New-York tribune., 1902-12-23
GREAT METHODIST FUND.
$50, 900, 900 SECURED.
Announcement Soon To Be Made OF
Gift of Last Dollar.

Rochester Dec - CSpeclail- II ls 4ii' 40
tention at midnight on the night OF Decelhpei
81 1902. 10 announce from the pulpit OF 1rlH
itv Methodist Episcopal Church, in springheio
MASS where the movement started that
che last dollar of the S20000.00O Metnoolst
F,piscopal Thank Offering Fund for the i'e"
rentury has been raised.
This statement was made yesterday DE 'iie
Rev. DR.. Edmund N. Mills, corresponding secfe-
tarv of the great fund and the man 10 Whoili
the credit for the realization of this great en-
terprise must be given. At present ne says
more than SI9o00.0O0 had been raised an"
that by the night mentioned the renlalnaer
Mill ba subscribed in the nature of a surprise
All of This immense fund, he says, has peeh
rajsed from the rank and file Of the MethoulSl
Church and as far the educatonal lullo 10
concerned represents in three years hoTe tlie
has been accumulated in the WhoIe oi 'Ne
church's first one hundred years OF existence
DR. Mills is now busily engaged IN prepai'hS
his reports employing for that purpose many
assistants and stenographers. The "orh EN-
braces returns from every State ana Territory
in the Union, and is in itself of nature no'
unlike the business conducted by a bank
of the fund the Rev. DR.. Mills says tnat
81 $50 rs has been raised for educational Fur-
POSES. and of the total more than sooo.'oo
has come in within a month and half- More
than eiEhty-six universities and schools VIII pe
;ts henefciaries. Syracuse University leauS
with gifts amounting to Sl146,See. ana ohlo
wesleyan is next with S1.092,So6
.-Tbere are several Of our college presidents
1sid DR. Mills who have not been doing thelr
duty in the matter. and now, when they 7egin
~ realize what has been accomplished are
7novinp heaven and earth to keep from losing
their positions next year
For the purpose of paying off church 11oen'-
edness Ssoo000O will be devoted. and 1t is the
expectation of the directors of the tund 'na'
not q Methodist church in the United states
will be in debt when the payments are COM
,,a+A The ulsns for the charitable side Of the
movement are no less remarkable since lhe
fund was started three years ago ten new nos
,,,+.Is have been founded. Two of them have
heen founded outright by wealthy layIlen, one
bejng locared in Mason City, Iowa, ana the
other in Mattoon III. Within the last month
Mrs. Clement Studebaker. Of Indianapolis VIC
pw Of the well known wagon maker, has PAID
off the rest Of the 100000 debt on the EpWorth
Hospital in that city. in which another one is
soon TO be erected at cost Of SlOo,JuO. OI
this sum $4,000 has been subscribed by Dr.
fIalsted.
..Tbirtv wears ago." said DR.. Mills ''the Meth
odist Church had not one hospital IN the
world: now we have twenty"
IT is the aim of Dr. Mills to secure S13O0OOO
which will be devoted TO a permanent fund
for the support Of worn out Methodist clergy
men. over 100000 has already been SUP
scribed, and on Sunday, January l. a comet
ton VIII be taken up in every MSlhocis'
church in the country toward sweIhhs INC
4una In New-York City John z. Andrus, the
wealthy son Of a Methodist clergyman, has Of
sered $4,000 if the Conference will raise
S1e0Ooa and it is understood that SlO,ooo OF
the amount needed has already been sub
scrIbed.
The watch night meeting in the church at
Springfield will be one of the historic events
3n the career of the Methodist Church IN THIS
country. The committee Of the General Con-
ference which issued the call viii be present
1t is composed Of the following men: blSbop
Charles H. Fowler, W. D. MacDowell, secre-
tary Of the Board OF Education, and Rev Dr.
Mills. the secretary Of the committee. Blshop
Andrews, the remaining member, VIII not De
present.
The task Of raising this immense fund of
S20000000 in three years time was Of stupen-
6ous magnitude. The minister upon whom the
committee at first pitched, a Philadelphia man.
declined with haste DR.. Mills was then Sc
lected. He was presiding elder in the Elnlra
District and at the conclusion of his great
task has made arrangements TO step hack into
his district as quietly as he emerged from II
He has visited every conference in the United
States from Maine to Oregon. and has written
and received hundreds OF thousands Of letters
1T romantic work" he said; almost like
gambling. should imagine, for 1 never felt
sure just where the next dollar coming
from 10 make Some desired fund complete. One
feature Of the work which has struck me with
peculiar force is the wonderful part played by
the Of Methodist cergymen. We have
found them, these boys of the parsonage-East,
West North and South-now grown into men of
wealth, ready and eager to give to the cause.
The father Of one man who gave US 100000
was a poor Methodist clergyman, whose largest
salary S400 year The son is worth
S20oO0.000 to-day, and with one stroke of his
pen has given to the church what his father
would have earned in 1000 years. Another in
seresting thing is the fact that. averaged UP.
the fund has not been increased by any great
gift series Of gifts. It has from the
rank and file Of the church. For Instance the
Norwegian Conference in Minnesota, made up
Of poor men, leads the list with an average
gift Of SD member. while the German Con-
ference of Oregon comes in second with an
average of $50 a mem Der"