GERMAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH. 



GERMANY. 



291 



GERMAN EVANGELICAL CHURCH. The 



jerman Evangelical Synod of North America re- 

 turns for 1898 872 ministers, 1,130 churches, and 

 199,234 communicants. The figures show a de- 

 crease of 6 ministers and an increase of 4,618 com- 

 municants, while the number of congregations re- 

 main the same as in 1897. The General Conference 

 held its triennial session at Quincy, 111., Sept. 20 to 

 29. The Rev. Paul L. Mengel, D. D., of Richmond, 

 V;i., was appointed a delegate to represent the 

 Synod at the dedication of the Evangelical Church 

 iii Jerusalem, to take place Oct. 31. A question of 

 several years' standing respecting the legal position 

 of the teachers in the parochial schools was settled 

 by granting them a full representation in the Gen- 

 eral Conference ; the revision of the constitution of 

 the Synod was proceeded with ; a board of home 

 missions was instituted ; the publication of a hymn 

 book and of a Sunday-school paper, both in the 

 English language, was authorized. Measures were 

 taken looking to the celebration of the semi-centen- 

 nial anniversary, the theological institution of the 

 church, July 4, 1900, and in reference to further 

 provision for the educational institutions, to the 

 reduction of the indebtedness of the Church and 

 to the enlargement of its publishing house. 



GERMANY, an empire in central Europe com- 

 posed of the federated German states. The King 

 of Prussia is German Emperor, and as such has 

 supreme charge of military and political affairs, 

 and power to make war or conclude peace, except 

 that for an offensive war he must have the consent 

 of the federated states and princes. There are two 

 legislative bodies the Bundesrath, representing the 

 federated states, and" the Reichstag, representing 

 the German people. The acts on which they agree 

 become law on receiving the Emperor's assent and 

 being countersigned by the Chancellor of the Em- 

 pire. The Bundesrath has 58 members, appointed 

 by the governments of the federated states. The 

 Reichstag has 397 members, 1 to 124.500 of popula- 

 tion, elected for five years by universal manhood 

 suffrage and by secret 'ballot. " 



The German Emperor is Wilhelm II, born Jan. 

 27, 1859, who succeeded his father, Friedrich III, 

 King of Prussia and German Emperor, on June 15, 

 1888. The heir apparent, is the Emperor's eldest 

 son, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, born May 8, 1882. 



The Chancellor of the Empire is Prince Hohen- 

 lohe-Schillingsfurst, appointed Oct. 29, 1894. The 

 following were the secretaries of state in charge of 

 the various departments at the beginning of 1898: 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, B. von Biilow ; Secre- 

 tary of the Interior and Representative of the Chan- 

 cellor, Graf Posadowsky-Wehner ; Secretary of the 

 Imperial Marine, Rear-Admiral Tirpitz ; Ministry 

 of Justice, Dr. A. Nieberding; Imperial Treasury, 

 Freiherr von Thielmann ; Imperial Post Office, 

 Lieut.-Gen. von Podbielski; Imperial Railroads, 

 Dr. Schulz; Imperial Exchequer, Herr von Wolff: 

 Imperial Invalid Fund, Dr. Rosing; President of 

 the Imperial Bank, Dr. Koch ; Imperial Debt Com- 

 mission, Herr von Hoffmann. 



Area and Population. The area and popula- 

 tion of the states of the empire according to the 

 completed returns of the census of 1895, compared 

 with the population at the last preceding census 

 period, are given in the table at the head of the 

 next column. 



The total population in 1895 was divided into 

 25,661,250 males and 26,618,651 females. The num- 

 ber of marriages in 1895 was 414,218; of births, 

 1.941,644; of deaths, 1,215,854; excess of births, 

 725,790. The number of emigrants in 1896 was 



824, of whom 29,007 went to the United States, 

 1,001 to Brazil, 2,152 to other parts of America, 

 1,346 to Africa, 144 to Asia, and 174 to Australia. 



There sailed in 1896 from German ports 95,803 

 emigrants of other countries than Germany. Of 

 the German emigrants who embarked at German, 

 Dutch, and Belgian ports, 17,549 were males and 

 14,513 females. There were 3,907 families, num- 

 bering 12,770 persons. The emigration from Ger- 

 many to the United States since 1871 has been 

 2,404,782 ; the total emigration from 1820 to 1896, 

 about 5,230,000. The emigration to Brazil since 

 1871 has been 49,440. Of the emigrants of 1896, 

 not counting 1,710 who sailed from French ports, 

 19,459 were Prussians, 3,418 Bavarians, 2,121 from 

 Wilrtemberg, 1,080 from Baden, 1,303 from Saxony, 

 1,644 from Hamburg, 558 from Hesse, 645 from 

 Bremen, 345 from Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 340 from 

 Oldenburg, and 268 from Alsace-Lorraine. 



Finances. The customs, stamp, and excise 

 duties, and the profits of the imperial railroads, 

 the post office, and the telegraph service are the 

 chief resources from which are defrayed the com- 

 mon expenditures of the empii'e ; but, as these are 

 insufficient, the deficit is made up by matricular 

 contributions from the states assessed in proportion 

 to their population. The total revenue for the year 

 ending March 31, 1898, was estimated in the budget 

 at 1,295,468,300 marks, of which 653,131,500 marks 

 came from customs and excise duties, 61,873,000 

 marks from stamps, 41,253,100 jnarks from posts 

 and telegraphs, 1,546,300 marks from the imperial 

 printing office, 25,405,600 marks from railroads. 

 3,506,100 marks from the Imperial Bank, 17,378,500 

 marks from various departments, 28,683,000 marks 

 from interest of the Invalid fund, 411,100 marks 

 from various ordinary sources, 47,459,900 marks 

 from extraordinary sources, and 414,824,700 marks 

 from the federal contributions. The customs re- 

 ceipts amount to 372,480,000 marks ; tobacco duty, 

 11.293,000 marks; sugar duty, 81,000,000 marks; 

 salt duty, 45,669,000 marks; spirit duty, 115,783,000 

 marks ; duty on beer, 26,843,000 marks. Bavaria, 

 Wiirtemberg, Baden, and Alsace-Lorraine, which 

 have their own postal and telegraph services, col- 

 lect and expend the beer duty separately, furnishing 

 in compensation higher matricular contributions. 

 The stamp duties turned into the imperial treasury 

 are 1,366,000 marks from playing cards, 8,183,000 

 marks from letters of exchange, 51,521,000 marks 

 from securities, bills, lottery tickets, etc., and 803,000 

 marks from certificates. The gross receipts of the 



