Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-05-14
Communicated to the Chronic
Sixth Annual Statement

Sixth Annual Statement
OF the Operations and Receipts Of tie Ameri-
can BibLe Society i1t E1sfera Ohio, Jo5' the
Year ending March 81, 1862.
In closing the labors of another year, it
| is due to the numerous friends and pat
ions of the Bible cause in Eastern Ohio,
that brief statement should be present
ed of the operations and results of the
year.
The policy pursued has been the same
as delineated in my previous annual state
ment. The cause has been mainly con-
Quoted as heretofore, through the medi-
um of County and Branch or Township
Bible Societies, of which we now haTe
about four hundred in the twenty-five
Counties of Eastern Ohio. The excellence
and efficiency of this system as developed
in the growing results from year 10 year,
continue to commend it to the hearty CO.
operation of the friends of the Bible
Nothing, we believe, but the intrinsic ex-
/ cellence of the system itself, could have
prevented fearful dimihution in the re-
ceiPts of the Society from this field the
past year. There has, however. been but
slight falling off from those of the pre-
ceding year,
The obstacles to the progress Of the work
! as all must know, have been great and
! formidable; still, our Societies have kept
at work, doing what they could, and none
of them, We are happy to know, have fall
en- into stagnaney or decay. The motive
power in all these Societies is the admira-
bic machinery of local or school district
(unpaid) agencies. Connected with each
of the numerous Township Societies, are
usually from five to ten of these voluntary
agents, who explore their respective dis
triets annually, supplying the destitute
with the word of God, and collecting funds
for the cause. Some of these local agents
have been assisted during the year by the
travelling agent, who has rendered mate
rial assistance to the work; while others
have explored the fields assigned them,
voluntarily and alone They constitute
noble army Of fellow-laborers, and to them
the cause is greatly indebted for its SUE
cess.
1t will be borne in mind that the work
of the Bible Society from year to year has
two-fold nature. 1t has for its object
not merely the raising of funds, and by
this means the distribution of the Scrip
lures abroad, but their free and wide dis
semination among the destitute masses of
our home population. 1t would be but a
limited view of the workings of the present
system of branch societies. to measure
their fruit merely by the dollars they have
brought into the Society. Besides this,
they are accomplishing in themselves an
important missionary service from year to
year. They are each furnished with suit
able and well assorted depository of Bibles
and Testaments, from which purchasers
are supplied at the society's cost prices,
and the needy without money and with
out price" Connected with these Socie-
ties are also about 5000 voluntary or un-
paid agents, who usually explore their
fields. annually, supplying the destitute,
and soliciting funds for the cause. Through
this system and its kindred instrumental
ities, upwards of II, 600 families have been
found destitute and supplied in this State
the past year, and cases which commend
themselves to the charity of the Society,
are constantly occurring.
There is another department of the So
ciety's labors the past year which deserves
notice. | refer TO the supply of our sol
diery. 1t has been the aim of the Society
to place in the hands of every soldier, not
already supplied, neat pocket edition of
NUc 1tSldHltHl- anu
and the regiments raised on nv field have
been pretty generally supplied in this way,
and viewing the country at large, a work |
Of great magnitude has been accomplish |
ed in this direction-upwards of 6UO, 900 |
of our soldiery and marines having been |
supplied by the Society. Who can meas |
ure the influence which these messages of
Gods love may be silently yet efiectually !
working out in the hearts of our noble and /
selfsaerifcing soldiery? A work so disin- |
terested, can but commend itself to every |
christian and philanthropic heart, and We
rejoice to know that we are not left with /
out witness to the power of that Word in I
the dying soldier, and enkin- /
ding hopes that reach to a higher and |
better life. Many encouraging and deep 1
lv affecting instances of the fruit of this !
work have already been brought before /
the public.
The work of the Society the past year =
exceeds in magnitude that of any preced-
ing year of its operations. The issues of
the year were one million and ninety-four
thousand volumes-being an excess of
three hundred and seventy thousand over
the issues of the preceding year. This has
been an average of $500 volumes q day,
or six volumes for every minute of work.
ing time. The issues in this State this
wear have been about 10000 volumes, of
which nearly 10000 have been distributed
gratuitously to destitute families and our
soldiery The net receipts
from this State the past year have been
S28, 900, being more than the receipts from
any other State in the Union, except New
YOrk-and exceeding by more than one
third those of our sister State Pennsylva-
MIA. This amount too, it will be under
stood, is the actual cash receipts at the
including the expense of the
County agencies, and all others inciden-
al to carrying on the work of the Society
IN the State, and the supply of the desti-
-ute. Of this amount, about $4,000 have
Deen RENTED from the Eastern Counties
1f the State, being more than one-third of /
.he entire receipts The receipts OF the
Parent Society for the fiscal year are three
hundred and seventy-eight thousand, be-
ne falling off eleven thousand four hun Z
lred and fiftv dollars from those OF the I
II ,leceding year. Notwithstanding this
act however. and the increasing demand e
which has been pressing on the Board for
arrer domestic distributions than ever, +
hey have not been unmindful of the Ma
edonian cry" which has come up from
he whitening fields of missionary labor. s
Yearly $4,000 have been appropriated in n
money, and books for Pagan aid Moham-
ledan lands, and wider and more effec-
uaI door is continually being opened up d
4 this direction of the Society's work. d
t is to be hoped, therefore, that an in b
reasing activity viii characterize all our e
uxiIliaries, and that the coming year will g,
e 'as the past and much more abundant h
I. c. HARTSHORN,
rant A Il 9