The state herald., 1892-06-03
|METHODISTS 60 HOME
CLOSE OF THE CONFERENCE.
A Number of Important Changes Mads
During the Session.

Tho General Conference Of tho Methodis>
Episcopal church, which has been in session
in Omaha since the 2nd Of May, closed It. DO
liberAtions on the Goth.
This has becn conservative conference Of
this great church. As whole, II has been .
harmonious conference. At no time has there
been awakened anything that might be termed
extreme bitterness, even In the elections. Tho
conference seemed to be impressed with the
Idea that there were only few things that
really needed changing very bad, and there
were but few radical changes.
The first decisive change was the move Of
the laymen to demand separate seats from the
ministers in the conference hail. This marked
An era In the lay representation Of the church
Then the conference decided that the consti-
tuition Of the general conference and the
church did not need reconstruction, although
commission that had been appointed four
ysars before was eager to have It's report
adopted. Next came decision that no more
bishops were needed at present and mono were
| elected. Later on the conference decided
that the time limit on the itinerancy should
not be taken of, notwithstanding the urgent
ucHIuhu tIC part VI u sEchb VI tuC
ministers that the limit should be removed.
One of the most important decisions Of the
conference was that the church should re
celvc no more money from the general gov
crnmcnt for the support Of It's Indian mission
schools and another vital matter was tho &c a
ommendation TO the annual conferences that
the laymen be given representation In the
general conferences OF the future,
The shrcwdcst and most skillfully managed
piece Of legislation OF the entire conference
was that passed In the last session relating to
the woman question. Those who have OPP
posed the admission Of women ns delegates to
the general conference have invariably fallen
back on the statement that the word "lay'
men" did not mean women, and therefore wo-
men could have no right under the constl.
tuition TO seats in the general conference.
Taking advantage Of this argument, the
friends Of the women succeeded In getting
proposition submitted to the annual confer
enccs that will undoubtedly give the opposi'
tion considerable uncasincss. The substitute
adopted In place Of the committee report sub
mits to the annual conferences the question:
"Does the word laymen,' as applied to lay
delegates, mean male delegates onlyi"
II this is confirmed by two-thirds Of all the
annual conferences and two-thirds Of the gen.
eral conference at the next session, the
women will not be entitled to seats on the
floor of the conference But the proposition
also provides that II this construction Of the
word ''iaymen" is not confirmed by the vote
Of the conference, then the word shall mean
both men and women. This simply throw,
the load OF proof upon those who oppose the
admission Of women. They will have te
work with great energy to carry the proposi
tion, and 1t is not likely that II Will carry. A
failure 10 carry the proposition will mean vic
tory for the women. The advocates of tn,
admission OF women seemed to he scarcely
match for the opposition up to the las, scs
sion, but In the closing hours Of the confer
encc they wen victory that more than over
balanced all their apparent defeats during III,
entire session.