of local churches, and directing their chief effort to missionary work in the development of new fields.

All the churches in a state form a state conference, to which they elect delegates in the ratio of 1 to every 15 members. The state conference meets annually and has general supervision of the churches and their work, though it exercises no authority over the local church, except as particular questions are submitted to it for decision. In some large states there are two or more of these conferences, and as a matter of convenience the term "local conference" is coming into use. The state conferences are united into groups of five or six, to form union conferences, which hold sessions biennially, and to which delegates are elected by the state conferences on the basis of 1 for every 200 church members. The union conferences throughout the world are united in the General Conference, which holds sessions quadrennially, and is composed of delegates from the union conferences in the ratio of 1 to every 500 church members.

Each conference has an executive committee for the conduct of its business along the lines of the different departments of the church's work. The presidents of the state conferences and chairmen of state departments are ex officio members of the executive committees of their union conferences, and the presidents of the union conferences, together with the chairmen of union departments, constitute the executive committee of the General Conference. Membership in the conferences or the ministry is open to both sexes, although there are very few female ministers.

Applicants for church membership, not already members of a church, appear before the elders of the local church for examination. If approved, they are recommended for baptism at some public service, usually when the ordained minister in general charge can be present, though this is not essential. After baptism, either at the same or a subsequent service, they are presented to the church by the elders, and received by vote of the members present.

Applicants for ordination to the ministry are licensed to preach, for a limited term, by a conference, either state, union, or general. At the expiration of that term, on approval by the conference, they are recommended for ordination, and are ordained under supervision of the conference, by ministers selected for that service. This ordination is for life, but ministers are expected to renew their papers at each meeting of the conference which ordained them.

Local church expenses are met by special contributions, and collections are made five times in the year for the different departments of denominational work. An effort is also being made to collect a sum amounting to 20 cents per week per member for foreign mission work. The expenses of the ministry are met by the tithing system, each church member being expected to contribute a tenth of his income. The tithes are

ference, who pays the salaries of the state conference ministers, and remits one-tenth to the treasurer of the union conference. Of this amount, the latter treasurer appropriates nine-tenths for the expenses of union conference ministers, and remits one-tenth to the treasurer of the General Conference. Any surplus in the treasury of a state or union conference is voted to the treasurer of the General Conference for the foreign missionary work of the denomination. Associations for the holding of property belonging to the denomination have been formed in nearly every country in which work is carried on. The jurisdiction of these associations is generally coextensive with that of a conference, state, or union, and their officers are usually the officers of the conference, while their membership is ordinarily constituted of the delegates to the sessions of the conference. The associations connected with state conferences usually hold in trust all the property for the local churches, while associations formed for union conferences hold property of a more general character.

WORK.

Instead of independent societies, charged with carrying on the different lines of work, the denomination has departments, represented in each conference and in the local church. Those upon which the denomination has placed special emphasis, all of them being distinctly missionary in purpose and character, are the departments of foreign missions, the Sabbath school, publication, medicine, and education, although other departments are not neglected. These are all under the charge of a general conference committee, with a secretary for each department.

The general home missionary work of the denomination includes not only the care of needy churches, but general colportage and other lines of evangelistic effort. During 1916 there were employed in this department 1,420 missionaries and 777 ordained and licensed ministers, and the amount contributed for home missionary and evangelistic work was $581,445.

In 1874 the Seventh-day Adventists sent their first missionary from the United States to a foreign country. At the close of 1916, organized work was carried on outside the United States in 249 mission stations and 353 substations, in 92 countries, by a working force consisting of 880 American missionaries, and about 2,000 native helpers. The main stations were distributed as follows: European countries, 63; Africa, 47; Asia, 54; Australasia, 3; Pacific islands, 36; South America, 22; West Indies, Mexico, and Central America, 24. Connected with these missions were 1,951 churches, with 65,178 members; 237 schools, with 7,208 pupils, besides 246 mission schools, with 10,928 pupils; 21 sanitariums, with 34,910 patients; and 1 orphanage with 45 inmates. The total amount con

tributed in the United States for the foreign work was $736,046; and the total value of property in foreign lands, including church edifices, is $5,377,889. The gain in membership outside the United States during the decade ending with 1916 was 139.6 per cent.

In 1872 the first denominational missionary training school was opened in Battle Creek, Mich. At the close of 1916 there was in existence a graded system of education, requiring 16 years' work for completion, and including, in all countries, 15 colleges and seminaries, 32 academies, 21 intermediate and 206 primary and day schools, and 618 church schools. The number of teachers connected with all these institutions, including the 246 mission schools, was 2,070; the total enrollment, 36,070; and the total amount contributed for their support during the year was $1,218,043. Of these schools, 37 colleges, academies, and intermediate schools, with 5,788 students and pupils, and the 618 parochial schools, with 12,146 pupils, were in the United States. The amount contributed for the support of these schools was $194,339, while $779,778 were received from tuition, making a total of $974,117. The value of school property in the United States was $1,980,066.

In 1866 a sanitarium was erected in Battle Creek, Mich., for the "rational treatment of disease" and the dissemination of the principles of temperance and healthful living. At the close of 1916 there were 41 well-equipped sanitariums and treatment rooms in different parts of the world, besides a number of dispensaries under denominational control and about 25 institutions under private management. The institutions denominationally controlled had assets amounting to $3,252,135, and employed 1,808 persons specially trained in these lines, including 141 physicians. Of these institutions, 20, with 14,149 patients, were in the United States. The total amount contributed for institutions of this character in the United States was $51,921, and the property was valued at $2,045,911.

The first denominational publishing house was erected in Battle Creek, Mich., in 1855. At the close of 1916, the denomination had 40 publishing houses and branches, issuing and circulating annually over $2,000,000 worth of denominational literature in 90 languages. There are published 130 periodicals in 39 languages. The value of publishing house property in the United States in 1916 was estimated at $1,004,604 and that in foreign countries at $1,162,574.

The missionary volunteer department is one of the leading factors in the training and preparation of young people for missionary work, both at home and

abroad. In 1916 there were 861 local societies with 16,259 members, only church members being eligible to membership.

A general summary of the activities of the denomination shows that there were employed in 1916 in the various departments of ministerial, evangelistic, and institutional work, exclusive of the office force, 9,695 persons; of these, 5,077 were engaged in strictly evan

gelistic work-777 ordained and licensed ministers in the United States, 1,420 home missionary workers, and 2,880 missionaries and native helpers abroad; there were 2,070 teachers in colleges and church schools, 1,808 persons employed in the sanitariums, and 740 persons engaged in the preparation and circulation of denominational literature.

The total amount raised in 1916 for the work of the denomination was $3,950,492. This amount includes tithes, $2,291,424; foreign mission funds, $963,700; home mission funds, $695,368. The total tithes and offerings in foreign lands were used there, the "home mission offerings" being for local work and the "foreign mission offerings" for work in other fields. The three funds were contributed as follows: