LUTHERANS. 



as the literary standing of the leading men in 

 the Church. , 



Following is a summary of statistics as pub- 

 li-hetl in the Lutheran Church Almanac, em- 

 bracing the latest data collected with great care 

 bv the editor <>f this publication: 



"The Lutheran Church in this country is organ- 

 ised into 150 district synods, and these again into 

 4 "eneral bodies, embracing 40 district synods, 

 the rest bring independent synods. The number 

 of clergymen is 6,657: congregations, 11,101; and 

 of communicant members, 1,570,134, an increase 

 over la-t year of 225 clergymen, 588 congrega- 

 tions, and' 34.5S2 communicant members. Ine 

 parochial or Church schools number 3,085, with 

 3.85(1 teachers and 2U5.980 pupils, while the Sun- 

 da v schools number 6,290. with 58.508 officers and 

 teachers and 550.038 scholars. The purely benevo- 

 lent contributions for the year aggregate the sum 

 of $1.1 20.520.23. The educational institutions 

 number" 115. of which 23 are theological semi- 

 naries. 47 colleges. 35 academies, and 10 colleges 

 for women, with an aggregate value of property 

 amounting to the sum of $4,883,84(5, endowment 

 amounting to $1.507.812. having 209,570 volumes 

 in their libraries, employing 657 professors and 

 instructors, and having 13,235 students, of whom 

 2.5<J2 have the ministry in view. There are 99 

 benevolent institutions 'under Church control, of 

 which 43 are orphanages, 19 homes for the aged 

 and afflicted. 18 hospitals, 11 immigrant and sea- 

 men's missions, and 8 deaconess institutions. The 

 aggregate value of property of these institutions 

 is $3.59(5.302. and the endowment $173,195, and 

 the number of inmates is 26,161. This makes a 

 total of 214 institutions directly or indirectly con- 

 trolled by Church influences, the value of whose 

 property 'amounts to $8,480,148, with endowment 

 amounting to $1,681,007, or a total of $10,161,155. 

 Most of this money has been contributed in small 

 amounts. Only one of these institutions has been 

 fully established by the gift of an individual. 

 None of the rest are sufficiently endowed, and 

 hence must depend for their support upon the 

 annual contributions made by the congregations. 

 The amounts already stated, however, do not 

 include the annual expenses necessary to carry 

 on the diversified activities of the various insti- 

 tutions, and hence the record is not complete. 

 The expenses necessary to carry on the opera- 

 tions of the 214 institutions w r ould add mate- 

 rially to the $10,000,000 set down as money used 

 in connection with the work of the Church. As 

 a proof of this statement we need refer only to 

 one synod the Augustana for whose institu- 

 tions the sum of $208,248.98 was expended in 

 1899. The periodicals published number 165, of 

 which 71 are English, 51 German, 17 Norwegian, 

 Swedish, 8 Danish, 3 Icelandic, 2 Finnish, 2 

 Slavonian, and 1 each French, Lettish, and Es- 

 thonian. 



General Synod. The thirty-ninth biennial 

 convention of this body was held in York, Pa., 

 May 24 to June 1, 1899. Twenty-four district 

 were represented by 120 clerical and 119 

 lay delegates. The convention was opened with 

 ivine service, at which the retiring president, 

 the Rev. M. W. Hamma, D. D., of Washington, 

 .. delivered the sermon. The Hon. Frank 

 eine. mayor of York, extended a welcome to 

 the synod in behalf of the citizens, the Rev. George 

 Enders, D. D.. in behalf of the Lutherans of 

 the city, and the Rev. Clinton E. Walter in behalf 

 the members of St. Paul's congregation To 

 addresses of welcome the president re- 

 Bonded. At the first session the following offi- 

 were elected: The Rev. Prof. Samuel F 



Breckenridge, D. D., Springfield, Ohio, President; 

 the Rev. William E. Fischer, D. D., Shamokin, Pa., 

 Secretary; and Louis Mauss, Cincinnati, Ohio, 

 Treasurer. 



The Board of Trustees of the National Lutheran 

 Home for the Aged, Washington, D. C., reported 

 that the institution has been in operation since 

 1895, that its property is valued at $50,000, and 

 that it has 25 inmates. The Hymn Book Pub- 

 lishing Committee reported the completion and 

 publication of a book of worship with hymns 

 in English, and tunes, as well as progress in the 

 publication of a similar work in German. The 

 Board of Trustees of the Tressler Orphans' Home, 

 Loysville, Pa., reported that the institution is in 

 a flourishing condition, having 150 children under 

 its care. The body expressed its hearty approval 

 of the Lutheran conference held in Philadelphia, 

 Pa., in December, 1898, and reappointed the Rev. 

 Stephen W. Owen, D. D., as its representative in 

 arranging for a similar convention in co-opera- 

 tion with other Lutheran bodies. The Commit- 

 tee on Common Service reported that its work in 

 so far as Luther's catechism was concerned was 

 completed, and presented the work in connection 

 with the report. It also presented forms for 17 

 ministerial acts. The Committee on Literary and 

 Theological Institutions presented encouraging 

 reports with reference to Hartwick Seminary, 

 at Hartwick, N. Y.; the Theological Seminary 

 and Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, Pa.; 

 Wittenberg College and Theological Seminary, at 

 Springfield, Ohio; Carthage College, at Carthage, 

 111.; Susquehanna University, classical and theo- 

 logical departments, at Selinsgrove, Pa. ; and Mid- 

 land College and Western Theological Seminary, 

 at Atchison, Kan. The statistical secretary pre- 

 sented the following report : " We have in our 

 24 district synods 1,545 churches, 37 more than 

 reported two years ago; preaching stations, 188, 

 a decrease of 18; 1,786 prayer meetings are held, 

 a gain of 117; 281 students for the ministry, 31 

 less than in the previous two years; 37,808 cate- 

 chumens, a gain of 4,036. The losses were: By 

 death, 5,947; by certificate, 6,829; other losses, 

 12,794: while the accessions were: by infant bap- 

 tism, 22,338; adult baptism, 5,995; confirmation, 

 18,742; certificate, 10,064; restoration, 3,273. The 

 present reported communicant membership is 

 192,299, an increase of only 7,571 over the pre- 

 vious biennium. These figures show that many 

 pastors do not report all their accessions, since 

 a comparison of the reported losses and acces- 

 sions shows a net gain of 12,504. Our churches 

 own property whose estimated value is $12,129,- 

 943.21, and congregations paid for local expenses 

 $2,713,390.93, .or $324,916.65 more than during the 

 preceding two years. Our Sunday schools num- 

 ber 1,544, a decrease of 18. These schools have 

 23,625 officers and teachers and 186,695 pupils, 

 an increase of 1,341." The benevolent contribu- 

 tions amounted to $477,135. 



Foreign Missions. The General Synod has mis- 

 sions in India and Africa. Following is the re- 

 port of the work in India : The Board of Foreign 

 Missions employs 170 workers, who labor in 514 

 villages containing native Christians, in 421 or- 

 ganized congregations, whose baptized member- 

 ship in 1898 was 17,811, of whom 6,366 were 

 communicants. The Sunday schools number 208, 

 with 10,538 pupils. They maintain 173 elemen- 

 tary schools, with 203 teachers and 4,475 pupils; 

 1 boarding school, with 130 pupils; and 1 col- 

 lege, at Guntur, East India, of which the Rev. 

 Luther B. Wolf is president, employing 40 teach- 

 ers and having 863 students. The zenana de- 

 partment contains 58 workers, 15 schools,, and 913 



