THE KING’S BUSINESS WAR AND FOREIGN MISSIONS
302
Remarkable Increase Shown in Contributions for Foreign Work Despite'the Unsettled Conditions Occasioned by the European Conflict
T HE following cheery review o f the for eign missionary work o f the churches of North America during the past year is reprinted from The Spirit of Missions, the monthly missionary magazine o f the Protestant Episcopal Church; which is one o f the brightest and \most interesting monthlies that comes to our desk: “ It is now possible to determine the effect of the war in Europe upon the finan cial side o f our foreign missionary enter prise. The figures are in hand showing the income last year of 192 Foreign Mis sion organizations in the United States and Canada. Instead o f the depressing decrease in contributions which had been prophesied in some quarters, the astonishing fact is made clear that 1915 has seen an increase o f $1,625,379, which is 9.43 per cent over last year, and is larger than any increase during the last three years. “ This fact was announced at the recent meeting o f thp Conference o f Foreign Mis sion Boards in Garden City, Long Island. The statistics for this conference are pre pared annually by a committee of the Con ference, whose: chairman stated that the total offerings for religious, educational and medical missionary work carried on in all regions lying outside o f the United States and. Canada last year, through ,the organizations comprising -this ..Conference, amounted to $18,793,990. In addition, $594,- 260: was expended by certain home mission organizations for work in Mexico, Central America, Philippines, Cuba, Porto Rico, Alaska and Hawaii. Certain enterprises which might in a sense be considered for eign missionary work, such as. the work done among Orientals in the United States, are not included in the figures given. Two o f the leading boards, the. Baptist and our own, have wiped out large accumulated
debts, while others were equally success ful with smaller obligations or materially reduced them. Only a few boards increased their debts, and these not seriously. Such as have done so are in the South, where the price o f cotton is held responsible. O f the. 192 boards reporting to the Conference, 83 show an increase in income for the past year. Two boards, the Northern Presby terian and the American Board (Congre gational) acted as agents in forwarding more than $1,000,000 to Syrians, Armenians and other sufferers on account of the livar. Several boards also aided, from their.own treasuries, certain missions, chiefly German, whose work has been seriously disturbed. “ Other items for 1915 beside the totals o f missionary gifts are interesting. The gifts of. native contributors amount , to $4,541,982.26, showing an increase o f more than $300,000 during the year. The Boards reporting have in the foreign mission field slightly over 3,000 ordained men, and 887 unordained men,' together with 396 male and 183 female physicians. The number o f women working in the foreign field who are neither the wives o f missionaries nor physicians is 2,689. - The total American force abroad is 10,497. This is an increase o f more than 500 over the record o f last year. It -is worth noting, however, that there are fewer ordained missionaries by 150 than there'were a year-ago, while the unordained have increased by more than 600. The natiye workers in the for eign field are exactly 50,001, and the total stations maintained 19,516; 120,000 com municants have been added during the year. There are 1,161,000 in the Sunday- schools, while in 14,718 schools of all ranks, 26,000 teachers care for 532,000 scholars. There are 301 hospitals and 447 dispensa ries.”
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