METHODISTS. 



371 



ciety $6,991. The first year's operation of a school 

 of college grade had been satisfactory as to number 

 of students and standard of scholarship. Twenty- 

 nine students had the ministry in view. 



VII. Free Methodist Church,. The Execu- 

 tive Board of this Church, at its annual meeting, 

 acted upon the memorial of a member who con- 

 sidered himself aggrieved by the operation of the 

 rule of the Church against membership in secret 

 societies, including labor unions. A preamble and 

 resolutions were adopted, in which the position 

 against secret societies, as expressed in the Dis- 

 cipline and affirmed by the committee in 1899, 

 was reaffirmed, with the declaration : " We are 

 unequivocally opposed to all secret societies, and 

 can not make any change in our rules on this 

 subject, nor can we relax in the least our deter- 

 mination to enforce this rule vigorously without 

 exception or favor. We can not, however, allow 

 this position to be misinterpreted and miscon- 

 strued as opposition to organized labor as such. 

 We are not opposed to such proper organizations 

 as seek to promote the interests of laboring 

 men. It would be unreasonable and inconsistent 

 for us to do so, as fully three quarters of our 

 membership are found among the laboring classes. 

 To oppose organized labor that seeks the better- 

 ment of the laboring classes would be to oppose 

 our own interests. It has been represented to us 

 that there is a possibility of our mitigating the 

 unfortunate condition of many of our members 

 who hold their loyalty to our Church to be above 



VIII. Methodist Church in Canada. The 

 following is a general summary of the statistics 

 of this Church for 1900: Number of annual con- 

 ferences, 11; of ordained ministers, 1,790; of pro- 

 bationers for the ministry, 242 making in all 

 2,032 ministers; of local preachers, 2,290; of ex- 

 horters, 1,174; of class leaders, 7,133; of members, 

 284,901; of Sunday schools, 3,405, with 33,023 

 officers and teachers and 267,654 scholars; of Ep- 

 worth Leagues, 1,850, with 74,920 members; of 

 churches and places of worship, 4,334; of parson- 

 ages, 1,133; of colleges and educational institu- 

 tions, 19; value of church property, $15,397,634. 



The 1,850 young people's societies of various 

 names include 760 Epworth Leagues, 717 Ep- 

 worth Leagues of Christian Endeavor, 70 other 

 societies, and 303 Junior Epworth Leagues, with 

 48,299 active and 26,621 associate members. These 

 societies contributed in 1899 $24,004 for league 

 purposes, $19,902 for missions, $478 for the Super- 

 annuation fund, $119 for the educational fund, 

 and $62,043 for other purposes. 



The Woman's Missionary Society received from 

 all sources $42,562. Reports were made at the 

 nineteenth annual meeting of the Board of Man- 

 agers, Oct. 23, from stations and schools in Japan, 

 China, among the Chinese in British Columbia, 

 among the Indians, and among the French. 



IX. Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great 

 Britain). This Church includes, acording to the 

 information furnished by the Conference book 

 steward for 1900: 



all temporal considerations by conferring with the 

 representatives of organized labor." A committee 

 was therefore appointed to confer with the chief 

 officers of the labor organizations and set before 

 them the true attitude of the Free Methodist 

 Church in reference to secret societies, and to 

 secure, if possible, an arrangement by which its 

 members may continue in their various employ- 

 ments, and may be employed by the various cor- 

 porations, contractors, and operators, without 

 pledging themselves to secrecy and thereby violat- 

 ing their church vows. A digest of Free Methodist 

 law was submitted in manuscript, and ordered 

 published upon approval by the superintendents. 



The report of the treasurer of the Missionary 

 Board showed that the total contributions for 

 foreign missions, including certain special gifts, 

 had been $27,929, averaging more than $1 per 

 member for the whole Church, including proba- 

 tioners, and being the largest amount for one 

 year during the history of the board. The mis- 

 sionary work in South Africa had been inter- 

 fered with to a considerable extent by the Trans- 

 vaal war, but no injuries to the property were 

 known of. The appointment of a general super- 

 intendent of the work in South Africa, the affairs 

 of the mission in Japan, and the sending of mis- 

 sionaries to Cuba or Porto Rico were considered 

 by the Missionary Board at its meeting in October. 



The treasurer of the Board of Education re- 

 ported a little more than $1,200 on hand. The 

 board decided to begin disbursing its fund by loans 

 to accredited applicants in moderate sums, accord- 

 ing to the provisions of the Discipline, at its regu- 

 'ir meeting in October, 1901. 



The total income of the Education Committee, 

 as shown in its sixtieth annual report (March, 

 1900), was 272,923, and the total expenditure was 

 283,275. The sum of 28,936 had been received 

 as " scholars' pence." The collections and sub- 

 scriptions mentioned, amounting to 5,965, showed 

 an increase of 88 over the previous year. The 

 743 day-school departments returned 159,716 pu- 

 pils, with an average attendance of 128,992. The 

 special Government aid grant allotted to the 6 

 Wesleyan school associations, amounting to 36,- 

 146, had been distributed by the governing bodies 

 according to the necessities of the several schools. 

 Full particulars were given in the report of the 

 principal day-school extensions and enlargements, 

 all going to indicate a revival of the interest taken 

 by the connection in elementary education. 



The report of the Home Missionary Society to 

 the Conference showed that its total income had 

 been 42,000. Grants had been voted of 9,809 

 to dependent circuits, 4,251 toward the support 

 of home missionary ministers, and 3,300 to dis- 

 trict home mission committees. The Committee 

 on Work in the Army and Navy reported that 193 

 ministers were wholly or in part engaged in this 

 field, and that there were 31,275 declared Wes- 

 leyans in the services. The Chapel Committee re- 

 ported upon the building of 95 chapels, at a cost 

 of 288,339; of 22 ministers' houses, at an esti- 

 mated expenditure of 20,594; and of 10 school- 

 rooms. The new chapels, with enlargements, 

 would give a total additional accommodation of 

 21,488 sittings. The estimated outlay for 387 con- 

 templated cases was 441,017. The present num- 

 ber of Wesley Guilds was 1,130, with 75,154 mem- 



