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institutions include 21 theological seminaries with 962 students, 52 colleges with 29,462 students, 59 classical seminaries, 9 institutions for women exclusively, 49 foreign mission schools, and 4 missionary institutes and Bible training schools.

The committee to revise the hymnal of the church, authorized by the General Conference of 1900, have decided upon about 400 hymns from the old book, and have agreed upon one-half of the 200 new hymns to be selected. Acting upon the recommendation of the general body for a new constitution, the various annual conferences have returned a vote, 8,196 in favor of and 2,513 against the new constitution, which has become effective, the requisite three-fourths approval having been obtained. The principal changes provided are the admission of women delegates in the quadrennial General Conference, and the authority given to laymen's electoral meetings to vote on constitutional questions. The vote necessary in the General Conference to amend the constitution is changed from three-fourths to two-thirds. An event of the year, important as indicating the tendency toward union between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was the action of representatives of the two churches in Oklahoma, where they are to unite in erecting Epworth University at Oklahoma City. The overture, originating in the conference of the northern church, was accepted with few dissentient votes by the southern. With this preliminary step, the question of federation between the two great Methodist bodies came before the meeting of the Episcopal board of the church in Cincinnati and will be discussed more definitely at the next biennial session of the board at Chattanooga in 1903.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. This church, formed in 1845 after a prolonged agitation on the slavery question, still remains an organization distinct from the Methodist Episcopal Church, though fraternity has long been accepted, and indications seem to be pointing toward an even closer bond. According to the latest available statistics, those for 1900, the church has 6,227 ministers and 5,151 local preachers, 14,573 church edifices valued at over $23,000,000, and 1,470,520 members; and 13,904 Sunday schools with 101,399 teachers and 853,751 scholars. With but one exception the various more important activities of the church received amounts in excess of those of the preceding year; contributions for foreign missions aggregated $245,224; for home missions, $155,626; for conference claimants, $152,742; for church extension, $71,126. The church has a publishing house at Nashville, Tenn., with assets of nearly a million dollars, and issues 4 denominational publications and 9 Sunday-school periodicals. It maintains in 36 conferences, 147 schools and colleges, with 1,126 teachers and 17,205 students, and with total endowment of $2,890,515 and property valued at $5,698,950. The Episcopal board numbers II members.

One of the most important events of the year 1901 was a missionary conference held in New Orleans during the latter part of April. This meeting, modeled after the Ecumenical Missionary Conference of 1900, at which it was suggested, attracted a thousand delegates and as many visitors. The prevailing topic, The Spiritual Basis of Missions, gave opportunity for broad and interesting discussion. A feature of the conference was the offering for Su-chau (China) University, on which work had been begun, the land and $18,000 having been given by Chinese. The subscription reached the fifty thousand dollars desired for the completion of permanent buildings. METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH added during 1901 nearly 3.000 communicants to its membership, which now includes 184,097, with 1,647 ministers and 2,401 churches, the total value of church property being placed at $4.754.721. There are 2,034 Sunday schools with 16,680 officers and teachers and 126,031 scholars. The church maintains foreign missionary work in Japan, organized into 3 central stations and 22 outlying missions with 21 regular missionaries and 32 native helpers. Under the control of the denomination are a university (Kansas City), a theological seminary, three colleges, and as many secondary institutions of learning; while its publishing activities are represented by two general church organs and nine conference and Sunday-school papers, the board of publication having its headquarters at Baltimore, Md.

METHODISTS, PRIMITIVE. See PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH OF AMERICA. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, New York City, organized 1870, is situated in Central Park near Fifth avenue, the main entrance being between Eightysecond and Eighty-third streets. The thirty-second annual report (1901) shows that the income for the year was $150,340.80 and the expenditures $139,430.18. The number of visitors to the museum during 1901 was 593,946, being an increase over 1900 of 22,446, and over 1899 of 53.946. Permits were issued during the year by the curator of the department of painting to 208 artists and art students, who copied 504 of the paintings exhibited in the galleries. The curator of the department of casts has nearly completed the classification in chronological order of 950 casts purchased some years ago, but which up to 1901 were stored in the basement of the Museum.

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METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.-Fifth Avenue Front.

