090 UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH. 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



UNITED BRETHREN CHURCH. The 



Church of the United Brethren in Christ returned 

 243,841 members for 1900, against 202,474 in 1899. 



The year's receipts of the Beneficiary Education 

 fund were $1,884 from the annual conference as- 

 sessments and $2,514 from beneficiaries. At the 

 annual meeting of the Board of Education, May 8, 

 all the presidents of the colleges and the president 

 of the seminary of the Church were made a com- 

 mittee to prepare a paper to be presented to the 

 next General Conference, setting forth the needs 

 and demands of the educational work, including 

 the election of a general educational secretary. 



Union Biblical Seminary reported 53 students 

 enrolled, with 35 members of the Mission Study 

 Class and 9 members of the Volunteer Student 

 Band. The indebtedness of the institution had 

 been reduced $7,079 during the year, and $16,825 

 since the last General Conference, leaving the pres- 

 ent amount $37,602, upon three fourths of which 

 the rate of interest had been lowered. 



The Historical Society took steps at its annual 

 meeting to have a manuscript prepared to be de- 

 posited in its collections, containing an account of 

 the events of interest that had occurred in the 

 Church during the past twenty-five years. 



The treasurer of the Church Extension Society 

 reported, April 18, that the receipts for the year 

 had exceeded $23,000, and the expenditure had 

 been about $15,000, leaving a balance of more than 

 $8,000 in the treasury. Since the society was or- 

 ganized more than $13,000 had been collected on 

 outstanding debts from 68 churches, 23 mortgages 

 had been released, and loans amounting to $125,000 

 had been made to 110 churches. The amount of 

 new loans for the current year was $12,350, and 

 more than $8,000 in new funds had been collected. 

 The Weaver Memorial fund had reached $4,500, 

 and loans had been made from it to 9 churches. 



The receipts of the publishing house for the 

 year ending April 2 from current business were 

 $204,561; its profits were $20,012; its net assets 

 on April 1 were $308,876, showing a gain during 

 the year of $6,035; and its indebtedness, which 

 was more than $72,000 in December, 1897, had 

 been reduced to $13,082. All the periodicals 

 showed increase in circulation. 



The Board of Missions met at Lebanon, Pa., 

 April 19, Bishop Kephart presiding. The treasurer 

 reported that the total receipts from all sources 

 had been $82,992, of which about $39,000 were 

 classed as " new funds." Adding a balance of 

 $10,039, which was on hand at the beginning of 

 the year, the total resources of the society had been 

 $93,031. "Commendable progress" was reported 

 in most of the home missions. The work in Ger- 

 many consisted of 11 missions, 18 organized 

 churches, 12 missionaries, 988 members, and church 

 property valued at about $42,000. The mission in 

 Japan, begun in 1895, had 16 meeting places, 118 

 members, and 8 Sunday schools with 13 teachers 

 and 183 pupils. Thirty-four members had been 

 added during the year. The stations in Africa, 

 which had been nearly destroyed during the out- 

 breaks of the natives, were undergoing reorganiza- 

 tion. They returned 12 native workers, services 

 held in 75 towns with an attendance of 45,000 

 persons, 3 Sunday schools with 204 pupils, and 7 

 day schools with 320 pupils. The present value 

 of church and meeting-nouse property \v;is $9,850. 

 The total annual expenditure of the mission was 

 $4,597. A new mission was starting in Porto Rico. 

 The interests of the Twentieth Century fund, the 

 jiui.iunt to be raised for which was fixed' at $50,000, 

 WIT.- considered at the meetinir. The Woman's 

 Missionary Board had received $30,665 during 

 the year. 



United Brethren Church Old Constitu- 

 tion. This body consists of those churches and 

 members which refused to acquiesce in certain 

 amendments to the constitution and doctrinal 

 statement of the Church adopted by the General 

 Conference of 1889 (see Annual Cyclopaedia for 



1889, page 800), claiming that the action of the 

 Conference was illegal and subversive of important 

 testimonies. It returns 26,643 members for 1900, 

 against 22,807 in 1899. 



UNITED EVANGELICAL CHURCH. This 

 Church returns for the year ending June 1, 1!)00, 

 478 itinerant preachers; 202 local preachers; 

 60,993 members, showing an increase of 1,250 over 

 the previous year; 5,441 members received by 

 confession of faith (included in the number al- 

 ready given) ; 1,217 adults and 2,618 infants bap- 

 tized during the year; 785 Sunday schools, with 

 11,170 officers and teachers and 76,718 pupils; 420 

 senior societies of the Keystone League of Chris- 

 tian Endeavor and 29 affiliated societies, with 

 12,552 active and 2,436 associate members; 120 

 junior societies, with 2,834 active and 1,397 asso- 

 ciate members; 64 auxiliary societies, with 3,643 

 members; 763 church buildings, valued at $1,880,- 

 140; and 101 parsonages, valued at $223,907. The 

 amounts of collections for the year were: For 

 missions, $60,336; for conference claimants, $3,870; 

 for conference expenses, $366; for the Sunday 

 School and Tract Union, $357; for education, 

 $4,443; for church extension, $3,106; for salaries 

 of bishops, $2,842; for the Charitable Society, $505; 

 and for building and repairing churches and par- 

 sonages, $155,722. 



The receipts for the Board of Missions were 

 reported at its annual meeting, held in Harrisburg, 

 Pa., in October, to have been $27,636, of which 

 $18,865 were on the account of the general treas- 

 ury, $5,724 of the Woman's Missionary Society, 

 and $3,047 of the Foreign fund. The expenditures 

 had been $17,217. In addition to these sums the 

 receipts of the annual conferences for missions had 

 been $35,181, and their expenditures $43,906, mak- 

 ing the totals for the denomination $62,817 of re- 

 ceipts and $61,123 of expenditures. Appropria- 

 tions were made for the coming year of $57,538. 

 All the arrangements had been made for the estab- 

 lishment of a mission in China, and the designated 

 superintendent of the work, the Rev. C. N. Dubs, 

 was ready to go when the plans were interrupted 

 by the breaking out of the " Boxer " disturbances. 

 The board, deeming it desirable for the superin- 

 tendent to be on the field ready to avail himself 

 of any opportunities that might offer for entering 

 it, directed Mr. Dubs to proceed with his family 

 to China as soon as possible. (He sailed for China 

 a few weeks afterward.) A twentieth century 

 offering for foreign missions was determined upon, 

 to which each person in the Church was invited 

 to contribute 20 cents. 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, a federal 

 republic in North America. The legislative power 

 is vested in the Congress, consisting of the Seirite 

 and the House of Representatives. There are !> 

 Senators, 2 from each State, elected by the State 

 Legislatures for six years, one third being renewed 

 every two years. The House of Representatives 

 has 357 members on the basis of the census of 



1890, elected by the ballots of all the qualified 

 voters of the several States, which are subdivided 

 into congressional districts containing each ap- 

 proximately 173.000 inhabitants. The executive 

 power is vested in the President, who is com- 

 mander in chief of the military and naval forces, 

 has a power of veto over acts of Congress, which 

 can he overcome by a vote of two thirds of each 

 house, and is empowered to make treaties, subject 



