[290] Nelson, _History of the Scandinavians_, I, 217-224, 263; _U. S. Eleventh Census_, 1890, Churches, 452. [291] _Beretning om det syttende Aarsmöde for den Forenede norsk lutherske Kirke i Amerika_, 140 and LVI. [292] _World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1914_, 538-539. In contrast with the Norwegians, the Swedes have manifested a commendable unity in keeping the faith once delivered to them by the fathers, the chief exception being the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant, which can scarcely be called Lutheran. The great Swedish Lutheran Augustana Synod, one of the constituent members of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, stood staunchly united in the midst of many changes in other branches of the church. Under the broad name of the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America, which comprised both Norwegians and Swedes down to 1870, it grew rapidly, setting its face sternly against the New Lutheranism which sought to modify the old rigidity of doctrine and practice. In 1894 the word Scandinavian was dropped.[293] By 1899 the Synod represented 900 congregations, 200,000 members, and a material estate of $4,200,000.[294] [293] Nelson, _History of the Scandinavians_, I, 219. [294] _Ibid._, I, 217; Carroll, _The Religious Forces of the United States_ (rev. ed.), 190. The break-up of the Lutheran church is not wholly to be regretted when viewed in relation to the process of Americanization, for the church has usually been a stronghold of traditionalism and conservatism. Perhaps, too, the vigorous religious and ecclesiastical disputes, wasteful of energy and of money as they sometimes seem, have contributed to a wholesome and pervasive intellectual activity not altogether unlike the results of the Puritan disputations. So careful a student of Northwestern immigrants as Mr. O. N. Nelson is inclined to the opinion that the contentions of the Lutherans may have benefited the church. "Close observation has convinced us that if there had been peace instead of war, the Norwegian Lutherans in the State (Minnesota) would have numbered several thousand less than they do. It may not seem pious to say so, but many a worldly-minded Viking has become so interested in the fight that he has joined the faction with which he sympathized in order to assist in beating the opposing party."[295] [295] Nelson, _History of the Scandinavians_, I, 339.