in Canada met in Toronto, Ont. June 10-18. Rev. Principal Gordon of Halifax, N. S., was moderator.

The sixth triennial meeting of the Pan-Presbyterian Council met in Glasgow, Scotland, June 17. Edinburgh, Philadelphia, Belfast, London, and Toronto had been the previous places of meeting.

The council is an alliance of all churches holding the Presbyterian

form of government. It represents five million communicants and

twenty million adherents.

The following is a summary of the statistics:

The total of ministers is 27,043; of congregations, 31,925. These totals come far short of the actual facts on account of the failure of many churches to make reports.

Other Religious Gatherings.-Between May 20 and May 26 Asbury Park, N. J., was the scene of important Northern Baptist gatherings-American Baptist Missionary Union for Foreign Missions, American Baptist Home Missionary Society, American Baptist Publication Society. These were preceded by a meeting of the Women's Baptist Home Mission Society.

About the same time the Southern Baptist convention was held in Chattanooga, Tenn.; and in connection with it were held meetings of the Southern Baptist Press Association, the Baptist Young People's Union Auxiliary, the Women's Missionary Union Auxiliary, and the Board of Trustees of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The ninetieth regular session of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America began at Catskill, N. Y., June 3, Rev. Dr. John B. Thompson of Catskill being chosen president.

The General Synod of the Reformed Church in the United States met at Dayton, O., May 27-June 4.

The second annual convention of the Theosophical Society in America was held in New York city beginning April 26. Over 300 delegates attended. A new president for the society, in place of Dr. J. D. Buck of Cincinnati, O., who had acted in that capacity since the death of W. Q. Judge in March, was unanimously elected in the person of Ernest T. Hargrove, son of a London (Eng.) solicitor.

Mr. Gladstone's Letter.-In the early part of June, pending the result of an investigation by a learned tribunal instituted by Pope Leo XIII. to inquire into the validity of the ordinations of the Church of England, Mr. Gladstone addressed a letter to His Holiness through Cardinal Rampolla.

In the letter, Mr. Gladstone very plainly and frankly expresses the hope that the validity will be admitted by the Pope, and that such action will establish more kindly relations between the Roman and the Anglican churches if it does not lead to their union. Throughout his letter he speaks with the utmost kindness and respect of the present occupant of the Pontifical chair, referring to him as the "first bishop of Christendom," and praising him highly for his courageous and pacificatory spirit as shown particularly in the institution of the present inquiry.

The appearance of this letter aroused wide discussion in religious circles-the Nonconformist comment, in particular, being unfavorable to the position taken by Mr. Gladstone.

Encyclical on Christian Reunion.-On June 29 there was published an abstract of an encyclical letter from the Pope on the reunion of all the Christian churches. It is a lengthy letter setting forth the Roman Catholic position regarding the authority and functions of the Church. The abstract contains the following remarkable passage:

Christ endowed His apostles with authority like to His own, and promised that the Spirit of Truth should direct them and remain with them forever, and because of this commission "it is no more allowable to repudiate one iota of the apostles' teaching than to reject any point of the doctrine of Christ Himself." This apostolic mission was intended for the salvation of the whole human race, and consequently must last to the end of time. The magisterium instituted by Christ in His Church was by God's will perpetuated in the successors. appointed by the apostles, and in like manner the duty of accepting and professing all that is thus taught is also" perpetual and immut able." There is nothing which the Church founded on these princiciples has been more careful to guard than the integrity of the faith. The fathers of the Church are unanimous in considering as outside the Catholic communion any one who, in the least degree, deviates from even one point of the doctrine proposed by the authoritative magisterium of the Church.

The very nature of divine faith makes it impossible that we can reject even one point of direct teaching, as this is practically rejecting the authority of God Himself. Christ commanded "all men present and future to follow Him as their leader and Savior," and this not merely as individuals, but as forming a society, organized and united in mind. He established in the Church all those principles which necessarily tend to make organized human societies, and through which they attain perfection. The Church is man's guide to whatever pertains to Heaven. This is the office appointed to it by God: that it may watch over and may order all that concerns relig ion, and may without let or hindrance exercise according to its judg ment its charge over Christianity. "Wherefore they who pretend that

the Church has any wish to interfere in civil matters or to infringe upon the rights of the State, either know it not or wickedly calumniate it."

