Morning journal and courier., 1888-05-08
NO WOMEN IN THE CONFERENCE.

NO WOmEN AN AAAE OONr hEAHNOEs A Close Vote in Which she opponents
 ofthe Ladies Carry Their Point.
 NEW YORK, May 7.-Bishop Ninde pre- sided at to-day's session of the Methodist Episcopal general conference and Rev. J. M. Johnson of the Norway conference conducted the opening religious services. Secretary Moore made the official announcement of the death of Rev.. Charles G. Clarke of Portland, Me-. one of the secretaries of the conference, and of Lay Delegate Leavitt Bates of the New England Southern conference. Committees were appointed to draft resolutions of regret. It was resolved to suspend the rules and con- tipue the debate on the admission of women as lay delegates. Forty-one delegates at once sprang to their feet, claiming the floor. Rev. Fl. H. Moore of the Erie conference was recog- nizsd and spoke in favor of admitting women. Rev. J. T. Edwards of the Detroit conference and editor of the Northwestern Advocate opposed their admission at the present time and favored the submission of the
 question to Q vote of the church. Judge $. N. Taylor, lay delegate from the St. Louis
 conference, said it would do much harm to
 admit women at the present time. There
 were bishops to be elected and other impor-
 tant matters to be voted on, and if women
 were admitted and allowed to vote, and it should subsequently be decided that women were not entitled to seats, acts of the present general conference would be illegal and un- constitutional. He quoted law to sustain his point, and said he was in favor of the admis- sion of women, but wanted the question submitted to 6 vote of the church, and to have their seats given to them on legal grounds.
 Rev. Dr. J. H. Baylias of the Cincinnati conference argued that if the General confer ence had power to construe the constitution in regard to the admission of local preachers it had the right to construe the law in regard to the eligibility of women. Rev. Dr. Jacob Todd of the Wilmington conference urged that the question be submitted to the annual conference. Judge c. Horton of California spoke in favor of seating the women. Rev. A. E. Albert (colored) of New Orleans rose to defend himself for opposing the admission of women, but was ruled out of order. Rev. Dr. Lanhan of Baltimore defended MT. AL bert from the criticisms to which he had been subjected and also spoke in opposition | to the admission of the women. He then moved the previous question. The chair ruled that the committee had the right to close the debate and ex-Senator Warner Mil | Ter of the committee was given the floor to speak in favor of the report.
 | At the conclusion of his speech vote was ordered on Dr. Moore's substitute. It pro- posed that the women elected as lay dele
  seated and the question of their eligibility | to future general conferences be dete rmined by vote of the churches and annual confcr- ences. The substitute was lost. Then vote was taken upon the amendment to the report offered by Rev. Dr. Nicely, of Philadelphia. This amendment excludes women from Beats ! in the present conference and submits the question of eligibility to future general con- fersnces to the annual conference. It was adopted by vote of 249 ayes to 173 nays. After the adoption of Dr. Neely's amend msnt the report of the committee with the amendment was adopted by the following
 vote: Ayes, ministerial 159, lay 78; nays, ministerial 122, lay 76.
 The lady delegates to the conference and their friends are much disappointed at the ! vote. The vote was closer than expected by the -admissionists. In fact it came with I in one of being tie; that is, if one more lay man had voted for admission the lay vote would have been tie and this would have left the question undecided, as it requires
 concurrence between the ministerial and lay delegations to carry or defeat measure.