Omaha daily bee., 1889-12-08

other place and make all rranremen in
case Omaha should fail.
The subject IL. now being agitated in the
cast, and an effort is being made to show
that Omaha cannot fulfill the conditions, and
much influence Is being brought to bear to
take the conference TO Chicago.
This Omaha cannot afford to allow, and
probably Will not. The conference will con-
sist of about five hundred and fifty dele
gates.
About 300 OF them will be the leading
speakers and writers of the denomination.
They represent 1870 annual conferences and
missions composed of nearly l5,0 900 ministers.
The remaining $50 are representative lay
men, representing n membership OF over
1000, 600. These ministers and laymen in.
iuencc a constituency of over 100000 PEG.
pie, and what they would see and learn OF
the west is OF no slight Importance to Omaha
and Nebraska.
But, besides the delegates, the conference
will naturally bring with it thousands of
visitors, many of them from South America,
England, Australia ana the continent, and
some from China. India and Africa.
II Is easily seen that such q gather
ing is OF too much Importance to be
lost by neglect or lack of sufficient effort.
To secure beyond all poradventure the COM
ing OF the conference, we need to have an
auditorium engaged which will
date at least five thousand people, and to
make an adequate provision and guarantee
thereof for the entertainment Of the $50 del.
! egates during one mouth, May, 1872. The
Methodists of Omaha stand ready to do their
utmost in this matter, and they expect the
usual courtesy Of sister denominations, and
the cooperation of the citizens in general.
Rev. =. S. Merrill-The Methodist general
conference has fixed upon Omaha as the
seat of It's next session in May, 1892, on the
condition that this city entertain the dele
gates. A commission was recently appointed
to provide another place in case Omaha
should fail to meet the demand. 1t seems
the rumor has gone abroad that our city can
not entertain this conference. This has
stirred the Omaha Methodists no and they
are beginning to agitate the subject. Last
Monday night q meeting was held IN First
church about Ii, and a second will be held in
the same place on the evening Of the 18th.
This time the general public will be admitted.
AS this is a matter of very greatest import
ance. not only to Omaha Methodism, but to
all our citizens. the following facts are pre-
sented:
1. What is the general conferencel 1t is
the supreme and only legislative body of the
Methodist Episcopal church. About $50 del
egates from all over the world VIII constitute
it-from wherever Methodism is. The
greatest theologians, orators and scholars of
the church will be among them, men whose
personal influence can scarcely be estimated.
2. What will it do for Omahal Besides
these delegates 1t will bring thousands upon
| VI oib "a AOi Cho "C5b,
north and south. These people will see the
advantages and prospects of Omaha as a
city and go off to the ends of the earth to
talk about it. The great official organ of the
church, the New York Christian Advocate,
will publish here a daily edition, thousands
of which will be sent all over the world as
an advertisement for Omaha. Then, no
paper of any consequence, daily or weekly,
secular or religious. published in the Eng
lish language, will fan to mention Omaha in
every edition for that month. Even the
papers of other tongues in this country and
some elsewhere will note our city, for all the
people must have all the news. The doings
of that great body AT Omaha will interest
millions. Our city will then cease to be
thought Of as a western territory or an In
dian village, and Omaha will be known as a
great growing, mighty, intelligent, progress
sive and hospitable city.
Now it appears that to gain all of this
Omaha has but to pledge herself to the en-.
tertalnment of $50 men for a month. 1t is es.
timated that the total cost will not exceed
$50, U00-that is If we paid their board al
our hotels. OF course a portion will be taken
by private parties IN their homes. If our
business men and others interested in the
welfare of the city thought it would be
worth $4,000 to have a national po%litical
convention held here and were willing to
pledge themselves for that amount, surely
they should be ready to pledge $50, 900 to se-
cure this great conference if so much even
were needed. We can't afford to nave il
published to the world that the general con.
ference went to Chicago, for instance, be-
cause Omaha could not or would not enter
tain it. When the matter shall be presented
to our men of business and wealth will they
let such an opportunity go pya