The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-11-27
TWO DOWIEITES HERE
Church Census Brings Out
Only Ones in Wichita,
CANVASSERSWELLTREATE
In Nearly All Cases Courteous
and in Some Rude.

The church census Of the city, taken
on October 20. has been completed by
the compiling board Of the statistics. and
the apportfoning Of the cards showing
church preferences among the pastors
Of the churches designated. The canvass
was fairly complete; in most districts
quite thorough and accurate. There
were several Of the suburban portions
Of the city that were not canyassed IN
Ill a later date, however. The statistics
now in the hands Of the committee are
unquestionably the best religious data
ever gathered from the city since the
days when every pastor personally knew
every man, woman and child in town.
Every family in the city is represented
by a card. which states the facts regard
ing church membership and Sunday
school attendance Of the members Of the
family, young and old. If not members
the church and pastor preferred are
named. All cards Of members OF any
particular denomination and all cards Of
persons preferring that denomination but
not members. are put together. The com
nittee has not separated the church
list, and is not able to state what number
are members and what number only ad-
herents. Each pastor Will attend to that
as part of his separate work
Altogether, there were 1887 cards re-
turned to the committee, which would
signify at least 25, 900 population, repre-
senting twenty-one denominations. They
are as follows:
Methodist Episcopal. 400
2-Presbyt terrain. .......... ........... 100
5-Baptisr. ...................-....... 500
F-Chr1suan ..-..-.......... .s........--... so
5-Cathohc...... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. SZ5
ational...............!. .-.... 225
7-Episcopal. ........ ..................... 225
8-United Brethren ....-............-.... 10
9-RefOrmed ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 20
1O-Friends ....... .-....................... 100
11-United Presbyterian -...........,.... 50
Herman Lutheran ...............!.... So
13-Christian Scientists .................. 50
14-German Methodist ................... 40
15-Unitarians ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 90
17-Adventists ...........-.... ............ 90
1S-F'ree Methodist .........-..........-.. 30
19-Universalists .......................... 90
2o-Salvation Army ......................, %
21-Dunkards ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. %
22-UnclassiAed ................ .......... Z
23-NOt at ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 50
24-No preference and Information
refused ................ ............. 500
1t will be observed that the Methodists
lead, with almost twice the number of
the Presbyterians, who follow next,
though the membership of the latter
church is almost If not quite as large in
the city as the Methodist The signif-
canoe is that there has been a far more
effective organization for work among
the Presby terians. There is great
mass of adherents to Methodism who are
not in church communication. This same
fact is noticed in the case of other de-
nominations in the list where there are
large numbers Of adherents lying
around loose" and which ought to be
reached by the aid Of the statistics. There
is no pastor in the city who has not
found trace of some families Of his de-
nomination Of whom he had no previous
knowledge, and many people among the
smaller denominations learned for the
first time Of the presence of a church of
their faith in Wichita
The canyassers were received with un-
usual kindness by the people In more
than 5000 homes they received courteous
treatment There were about 400 in the
work Many Of them spoke with enthusi-
asm Of their experience. One young lady
in the southern part Of the city on the
morning OF the canvass undertook the
work Of six workers and finished it be
fore noon and no one enj0ved the work
more than she. Another with her sister
did the work Of ten, and finished but a
little later On the other hand, some
failed to meet their appointments on the
day for the work, though the thoughtful
ones sent substitutes
There were some strange answers. One
member OF the Christian church named
as her preference Holiness" evidently
a statement Of fact for a state of being
Another family of four members had five
church preferences In several Instances
families yet voting for Andrew Jackson.
named Pastor Sims. who left Wichita
several years ago, as their preference
among the city pastors, and in other
cases Rev. Waraham. who more recently
resigned, was named by those not up to
date in matters Of current religious life.
In a family of two living IN the northeast
part Of the city the wife prefers the con-
gregationaI church. the husband the Bap-
list but both are Dowieites-the only in
stance Of the latter following IN the city
Tn several instances people slammed the
doors on the visitors and in others they
refused to give information, but these in