METHODISTS. 



Carondelet, Rich Hill, and Toplin took 14,550 

 tons ; La Salle, Peru, and Collinsville, 36,500 

 tons; and Pittsburg and Weir City, 23,200 

 tons. Another authority places the output of 

 the Cherokee county (Kansas) district at 82,987 

 net tons of ore, placing the average price at 

 $15 a ton for the whole year. It is said con- 

 cerning the mines of southwestern Missouri 

 and of southeastern Kansas that the outlook for 

 an increased production during 1885 is good. 

 Promising discoveries of deposits of zinc-ore 

 have been made in central Missouri, along the 

 line of the Kansas City, Springfield, and Mem- 

 phis Railroad, and in the northern counties of 

 Arkansas bordering on the Missouri line. In 

 Europe the general course of spelter prices has 

 also been highly unsatisfactory. In London the 

 year opened with the price at 15 5s. ordinary 

 at shipping ports ; closed at 14 2s. 6d. Cala- 

 mine exportation from Spain during the first 

 eleven months of 1884 was 27,277 tons, against 

 28,439 in 1883, and 24,597 in 1882. 



From all this it will be seen that the chief 

 interest in the American and European metal 

 markets in 1884 centered on copper, whose fur- 

 ther developments are a problem attracting gen- 

 eral attention. 



METHODISTS. I. Methodist Episcopal Church 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 the Methodist Episcopal Church, as they are 

 given in the " Minutes of the Annual Confer- 

 ence" for 1884. Number of traveling preach- 

 ers, 11,624; of preachers on trial, 1,299; of 

 local preachers, 12,239 ; of full members, 1,- 

 647,719; of probationers, 187,771; total of 

 members and probationers, 1,835,490; number 

 of baptisms, 62,028 of children, and 69,148 of 

 adults. Number of churches, 19,128, having a 

 probable value of $73,199,223 ; number of par- 

 sonages, 6,764, having a probable value of 

 $10,335,825; number of Sunday-schools, 21,- 

 527, with 234,159 officers and teachers, and 

 1,729,216 scholars. Amount of contributions : 

 For missions, $660,701 ; for Woman's Foreign 

 Missionary Society, $127,568; for church ex- 

 tension, $120,146; for the Tract Society, $15,- 

 086; for the Sunday-School Union, $16,169; 

 for the Freedmen's Aid Society, $58,734; for 

 education, $90,741 ; for the American Bible 

 Society, $29,747; for pastors, presiding elders, 

 and bishops, $7,702,441; for "conference 

 claimants," $179,552. 



General Conference. The General Confer- 

 ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church met in 

 Philadelphia, May 1st. The quadrennial ad- 

 dress of the bishops, marking the fact that the 

 Church had reached the hundredth year of its 

 history as a distinct ecclesiastical organization, 

 presented a brief review of its progress during 

 the century of its existence. During the past 

 four years, four new conferences had been 

 formed. The number of members had in- 

 creased by 69,232, and this figure, added to 

 the number of deaths that had taken place 

 during the same time, showed that the Church 

 had received 158,787 accessions. The value of 



church property had increased by $8,272,000, 

 and great success had attended efforts, particu- 

 larly in the cities, to liquidate church debts. 

 Embarrassing debts had also been removed 

 from many of the institutions of learning of 

 the Church, and some of them had been 

 strengthened by liberal additions to their en- 

 dowment funds. The whole number of edu- 

 cational establishments included 10 theological 

 institutions, 45 colleges and universities, 60 clas- 

 sical seminaries, $ colleges and seminaries for 

 young women, and 19 schools of high grade 

 connected with foreign missions. In these insti- 

 tutions, the value of the buildings and grounds 

 was estimated at $7,594,640; the amount 

 of endowments was $7,031,176; the number 

 of teachers, 1,409, and of students for the 

 last year, 28,621, with an estimate of students 

 since their beginning of 414,518. The estimated 

 amount of the debts still resting against a few 

 of these institutions was $592,476. The ad- 

 dress also spoke of the progress of the educa- 

 tional work among the freedmen, and of the 

 recently begun enterprises for education among 

 the white people, of the South ; and men- 

 tioned, as evidences of the advancement of 

 the foreign missionary enterprises, the division 

 of the Chinese missions into an annual confer- 

 ence, and three distinct missions in North, 

 Central, and West China, the enlargement of 

 educational work in Japan, the steady acces- 

 sion of members in India, and the growth of 

 the annual conferences in Germany and Switz- 

 erland, Sweden, Norway, and Italy. 



The report of the Book Committee showed 

 that the total net capital of the Book Concern, 

 as represented in its Eastern and Western pub- 

 lishing houses, was $1,617,450; that the sales 

 during four years had amounted to $6,455,488, 

 or $365,344 more than the sales of the pre- 

 vious four years, and that the net profits dur- 

 ing the same period had been $382,115. Four 

 new bishops were elected by the General Con- 

 ference, viz. : W. X. Ninde, at the time Presi- 

 dent of the Garrett Biblical Institute, Evans- 

 ton, 111. ; J. M. Walden, senior book agent at 

 Cincinnati, Ohio; W. H. Mallalieu, of the New 

 England Conference; and Charles H. Fowler, 

 second missionary secretary. The episcopal 

 residences were established in Boston, New 

 York, Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati, 

 Chicago, St. Louis or Greencastle (Ind.), San 

 Francisco or vicinity, Minneapolis, Atlanta or 

 Chattanooga, New Orleans or Austin, Denver, 

 and Topeka or vicinity. A proposition was 

 urged to establish episcopal residences also in 

 Europe and in India, but was not favored by 

 the Conference. The Conference decided, how- 

 ever, to elect a missionary bishop for Africa 

 (Liberia), whose authority should be confined 

 to that country ; and William Taylor, a local 

 preacher, who had made extensive missionary 

 tours for the foundation of self-supporting 

 churches and schools in India and South 

 America, was chosen to that office. A resolu- 

 tion was adopted to the effect that the Confer- 



