# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1914_S123
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

14th Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1914. 123

[SCAN: left margin shows show-through/edge-bleed from the facing page (line-ends from the paragraph on page
128, e.g. "erlaubt.", "jetzige", "vorhergehenden.") — not text of this page, not transcribed.]

basis of the 1911 report, a present value of $418,061.15, that is, a
normal increase of $65,508.40, or a little over $20,000.00 per year.

Our net profits in trade rose from $303,502.75 in the 1908–1911
triennium to $400,776.80 in the last triennium. The latter figure,
reduced by a twelfth as noted above, would then be $367,378.73, a
net increase of $63,875.98. Our payments to the Synod were somewhat
lower, $285,000.00 instead of $288,200.00; the former figure, reduced
by a twelfth, equals $261,250.00, which means, normalized,
$26,950.00 less for the triennium, or nearly $9,000.00 less per year.
This naturally comes from the fact that we had to pay for the new
building out of our own funds, which, together with repairs and
alterations to the other buildings, swallowed up about $55,000.00.

Our books for the year 1913/14, which closed only yesterday, have
not yet been audited. A professional firm, however, began work
yesterday and (since the work takes eight to ten days) will hardly be
able to report before the Synod closes, so the report of the
synodical auditors on our year 1913/14 can hardly be expected during
these sessions.

The Board of Directors of the Concordia Publishing House.
St. Louis, May 2, 1914.

Committee Report.

We have conscientiously examined the report of the Board of
Directors and the financial report of the Concordia Publishing
House, which is printed and in the hands of the delegates, and in
particular we have reviewed the report of a professional firm of
"certified accountants," commissioned by the Board and presented to
us by Mr. Wm. Schlake, a member of the Audit Committee, in which
these accountants attest that everything is in the best order and a
flourishing condition.

We find that our business is run very economically, that it yields
the Synod a good net profit, and that the financial situation is very
satisfactory. We recommend to the Reverend Synod that all delegates
take especially to heart the sentence in the Board's report: "If our
payments to the Reverend Synod are to exceed our present maximum in
the future — and no one wishes that more than we do — then the
increase must be built on greater and expanded sales."

Further, that the Synod express the request that all customers of
our Concordia Publishing House not delay too long in paying their
debts, as we unfortunately had to observe from the report submitted
to us. — Report accepted.