St. Paul daily globe., 1895-09-21
GERMAN Nj. e. CONFERENCE OP-
POSED TO ADMISSION OF
WOMEN DELEGATES. :,
ALMOST A UNIT AGAINST IT.
HAMILTON RESOLUTIONS RE-
CEIVE A BRIEF AND SUM-
MARY CONSIDERATION.
THEY HAD A BUSY DAYS WORK
DR.. II. l.. NagIer and Henry Ben-
dixon Delegates to the Gem
eraI Conference.

the Methodist Episcopal conferences
have passed resolutions faVoring the
admission of women as delegates
had no effect on the delegates to the
German M. E. Conference now in
session in the First German church,
Olive street and Van Slyke court
They took up the question yesterday
morning and voted no on the prope-
sition. In fact, they went farther
and voted that women are not now
entitled to seats in the general con-
ference. Ouly two out of the sixty
ministers present favored opening
the door to women. These were
Rev. William Pargenhart, of Roch-
ester, and Rev. Henry Ziegler, of
Pepin
When the matter came UP DR.. F.
l.. Nagier, of Cincinnati, tried to
have the matter shelved without a
vote through the following resolu-
ton:
We, deeming the so-called Ham
llton amendment proposition to he
both unconstitutional and unbiblical-
protest and decline to vote upon the
same.
Bishop Fowler declined to put the
resolution because he said that it was
! not competent for the majority to
prevent the minority from voting. He
said the point in the resolution offered
| by Rev G. w. Hamilton, of Boston.
at the general conference held at Oma-
| ha, In 1892, was that it assumed that.
| women, as well as men, are now in
| the conference as lay delegates. The
| Hamilton resolution was to the effect
that the lay delegation be restricted
to men only. The adoption of the res
oiution would require the affirmative
votes of three-fourths of the preach
ers and two-thiris of the general con-.
| ference, made up of lay and minister
| FaI delegates. The Hamilton resolu-
| ton had passed the Omaha general
conference and must be submitted to
/ the district conferences for adoption
| or rejection >, s- ~ =
| ANOTHER PROPOSITION.
| In addition to this resolution, there
was also another proposition bearing
| on the same subject to be voted upon.
| That was a, resolution adopted by the
| Baltimore conference and approved by;
the Colorado conference, which SUBJ
mitted the straight question as t9
the admission of women as delegates.
| oiSiioP Il OWiOI oSkCu lOI d. NOlG upon
the Hamilton resolution. All declined
to vote, and, there being neither aft
firmative nor negative votes, the res
| olution was not adopted. y
| The resolution of DR.. Nagler was
adopted by vote 56 in the affirmaI;
| tive and none in the negative.
A vote was. taken upon the Balti@
more-Colorado proposed amendment,c
! which, was to the effect that lay deleo
gates may be either men or women!i
| There were 2 votes in the affirmatiVe'
| and So in the negative, so it was de2f
| cided that women shall not be lay deleSa
! gates. and that they are not now per-
! mitted to be delegates. -. =. a.. ? ?
Separate sessions were held by the
ministerial and lay delegat tes, Bishop
Fowler presiding over the former and
also over the joint session. The transfer
of Rev. William J. Webber from the
| Chicago. to the Northern German con-
| ference was reported.
| CONFERENCE DELEGATES.
| An amendment to the rules relating
| to representation in the general con-
| ference was adopted, whereby there
will hereafter be one delegate to every
| siXty-five members in the district con-
ference instead of one for every forty
! five, as heretofore.
! DR.. r. l.. Nagler was elected dele
| gate to the general conference, but it
took two ballots to decide it, Rev. E.
| j. Funk being a strong competitor.
| Mr.. Funk declined to accept the posi-
| ton of alternate, so Rev. A. H. Koer-
ner was elected instead.
| An amendment was adopted to the
report of the committee on admissions
| % ;DiS -
must hereafter have general average
of IS instead of 70 per cent in all
branches before being allowed to pass
On the suggestion of Bishop Fowler, it
| was decided to elect a registrar to
| keep record of the applicants for
| admission to the ministry, so that
| their standing may be aScertained at
| a glance without wading through the
| records. The presiding elders are to
suggest the name of some one for the
place.
On the suggestion of Rev. c. F. Saul
| ter, of Jordan, it was determined to
| require that all examinations be in
| writing instead of oral, as heretofore,
and a committee, consisting of the
| chairrnen of the five examining COM
| mittees, with Rev. j. L. Nelson added,
was appointed to formulate plan for
| written examinations. A proposition
that the sermons of candidates be re-
stricted to from 1,5OO to 1,SO0 words
was referred to this committee. Gustav
J. Sohn and John Leonard, both Of LIE
Sueur, were introduced as candidates
for the ministry, both having passed
splendid examination. They will be
| taken on trial.
The lay delegates met in the main
auditorium, and elected Henry Ben
dixon, a merchant at Springfield,
Mimi, as delegate to the general con-
| ference, which meets in Cleveland
| next June. Mr.. Bendixon made a
| brief speech, which was followed by
one on the part of DR.. Nagler, who
| had Just been elected from the minis
terial part of the conference.
| CHANGE IN DISTRICTS.
Resolutions were adopted, the SUBJ
| stance of which is: That the districts
of the presiding elders remain as at
| present, except that the Fourth dis
trict be changed so as to include the
territory covered by the state of North
Dakota. They were of the opinion
that presiding elders should tarry long
er when making visits to places within
their charge. They were not in favor
of the resolution to admit women to-
seats in the general conference. That
the time limit should not be changed
in the discipline. They favor the plan
Of giving bishops separate districts,
in place of having a general jurisdic-
tion, as at present. They favor an
equal representation of laymen and
ministers in the general conference.
The work of the church papers was ap
proved, and the churches of st. Paul
| were thanked for courtesies.
The board of stewards reported ex-
penses as follows: Moving expenses,
$419; house rent, $500; travelling ex-
penses, $1,4S7; salaries, $27,562; presid-
ing elders claims, $3,049; support Of
bishops, 1882; conference claims, $496;
support of superannuated ministers and
widows, $1,076