JOTTINGS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 799, 23 April 1910, Page 9

JOTTINGS.

"Whilo'tbe material condition of tie. Christian churches is. not an entirely, accurate index of their'real' which is essentially moral and' incak culable, it is interesting, and; to a degree instructive, to note that, according to a census bureau bulletin recently, issued, the total value of church property in the. United States reported-in 1906 for all denominations was. £251,515,173,.0f which £187,188,510" was reported for Protestant bodies, £58,598,1 877 for the Roman Catholic 1 Church, and . £5,788,901 for all the remaining bodies. Methodist bodies are reported' as-holding property to the value, of £45,' 890,199 (thus .coming, nearest .the; Roman Catholics), Presbyterian bodies £30,035,000, Baptist bodies' £27,968,. 131, the Protestant Episcopal Church, £25,008,399, Lutheran bodies - £14,965,278, tha ,Congregationalists-.£12,650,000.. The Jews are credited with £4,639,885, •and the Unitarians with £2,852,655.

Gipsy Smith's sharply "criticised pa> ade with 10,000 followers through the Red Light District of Chicago last .October has had its beneficent results. The best elements in the civic life of Chicago have started a movement for saving the city from a. partnership with institutionalised vice which had existed" almost' unrebuked for: years. Threo weeks- ago 300 women, of the World's . Christian Temperance Union marched to. the City Hair with, a petition to the Mayor, demanding such enforcement of the laws as will make the Red Light District . impossible, and 500 ministers, have since called, upon the Mayor to appoint a committee of fifteen: citizens,. representative ■ of the religious,; commercial, and philanthropic institutions of the city, to etudy the problem', and suggest remedies. f The Mayor liaa not only agreed to. appoint the commission, but asked the ministers to nominate tho committee. ...

At, a meeting of the United Free Church Commission of the General Assembly a report was submitted on the general state of the funds in relation to the.awards of the Elgin Commission. The report showed losses affecting particular funds as amounting to £455,269.' In addition to these losses of capital there were losses of local funds and of properties. There were three, other main items i 1 —(1) Losses arising through' allocation of central properties to the Free Church, £24,430 3s. 3d.;..(2) expenditure not met from'other sources,. £8437 19s. 10d.; (3) expenses connected with the litigations, the Act,- tlieproeeodings before. the Royal and Executive Commissions, and legal.and financial arrangements following thereon,£10,198 17s.—a total.of £134,850.' The. estimated balance available to meet' these sums was £77,350 from Emer-. gency Fund and other sources. Report ing on behalf of the Centra! Fund Committee, the Rev. Alexander Lee said that the total sum at December 31 last' wiw. £190,969 2s. 3d., an increase:■.of £3570 7s. 6d.,- as compared with. 1908. The congregations of tho Church had' never responded morc> generously and. generally than during the last four months of the past yew.