The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-31
THOUSANDS
 AT MEETINGS. Great Hosts Gather at the May Meetings. LARGER THAN EVER BEFORE Attendanee is Result of Years
 Work. A Very nEoaerute Estimate Shove That se.ooO Persons Came to LonAon To Attend the May Meetings.
 which are Net Yet
 Ended.

flinted with the vartous church bodies are out of the way for Another year so that results may be counted. A very moderate estimate shows that b0,00o lnss. Special trains brought 2 900 per- sons from the provinces for the Wes- ieyan Missionary Society meetings al Albert Halt and some 1.500 delegates attended the Congregational Union Convention. The London Missionary So- cisty and the Society for the PropaRa' lion of the Gospel both attracted large gatherings all had their fervid sup asorters.
 In fact. it was evident that the May meetings are Increasing in popuiar~ fly. The railways make 1t more of an tnducenent for the churchmen to come 10 London. and the lodging houses take better care of their patrons than they once did. The one great drawback isi the lack of suitable places for theBe huge azaemblages, outside of Albert Hall, thera Is almost no one place that will hold real crowd. The loss ot Exeter Hall has been keenly felt The Evangelical Alliance took up this mat ter in particular and it's officers urged the construction Of central meeting place. as It's house on Adam Street is old and quite inadequate. Glasgow ana Dublin have halls that can accommo. date fhoueands. but London has enly ona now. since Exeter Hall was sac rlfcea to the rapacity of business.
 In spite Of the bad times. most ot the church organizations made q gooa ananciai showing. The Church Misy eionary Society reported an income Of about s2.o00.0oo. besides szS5.9oQ con aributed toward working capital tor fha orxanfza4ion The Colonial and Continental Church Society. which doeR n great work among the ltngiish- speaking peoples Tn Europe and over seas. received some Si7O,0o0 TOT ltA needs. Tie Church Pastoral Aid So- ciaty garnered Ss70 .0oO for the support of Te2 curates 173 lay agents and lss women workers in poor but popuious parfahaa Tho WaiKs and Strays So- eiety of the Church of England showed receipts of about s500.000 in a year. which the Hisfiop of London character. ized as the worst he ever knew.
 The Wesleyan Missionary Society led this year in point of numbers and celebrated it's ninety-afth anniversary. The sscretarTa report showed that the r,elnbershgp at the mtaafons at the end of 1907. was 1lzs72l, an increase of r. 2s2 for the wear. the exEenses having been about si,0i5,000. or, si5.oo0 more than the income The greatest growth had been in the West Indies, where B. 9a6 members were added during n year An appeal was made for nlty more missionaries and s2S0,000 addl- tional funds. of which sum Slb0.ep would be used for new buildings Sew erai or the evangelists who work in inc large cities declared it was b@corn- ing harder each year to reach the aver age workingman as he hghts shy or churches and chapeis.
 The second largest meetlngs wore those of the Congregationat union, m connection with which were the meeE- ings of the London Missionary Society Most of the time of the Union was de- vnted 10 consideration of the Edur eaflouaI bfll pending in Parliament which will have little support from tho e.ongregationallsts The Missionary Sos nfetv had expenditures of nearly $l.- 500 GOO for the year, or e16.000 greater than It's income, the accumulatsd oe- ncicncy now standing against the eo- ciesv being upwards of slsO'0oe. Ehe lack os male candidates for the mls- eionary field ts one of the great re- grets Of the society.
 One whole day of the Union was giV- sn over to the subject of Sunday Scnool reform. especially with the proposed grading system and the establishment Of paid superlntendents, whose duty It should be to train the teachers Tor tneir work Another suggestion was to the effect that no school should have over 100 pupils. and no class more than four. which would allow of more individual instruction.
 me London City Mission this year reached it's seventy-third anniversary, and like most of the other orEaniza- tions established for charitable work. spent more than 1t received because of the unusual demands upon it It's bills for the year totaled over S2s6,000. or nearly s5. 900 more than It's Income. The sO9 missionaries in active service are unanimous in their declaration that they find drunkenness no more preva- lent among the men in the slums than n used 10 be-. but vice among the wo- men is increasing with alarming rapid ity. One agent found eighteen intoxi- cated women outside one public house in single afternoon. The excuse Is found in the lack of other entertain- nent furnished for those who toh as does one woman who was found to be working eighteen hours day hnishing boys trousers for compensation of about 10 cents a day. The prevalent destitution has all gone to make the society's work particularly hard the past year.
 The Church Association has devoted itself to such efforts as its name indi- cates Its aim is to keep up the tradi- tions of the Church of England, and 1t < crushing any liberalism. At its meet ing this year It severely censured the Primate of England for his patronage of the BIirAald Monastery, and declared that 1t was from the bishops that the Church had the most to fear. It's col porteurs. with eight vans, visited 6s1 Villages and made 1,774 addresses be- sides giving away nearly 100000 publi- cations and selling about 1s,000- Its expenses were S500o0. an amount of which the laity complained because it might have been much less if the oish- ops had done the work expected of them.
 One of the most interesting of CT ganfzations Is the Church Missionary Society. whose work extends over the whole world, the sun never setting on its stations as 1t goes farther even than the British dag. March sl Of this year It had at work in the held 1.8el persons at B4B stations. Its work has been greatly hampered by lack of money for its dehciency now totals over slOO'o00' which is considered a poor showing Tor a society that has reached its fstn year. It hopes. however. to avert a terrible tragedy in India, as 1t has become more apparent than ever before tnat me troops cannot be depended upon 60 crush the rising tide of rebellion, but that the spirit of the movement Tor