Morning journal and courier., 1892-05-13
THE GENERAL CONFERENCE.


 THE GENERAL CONFERENCE. pr. MOulto n's Characterization of the Proceedfngs-The Conference Chief ly Remark able for What it Has Re. fused to Do-Dr. Lanahan Scores a
 Point-The Changes to be HIade-The Time Limit of the Pastors and the Bishops-The Epworth League Church Editors-The Book Agents.
 OMAHA, May 9.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER.
 ''The campaign of your debates, and many pitched battles and the numerous skirmishes" was the language used by pr. Moulton, the fraternal delegate from Great Britain, in characterizing the proceedings of this general conference, and surely he was right. It is indeed campaign, and within the forensic arena it would be hard to conceive of any battle, or series of bat ties, in which the combatsnts are more re- luctant to yield. The brethren are good natured enough for the most part, but they are also, ss some one has expressed it, 'dreadfu.ly sot" Issues which seem quite trivial are contested with a dogged- ness which could hardly be excelled if the interests of the whole church were at stake, and with as little apparent regard for the lapse of time as though the confer ence were here to fight it out on the same line if it took all summer. Points of or der are as numerous as mosquitoes in western swamp, and for a motion to go through without an effort to amend is as rare and pleasant an occurrence as the few beams of warmth we have had so far in this unusually bleak month of May.
 Perhaps, by the way, the weather is to blame for it all. Perversity is catching and cold stimulates to action. It may be that the cantankerous spirit of Old Probs- bilities has infected the delegates to this conference. Certainly they are active enough, if an irrepressible determination to make themselves heard may pass for that quality. Those who witness the pro- ceedings of this body for the first time are amazed. They never heard it on this wise before. Some of the rest of us, however, take it as a matter of course. How it was previously we do not know, but since class meetings have gone out of fashion the Methodists have always been great takers in their general conferences. It seems as though they must find expression for their pent up feelings somewhere, and really when we remember that they are great do- CTS as well as great takers, we may per haps excuse them for this weakness Many listener has felt like calling upon some of them to "shut up," but no man could consistently demand that they ''shut up or put up," because. as the world knows, the church they represent does put up most magnificently both in money and good works. Hence, if they insist once in four years upon being heard, let them do it, and let those who listen wait patiently or ss patiently as they can--to see what the outcome will be.
 As regards it's actions, the conference at this writing is chiefly remarkable for what it has refused to do. When that genial old conservative, Dr. Lanahan, said that he rose to speak to the motion which had just been tabled-a motion to limit some what the prerogatives of the bishops-and went on to say that he heard in Maryland that this body was going to tear up some things by the root, and that the motion which had met so early demise was one of the ropes by which these radical changes were to be accomplished, he scored point which had more real significance in it than the majority of the ten minute speeches we have heard. He was out of order of course; but Dr. Lsnahan is so gracious, so courtly, SO witty, and so wise in his re- marks, that he is never out of order in equity, though he often is in law, and on this occasion his technical breach of the rules was not only good hit upon what had already occurred, but it expressed the judgment of one of the most discerning men in the conference to what was like ly to occur in the subsequent proceedings of that body. In other words, it was his way of saying that the conference had shown itself to be a body after his own heart, with O disposition to make haste slowly in decreeing changes, in which opinion your correspondent is obliged to concur.
 This does not mean that no changes will be made, nor that only few will be made, but simply that the conference is not like ly to make any very sweeping changes. There are various propositions already be- fore it, and, the cry is, still they come. For many days yet will the delegations be regularly called for petitions, memorials and resolutions, and if this body shall be as productive in such progeny as its prede-
  all about thousand of these With the propositions thus presented the dozen or more standing committees will have to la bor, and finally from these, and about a score of special committees, hundred or so out of this possible thousand will be re- turned in some form for the action of the conference upon them. Then the fun will begin, and, metapborically speaking, the fur will fly. Just how the cat of decision to carry out our last hgure-will jump in these matters we cannot tell you, but of what will come up for consideration We are forewarned by the papers handed to the secretary.
 Several have been put in asking the re- moval of the time limit from the pasto- rate. Several more praying for the aboli- ton of the probationary rule in regard 10 membership. Quite a number ask that bishops be elected for a term of years, iu- stead of for life, and many that the bish- ops be assigned quadrennially to districts. Several memorialists want the missionary society divided into two parts, one wing to look after the foreign, the other after the home field. Not a few petition for modification of the church's deliverances against popular amusements. For change that will take from the bishops the power to appoint presiding elder, and make that office an elective one, there are petitions in great abundance Some ask that trustees and stewards shall be elected by the church rather than by the quarterly conference, and. happily, there have been presented a considerable number of papers urging the conference to take action as the | altered times require looking toward the church with the Methodist Episcopal | ehurch south and afher Methodist bodfes