CHAPTER XXVIII.

FOURTH PERIOD. (1880-1904.)

CONCLUSION.

   THE following bishops have presided at the Nebraska Conferences during these fifty years: Morris, Simpson, Ames, Baker, Scott, Kingsley, Thomson, Janes, Clark. Andrews, Bowman, Gilbert Haven, Foster, Harris, Warren, Merrill, Wiley, Mallalieu, Fowler, Hurst, Voss, Vincent, Goodsell, Walden, Newman, McCabe, Ninde, FitzGerald.
   Of these twenty-eight bishops there are none whose presence has not been influential for good. The very presence of these chief pastors has been a benediction to all, and especially to the younger members. These bishops have all been men of good ability, and by their addresses and counsel during Conference sessions, and the sermon on the Sabbath have made a deep impression for good. Under no other system do the people and preachers have the privilege of meeting and hearing from so many of the chief men of the Church. Some of these sermons have been the event of a lifetime with some of these preachers, as was that of Bishop Foster at Falls City in 1876, which, after more than a quarter of a century, is still fresh in the memory of those of us who were permitted to hear it.
   It may be said that these have all been men of great

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personal power and influence. But when you add to this the vast official power with which the Church has clothed them, by which they have the entire legal authority to determine the appointment of every member of Conference, and also those on trial, you have a factor that can not but be a power for good if wisely and conscientiously used. Though our bishops may be fallible and make mistakes, they have no motive for using this vast power otherwise than in the interest of the Church.
   At the four Nebraska Conferences of 1903 Bishop Andrews, in the exercise of this power, assigned over 350 men to different places and positions. If we take 150, less than half this number. as the average number thus appointed from year to year by the several presiding bishops, we have a total for the fifty years of 7,500 appointments made by these bishops, chiefly to pastorates and presiding elderships.
   How much of the success of these fifty years has been due to the wisdom and spirit in which these appointments have been made may not be in our power to determine. That much is due to this cause can not be doubted.
   Besides these regular services at the Conferences many of these bishops have aided on special occasions in dedicating churches, delivering lectures, and other like services. Two of them, Newman and McCabe, have been resident bishops in Omaha, and have been specially helpful to the Churches in that city and others throughout the State. As elsewhere noted, Bishop Fowler may be said to be the father of our present educational institution and the splendid service of Bishop McCabe in helping to rescue that institution from the burden of debt will not soon be forgotten.

MINISTERIAL DELEGATES TO GENERAL CONFERENCE.

1. WILLIAM GORST. 2. W. B. ALEXANDER 3. JOHN GALLAGHER.
4. P. C. JOHNSON. 5. C. A. MASTIN. 6. W. E. HARDAWAY.
7. WM. M. WORLEY. 8. L. F. BRITT. 9. J. W. STEWART.

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   Nebraska Methodism will bear the test of comparison with other sister Churches. For this purpose I have chosen the United States census religious statistics for 1870 and 1890. I have chosen these two dates because this feature of the census does not appear before 1870, and those for 1900 are not out yet. But as these cover the period of greatest growth in population and consequent need, and during the eighties, the greatest opportunities for church-building and expansion in all directions, the comparison for that period will serve as a sample of what has been done during all periods of Nebraska history.
   The three items with which the census deals are the number of organizations, the number of churches, and the number of sittings these churches afford. Here Methodism is at a disadvantage in 1870 by reason of the fact that under our economy in our circuit system there are sometimes from two to five separate organizations combined in one and so reported, while with all the other denominations included in this comparison each such organization is counted separately and so reported. So we should remember in reading these figures that to get at the real facts we should multiply the number of our organizations in 1870 by three. But in 1890 the number 649 indicates that the census report conforms to the facts. The above caution, of course, does not apply to churches and sittings.

   This story of the fifty years of Methodism will property close with a brief summary of results and a glance at some of the causes of the success that is written on every page.
   These results may be divided into two classes, the visible and the invisible. (Note that all previous statistics, except German and Swedish, and those which follow, relate to our English-speaking work alone, the German-Swedish occurring elsewhere.)
   During the fifty years Nebraska Methodism has received from the Missionary Society to aid in supporting the men in the field the sum of $461,832. This was often the chief reliance of the frontier preacher, the one thing on which he could bank. Not infrequently it amounted to much more than the people were able to pay, and its absence would have meant suffering if not starvation.
   To support her ministry during the entire fifty years Nebraska Methodism has promised, including salaries and house rent, a total of $4,817,420, and has paid a total of $4,367,283. This leaves her still in debt, according to ordinary standards, to her ministers that have actually done her service these fifty years, to the amount of $450,137. It will be easy to reckon how far this would go if paid

now to producing the $100,000 Conference Claimants' Fund proposed during this, her jubilee year. There should, however, be deducted from this balance still due the amount given to Conference claimants in fifty years, being $34,460. That still leaves us short in our account with the old veterans to the amount of $415,677.
   It is true that much of this deficit accrued during the first twenty-five years, before financial conditions became favorable and the Church became thoroughly organized so as to handle her financial affairs efficiently.
   Of the $461,832 received from the Missionary Society in fifty years, $256,025 have been returned by collections during that time. This leaves us $205,807 behind in our account with the Missionary Society.
   To the several other benevolent interests we have contributed during the half-century, or during the time they have been in existence, as follows: For Church Extension, $42,204; Freedmen's Aid, $40,189; Tract, $5,619; Sunday-school Union, $6,434; Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, $77,332; Woman's Home Missionary Society, $52,752; Education, public collection, $134,230; Children's-day Fund, $12,955; Bible Society, $9,869; Methodist. Hospital, $10,786.
   The total contributed to all the benevolences, not including Conference Claimants, General Conference expenses, Episcopal Fund, or "other" collections, $631,163.
   While doing this and paying preachers we have built 574 churches, at a cost of $1,592,955, and 321 parsonages, at a cost of $330,525, besides the second and third churches and parsonages that have been erected in many places.
   While in the statistical tables the Conference Claim-

MINISTERIAL DELEGATES TO GENERAL CONFERENCE.

1. F. M. SISSON. 2. GEO. I. WRIGHT. 3. J. W. SHENK. 4. P. H. EIGHMY.

5. JAMES LEONARD. 6. D. K. TINDALL. 7. JESSE W. JENNINGS.

8. C. A. HALE. 9. ALFRED HODGETTS. 10. C. C. LASBY.

11. A. R. JULIAN. 12. A. C. CROSTHWAITE.

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