The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-01-04
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 Quakerism of
The Entire World.

There is not a great deal to cncOur-
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 d 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. l.
shown to be the largest in Amcrie
and hence the largest in the world.
the London and Dublin meetings
not compare with it. Western yea
meeting. which holds its sessions
flainfield, is second in size anG
combined membership of the two
more than one-third OF the entire III.
bership of the society, showing Ii
ana to be the center Of the worlds u.
thodox Quakerism.
Includes the Mission.
In speaking Of the statistics. the
American Friend says:
I'VE have again tabulated the sta
tistics from the several larger ortho-
dox yearly meetings in America. tax
tng the figures from their printed pro-
ceediugs, together with a few addi-
tions 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 grand total of 9S,932. These
figures include the totals for the meet
jngs in the United States and Canada
also members of several mission meet
tngs, which are officially recognized as
organic parts of the several yearly
meetings. The number in mission
meetings Is $40. When we subtract
the mission members from the grand
total, we have 81, 492 as the total mem
bership for the United States and
Canada.
Net Gain Is $40.
while the apparent gain for the
gear is 1913 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
,
where the new statistical secretary
discovered that one entire quarterly
meeting had not been reported for four
years. This accounts for the large ap-
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 1859. 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 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 a
rule, lead with a large mortality IA
ito. 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
. net increase. We find that California
Kansas, New York, North Carolina and
Oregon have received enough recruits
q. from the outside to more than offset
their losses, while Western Yearly
meeting is transferred from the gain tc
the loss column. On the other hand
without deaths, every yearly meeting
would have shown net gain. except
Ohio and Wilmington.
Figures on Membership.
The figures on membership are as
follows:
Yearly Meetings 1906 $780,
Baltimore &C.. ........ !. 2OD lis
California Including l.
100 in Alaska) ....... $40 3.71-
Indiana dncluding 5S2 in
Arkansas and Mexico 2o2S5 2u,2u>
Iowa dncluding 9tG in
Jamaica E. =. ....124l4 12.o5t
Kansas Including 81 in
Alaska .......1I.1l4 1l,24.
New England Including
A. in Ramallah) =. =. 1921 t.3a-
New York -. -. ....... %.4l5 ".:1,'-
North Carolina incmd-
ing 50 in Cuba 49,. q. i6o CTS:
ohio Gncluding I'll in
China and India G0l3 coo
Oregon Including - in
in Alaska .... .... 1914 1.9f.
philadelphia 500. 1880 LIS,
Western (incuding $50 in
MeXico) .. ..l5.33a fGt.,.
Wilmington =. e.. .. G,4S5 Go.
o7.91a S.o3:
There 1918 ministers and 563 quar-
terly meetings.