The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-01-05
Net Increase in the Orthodox
Branch for the Year 1907
Was But $40, According to
The American Friend.
COMPARISON OF BIRTHS
AND DEATHS NOT GOOD.
City of Richmond and Indiana
Are Shown to Be the Center
Of Orthodox Quakerlsm Of
The Entire World.

There Is not a great deal to encOur
age the members of the orthodox
branch of the Friends church in the
statistics dealing with the membership
for the year 1907. 1t is shown by fig
ures compiled by the American Friend,
official organ Of the church, that a gain
of 1913 was made in membership, but
in reality the net gain is only 80 One
point of special interest locally is that
the Indiana Yearly Meeting, which
holds its sessions in Richmond, is
shown to be the largest in America,
and hence the largest in the world, as
the London and Dublin meetings do
not compare with it. Western yearly
meeting, which holds its sessions at
rlainfield, is second in size and the
combined membership of the two is
more than one third Of the entire mem
bership of the society, showing Indi-
ana to be the center of the worlds Or
thodox Quakerism.
Includes the Mission.
In speaking of the statistics. the
American Friend says:
We have again tabulated the sta
1istics from the several larger ortho-
dox yearly meetings in America TAX
ing the figures from their printed pro-
ceedings, together with a few addi-
tons from the statistical report Of the
American Friends board of foreign
missions. From these totals we re-
cord an apparent gain of lob, max
ing a grand total of 9S,932 These
figures include the totals for the meet
ings in the united States and Canada,
also members of several mission meet
jngs, which are officially recognized as
organic parts of the several yearly
meetings. The number in mission
meetings is 3.44O. When we subtract
the mission members from the grand
total, We have o.. 492 as the total mem
Dership for the United States and
Canada
Net Gain Is $40.
While the apparent gain for the
wear is lob the net gain is only 80.
This discrepancy would lead us to dis
pair concerning even the approximate
accuracy of our figures if it were not
for the fact that the heavy addition
occurs III Western yearly meeting,
where the new statistical secretary
discovered that one entire quarterly
meeting had not been reported for four
years. This accounts for the large APP
parent gain. but it also confirms the
fact that our actual gain has been only
a few hundred, probably not far from
our net figures, 80, or less than one
third of one per cent for the year. Last
year our apparent gain was 1894, 6S1
more than it is this year, while our net
gain was 1889. over five times what it
is this year. This is true in spite of
the fact that we have gained by births
and from outside sources nearly 1000
members, or about eight per cent.
This alone is not a bad showing, but
when we turn to our losses we find
them nearly as great as our gain. APP
parently we have not learned how to
take care of what we get.
Deaths Exceed Births.
"A comparison of the births and
deaths shows a balance on the wrong
side Of the account, there having been
81 more deaths than births during the
year. The older communities, as
rule, lead with a large mortality ra-
tio, while the pioneer meetings show
an excess of births. There is one no.
table exception this year. North
Carolina has the highest birth rate
compared with the number of deaths
of any Of the yearly meetings. When
we eliminate births from the items of
Kansas, New York, North Carolina and
Oregon have received enough recruits
from the outside TO more than offset
their losses, while Western Yearly
meeting is transferred from the gain to
the loss column. On the other hand.
without deaths. every yearly meeting
would have shown a net gain, except
Ohio and Wilmington.
Figures on Membership.
The figures on membership are as
follows:
Yearly Meetings. 1906 1907
Baltimore ........ 1900 1,1S2
California Including l.
100 in Alaska) .... 3.44T Sill
Sdhaoa '........ l.oJb l,N9O
Indiana dncluding So in
Arkansas and Mexico. 70, oS3 20 EOS
Iowa Gncluding 966 in
Jamaica .....12,414 1906
Kansas Including 81 in
Alaska) E. :. ......11.114 1923
New England CncludinS
40 in Ramallanl E. 4.421 1891
New York :. E. ..... G,4I3 1904
North Carolina includ-
ing 80 in Cuba =. 49,. G,469 G.77333
Ohio Including oil in
China and India e. COBB 6.Oo7
Oregon Including - in
in Alaska 49,. $500. 1914 1862
Philadelphia" :. 1900 1880 43S9
Western Uncluding $50 in
Mexico).. E. =. ..15.229 l6,O5g
Wilmington e. .. .. 6,4S3 G.35g
97,9l9 9S. o32
There 1.31S ministers and 563 quar-.