TABLE 2.-General statistics of parish schools in 1913 and 1914. [Archdioceses indicated by asterisk (*).] TABLE 2.-General statistics of parish schools in 1913 and 1914-Continued. By W. H. T. Dau, Professor, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. Since the last report the Lutheran parochial school of the country has made some gains, but has also suffered losses. The work of training teachers at the various seminaries, indeed, goes on with unabated zeal. The beautiful seminary of the Missouri Synod, which was reported in a previous account, suffered the loss by fire of its administration building three months after its dedication. This building has now been replaced. To the large school of St. Paul's congregation at Fort Wayne a high-school grade has been added, and a school of about the same dimensions has been erected by Holy Cross congregation at St. Louis. The latest published statistics available on the status of Lutheran parochial schools (January, 1914) credit the Mississippi Synod, one of the synods which have become federated in the United Synod in the South, with 1 school, 2 teachers, and 119 pupils. The United Synod in the South had not reported any schools heretofore. This synod now numbers 69,603 baptized and 50,819 communicant members. However, from the oldest of the general bodies of the American Lutheran Church, the General Synod, the parochial school has now entirely disappeared. The only one of the component parts of this synod, the Wartburg Synod (German), which was credited with 30 parochial schools, 2 teachers, and 500 pupils, does not now report any teachers, schools, or pupils.1 The present membership of the General Council is 766,623 baptized and 493,279 communicant members. In this body there has been an increase of schools and pupils, but a decrease of teachers. The present figures are 593 schools, 690 teachers, and 26,067 pupils. Distributed among the various synods composing this general· body, these totals divide, as follows: Ministerium of Pennsylvania, 13 schools, 22 teachers, 2,120 pupils; Ministerium of New York, 77 schools, 41 teachers, 3,295 pupils; Swedish Augustana Synod, 446 schools, 598 teachers, 18,927 pupils; Synod of Canada, 37 schools, 22 teachers, 810 pupils; Manitoba Synod, 16 schools and 728 pupils; Pacific Synod, 3 schools and 118 pupils; Synod of New York and New England, 1 school, 7 teachers, 69 pupils. Two synods in this body, the Synod of Canada and the Manitoba Synod, operate outside of the United States. Deducting the figures with which these bodies have been credited, we obtain the following totals for the General Council: 540 schools, 668 teachers, 24,529 pupils. In other words, the parochial school as regards schools and teachers has lost ground in the United States territory of the General Council, but has gained slightly in pupils. The most significant changes in the synods belonging to the General Council and operating in the United States are in the oldest Lutheran Synod in America, the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, which has lost 23 schools, 53 teachers, and 50 pupils. The probable explanation is that schools which were taught by pastors in this body have been abandoned or have not been counted. The Ministerium of New York, since the last report, lost 7 schools, 4 teachers, 176 pupils. However, there was a gain of 2 schools, 4 teachers, 325 pupils in the Swedish Augustana Synod. The Pacific Synod gained 1 school and 83 pupils, but lost its 2 teachers. The Synod of New York and New England lost 2 schools, 12 teachers, 74 pupils. Of the 14 independent Lutheran bodies, now numbering 1,083,141 baptized and 672,150 communicant members, only the Icelandic Synod makes no report on parochial schools. The totals for the remaining 13 bodies have changed since the last report from 2,644 to 1,426 schools, from 1,524 to 1,986 teachers, and from 97,868 to 78,981 pupils. As in the last report, these figures include schools which some of the bodies operate in Canada, together with pastors who serve as teachers. It has been impossible to eliminate these features from the totals. There is a loss, then, in the independent 1 This might be due to an oversight on the part of the reporting officer, but the report from this body is complete on all other points. Lutheran synods of 1,218 schools and of 18,887 pupils, while there is a gain of 462 teachers. This gain is explained chiefly by the fact that the Norwegian Synod, from which there were only estimated figures (200 teachers) available at the time of the last report, now reports 527 teachers. The other changes, except in the number of schools, are probably due to more accurate counting. The gains and losses just noted are distributed among the various independent synods, as follows: The Ohio Synod has increased from 265 to 285 schools, from 116 to 122 teachers, and from 9,354 to 9,708 pupils. In this synod there is still a strong German element; in fact, the synod is German. Conditions in the German Buffalo, the Norwegian Eielson, and the German Texas Synod remain unchanged. Hauge's Norwegian Synod has increased from 181 to 185 schools, but remained stationary in the number of pupils. The German Iowa Synod has decreased from 731 to 500 schools and from 11,910 to 11,448 pupils, but has increased its 34 teachers by one. In the Danish Lutheran Church the number of schools and pupils remains the same, but the number of teachers has dropped from 96 to 52. The German Immanuel Synod has increased from 7 to 11 schools, from 7 to 11 teachers, and from 160 to 702 pupils. The Finnish Suomi Synod has increased from 47 to 49 schools, from 52 to 53 teachers, but decreased from 2,537 to 2,175 pupils. The United Norwegian Synod fails to report the number of its schools. In the last report it was credited with 1,000 schools. Its number of teachers has decreased from 987 to 941 and its number of pupils from 50,584 to 36,500. The United Danish Church has had its 111 schools reduced to 89. The number of its teachers and pupils is not given in the new report. The Norwegian Lutheran Free Church has had an increase all along the line from 118 to 185 schools, from 210 to 220 teachers, and from 9,575 to 9,700 pupils. The insufficient and incomplete statistics available from the independent synods prove very disturbing in any effort to arrive at an adequate estimate of the present strength of the Lutheran parochial schools of the country. The omission of the number of schools from the report of the United Norwegian Church is especially annoying. Plainly the 941 teachers in this body must have schools that they teach, and the 36,500 pupils in this body must have schools that they attend. This omission has cut down the number of schools 1,000. It is necessary to bear this in mind when the new averages are given and, in general, when one tries to form an opinion of what |