The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-08-31

Church property in the United
States in 1906 was valued at $1,25s-
575,S67, of which 9S5,942,57S was for
protestant bodies and 1892, 63S,7S7 for
Roman Catholic bodies, and $2S,9s4,-
bO2 for all other bodies. The value of
church property in New York City Is
$153,953,740, not including parsonages.
hospitals or asylums. Chicago has
$27, 100000 invested in churches aud
Boston about the same amount; Phil
adelphia, $45,0oo,O0O; Washington,
$i0.000,o00. In New York the Roman
Catholic churches are valued at $685.
81 900, Protestant Episcopal at $685.
100000, Presbyterian at Sic, 600,
Methodist at s10,5OO,ooo, Baptist at
IS, 100000, Reformed at s7,900,000, Lu-
theran at s6,300,0oO and Congregation
al at s4,260000. These figures are in
some cases far below the valuations
made for purposes of tax exemptions.
For example, the assessed value of
all church property held by the Epis-
copal church in New York City is
probably nearer s45,000,000 than the
| S25,830,000 given In the government
report Trinity Church is valued by
the city at s14,00O,000, st. Paul's
Chapel in Vesey street at s3,500,00o
Grace Church In Tenth street at So,
100000, the Cathedral of st. John the
Divine at s3,700,0o0 and the Church OF
st. Thomas in Fifth avenue at s1,400,
600
| Church debts in 1906 totaled s10s,
| 050,946, or Sc per cent of the total
value of the property reported. Fol
all protestant churches the debt rep
resents 81 per cent of the valuation
and for all Roman Catholic churches
| 1863 per cent. The debts in New York
City on all church property were $40,
032,419, or about 1913 per cent of the
values: In Chicago the debts We're 49,
| per cent of the value. in Boston I pei
cent, In Philadelphia per cent and
/ in Washington 10.5 per cent. New
/ York's Roman Catholic Churches are In
| debt to the extent of 90 per cent OF
| their value, the Jewish 10 per cent
4 the Baptist SIS per cent, the Methodist
/ s per cent, TIE Congregational 6 pei
/ cent. the Presbyterian As per cent, the
Reformed 3 per cent and the Episcopal
only 10 per cent
According to this census, the tota
/ membership in all the churches of al
denominations in the United States II
| 1906 was 32,036,445, of which the prot
estants had 20,2S7,742, the Roman
Catholics, 12,079,142, and the Jewish
congregations. 1,017,457. In all protes
tant bodies the membership is practi
cally adult, but among the Jewish con
gregations only heads of families are
! reported as members, so that the
strength of this religious body is great
i ly understated in the report. In the
Roman Catholic churches all baptized
persons. including infants, are return
ed as members, and in order to rendel
i the figures more nearly comparable
1 Is per cent has been deducted from
the membership returned for the Ro
man Catholic church, to cover those
under 8 years of age.
or the total nummDer OIL neInpeI'
OF churches returned by sex, 43.l pc
cent were male and $50 per cent were
/ female. For the protestant bodies thu
preponderance of female members wa
i greater. there being found 1913 pc
cent male and 60.7 per cent femal'
4 membership. The Roman Catholic
membership in all churches shows 40,
/ rer cent male and 50.7 per cent fema''
membership.
The census, of course, does not at
tempt to compare tie salaries recelv
ed by ministers with salaries or in
comes in other professions. It is no
torious that in Protestant denomina
tions. whose ministers are allowed t
marry, the incomes of ministers arr
very small, as compared with those o
other professional men and OF business
nan