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 STATISTICS

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STATISTICS

material which is exceedingly valuable to the eccle- siastical statistician. He is, indeed, frequently depen- dent upon them, because these figures are not to be found anjTV'here else. In addition the " Hofkalender " or "Almanach de Gotha", as it is called in the French edition, gives statistics of all kinds, the exactness of which may generally be relied upon. This almanac is well known throughout the world. The state direc- tories and the "Hofkalender", which are frequently the authoritative and the only sources for the statis- tics of religion, are sometimes also important sources for ecclesiastical statistics. While formerly the pub- lic had but little interest in exact data concerning the great Catholic orders, there has been a change in the present era. The latest statistics collected are published more or less regularly and attract much attention. These figures are based on thorough investigations, which make it possible at regular inter- vals to offer an exact summary of the growth and development of the respective orders. Only a few, however, of these important statistical records are published, and only in isolated instances are they to be found by the laity in the book trade or elsewhere. Two important works belong to this class, "Schcma- tismus totius ordinis Fratrum Minoruni" (.\.s.sisi) and "SS. Patriarchal Benedicti Familse confcederatse" (Rome). Along with these are excellent outlines for the congregations. General statistics are drawn from the catalogues of each Jesuit province which are at the disposal of those who desire to know, while the cata- logues themselves are verj' seldom given to the pub- lic. It is not possible to say, from the only — and very scanty — statistics of the Dominican Order known to the present writer, whether, besides the enumeration of provinces, congregations, monasteries, and mem- bers of the order, other statistical work is also under- taken. The Capuchins pubhsh statistical summaries in their "Analecta ordinis", of which one volume is issued annually. The further statistical summaries of other orders need not be mentioned here; for these the reader is referred to the respective articles in The Catholic E.ncyclopedia. There are only a few statistical outlines of monasteries for entire countries. The year-books mentioned above give copious records of the monasteries for both sexes in the territories covered at the time of publication.

A very important section of ecclesiastical statistics is that comprising the statistics of the missionary labours of the Catholic Church. As already men- tioned, this branch of statistical work was the earliest undertaken and the most has been done in it. Con- sequently it is in this field that we have the most thor- ough and complete statistics. What the Propaganda has, in this respect, done officially has ahead}' been noted. The statistical labours of the missionaries have, from crude beginnings, developed in (he present time to imj)Osing performances. It is not, however, meant that there could not be improvements and additions in many particulars: above all there might be greater uniformity in the^ucsfionnaircsand dearer, presentation of the headings to be conveyed. The immense amount of material, brought together by individual missionaries, by orders and congregations, and from other sources, has of late been critically examined and collated, largely by German and French scholars. For further particulars of this collation see MissiD.Ns, Catholic, where a copious bibliography is given; see also the work of Streit mentioned above, on the bibliography of German Catholic missions.

Much alarm was expres.sed by the timid at the time when the .statistics of charitable work were first demanded, when the opinion was maintained that a statistical record should be kept of needy per.sons and applicants for help, and a combined organization of charitable work was demanded. The fear was ex- pressed that the noble, world-embracing conception of Christian love would suffer from the business-like XIV.— 18

treatment of it that would be necessary. Nothing of this kind has happened; the result of the new method has rather been to add new and enthusiastic members to charitable associations, because each could see clearly that the impelhng force of Christian charity had really increased through the unity of organization and the labours of statisticians. The statistics which reveal a good, a merely even, or a poor ratio between rehef and need, on the one hand, and between t he work done and the expenditures, on the other, make pos- sible a more exact use or a greater output of the power latent in the forces in question. Another, and very imjjortant, point is that exact statistical records cover- ing large territories facilitate the prevention of unwise expenditures. From the present writer's experience it may be asserted that lack of knowledge of organiza- tions still capable of doing work has led to the estab- Ushnient of new ones on much the same lines for which no need existed. The fact that those desiring to inaugurate charitable work of a certain kind did not know the existence near by of organizations with the same object has, unfortunately, been at times the reason for a needless expenditure of money which was far more imperatively needed for other pur|)o.ses. It may also be noted here that the statistics of the actual results are effectual to inspire to greater endeavours those who co-operate in the work.

The idea of combining all Catholic charitable organ- izations was first reahzed on a large scale in the cele- brated charity organization society (Charilasverband) established in Germany in 1897. This was followed in Austria by an imperial organization for all the charitable societies in the monarchy. For further particulars concerning the two organizations see "Kirchhches Handlexikon", s. v. "Charitas", where a bibliography is also given. For the United States a beginning of such general organization was made in the First National Conference of Catholic Charities held at the CathoUc University, Washington, in 1910. An exceedingly valuable work is done in many coun- tries — as Belgium, Bavaria, Prussia, Austria — and in many cities and provinces by the preparation of sta- tistical summaries of all charitable associations with which Catholics are connected. Such handbooks of Christian benevolence save much time and labour; they show exactly what exists and also make existing gaps equally plain. In addition to this is the work done by the secretaries of the charity organization, who are able from their records to distinguish between the really needy and worthy and the i)rofcssional beg- gars. Thus it is evident that a comprehensive statis- tical grasp of Christian benevolence has already been exceedingly useful and beneficial, and will be st ill more so in the future. But, while these two facts by no means, exhaust the list of advantages, a further enu- meration cannot be entered upon here.

Wherever Catholic schools are permitted in addi- tion to state .schools, the number of these schools, of their teachers and scholars, and the expenditure on the same form an important branch of ecclesiastical sta- tistics. Figures are far more merciless than the most severe denunciation of the indolent. In aiidition to the importance of such statistics for the elementary schools, statistics of the middle schools and universi- ties show whether any, and how many, Cm t holies receive a liberal education, or arc studying for techni- cal callings, or pursue literary courses, and also make clear whether the figures are in proportion to the Cath- olic population. For if a deficiency in Catholic intel- ligence appears, because Catholics do not send their sons in sufficient numbers to the higher schools, lead- ers will surely be lacking to the Cathohcs in the next generation.

Ecclesiastical statistics also include the staiistics of Catholic associations, whether purely religious, social, political, religious-political, or of any other kind. They show whether the individual societies