missionary work as follows : I. 

 Foreign missions Africa, $7,500 ; South 

 America, $7,920 ; China, $40,241 ; Germany 

 and Switzerland, $22,000; Scandinavia, $44,- 

 000 ; India, $67,100 ; Bulgaria, $5,500 ; Italy, 

 $25,100; Mexico, $24,200; Japan, $28,553; 

 total for foreign missions, $272,114. II. Mis- 

 sions in Territories of the United States, to be 

 administered as foreign missions Arizona, 

 $5,000; New Mexico, $8,500; total, $13,500. 

 III. Domestic missions Scandinavian mis- 

 sions, $14,350 ; German missions, $37,300 ; 

 Chinese missions in California, $11,570 ; Amer- 

 ican Indians, $3,480 ; English-speaking mis- 

 sions, $155,000. IV. Miscellaneous appropri- 

 ations, $67,000. For the liquidation of the 

 debt, $95,586. Total, $676,000. 



Trie following resolutions were adopted re- 

 specting the treatment of Chinese immigrants 

 by the people of the United States : 



Whereas, Under certain treaty regulations made 

 with China and Japan, numbers of these people are 

 coming to our country, and we are brought into very 

 important and responsible relations to those em- 

 pires ; and 



Whereas, The coming of those people to us, and 

 our intercourse with them here and in their own 

 countries, very seriously involve the efficiency and 

 services of our missionary labors in their behalf, 

 both here and there : therefore, 



Resolved, 1. That we deem it of the highest im- 

 portance that our Government should carry out in 

 good faith all treaty engagements with those coun- 

 tries, and secure to such of their citizens as come to 

 pur country the peaceful enjoyment of all rights and 

 immunities guaranteed to them by the treaties. 



2. Further, that in view of the efforts now being 

 made to have those treaties modified, and the fact 

 that in a short time the treaties themselves will prob- 

 ably come before the various governments for revi- 

 sion, this body appoint a committee of five, who 

 shall cooperate in all practicable ways with other 

 Christian bodies in efforts to secure to these people 

 in future treaties all the rights of humanity when 

 they come to us, and justice in our intercourse and 

 trade with them in their own lands. 



The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of 

 the Methodist Episcopal Church, organized in 

 1869, had in 1878 eight branches, known as 

 the New England, New York, Philadelphia, 

 Northwestern, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Western, 



and Atlanta branches, which together returned 

 2,257 auxiliary societies, with 50,877 members, 

 and 239 life members, honorary managers, and 

 life patrons. Its periodical organ, "The Hea- 

 then Woman's Friend," was sent monthly to 

 14,074 subscribers. The total receipts of the 

 Society for the year ending February 10, 1878, 

 were $81,297. 



II. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for 

 1877, as they were published by the Book 

 Editor at Nashville, Tenn., in April, 1878: 

 Number of traveling preachers, 3,439 ; of su- 

 perannuated preachers, 282 ; of local preachers, 

 5,684; of white members, 759,216; of colored 

 members, 1,499; of Indian members, 4,622; 

 total number of ministers and members, 774,- 

 742. Number of Sunday schools, 6,597; of 

 teachers in the same, 53,342 ; of Sunday-school 

 scholars, 353,163. Amount of collections for 

 missions, foreign and domestic, $121,111.75; 

 of collections for conference claimants, $62,- 

 205.54. Compared with the summary of 1875, 

 these returns show an increase of 413 preach- 

 ers, 43,265 white and 287 Indian members, and 

 a decrease of 584 colored members. 



The agent of the Publishing House presented 

 to the General Conference a detailed report 

 reviewing the operations of the establishment 

 since 1866, when the General Conference had 

 resolved that its business should be continued. 

 The net profits for the four years following 

 1866 amounted to more than $94,000, and the 

 gains for 1871 were $28,195. The business 

 continued to be prosperous till a part of the 

 property was destroyed by fire in February, 

 1872. By a combination of circumstances, 

 among which were the expense of rebuilding 

 at high prices, the failure of subscriptions and 

 non-payment of obligations, and the cost of 

 repairing defective structures, the house had 

 been brought into serious embarrassment. Still, 

 the amount due it on account would meet all 

 the liabilities that troubled it. The assets of 

 the house were valued at $569,095, and the 

 liabilities amounted to $270,509. The yearly 

 sales for the past twelve years had averaged 

 $70,099. The Committee of the General Con- 

 ference on Publishing Interests revised the 

 estimates of the agent, reducing the actual cost 

 value of the assets to $232,460, while they 

 found the liabilities to amount to $269,350, so 

 that a balance stood against the house of $46,- 

 890. The General Conference decided to at- 

 tempt to relieve the establishment from its 

 embarrassments and continue its business, if 

 possible on a more economical scale. Besides 

 providing for efforts to make arrangements 

 with the creditors of the Book Concern for an 

 extension of time on its obligations, it decided 

 to discontinue the manufacture of books, and 

 confine the business to publication; ordered all 

 the property not necessary for the prosecution 

 of the reduced business, including three fourths 

 of the real estate, to be sold ; and constituted 



