RANDALL, SAMUEL J. 



REFORMED CHURCHES. 



749 



liev* that we should pay the debt, hut I believe, 

 what is of vastly more importance, that tho 

 country lias the ability, the disposition, and the 

 resources to pay it." In the i orty-second and 

 Forty-third Congresses he served on the Com- 

 mittees on Banking and Currency, Post-Offices 

 and Post-Roads, and Rules, and was one of the 

 moat influential members of the minority. His 

 triumphant leadership in the two days' and all 

 night's contest to prevent the " Force bill " 

 from going to the Senate in time for action on 

 it, brought him first into great prominence. 

 When the Democrats came into power at the 

 opening of the Forty-fourth Congress, in De- 

 cember, 1875, Mr. Randall was made chairman 

 of the Committee on Appropriations. He de- 

 voted himself to the work of retrenchment, 

 and succeeded in cutting down the appropria- 

 tions many millions. In giving a summary of 

 what he had accomplished in the way of re- 

 trenching, August 14, 1876, he closed with 

 these words : "I believe the real, natural, safe, 

 and permanent way to resumption of specie 

 payments is in the reduction of the expen- 

 ditures of the Government to what is needed 

 by an economical administration. Human fore- 

 sight, in my judgment, can not fix the exact 

 hour or day when it shall take place." 



On December 4, 1876, Mr. Randall was elect- 

 ed to fill the vacancy in the office of Speaker 

 occasioned by the death of Michael O. Kerr. 

 On taking the chair at that critical time, he 

 said: "We stand in the presence of events 

 which strain and test to the last degree our 

 form of government. Our liberties, conse- 

 crated by so many sacrifices in the past, and 

 preserved amid the rejoicings of an exultant 

 people at our centennial anniversary as one 

 among the nations of the earth, must be main- 

 tained at all hazard. The people look confi- 

 dently to your moderation, to your wisdom, in 

 this time fraught with so much peril. Let us 

 not, I beseech you, disappoint their just ex- 

 pectations and their keen sense of right ; but 

 by unceasing vigilance let us prevent even the 

 slightest departure from the Constitution and 

 the laws, forgetting in the moment of difficulty 

 that we are the adherents of party, and only 

 remembering that we are American citizens 

 with a country to save." It was greatly owing 

 to his brave and determined spirit in maintain- 

 ing such sentiments, that the turbulent fac- 

 tions in the House were held in check, and 

 the results of the Electoral Commission quietly 

 acquiesced in. As he expressed it in his valedic- 

 tory at the close of this Congress, " The Demo- 

 cratic party yielded temporary possession of the 

 administration, rather than entail upon tin- 

 people civil war with all its attendant horrors." 



At the called session of the Forty-fifth Con- 

 gress, October 15, 1877, he was reflected Speak- 

 er. The two years of this Congress were a 

 period of general financial distress and of labor 

 depressed by heavy burdens. He urged that 

 no backward step should be taken in the work 

 of retrenchment, saying, " When the iron rule 



of hard necessity darkens every household in 

 the land, extravagance on the part of the peo- 

 ple's servants is an unpardonable crime." 



At the extra session in March, 187'J, he was 

 again elected Speaker of the Forty-sixth Con- 

 gress. 



REFORMED CHURCHES. I. REFORMED 

 CHURCH ix AMERICA (formerly Reformed Dutch 

 Church). The following is a summary of the 

 statistics of the Reformed Church in America 

 as they were reported to the General Synod 

 of 1879 : Number of Classes, 82 ; of church- 

 es, 505 ; of ministers, 546 ; of communicants, 

 80,228. One of the Classes, Arcot, with 21 

 churches, 6 ministers, and 1,106 communicants, 

 is in Asia ; the others are in the United States. 

 Number of Sunday-schools, 695, with 79,250 

 scholars. Amount of contributions for reli- 

 gious and benevolent purposes, $175,424 ; for 

 congregational purposes, $745,502. The Board 

 of Foreign Missions received during the year 

 $58,443, and paid out $78,798. 



The General Synod of the Reformed Church 

 in America met in its seventy-third session at 

 Newark, New Jersey, June 4th. The Rev. A. 

 R. Van Nest, D. D., of Philadelphia, was chosen 

 Moderator. The committee appointed at the 

 previous session on the consolidation of boards 

 presented majority and minority reports. The 

 minority report was adopted. It declared it 

 inexpedient to make any changes in the cor- 

 porate organizations of the benevolent boards, 

 and recommended continued attention by them 

 to means of reducing expenses as far as may be 

 compatible with the best interests of the ob- 

 jects of their care. Since the constitution of 

 the Church recognizes all baptized persons as 

 members, provision was made to secure the 

 full recognition of baptized children, for the 

 insertion in the statistical tables of the Classes 

 of an additional column of "Total of baptized 

 members," to include such children. 



II. REFORMED CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of this Church as they are given in its "Alma- 

 nac" for 1880: 



Number of Classes, 45 ; of baptisms during 

 the year, 12,836 of infants, 1,005 of adult 

 additions by confirmation, 8,426; of Sunday- 

 schools, 1,364, with 94,346 scholars. Amount 

 of contributions for benevolent purposes, $57,- 

 975; for local objects. $528,506. A foreign 

 mission has been established under the direc- 

 tion of tho General Synod in Japan, and was 



Report of 1878. 



