REFORMED CHURCH. 



666 



some years that the expansion of cheese making in 

 Canada should be moderated so as not to reach the 

 danger point of overproduction. Accordingly, 

 more attention has been devoted to butter-making, 

 in which the margin for increase is considerably 

 greater, and to this diversion of effort, coupled with 

 the fact already mentioned, the record of the pres- 

 ent season may be traced. It is not assumed from 

 this that Great Britain has reached her purchasing 

 limit for Canadian cheese, but rather that, as there 

 is greater room for expansion in butter, it would 

 be foolish to neglect the opportunity offered. 

 From the middlemen or exporters' standpoint, also, 

 the results of the season have been less satisfactory 



than in 1897. The autumn output of cheese via 

 Montreal (much of it from other provinces) was in 

 1898 as follows: Quantity, 1,900,000 boxes: 

 price per box, $6.35 ; spot price per box, $6.60 ; 

 OOSt value, $12,065,000; spot value, $12,540,000. 



Prohibition. This was a living issue in Quebec 

 politics in 1898, owing to the Dominion plebiscite 

 on the subject. Sir Henri Joly, a member of the 

 Liberal Government at Ottawa from Quebec, op- 

 posed it, and Mr. S. A. Fisher, another member, 

 supported it. But the province voted overwhelm- 

 ingly against any such policy, the vote being 98,447 

 against 19.565 in favor. This practically balanced 

 the favorable majorities in other provinces. 



REFORMED CHURCH. I. Reformed Church 



in America. The Committee on the State of Reli- 

 gion reported to the General Synod of the statistics 

 of this Church as follows : Number of churches, 633 ; 

 of ministers, 683; received on confession, 5,039; of 

 members, 110,273, showing a gain of 2,213 over the 

 previous year ; of members of Sunday schools, 123,- 

 667, an increase of 3,000 ; amount of contributions 

 for denominational objects, $227,860, or $22,971 

 more than in 1896 ; of contributions for other ob- 

 jects, $103,857, an increase of $2,952 ; of congrega- 

 tional expenditures, $1,005,870, or $32,445 less than 

 in the previous year. 



The number of Sunday schools was represented 

 to be eight more than in the previous year. The 

 total enrollment of members in them was 123,667. 

 The number of catechumens was 37, 441. The Sunday 

 schools had contributed $20,309 for foreign and 

 domestic missions and education, indicating a gain 

 of $2,742 over the contributions of the previous 

 year. The Christian Endeavor Societies had con- 

 tributed to the same causes $9,937, a gain of $1,774. 



The income of the Widows' fund, including the 

 balance from the preceding year, had been $10,796, 

 and the expenditures $8,809. Legacies amounting 

 to $15,169 had been added to the permanent fund. 

 An increase was shown from every source of rev- 

 enue except church offerings. 



The report of the Permanent Commission on Sys- 

 tematic Beneficence showed that there had been a 

 decided advance in systematic giving, resulting in 

 an increase of $16,500 in the offerings for foreign 

 missions, and of $10,000 in those for domestic mis- 

 sions. The committee was requested by the General 

 Synod to correspond with delinquent churches with 

 a view of engaging their co-operation in this work. 



The number of Christian Endeavor Societies was 

 given as 560, 156 of which were junior societies, 

 with, in all, 30,000 members. The Missionary 

 League had a membership of 20,000. These soci- 

 eties together had in the past year contributed 

 $8.100 to the domestic and foreign missions and to 

 the women's boards. 



The Board of Education had 102 students under 

 its care. More churches than ever before had con- 

 tributed to its support. The Synod decided to ask 

 for $15,000 from the classes for its work during the 

 coming year. The three theological seminaries re- 

 turned 78 students, 13 of whom were in India. 

 Twenty-three students had been graduated. 



The permanent fund of the Disabled Ministers' 

 fund had been increased to $63,293. The income 

 of the fund had been $6,243. The expenditures had 

 exceeded the receipts by $812. A special commit- 

 tee was appointed with reference to the increase of 

 the resources of the fund, and was authorized, with 

 the approval of the Board of Direction, to employ an 



agent to solicit individual gifts and secure bequests 

 for the fund. 



The Board of Domestic Missions had received from 

 all sources $84,699. or $12,482 more than during 

 the preceding year. One fourth of the receipts 

 had been from legacies and invested funds, while 

 $20,125, or nearly one third of the remaining $63,484 

 contributed by the living membership of the Church, 

 was received from the Women's Executive Commit- 

 tee. One fifth of the accessions by confession to the 

 communion of the Church had been from the 222 

 churches aided by the board, and more than one 

 seventh of the Sunday-school enrollment was in the 

 same churches. The Synod decided that the sum of 

 $120,000 was the least amount that could adequate- 

 ly meet the needs of the board during the current 

 fiscal year, and directed the apportionment of that 

 amount among the several churches. 



The contributions of the year for the Board of 

 Foreign Missions had been $124,301, an increase 

 over the preceding year, but insufficient to meet 

 the expenses in full, so that more debt was incurred. 

 The missions in Arcot, India, North and South 

 Japan, and Arabia had been re-enforced. The Synod 

 of Amoy, China, representing the missions in China 

 of this Church and of the Presbyterian Church in 

 England, has a Widows and Orphans' fund estab- 

 lished on a secure basis. 



The receipts of the Woman's Board of Foreign 

 Missions exceeded $36,000, and were larger than 

 those of any previous year. Missions in India. 

 China, Japan, and Arabia were represented at the 

 annual meeting of the board, May 10. 



The General Synod met at Asbury Park, N. J., 

 June 1. The Rev. Edward B. Coe, D. D., LL. D., 

 was chosen president, and the Rev. S. M. Zwemer. 

 missionary to Arabia, vice-president. The report of 

 the Committee on the Amsterdam Correspondence 

 (see the "Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1897 and 1896) 

 represented that the historiographer of the Synod, 

 the Rev. Dr. E. T. Corwin, was successfully gather- 

 ing exceedingly valuable historical material in the 

 archives of the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, 

 his researches continually revealing items of incal- 

 culable value and interest. He hoped to complete 

 the work of gathering and tninserilting the most 

 important records by November, 1898. The funds 

 as yet collected did not permit a further extension 

 of the work. The resolutions of the Synod, acknowl- 

 edging the courtesies shown by the classis of Am- 

 sterdam and other judicatories of the National 

 Reformed Church of the Netherlands, called the 

 attention of the churches, and especially of the 

 older ones, "that formed the nuclei of the denomi- 

 nation in its present greatness." to the effort to 

 secure this historical information, and requested 

 them to make liberal donations toward it. A prop- 



