334 EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. 



EVENTS OF 1885. (JANUARY.) 



sand. The results obtained, according to M, 

 Chambrelent, are perfectly satisfactory, the 

 movement of the sand having been absolutely 

 arrested in spite of exceptionally severe winds. 

 There are other dangerous sand-dunes in other 

 parts of the world, some of them being in this 

 country, but nowhere else has the problem of 

 dealing with them been successfully solved. 



EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. The following 

 is a summary of the statistics of the Evangelical 

 Association as they were officially published in 

 September, 1885 : 



Number of conferences, 26 ; of itinerant 

 preachers, 1,053; of local preachers, 588; of 

 members, 128,634; of baptisms during the year, 

 1,888 of adults and 8,717 of children; of Sun- 

 day schools, 2,189, with 24,227 officers and 

 teachers and 147.421 pupils ; of churches, 

 1,728, having a probable value of $3,939,799 ; 

 of parsonages, 540 ; probable value of the same, 

 $613,700. Amount of contributions for mis- 

 sions, $95,987; for Sunday-school and Tract 

 Union, $2,406 ; " conference contributions," 

 $6,093. Increase is shown from the previous 

 year of 59 itinerant ministers, 4,080 members, 

 and 6,267 Sunday-school pupils ; but the con- 

 tributions for missions have fallen off $4,- 

 395; those for the Sunday-school and Tract 

 Union $88, and the " conference contribu- 

 tions," $340. 



The annnal meetings of the Missionary So- 

 ciety and the Board of Missions were held in 

 Indianapolis, Ind., Oct. 2. The receipts to the 

 several treasuries of the society for the year 

 had been : To the General Treasury, $16,676 ; 

 to the " European Treasury," $6,201 ; to the 

 " Heathen Treasury," $9,635 ; to conference 

 treasuries, $79,132. Including $390 on ac- 

 count of the standing fund and $2,000 on ac- 

 count of the annuity fund, the total receipts 

 had been $114,042. The expenditures had 

 amounted to $136,642. The permanent fund 

 amounted to $67,681, and the real-estate cur- 

 rent fund to $4,950. In the " Home Land," 

 or American missions, the society returned 443 

 missions, which had been supplied by 435 mis- 

 sionaries, and returned 34,745 members. Six 

 missions had become self-supporting , and 53 

 new ones had been founded. The number of 

 Sunday schools connected with these missions 

 was 742, with 8,581 officers and teachers, and 

 42,425 pupils. The foreign mission in Ger- 

 many and Switzerland returned a small increase 

 of membership. The mission in Japan had 

 been visited by one of the bishops. It returned 

 7 itinerant preachers (including 3 foreigners), 

 2 local preachers, 3 churches, 109 members, 2 

 adults baptized, and 5 Sunday schools, with 16 

 officers and teachers, and an average attend- 

 ance of 215 pupils. The management of the 

 mission in Japan was lodged in the hands of a 

 local committee at Tokio, who are to act in 

 concert with the Board of Missions or its Ex- 

 ecutive Committee, and under their direction. 

 The board declared by resolution that it could 

 not approve "of the establishment of day- 



schools, in which secular knowledge is princi- 

 pally imparted, and instruction in the princi- 

 ples of Christianity is either a subordinate part 

 of the work, or entirely prohibited." The 

 missionaries were exhorted to qualify them- 

 selves to preach to the Japanese in the native 

 tongue. The catechism of the Association has 

 been translated into the Japanese language. 



The Woman's Missionary Society held its 

 first annual meeting at Lindsey, O., Sept. 25. 



The Board of Publication, at its annual meet- 

 ing, Oct. 8, returned $467,187 of ''net assets," 

 and gross receipts amounting to $200, 424. The 

 publication of a biographical work for Sunday 

 schools and for youth was recommended. The 

 publishing house is at Cleveland, O. 



EVENTS OF 1885. The most important Ameri- 

 can event was the transfer of the Federal ad- 

 ministration from the Republican to the Demo- 

 cratic party. During the first half of the year 

 the stagnation in business increased, and the 

 accumulation of idle money in the banks con- 

 tinued; but after a recovery in the price of 

 wheat there came renewed confidence in rail- 

 roads and activity in the iron-trade. European 

 nations sought relief for their depressed agri- 

 cultural and manufacturing industries by plac- 

 ing additional restrictions on American im- 

 ports. The diplomatic annals of the year are 

 filled with disputes over the partition of the 

 outlying regions of the earth between the Eu- 

 ropean powers. The cruelly conducted, unof- 

 ficial war between France and China was ended. 

 A disastrous conflict over the Eastern question 

 in Asia was scarcely averted when the Eastern 

 question in Europe was reopened by the Bul- 

 garian revolution. The nationality principle 

 that now asserted itself afresh to the confusion 

 of statesmen, gained ground also in the Austrian 

 Empire and in Ireland, while in Prussian Poland 

 the iron Chancellor adopted ruthless means to 

 stamp out the embers of Polish national spirit. 

 The following chronicle summarizes the world's 

 history during the year: 



January 1. The convention between Russia and Ger- 

 many on the subject of the extradition of political 

 criminals goes into force. 



2. Earth-tremors felt in various parts of the United 

 States. The British flag hoisted in Saint Lucia Bay. 

 Fresh earthquake-shocks in Spain. The vote of cen- 

 sure on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lost in the 

 Spanish. Cortes. Gen. Lewal replaces Gen. Carnpe- 

 non in the French Ministry of War. Dynamite ex- 

 plosion in the Underground Railway in London. 



3. The Italian flag hoisted at Beilul, on the Red Sea 

 coast. 



5. Congress reassembles. The House refuses to 

 name a day for considering the bankruptcy bill, and 

 rejects the Hiscock proposition to reduce internal reve- 

 nue duties by $40,000,000 ; the Mexican War pension 

 bill as amended by the Senate fails to receive a two- 

 third vote. The "Federal Supreme Court decides in 

 favor of the steamship companies on the question of 

 immigrant head-money. Gen. Ne"grier reports a vic- 

 tory over the Chinese at Muidop. 



6. The House of Representatives passes the pension 

 appropriation, $59,976,000, and votes an appropriation 

 ot $50,000 for the Piegan Indians ; the Senate approves 

 the Oregon Central'land forfeiture. President-elect 

 Cleveland resigns the office of Governor of New York, 