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These casts are now being placed on exhibition in the south gallery. The annual, or paying, members at the close of 1901 numbered 2,104, as against 2,008 at the end of 1900; the loss in old members during the year was 203, and the addition of new members 299, showing a net gain for 1901 of 96 new members. The new east extension building facing on Fifth avenue is completed, so far as the building proper is concerned, and the interior fittings are now constructed, the board of estimate and apportionment having on December 18, 1901, authorized the sale of bonds of the remaining $100,000 allowed by the State legislature. The gifts received from the friends of the museum during 1901 were numerous and valuable. Among these may be mentioned ten $1,000 bonds of the Toledo, Peoria, and Western Railway Company, donated by Mr. Charles B. Curtis. Five legacies were left to the museum, four of which have been already received. They are: (1) From the estate of Victor Henry Burgy, who died in France, in 1900, a collection of 175 objects, chiefly of the periods of Henry II., Louis XIII., Louis XV., and Louis XVI., in silver, bronze, etc., representing church candlesticks, snuff-boxes, clocks, reliquaries, paintings, engravings, etc.; (2) from the estate of Miss M. A. Main, ten large plaques (nine porcelain and one glass); (3) from the estate of C. V. Sidell, a portrait of John A. Sidell by J. Vanderlyn; (4) from the estate of Henry Villard, $5,000. The fifth legacy, that left by the late Jacob S. Rogers, Paterson, N. J., has not been received. The museum has been made the residuary legatee of Mr. Rogers's estate both real and personal, the value of which has been estimated at about $5,000,000. The executors had not up to the close of the year turned over the property to the museum. The museum scholarship, founded in 1892 by the family of the late eminent painter, Jacob H. Lazarus, and securing to the winner $1,000 annually for three years, will be open for competition for the third time in October, 1902. Candidates must notify the secretary of the National Academy of Design on or before September 15, of their intention to take part in the competition. The course of lectures in connection with Columbia University, on a modified plan, is still a feature of the programme of the museum. Secretary, L. P. Di Cesnola.

MEXICO, a Spanish-American republic extending from the United States to Central America. The capital is the City of Mexico.

Area, Population, etc.—The area of the 27 states, 2 territories, and federal district comprising Mexico has been estimated at 767,005 square miles. The population in 95 was 12,491,573, and according to the census of October 28, 1900, 13,570,545. The increase of 7.43 per cent. thus shown is probably due in part to increased accuracy in the enumeration. The inhabitants of the City of Mexico numbered 356,738, as against 329,774 in 1895. Though the western and northern portions of the country are still the most sparsely populated, these districts show the greatest percentage of increase, owing largely to the development of their mineral resources. Over half the inhabitants are found in seven states-Jalisco, Guanajuato, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, Michoacán, and Mexico.

Government. The chief executive is a president, assisted by a cabinet, while the legislative power devolves upon a congress of two houses, a senate and a house of representatives. The president is General Porfirio Díaz, who was inaugurated on December 1, 1900, for his sixth four-year term. The several states enjoy local selfgovernment. The regular army in 1900 was reported to number 2,068 officers and 30,075 men. The navy is inconsiderable, its personnel being about 90 officers and 500 men.

Finance. The monetary standard is silver and the unit of value the dollar, which was worth in United States money 49 cents on October 1, 1900, and 46.4 cents on October 1, 1901. The chief sources of revenue are internal taxation and customs, and the largest items of expenditure are for the service of the debt and for the army. The revenue and expenditure in the fiscal year 1899 were 60,139,212 dollars and 53.499,541 dollars respectively; in 1900, 64,261,076 dollars and 57,944,688 dollars. The budget estimates for 1901 were 61,694,000 dollars for revenue and 61,577,990 dollars for expenditure.

In 1900 the foreign debt, in addition to currency bonds for 140,000 dollars, amounted to £22,628,920 ($110,023,639); the internal debt, including a floating debt of some 954,000 dollars, stood at about 114,542,648 dollars.

Industries and Commerce.-The principal industries are agriculture and mining. Farming methods are in great part primitive and manufacturing is unimportant. In corn production, which in 1898 amounted to 111,347,000 bushels, Mexico ranks third among the countries of the world; the United States and Austria-Hungary are first and second. The wheat crop in 1898 amounted to 8,789,000 bushels. In Yucatan the export of henequen is of increasing importance; the henequen export from the port of Progreso in 1900 was valued at over 20,000,000 dollars. At the end of the fiscal year 1901 there were 11,865 taxed mining properties, of which nearly one-third were in the states of Durango, Chihuahua, and Sonora. In total value silver is the leading metal mined, but copper has become very important; the exportation of the latter

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metal in the fiscal year 1901 was valued at over 10,000,000 dollars, which is double the amount of the preceding year. The value of the world's silver production in 1900 is reported at $112,205,742, of which the United States produced $35,576,900 and Mexico $34,269,494. The reported silver coinage in Mexico for the fiscal year 1901 was 18,290,640 dollars, while the silver export was valued at 56,814,552 dollars, the total being valued approximately at $37,000,000.

