The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-03-22

DIRK, was purchased and made the
salesrooms of the establishment Here
the officers were kept and the business
or the concern transacted for 90 years,
while the printing and binding were
done in Mulberry street, mile and IL
half away. AT length this arrangement
no longer satisfied the conditions, and
the project of erecting q new structure
to accommodate all of the publishing
and commercial interests of the estab-
lishment was agitated. This led to the
building and completion in 1889 of the
present imposing structure at 100 Fifth
avenue.
The honor and success of this work
must be attributed in large measure to
the genius and devotion of Sanford
Hunt, one of the present agents. 1t was
he who first suggested the removal from
Broadway and the consolidation of all
branches OF tho business in single great
establishment. Associated with him at
that time as agent was John NJ. Phillips.
layman-the only layman ever so
chosen-a business man of wide expe-
rience and sterling character.
Owners of tho Enterprise.
But to whom does the Methodist Book
Concern belong? Whose enterprise and
affair is it, and by whom is it con-
trolled and to whom responsible? The
Book Concern belongs not, as might be
supposed, to the Methodist EPISCOPAL
church of the United States, but to the
preachers Of that denomination. The
question of ownership was legally and
constitutionally determined in great
suit which was instituted after the
schism in the church in 1914. In that
year, as all the world knows, Methodism
was rent asunder on the question of
slavery. Slave selling and slaveholding
had been repugnant to Methodism from
the beginning, but both these facts had
crept i'll along with the development of
the institution in the south, and the
church was at length obliged to face the
question officially
The resulting action, which was
against Methodist slaveholding. was
taken up by the general conference of
1914 and led to schism. The southern
members of the Methodist ministry with
drew and organized separate general
conference under the title of the Meth
brought for division of the properties
which had been III the meantime accu-
mulated. The court decided that the Sc
ceders should have their proportionate
part, according to the number of minis
tiers withdrawing, and that as n matter
of fact the Book Concern belonged to
the preachers of the church and not to
the church at large. Following this de-
clslon the Book Concern was obliged to
pay to the Methodist Episcopal Church
South S!i2,92G-a loss to the institution
which at that stage of its development it
was not well able to sustain.
Objects of tho Business.
Tho end and aim of the Book Concern
also have respect to the ministers of the
denomination. The primary objects of
the establishment were, first, to circulate
that kind of religious and orthodox liter
allure which was reckoned most promo
tive OF Methodism, and, secondly, to fur
nlsh from the profits of the business-if
any-a certain modicum of support for
the wornout and retired ministers of the
denomination. These fundamental IDEAS
have always been maintained. They
have been declared and re-cnacted time
and again by the general conference and
have become constitutional.
1t should be said, however. that GER
tain cncroachments have been permitted
by which the funds have been drawn
upon for expenses other than the one
great object i'll vicw-namcly, the sup
port Of the snpcrannuated preachers.
For the past 81 years the expenses of the
Quadrennial general conference.-the no
means Observation-Disclosures been drawn
from the profits of the Book Concern.
The immediate management of the
great publishing house and of its depend
ent interests is reposcd in the hands of
two agents, chosen by the general con-
ference of the church at each quadren-
mai session. 1t is the usage to approve
of the administration of the agents by
their reelection. 1t has become the rule
to re-elect the.n for Il number Of sessions
according to their efficiency and devo-
ton to the enterprise.
a Great Success.
The agents of the concern are imme-
diately responsible to what is known ms
the book committee. This also is elected
quadrcnnially by the general conference
and consists of If members, one mem
Der from each of the II conference dis
trlcts into which the whole area of
Methodism is divided. Under the gen
eral book committee there are two local
committees-one for New York and one
for Cincinnati. These are composed of
three lay members each, and to them
lies the immediate responsibility of the
agents. The book committee is itself re-
sponsible to the general conference of