The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-09-27

4hos' heso +r--p denomi nations under consldera-
| tion. +;ro and i,nnorAnnt
! 1,s;ggeration as one can bring IS in
~ aoan.i airection in which the minds of the
onnforance oi,,,f has been so largely turned
S,u.i,'o. tbose latter days, ana especially
GotIis -. thiss n,eeting in the direction Oh nome
missionary expenditure. Our 1r e1l expenlIures
have been given toUal ol SSS S,v tha,,
gu II fe af al our eh urches that sustain
o,1u CIV services whatever. Or these tne ~
%hns th9t had nastors received Sl2, 6o5, or an
avera@e Of s175 each and the a tnat haa
snnplfes. mostly students, recGlseu *
average of $50 each. me Me.nouisvs awereg pssa
ns rt' Sis nar field Besides this they, maoe
one grant which they call special granu g
| 20 70 tie york which they are developing
! among the Swedes at Monson: 70 unis
amount should certainly be adoed largs
proportion of the 81, ooo Whlon snoJ ,arS p".e
"a Salaries to their six preslaing eluers' s
Mis;n M 10 borS and supervision form an I'M
,,ortant nort of the missionary Work OF
that body. 90 900 ~ xyb;ob
amount S4, 1871 or almost exactiy ohe nan
was paid directly to alo 10 onuiones ara,.i ~
paving for ministerial service, OF an aver
pre af sS7 for each aided church. For
general missionary work they paid SlS5a,
whila the salary and expenses OF thelr
secretary was $1S18 with somethinS over
5000 more as the expenses OF tnelr eAecu-
| tive committee. 14;,+ hro+brenis
| yerv much smaller and comparatively
| new AS near as can be gathered from
their renorts they expended about ss,00O
along the lines that we have Deen CON con
sidering for others. OF th1s-awounb a1ous
$500 is paid the secretary, who also does
largely what we would call the work OF
a General missionary. A few hundred
dollars more are used in general Work and
about $500 appropriated directly TO u or
Is churches, or an average OF GOV W eaon
| aided church. .4.
Episcopalians, as their work in the state
I Is LARGELY missionary. They expended
about RI 600 last year, and while they
have a secretary to their missionary socie.
| ty who does, think, largely the work OF
a general missionary, ~ uner en- ossnop a. in tbs Is
case of the Methodist presiding elders,
good norton of his salary should be
charged to the account OF missionary
work. 49,.
! figures and comparisons reveal the WEAK
| piaceain our work in Maine.
In the first place why should we neeo
to assist 118 or
MORE THAN HALF OUR CHURCHES
in the state while the Methodists assist
but 10 and the Baptists but 4S? Is.it be-
cause our poorer or assisted churches are
poorer than those of the other denoraina<
tions at their side9 I do not believe any
one who knows the facts will affirm that.
It looks as If some Of our fields are not
cultivated with a view to self support,
thew have learned to look for outside aid
rather than do all they might and ought
for themselves.
j The average appropriations raise Rthe
same questions? Why should 1t cost us
$175 per year to keep pastor In the
average field while the Methoolsts aoes
/ the same thing for $43 or one quarter OF
the..amount and the Baptists $S7 or .one
half the amount? The average of $50 each
paid to our "A fields supplied by students
is nearly double that paid by the Metho-
dists forsa full years service and almost
equal to what. the Baptists pay for similar
service
Much has been said and written IN erltl
cis1n of the policy of the society in en-
ploying two men during the past two
years in secretarial work. With the pers1s-
tent. unusual and persuasive appeals put
forth forth m bv all our other societies during
these years of financial stringency 1T Is
question where our society would have
come out if no unusual effort had been
! made to keep it's needs before the church
es. The cost of this work, Including the
correspondence and in some measure
supervision of 118 churches and twelve
other stations where there WAS no church
organization, has been 15sper cent OF our
expenditure II we count the same WORK
as done by the Methodist presiding elders
the cost as compared with their AID PAID
directly to the churches was about 90 per
cent of their whole expenditures, while
!, for the Baptists the cost of their score
tarial work, including the expenses OF
their executive committee, was about 20
per cent, and of the Free Baptists nearly
80 per cent Of their expenditures went to
; their secretary acting both as secretary
and general missionary.
The next address, by Rev. J. S. Will
hanson, of Augusta, was on Congrega-
tional Extension in Maine, it's possib1ll-
ties and plans. 1t was brilliant and
daring address, dealing in general terms
with the problem that Mr.. Cousins shad
touched specifically.
When Mr. Williamson closed, there was
"A RISING TIDE OF OPPOSITION
manifest in the audience.
First arose Rev. Mr.. Gates, Of Dem
mark, who said that the little churches
we're weak because they Fsent their best
men to the cities where they built up the
large churches. The little churches were
doing more in proportion than the
larger (Applause.)
Rev. Mr.. Towne of "The Word and
Work. said the Methodists should not be
cited. Nearly every year Methodist man-
! listers were starved out.
! Rev. Mr. Richmond, of Gardiner, also
took the ground that the
LITTLE CHURCHES WE'RE BLED
to support the larger churches. The
: young and strong go to the large clty