Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1896-10-02
A BLOW TO THEIR WORK
The Great shrinkage That
Would Come to Their Vast
Property Used For Be-
nevolent Purposes.

ct is elected, and they are the churche.
and their pastors.
The salaries Of pastors, especially those
who are engaged in missionary work, are
fixed, not TO insure luxury to the preacher
and his family, but upon basis Of mere
existence, and the sums thus paid many
preachers and missionaries in the Protes-
tant church only enable them TO supply the
absolute necessities of life.
If free silver prevails, the cost of living
will probably be double what it Is now,
All commodities necessary to keep life In
the human body will largely increase in
cost At the same time church investments
will depreciate, and, with contributions
falling OFF, it will not be possible for the
church to increase the salaries of preachers
and missionaries to correspond with the
increased demands made upon them by
the free silver prices
Not alone therefore, will the "goldbug'
banker suffer from the depreciation of val
ues which the success of Bryan and his
ticket viii bring upon the country. The
poor generally will feel the panic that will
surely come 1000 times more than the
rich and well to do. But no one or no class
will suffer greater distress, even to want
and poverty, than the preacher and mis-
siOnary, whose lives arc always self deny
ing to wonderful degree
The Methodist Church.
Let us, for example, take the effect up
on the finances Of the Methodist Episco-
pal church. The invested funds in the
United States in Methodist church prop
erty are slO9, 2S4, O6G and in church par
sonages SIG, S4s, 400, a total of S126, 1872
DOL. In the shrinkage of values which
will come if the silver party is successful
next November in establishing its SO cent
dollar basis the loss to the Methodist
church in these two Investments alone
would DO over s63, O0O 900.
The net capital of the Methodist Book
concern is So, 1896, 952. The mission of the
Methodist Book concern is not to make
money, but to print religious literature
and send it to every part of the earth, to
shape thought and mold character after
the divine pattern. Its profits are paid to
the annual conferences for the benefit of
needy preachers 1t has passed safely the
financial panics of the last 90 years, and
It's cTedit has been equal to any emergen-
". But If the free silver fallacy prevails
the shrinkage in the value of the invested
capital Of this, She largest religious pub |
fishing house In the world, will amount |
20 81, SOS, 476, and its work will be para |
yzed, If it is not thrown into bankruptcy. |
According to the report in the MethO- |
list Year Book for 1896 the contributions |
rom that church in 1895 to missions. |
,hurch extension, hospitals, homes for |
lged, wOmen's home and foreign missions, |
reedmen's aid, educational and endow- |
nents, ETC., were 500 059, 479.
Under free coinage the shrinkage from |
hese various charitable funds would be
,ver SO, 900, 600. This vast sum Of over
20, 600, 600 was raised by contributions
rom church members, the average being
bout $40 to each member If this grand
ana charitable work is kept up,
ach contributor will be called upon, under
free coinage administration, to give $50
carly instead of $40.
The Baptist Churches.
The Baptist church, as well as all other
eligious denominations, would feel this
if the Bryan ticket should win.
The invested funds of the American
baptist organization for ministerial re.
ef, educational institutions homo and
Dreign missions, etc, in 1895 were sea-
39, 629. In the shrinkage of values if the
ne Baptist church would be over S11, O0O,-
OO
The annual contributions of the Bap-
SITS of the United States for local expenses
churches, for missions and for other re-
gious and philanthrOpic purposes are
,ckoned at about SIS, 600, 600 If, as free
liver men claim, the prices of commodities
ill rise if they are successful in electing
leir ticket, it will require about double
lis sum, or $50, 0OO, 900, as endowments
, contributions for church and charitable
lstitutiOns As the membership in the
aptist church is about 5000, 900, this ,
presents about IS per annum for each ]
ember, and, las under free coinage the an
lal contributions for r. purposes would
ave TO be double what they are now, to
eep up the same work and endOwments
would be necessary for each member to
We annually $40 where he now gives So {
The Episcopal Church.
The Protestant Episcopal church of the !
nited States has invested as endowments !
trust funds for the support Of the epis-
pate, for the support Of widows and or ,
lans Of clergymen, for church building, y
T the support of the aged and inarm cler- :
:, missions etc, about SAL, 900, OO0 The :
tai endowments for church and charita. ;
e institutions in 1895 probably amount
to $50, 600, 900, so in the shrinkage of
lues under free coinage the loss to the
Episcopal church would be- 3
8, 100000. The total income in this 4
urch represents about s35 per annum .
: each communicate, and under free coin 4
e, TO produce the same results, it would n
luire over $40 per year for each commu- II
can't \
The Congregational Church. +,
In the Congregational church the re- b
pts in 1895 by contribution for mission ii
= and educational work aud various be- t,
VIOLENT societies were about 81, 200, 900. al
The Value of church property in that de- al
mination is about $40, 900, O0O and the N
rested funds from charitable contribu- Of
ms are about $4,000, 900. The local ex-
in 1895, such as salaries Of pas
s and general expenses were about ST.
!, 900. Thus the total values in the Con- al
gational church reach sum total of al
tut S57, 200, 900, and the shrinkage OF III
ues under Bryan and free coinage L
uld be $2S, 100000. The yearly contri- I'll
ions from aRch member of the Congre- it
ional ohuFdh now amount to about st
30, and to accomplish the same benevO- st
work, If free coinage is adopted, this OF
would have to be doubled. th
The Poor VIII Suffer.
'hese endowments and contributions, is
orally speaking, are given by the rich, co
are used for the benefit Of the poor. sill
hdraw them, and the poor only will pa
'er. The rick man pays his way at the va
pital He never needs the home Of at
rity in his old age, nor does he send his M
dren to the orphanage The sick, the er,
iitute, the aged, the orphans will all sa'
er If the endowments to the churches pc
cut down. Free coinage, therefore, ass
ms disaster to all church finances and an
paralyse its missionary and charita- va
work. the
Enormous Church Values. Ur
ocording to the United States census gre
1890 the invested values In church
,erty reached the enormous aggregate
67O, 100000 This was freely given by mo
church people for the public use and era
Duhlfc rrnod This vaet c,tn, ,-onrocanto inc