# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1878_S43
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

— 43 —

Resolved, that the Board always hold its annual general meeting — which the two out-of-town members of the Board shall also attend — before the opening of the synodical sessions. The rendering of accounts shall also take place at this general meeting.

Resolved, that § 2 of the "Regulations Concerning the Composition, etc., of the Board" (see Synodical Handbook, p. 68) be subjected to revision. According to the wording of this paragraph, the Board appears to be bound to charge one of its members with keeping separate books, whereas the bookkeeping of the agent, as overseen by the Board, fully satisfies the matter.

Resolved, that the words (§ 2) "and to keep exact books and accounts of all related purchases, work delivered, expenditure and income, etc." be struck, so that the wording of § 2 shall henceforth read as follows:

"The duties of the Board are, in general: in the name of the synod, solely for its benefit and answerable and liable to it in everything, to administer the synodical typesetting shop, printing house, and bindery, with everything belonging thereto, and to oversee the general agency. This is self-evident," etc.

Concerning the book business, gratifying growth could be reported. In the last 3½ years, $118,509.81 had come in for books, periodicals, and the like sold, of which the considerable sum of $83,893.61 flowed into the synodical treasury. This calls for heartfelt thanks to God the Lord for this visible blessing of his. The result is that the synod has not only become free of the great burden of debt under which it had until now groaned, but can also rejoice in a surplus in the synodical treasury.

Next to God, we owe this earthly blessing above all to our dear professors at St. Louis, as editors of our church periodicals and authors of the most varied publications of our synod, all of which found good sales. Their eager diligence and untiring zeal — with which, to be sure, they sought only God's glory and the salvation of immortal souls — also proved of rich benefit to the synod in an earthly way. Whereas publishers elsewhere must pay dearly for the copyright of men whose writings find a large market, so that often the greater part of the profit falls into the pockets of the writers, our dear professors have never demanded or accepted the slightest payment from the synod for the rich treasure of the works they delivered — works that in part had to be produced with a labor and diligence of which many a person has not even an inkling — but instead, in the most unselfish manner, let the profit flow to it undiminished.