The Episcopal Church and Divorce.-Wide interest was aroused in May by the suspension from the ministry_of_the Protestant Episcopal Church, of Rev. Samuel R. Fuller, rector of St. Paul's church, Malden, Mass., for violating the canon of the church which prohibits the remarriage of divorced persons except the innocent party in a divorce obtained on the ground of adultery. Mr. Fuller had obtained a divorce from his wife on the ground of desertion, and subsequently married again. The ecclesiastical court trying Mr. Fuller took the ground that it must base its action solely on the record of the civil court in the divorce trial, and could not consider alleged facts outside that record. Mr. Fuller's suspension was at once followed by his withdrawal from the ministry on the ground of the alleged injustice of his punishment.

Miscellaneous.-At the semi-annual conference of the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, Utah, April 4-6, a manifesto was issued declaring it incumbent upon any one holding official position in the church, before accepting any position or nomination, political or otherwise, to ascertain first whether his acceptance of said position or nomination would be acceptable to the church authorities. Moses Thatcher, who, it will be remembered, accepted last fall a democratic nomination for United States senator, without consulting the governing body in the church (Vol. 5, p. 907), was deposed from his office of an Apostle of the Church during the conference.

The United States Church Army in connection with the Protestant Episcopal Church, has been started under direction of Colonel H. H. Hadley of New York city. It is similar in plan to the Church Army of England. Its work varies in different circumstances, including not only visiting of the poor, but also canvassing among the churchless of all degrees. The ultimate aim is to bring men into membership in the church.

IMPORTANT LEGAL DECISIONS.

THE constitutionality of the Gray-Percy racing bill in New York state, which became a law about a year ago (Vol. 5, p. 370), was sustained by the appellate division of the state supreme court, April 17.

The Joint Traffic Association, comprising the great railroad systems of the United States, thirty-two in number, have

won their first victory in the courts over the Interstate Commerce Commission. The commission urged that the association was forbidden to act by the anti-trust law of 1890, contending that the agreement under which it acts was an illegal restraint of trade, and that the clause of the agreement authorizing distribution of traffic violated the interstate commerce law against pooling. The association put its agreement into effect January 1, and Judge H. H. Wheeler of the circuit court, southern district of New York, on hearing the case in May, failed to discover in the agreement any violation of the federal statutes. Appeal will undoubtedly be taken to the supreme court.

A decision of the United States supreme court, rendered May 18, sustained the constitutionality of the Louisiana law requiring railroads in the state to provide "Jim Crow" cars, or separate cars for colored passengers.

The opinion was delivered by Justice Brown. Justice Harlan dissented, holding that the law was contrary to the 13th amendment, that railroads were public highways to the use of which all citizens were entitled under the constitution.

On May 25 the United States supreme court unanimously overruled the decision of Comptroller R. B. Bowler, of the treasury, in the sugar bounty cases, and sustained the validity of the clause of the appropriation bill providing for their payment (Vol. 5, pp. 743, 982).

The decision leaves unsettled the important questions of the constitutionality of bounty laws in general, and the right of an administrative officer to pass upon the validity of an act of congress. The court simply held that if congress has made promises and induced people to incur expenses, and has then actually appropriated the money to indemnify the parties, the payment cannot be stopped by an administrative officer on the ground of unconstitutionality. The government has a right to make good a loss which private parties have incurred in good faith, relying on its promises; and this independently of the constitutionality of bounties.

IMPORTANT STATISTICS.

Currency Systems of the World.-The table given on opposite page, which was recently published by the Reform Club of New York city, will be of permanent interest to all students of financial economics, besides having special value at the present juncture in view of the prominence given to the money question in the presidential campaign in the United States. It presents details of the monetary systems of all the leading countries of the world.