UNITARIANS. 



UNITED STATES. 



775 



Woman's Auxiliary Conference, the Woman's 

 Western Unitarian Conference, the Western 

 Unitarian Conference, the Western Unitarian 

 Association, the Southern Conference and the 

 Pacific Coast Conference, of Unitarian and other 

 Christian Churches, and a considerable number 

 of local bodies of similar character, and associ- 

 ations of ministers and of persons engaged in 

 Sunday-school work. The Divinity School of 

 Harvard University is Unitarian in the general 

 tendencies of its teaching, and the Meadville 

 Theological School, Meadville, Pa., is controlled 

 by Unitarians. The Unitarian Church Temper- 

 ance Society was formed in 1886, " to work for 

 the cause of temperance in whatever ways may 

 seem to it wise and right ; to study the social 

 problems of poverty, crime, and disease in their 

 relations to the use of intoxicating drinks, and to 

 diffuse whatever knowledge may be gained ; to 

 discuss methods of temperance reform ; to de- 

 vise, and so far as possible, to execute plans for 

 practical reform," etc. 



The sixty-second annual meeting of the 

 American Unitarian Association was held in 

 Boston, Mass., May 24. The Rev. James de 

 Normandie presided. The treasurer reported 

 that the receipts for the year for the general 

 objects of the Association had been $73.519, and 

 the total receipts, including all those for special 

 and other funds, $220,829. The report of the 

 Board of Directors represented that the year 

 just past had been the most successful year 

 that the Unitarian body in America had known 

 oince the association came into existence. 

 While in each of the two preceding years eight 

 new Unitarian societies had been formed, the 

 number of new organizations in this year was 

 twenty-one. The amount of contributions this 

 year, and nlso the number of contributing 

 churches (246) were considerably in excess of 

 those of preceding years. The Post-Office 

 Mission, by which tracts setting forth Unita- 

 rian doctrines were sent to all who applied for 

 them, had been active and successful. The 

 trustees of the Church Building Loan fund re- 

 ported the total amount of the fund as $46,742, 

 of which $38,235 were in the form of unpaid 

 loans, and $8,517 available for investments. 

 The receipts for the year had been $3,202 in 

 contributions, and $1,465 in payment of loans. 

 The work of the association in behalf of South- 

 ern and Indian education was administered by 

 a special commission, with funds expressly con- 

 tributed for the purpose. In the matter of 

 Southern education, it was not intended to es- 

 tablish new schools, but to select and recom- 

 mend to the churches and people some of the 

 schools already established. The committee 

 had recommended the Hampton Institute, Vir- 

 ginia; the Tuskegee Normal School, Alabama; 

 and the Channing School, Barnwell, S. C. The 

 enterprise of education of Indians was repre- 

 sented by the Montana Industrial School 

 among the Crows, where a tract of two hun- 

 dred acres of land had been granted by the Gov- 

 ernment, suitable log buildings had been erect- 



ed upon it, and eighteen pupils were enrolled, 

 with the expectation that the number would 

 be increased to fifty as soon as the equipment 

 of the school was completed. 



The executive officers of the Association 

 were requested to prepare and publish for the 

 information of the churches, a statement of 

 the business principles and methods by which 

 aid is given to missionary societies. A resolu- 

 tion advising, in the case of applications for 

 assistance from the funds of the association 

 from societies which retain the private owner- 

 ship of pews, that efforts be made to induce 

 such societies to acquire ownership of pews by 

 the society, was referred to a special commit- 

 tee for consideration. 



British Unitarian Association. The British and 

 Foreign Unitarian Association met in London, 

 May 31. Mr. Frederick Nettlefold presided. 

 The report of the secretary traced the prog- 

 ress of the Association during the past fifty 

 years. In 1837 the expenditure was 871 ; in 

 1886, 4,122. The grants made were for the 

 two years, respectively, 52 and 1,626, while 

 the assisted congregations had increased from 

 seven to fifty-two. About 2,500 still re- 

 mained of the debt on Essex Hall, toward the 

 extinction of which 23,000 had been raised. 

 Dr. M. A. N. Rovers, of Arnheim, as represen- 

 tative of the Protestantenbond of Holland, said 

 that his society, though only seventeen years 

 old, consisted of 13,000 members, who were 

 called " moderns." Resolutions were passed 

 affirming the desirability of holding people's 

 services and of increased missionary exertions, 

 and expressing a desire for the complete tri- 

 umph of civil and religious liberty before the 

 close of the Queen's Jubilee. 



Unitarian Chnrch in Hungary. Unitarianism 

 has existed in Transylvania since 1563. The 

 Unitarian Church in Hungary was founded by 

 Francis David about 1568. The churches, 

 which numbered 108 in 1883, are superin- 

 tended by a bishop (Joseph Ferencz), with eight 

 rural deans, and an ecclesiastical council of 350 

 members. The quadrennial meeting of the 

 Synod was held in 1887, when 15 young minis- 

 ters were ordained. The whole number of regis- 

 tered Unitarians in the country is 57,516. and 

 of Unitarian children in the public elementary 

 schools, 6,975. The higher education is pro- 

 vided for by the college or high school at Klaus- 

 enburg (348 students), and the middle schools 

 at Thorda (183 pupils), and Szekely Keresztur 

 (152 pupils). 



UNITED STATES. The Administration Early 

 in the year Secretary Manning, of the Treas- 

 ury, resigned his portfolio. (See article on Mr. 

 Manning, page 597.) The President there- 

 upon nominated the Assistant Secretary, 

 Charles S. Fairchild, to the vacant place. His 

 commission dated from April 1. 



Charles Stebblns Fairchild was born in Cazeno- 

 via, N. Y., April 30, 1842. He was graduated 

 at Harvard College in 1863, and, after study- 

 ing at the law school of that university, was 



