Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 15.djvu/821

 THE RECENT CENSUS OF RELIGIOUS BODIES 807

ligious organizations, 85 per cent. The increase of members of the Catholic church, which has been influenced largely by immigra- tion, is 93.5 per cent., that of the Protestant bodies, 45 per cent. In 1890, 32.7 per cent, of the entire population was included in religious organizations; in 1906, the proportion had reached 39.1 per cent. That is, the proportion of members to population in- creased 6.4 per cent. The Catholic share in this increase is 4.4 per cent. ; the Protestant share is 1.8 per cent.

These facts hardly bear out the assumption that is often made that the churches are losing their hold on the people. Immigra- tion accounts for a part of the absolute increase, and births for another part, but neither of these accounts for the relative in- crease as compared with the population. This is particularly clear of the Protestant increase. Immigration has considerably reinforced the German and Scandinavian Protestants, but after making liberal deduction on this account, one finds the Protes- tants still increasing considerably faster than the population. In view of the relatively low birth-rate among large sections of them, this increase must be interpreted as indicating some- thing more significant than mere accretion by birth or by immi- gration.

That this growth is of a vital sort is rendered probable, like- wise, by the remarkable distribution of it. The percentage of members as compared with the population has increased in each of the five geographical divisions, and in every state and territory except North Carolina, Florida, Utah, and New Mexico. In 13 states the proportion of members to population has increased 10 per cent, or more, and these states are widely distributed. They are: Nevada, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Washington, Nebraska, California, Colorado, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Michigan, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Vermont. In some cases this increase can be accounted for in part by foreign immigration, or by the movement of laborers to new fields, but after due recog- nition is given to this factor, the figures indicate no mere redis- tribution of population, but also a general indigenous growth.

4. The Bulletin makes possible some important deductions concerning the organization and working of the social unit of each