Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1895 — MEET IN PITTSBURG. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MEET IN PITTSBURG.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. Reports Presented Covering the Work of the Year—Matrimonial Swindler in the Toils—Silver Conference Adjourns—Damage by Frost. Churchmen in Session. The 107th general assembly of the Presbyterian Church was held in the Third Church in Pittsburg. There were nearly 600 commissioners present when the opening hour arrived. The preliminary services were begun by prayer by Dr. Robert N. Adams, of Minneapolis. This was followed by scripture reading by Dr. Wm. N. Page, of Leavenworth, Kan. After music Dr. George Norcross, of Carlisle, Pa., read a passage from* the scriptures,' followed by prayer by Dr. IV. H. Roberts, the stated clerk. Rev. Dr. Robert Russell Booth was elected moderator. Reports of the various boards of the church were presented to the assembly. The report of the board of freedmen’s missions showed receipts from churches, Sabbath schools, societies and individuals

exceeding those of the year before by $5,270.27. The debt this year is $22,351.56, which is $4,000 less than last year. The number of schools was decreased during the year and the salaries of teachers were reduced on an average about 10 per cent. The total contributions exclusive of $14,658.87 for insurance, was $173,050.16, and expenditures, $162,704.10. The board of publication and Sabbath school work reported contributions nearly $4,000 in excess of last year. The board was enabled to keep in the field eighty-three permanent missionaries and to appoint twelve auxiliaries who labored during the last summer. Through the agency of its missionaries it organized 1,504 schools and reorganized 254, and by the stimulus and aid of its grants it effected the organization of 58 additional schools. Into these schools 5,455 teachers and 44,004 scholars are reported to have been gathered. It is also reported from the schools established during the last fiscal year 50 churches have already grown. It distributed gratuitously more than 17,357,000 pages of tracts and periodicals and 35,958 volumes of Christian literature (exclusive of Bibles). It closed the year with a balance of $25,961.92. The report of the board of relief for disabled ministers and the widows and orphans of deceased ministers shows a deficit of $6,526.81 for the year. The board of home missions received last year $934,259.75, exceeding last year by $33,193.13. The board of foreign missions reported that 43 new missionaries have received commissions from the board and gone out to the several fields assigned them. The gifts from churches for the year have decreased $8,626.50; from woman’s boards, $14,064.27. and from miscellaneous, sl,302.66. The total expenditures for the ■year were $790,844.76, as against $995,921.70 for the preceding year, being $19,036.94 less than the expenditures for the year ending April 30, 1594. The board of education reports a larger number of recommendations received than during any previous year in its history. The total number of candidates recommended was 1,075, of whom 43 were declined. The church erection board reported that during the year there have been reported to the board as completed through its aid, without debt, 182 churches and manses, the total value of which is .nearly $560,000. The permanent committee on temperance reported that during the year about 1,000,000 pages bearing on the subject of temperance have been distributed, and applications are on file for 400,000 additional pages. The report discussed the temperance question at length.

REV. M'EWAN, D. D. REV. BOOTH, D. D. REV. RIDDLE, D. D.