# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S264
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

264. . ’ Publication Matters

composing room and edition bindery have been crowded for some
time, and although Synod authorized the completion of a fourth
floor to the plant, it has been found neither practical nor possible
to make such an addition because of the many building restrictions
and lack of materials. ,

By the grace of God the Lutheran Witness has now grown to
a circulation of 227,000. Twenty Districts thus far are issuing
District Supplements. Der Lutheraner, which observes its hun-
dredth anniversary this year, has ‘also increased in circulation and
is now being printed in 29,000 copies.

During the past triennium the J unior, Intermediate, and Senior
Sunday School lesson leaflets have been improved and augmented.
The devotional booklets are becoming more popular with every
number, They are now being printed in editions of approximately
420,000 per issue.

Among the new periodicals now being printed at Concordia
Publishing House’ are The Lutheran Beacon, the official paper of
the Slovak Ev. Luth. Church, and Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly,
the organ of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League. The latter
is printed in editions of 63,000 copies.

Another new project which has been received with much ac-
claim is the issuing of the Sunday Service Folders. Although begun
with the printing of 40,000 copies, they are now being used at the
rate of 235,000 copies per Sunday.

By the time this convention will take place we will have sold’
approximately 900,000 copies of the Lutheran Hymnal. Even at
this time we are having difficulty, together with our other work,
in binding sufficient copies to keep up with the demand.

Manufacturing problems and the shortage of skilled labor
made it impossible to place the new Catechism on the market last
fall in sufficient quantities to meet the growing demand for this.
new book. Efforts are being made to have a large supply avail-
able this fall.

We wish to call the attention of Synod to the pertinent fact
that although costs have gone up considerably, no general price
increase on Concordia books and periodicals has been made, as
was done during World War I. ‘ Concordia Publishing House aims,
as it has in the past, to keep prices on all its products as low as
possible.

The popularity of Concordia Christmas cards has been increas-
ing. continuously. As a result, sales have been climbing from year
to year. However, Government restrictions will limit us to only —
, 60 per cent of the cards issued last year,

Collections of accounts have improved considerably during the
past two years, although we must report with regret that in some