340 



LUTHERANS. 



Permitting sugar mills and refineries, sawmills, 

 rice and cotton-seed-oil mills, and irrigating plants 

 to issue bonds. 



Incorporating the city of Monroe. 



Creating a State museum at New Orleans. 



Authorizing the City Council of Lafayette to 

 issue bonds to raise $14,000 to construct buildings 

 for the Southwestern Industrial Institute, and the 

 police jury of Lafayette Parish to raise in the 

 same way $32,000 for the same purpose. 



Prohibiting the use of trading stamps. 



Requiring factors, brokers, commission mer- 

 chants, and middlemen to embody in all accounts 

 of sales of cotton and other agricultural produce 

 the name of the person to whom such produce is 

 sold, the date when sold, the actual classification 

 of such produce, and the name of the person by 

 whom such classification was made. 



To provide a system of obtaining, compiling, 

 and promulgating official reports of the conditions 

 and yield of agricultural products of the State 

 and other statistical information. 



Providing for settlement of successions under 

 $500. 



Two constitutional amendments were passed 

 and submitted to vote in November, when they 

 were adopted. One was to increase the amount 

 of money that may be used annually for Con- 

 federate pensions to $75,000, and stipulating that 

 not less than $50,000 be distributed. The purpose 

 of the other amendment was to ratify the special 

 tax for public improvements voted by New Orleans 

 in June, 1899. 



LUTHERANS. The official reports of synods 

 and congregations of Lutherans in America show 

 a net increase in 1900 of 95,744 communicant 

 members. The statistics gathered for the Lu- 

 theran Church Almanac present the following re- 

 sults: Sixty-one synods, 6,710 clergymen, 11,123 

 congregations, 1,665,878 confirmed members, 4,097 

 parochial schools, 3,964 teachers and 190,896 pu- 

 pils, 4,961 Sunday schools, 60,133 officers and teach- 

 ers, and 568,837 pupils. The statistics of Sunday 

 schools are, however, very defective, the actual 

 number being much larger than here indicated. 

 The benevolent contributions for missions, edu- 

 cation, and other charitable purposes aggregate 

 $1,171,765.30. There are in connection with the 

 various synods or under Lutheran control 23 theo- 

 logical seminaries, 47 colleges, 34 academies, and 11 

 colleges for women, whose property is valued at 

 $5,121,060, with endowments amounting to $1,- 

 646,293, employing 859 professors and instructors, 

 and having 12,854 students, of whom 2,338 have 

 the ministry in view. The benevolent institutions 

 number 99, of which 43 are orphanages, 19 homes 

 for the aged, 18 hospitals, 8 deaconess institutions, 

 and 11 immigrant and seamen's missions, with 

 property valued at $4,392,896, endowments amount- 

 ing to $462,629, and 24,913 inmates. The property 

 used for educational and benevolent purposes is 

 valued at $9,513,956, and the endowments amount 

 to $2,108,922. Many of these institutions, some of 

 the strongest and most influential, have no endow- 

 ment at all, but are supported by voluntary offer- 

 ings of the members of the congregations. This 

 is especially true, though not exclusively, of the 

 institutions established and maintained by German 

 and Scandinavian Lutherans. 



The polity of the Lutheran Church in this coun- 

 try has assumed the synodical form, the synods 

 being composed of clerical and lay delegates of 

 congregations. The number of synods is now 61, 

 most of which are merely territorial or linguistic 

 divisions. Of these, 15 occupy independent posi- 

 tions, the rest are united in 4 general bodies, as 

 follow : 



Of the general bodies, the Synodical Conference 

 is almost exclusively German, the General Synod 

 and United Synod are almost exclusively English, 

 and the General Council embraces English, Ger- 

 man, and Scandinavian pastors and congregations. 

 The Synodical Conference and the United Synod 

 of the South held conventions this year, reports of 

 which follow. For the reports of the last conven- 

 tions of the General Council and General Synod 

 see Annual Cyclopaedia for 1899. 



Synodical Conference. The Evangelical Lu- 

 theran Synodical Conference held its eighteenth 

 biennial convention at Bay City, Mich., Aug. 8-14, 

 1900. The election of officers resulted as follows: 

 President, the Rev. John Bading, Milwaukee, 

 Wis.; Vice-President, the Rev. P. Brandt, Pitts 

 burg, Pa.; Secretary, Prof. John Schaller, New 

 Ulm, Minn.; Treasurer, Mr. C. Christiansen, De- 

 troit, Mich. The Rev. Olaf E. Brandt, of Decorah, 

 Iowa, brought the greetings of the Norwegian 

 Synod. The following named synods were repre- 

 sented by clerical and lay delegates: Synod of 

 Missouri, Ohio, and other States, the General Syn- 

 od of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, and 

 the English Synod of Missouri and other States. 

 The Committee on the Revision of the English 

 Translation of Luther's Catechism presented its 

 report, which was discussed, and the committee 

 was continued, with instruction to present its final 

 report at the next convention. A large portion 

 of the business sessions was devoted to discussion 

 of missionary operations among the colored people 

 of the South. The financial report of the board 

 showed a total income for the two years of $38,- 

 300.53, and expenditures of $36,789.75. A memorial 

 from the Immamiel Conference of the negro mis- 

 sionaries in North Carolina was presented, praying 

 for the establishment of a Lutheran college for the 

 colored race in the South. The board was in- 

 structed to make a thorough investigation of the 

 matter during the next biennium and report at 

 the next convention. The doctrinal discussion at 

 this convention was on the subject of The Neces- 

 sity of the Christian Parochial School for tlie 

 Christian Family, the Church, and the State. A 

 cheap edition of the report of the discussion, in 

 German and English, is to be printed for gencrtl 

 distribution. The next biennial convention of this 

 body will be held in Milwaukee, Wis., in 1902. 



United Synod. The United Synod of the 

 Evangelical Lutheran Church in the South held 

 its seventh biennial convention in Augslmcir 

 Church, Winston-Salem, N. C., May 16-20, 1900. 

 The following named officers were elected: Presi- 

 dent, the Rev. James B. Greiner, Rural Rretreat, 

 Va.; Vice-President, the Rev. Robert A. Yodor, 

 D. D., Hickory, N. C. ; Secretary, the Rev. Me- 

 lanchthon G. G. Scherer, Newberry, S. C.; Treas- 

 urer, Charles H. Duls, Esq., Charlotte, N. C. The 

 next convention will be held in May, 1902, at 

 Charleston, S. C. The synods of North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Southwestern 

 Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Holston of Ten- 

 nessee were represented at this convention by 42 

 clerical and 34 lay delegates. The Rev. Stephen 

 A. Repass, D. D., of Allentown, Pa., attended the 