The imports stated in Mexican gold dollars (98.3 cents) and the exports stated in Mexican silver dollars have been as follows for fiscal years ending June 30: 1897, 42,204,095 and 111,346,494 respectively; 1900, 61,318,175 and 150,056.360; 1901, 65,083,451 and 148,656,339. The leading imports stated in gold dollars for the fiscal years 1900 and 1901 respectively were: Mineral products, 16,555,522 and 19,031,659; vegetable products, 8,367,184 and 10,185,602; machinery and apparatus, 9,843,880 and 9,531,528; textile products, 9,928,361 and 9,212,374; spirits and beverages, 2,809,986 and 2,788,920. The principal exports stated in silver dollars for the fiscal years 1900 and 1901 respectively were: Mineral products, 84,988,572 and 97,924,498; vegetable products, 50,939,474 and 36,149,110; animal products, 10,633,713 and 11,495,130; manufactured products, 2,813,687 and 2,395,043. The imports, in Mexican gold dollars, from the countries of greatest trade importance were for the fiscal years 1900 and 1901 respectively: The United States, 31,026,415 and 35,165,253; Great Britain, 10,483,200 and 9,924,635; Germany, 6,673,848 and 7,084,742; France, 6,757,138 and 6,564,108; Spain, 2,919,162 and 2,876,743; Belgium, 802,374 and 758,738. The exports, in Mexican silver dollars, by countries for the fiscal years 1900 and 1901 respectively were: The United States, 116,102,285 and 117,226,328; Great Britain, 12,458,047 and 12,033,077; Cuba, 5,882,029 and 5,146,515; Germany, 5,049,487 and 5,018,464; Belgium, 1,926,103 and 4,422,728; France, 6,637,765 and 2,824.303; Spain, 912,173 and 1,187,714. In the foreign trade the shipping entered in the fiscal year 1899 was 1,838,189 tons, and cleared, 1,754,197 tons.

Communications.-Nearly all of the Mexican railways are owned by the government. The total length of the railways has been reported at 14,573 kilometres (9,055 miles) in September, 1900, and 15,454 kilometres (9,603 miles) in September, 1901. At the former date the reported length of telegraph line was 68,250 kilometres (42,408 miles), of which about two-thirds was owned by the federal government. A railway, which it is expected will be completed by the end of 1903, is being constructed by the government across the isthmus of Tehuantepec, from Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Campeachy to Salina Cruz on the Pacific. Harbors at both ports will accommodate vessels of the largest size.

HISTORY.

The congress convened on April 1, 1901. At that time the President reported the financial condition of the government to be satisfactory. In the City of Mexico much progress has been made in increasing the water supply, reconstructing the sewerage system, and extending asphalt pavement. Under the just but distinctively autocratic rule of President Díaz, Mexico has made remarkable progress. Besides the new minister to Austria-Hungary (mentioned below), Mexico in 1901 appointed a minister to Argentina. During 1901 troubles occasionally recurred with the Yaqui Indians in Sonora and the Maya Indians in Yucatan. An anti-clerical movement developed considerable force in 1901. This in no way favors Protestantism, but aims to limit the power of the Roman Catholic clergy in secular matters.

In the latter part of 1901 the "free zone" was abolished. This was a strip of territory about twelve and one-half miles wide, extending along the northern boundary of the country from the Gulf to the Pacific, a distance of 1,833 miles, in which only one-tenth of the regular customs duties on goods imported from the United States was charged. Goods sent out of the free zone into Mexico, however, were taxed 90 per cent. of the regular duty. This system was burdensome to persons exporting from the free zone into the regular Mexican customs territory; and, moreover, though the free zone had been established to prevent smuggling, it seems to have encouraged it.

President Díaz has erected to the memory of Emperor Maximilian a chapelle expiatoire at Queretaro, for which in the spring of 1901 Emperor Franz Josef sent a picture to be placed above the altar. In June these amenities were followed by the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two governments, which had been interrupted for thirty-three years. Count Gilbert Hohenwart von Gerlachstein was appointed minister to Mexico, and Señor José de Teresa, brother-in-law to President Díaz, minister to Austria-Hungary.

In October, 1901, Mr. W. H. Mealey, a prominent American mine operator in northern Mexico, was imprisoned at Monterey on complaint of claimants to a mine in Coahuila, to which Mr. Mealey maintained he had a clear title. The United States consul-general investigated the case and reported to the State Department at Washington that Mr. Mealey appeared to be the victim of a conspiracy.

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