152 COMMERCE, ETC., AMERICAN. 



CONGREGATIONALISTS. 



Railroads and Transportation. The cost of trans- 

 porting grain and provisions from the interior 

 to the seaboard is an important element in the 

 foreign commerce of the United States. With 

 the advantage of a level country, and under 

 the spur of competition for such an enormous 

 traffic, between the various trunk lines, among 

 themselves and with alternative water-routes, 

 the system of land-carriage in the United States 

 has been brought to a higher degree of com- 

 mercial economy and efficiency than that of 

 any other country. The great markets of 

 Europe are more accessible to the farmers of 

 the Western prairies than to those of many 



Earts of the Continent of Europe or of certain 

 arming districts in the British Islands. Be- 

 sides great reductions in the time and cost of 

 transportation, commerce has been promoted 

 by arrangements made by the railroad lines 

 with one another and with ocean-steamship 

 lines, by which merchandise can be transport- 

 ed over two or more connecting lines from the 

 point of shipment to the point of delivery, 

 without the necessity of any supervision on 

 the part of shipper or consignee. The reduc- 

 tion in the cost of inland transportation has 

 been the main cause of the increase in the 

 value of the exports of cereals from $84,586,- 

 273 in 1872, to $208,040,850 in 1883, and in 

 the value of the provision exports from $59,- 

 696,670 to $107,388,287. The extent of the 

 reduction can be seen in the following tabular 

 statement of the average freight charges per 

 bushel of wheat from Chicago to New York 

 by the lake, the Erie Canal, and the Hud- 

 son river ; by the lake to Buffalo and thence 

 by rail to New York city, and all the way by 

 rail, for the calendar years from 1868 to 1882 

 and for the, first ten months of 1883 : 



The increase in the rates of 1883 over those 

 of the foregoing year was due to the fact that 

 the grain movement was much larger. The 

 low rates in 1881 were exceptional, being due 

 to the war of rates going on in that year be- 

 tween the trunk lines. The secret "special" 

 rates at which merchandise was transported 

 were actually much lower than the quoted av- 

 erage of 14-6 cents. In 1882 agreed rates were 

 generally maintained. In 1883 the prospects 

 of a smaller crop than in 1882 and of lower 

 export prices caused variations from the sched- 

 ule rates to be made privately by the different 

 roads, until finally they worked somewhat 

 more harmoniously under a reduced tariff, 

 established by Commissioner Fink.* 



CONGREGATIONALISM. The following is a 

 summary of the statistics of the Congregational 

 churches in the United States as given in the 

 J' Congregational Year-Book " for 1883. It 

 includes the additional returns received after 

 the regular tables of the " Year-Book " were 

 made up : Number of churches, 1,024 ; of min- 

 isters, 3,723 ; number of members, 387,837; of 

 persons in Sunday-schools, 454,968 ; number of 

 additions during the year by profession of faith, 

 13,552 ; number of baptisms, 5,322 of infants, 

 6,005 of adults. Of the ministers, 919 are re- 

 turned as pastors and 1,607 as "acting pas- 

 tors " ; of the churches, 2,914 as supplied with 

 pastors, and 1,023 as " vacant." The benevo- 

 lent contributions reported by 2,994 churches 

 amounted to $1,383,685 ; the "home expen- 

 ditures" of 2,256 churches were $2,934,027. 

 The seven theological seminaries, at And over, 

 Mass., Bangor, Me., Chicago, 111., Hartford, 

 Conn., Oberlin, O., Oakland, Cal. (Pacific), 

 and New Haven, Conn. (Yale), returned in 

 all 39 professors, 24 instructors and lecturers, 

 and 272 students, with graduating classes of 25 

 members and 3 "resident licentiates." The 

 Territories of Idaho and Montana are repre- 

 sented in the statistical tables for the first time 

 this year Idaho with one church of ten mem- 

 bers, and Montana with four churches. 



American Congregational Union. The thirtieth 

 annual meeting, of the American Congrega- 

 tional Union was held in the city of New York, 

 May 10th. The receipts for the year had been 

 $100,518. Grants amounting to $66,658 had 

 been voted to 150 churches in 25 States and 

 Territories, and grants amounting to $177,263 



* The managers of the East and West trunk lines agreed 

 in 1877, after their mutual arrangements had in every instance 

 been disregarded, to submit to Mr. Albert Fink the task of 

 arranging a pool or combination, apportioning a percentage 

 of the total traffic to each road, and fixing the rate to be 

 charged by each. He has continued to discharge the office ot 

 arbitrator and intermediary with varying success. The first 

 agreement related to the .west-bound freight, but the pooling 

 arrangements have since been extended to almost all the 

 business of the roads. The roads are not restricted as to the 

 quantity of business they do, but the receipts beyond the al- 

 lotted proportion are paid into the pool and divided. When 

 the traffic is large, the railroads usually keep to their agree- 

 ments, and their complicated accounts are adjusted through 

 the office of Commissioner Fink ; but, when business falls 

 off, evasions are practiced surreptitiously, which are likely to 

 lead to a war of rates, as in 1881. when earnings estimated to 

 amount to $30,000,000 were sacrificed. 



