The statistics and charts belonging with this illustration are
taken from Bulletin 103 of the United States “Bureau of the
Census” “representing conditions as near as may be, at the close
of the year 1906.”
The general order or rank of the principal religious bodies in
1906 with respect to organization is presented in Table No. 1.
(See page 104.)
The distribution of religious organizations by principal
families and separate denominations in 1906, in comparison with
similar figures for 1890, is given in Table No. 2. (See page
105.)
The seating capacity of the churches is given in Tables No. 3
and No. 4. (See page 106.
[Illustration: DIAGRAM 1--Distribution of communicants or members,
by principal families or denominations, for continental United
States: 1890 and 1906.]
The value of church property, with gains by decades is shown in
Tables No. 5 and No. 6. (See pages 107–108.)
The charts here shown exhibit at a glance (1) the comparative
strength of denominations or families for 1890 and 1906 and (2)
the relative size of the church and the unchurched population.
[Note.--The designation “not church-members” in diagram 2, p.
104, represents the difference between the number reported as
communicants or members and the total population; it embraces,
therefore, children too young to become church-members, as
well as that portion of the population which is eligible to
church-membership, altho not affiliated with any religious
denomination.]
Of the total estimated population of continental United States
in 1906, 39.1 per cent., or not quite two-fifths, were reported
as church-members. The corresponding percentage for 1890 was
32.7, or somewhat less than one-third, showing that the church
has gained faster than the population 6.4 per cent.
(444)