[7] Estimated.

[8] Includes the population of Indian Territory and Indian reservations.

[9] Not reported.

[10] Reported as “sittings.”

[11] Reported as “accommodations.”

CHURCHES AND THE CROWD

Jane Addams says that on a Sunday night in Chicago one-sixth of the entire population is packed into 466 places of entertainment. Churches? No—moving-picture shows! The churches on Sunday night in Chicago, and, we fear, in many other places, are not conspicuously crowded. The problem is this: If the Chicago churches had presented an up-to-date moving-picture show, instead of a sermon, would the crowd have followed the films? Inasmuch as the church admission is free and the theater admission is from five to twenty-five cents, it is a fair assumption that the churches would have been filled. Now, if the object of the Sunday-night service is primarily to reach the crowd on the street, and if, as has been shown, the moving-picture is a much more vivid and attractive way of reaching that crowd than is a sermon, why, in all seriousness, don’t churches give us the thrilling stories of the Old Testament, its beautiful tales of the New Testament, and its modern illustrations of Christian heroism in this and other lands, in the up-to-date form—in moving pictures? They may answer that they can not get hold of the films and the machine, but this answer is not a good answer. Excellent sacred pictures are shown in the present professional entertainments, and many illustrations of modern heroism, self-sacrifice, and virtue are in every program. Moreover, a demand for films for church use would enlarge the supply. Moving-picture machines are not expensive and can be easily operated. You can do it in your church. Why don’t you?—Woman’s Home Companion.

(449)

Table No. 5—Church Property. (See Church Statistics.)

DENOMINATION ORGANIZATIONS
REPORTING
VALUE
OF CHURCH
PROPERTY
IN 1906		 VALUE OF CHURCH PROPERTY REPORTED
Number Per
cent of
total		 Dollar
Amount		 Per cent
distribution		 Increase from
1890 to 1906
1906 1890 1906 1890 Dollar
Amount		 Per
cent
All denominations 186,132 87.7 1,257,575,867 679,426,489 100.0 100.0 578,149,378 85.1
Protestant bodies 173,902 89.9 935,942,578 549,695,707 74.4 80.9 386,246,871 70.3
Adventist bodies 1,492 58.5 2,425,209 1,236,345 0.2 0.2 1,188,864 96.2
Baptist bodies 49,339 89.9 139,842,656 82,328,123 11.1 12.1 57,514,533 69.9
Christian (Christian Connection) 1,239 89.8 2,740,322 1,775,202 0.2 0.3 965,120 54.4
Church of Christ, Scientist 401 62.9 8,806,441 40,666 0.7 ([12]) 8,765,775 21,555.5
Congregationalists 5,366 93.9 63,240,305 43,335,437 5.0 6.4 19,904,868 45.9
Disciples or Christians 8,906 81.4 29,995,316 12,206,038 2.4 1.8 17,789,278 145.7
Dunkers or German Bapt. Brethren 974 88.8 2,802,532 1,362,631 0.2 0.2 1,439,901 105.7
Evangelical bodies 2,515 91.9 8,999,979 4,785,680 0.7 0.7 4,214,299 48.1
Friends 1,097 95.6 3,857,451 4,541,334 0.3 0.7 [13]683,883 [13]15.1
German Evangelical Synod of N. A. 1,137 94.4 9,376,402 4,614,490 0.7 0.7 4,761,912 103.2
Independent churches 806 74.7 3,934,267 1,486,000 0.3 0.2 2,448,267 164.8
Lutheran bodies 10,779 84.9 74,826,389 35,060,354 6.0 5.2 39,766,035 113.4
Mennonite bodies 497 82.3 1,237,134 643,800 0.1 0.1 593,334 92.2
Methodist bodies 59,083 91.3 229,450,996 132,140,179 18.2 19.4 97,310,817 73.6
Presbyterian bodies 14,161 91.3 150,189,446 94,861,347 11.9 14.0 55,328,099 58.3
Protestant Episcopal Church 6,057 88.5 125,040,498 81,219,117 9.9 12.0 43,821,381 54.0
Reformed bodies 2,477 95.8 30,648,247 18,744,242 2.4 2.8 11,904,005 63.5
Unitarians 406 88.1 14,263,277 10,335,100 1.1 1.5 3,928,177 38.0
United Brethren bodies 3,839 89.2 9,073,791 4,937,583 0.7 0.7 4,136,208 83.8
Universalists 779 92.1 10,575,656 8,054,333 0.8 1.2 2,521,323 31.3
Other Protestant bodies 2,552 69.1 14,616,264 5,987,706 1.2 0.9 8,628,558 144.1
Roman Catholic Church 10,293 82.5 292,638,787 118,123,346 23.3 17.4 174,515,441 147.7
Jewish congregations 747 42.2 23,198,925 9,754,275 1.8 1.4 13,444,650 137.8
Latter-day Saints 909 76.8 3,168,548 1,051,791 0.3 0.2 2,116,757 201.3
Eastern Orthodox Churches 89 21.7 964,791 45,000 0.1 ([12]) 919,791 2,044.0
All other bodies 192 25.1 1,662,238 756,370 0.1 0.1 905,868 119.8