Church Elders, Attention!
By H. E. Rogers
THE Census Bureau of Washington, D. C., has recently sent, or will do so very soon, to the secretaries of our local conferences in the United States, a sufficient number of blanks, with instructions for filling the same, to supply copies to the elders of our churches in this country, for the purpose of securing statistics regarding the standing of our denomination at the close of 1906. The Bureau is required by Congress to take a general census of all religious bodies in the United States every ten years. Several consultations have been held with representatives of the Census Bureau here in Washington regarding the method of securing returns from our churches. The elders of our churches are urgently requested to give the information called for by the blanks, as soon as possible after their receipt. The special instructions for filling the cards should be carefully read and followed, and every item reported as called for. This can be done with the exception of the twelfth item in the schedule, calling for the number of ministers connected with the local church, and their salary. However, a general statement covering the history, doctrine, polity, and work of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination will be supplied from this Office, in which this information can be stated. The tables which will be compiled from the information thus supplied by our church elders will be very valuable, not alone as a government document, but also regarding features of our work not covered as yet by our own statistical reports. Not a single person into whose hands these requests from the Census Bureau come, should fail to send in prompt and accurate returns. H. E. ROGERS, Statistical Secretary.