The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-05-20

Aoie"o, ioW't, May IO.-BlShOp Castle
presided over the United Brethren Cen
eral conference to-day.
The morning session was chiefly occu-
pied in the consideration of the report on
moral reform. The committee recon-
mended that abstinence from the use of
tooacco De hereafter required of all can
uluates Tor the ministry. This brought
nnmber OF delegates to their feet, who
spoke with animation for and apuinst
the recommendation. Professor White.
OF the Erie conference, said:
II am not tobacco user, but it seems
TO me that ms long us men within the
chnrch use tobacco it is Inconsistent to
state that nobody else who does not use
IT. Shall come in. The law is impractica-
bic. There are other methods of reaching
the desired end''
DIR. Brooks, of Kansas, said: "I hold q
good feeling toward the brother who is
champoning the cause of the tobacco
user, for presume the use of it is quite
prevalent i'll the conference he represents.
L have been in about twenty different
conferences in this church, and have
not been in any that did not have minis
tiers enough with clean mouths to preach
the gospel l remember when ministers
and church members used the whiskey
flask to sharpen their appettes. Shall
we say that because this used to he so we
shall admit that it is right now, or shall
we require that our young men set the
oil n preachers an example for cleaning
up?'
The same committee also recommended
n sweeping law against theatre going.
horse racing. prize fig" ting, Sabbath ex-
cursions. card playing and games of
chance. which brought out another lively
discussion. Professor White took n dc
cided position against this report. He
said:
II am opposed to the entire recommen-
daton, not that 1 favor dancing or card
playing, but am opposed to this class of
church legislation. Our denomination is.
perhaps, as free from the things that thie
action aims at as any Christian church in
our land, and thus far we have gotten
along without such legislation. Our
Methodist friends have had good deal
OF legislation on this very subject, but il
has not helped them. Indeed, it seems
to me that proportionately there are more
dancers who are Methodists than United
Brethren and more Methodists that play
cards than United Brethren. These ends
are to be condemned, but there is n proper
anG an liuproper way to reach them We
must allow the private individual a GER
tain amount Of liberty in this respect. A
law such as proposed here instead of
helping the matter will make it worse
DIR. hepharti. of Pennsylvania, remark.
ed: ~ Pennsylvania judge recently de.
cided that all games of chante are eamb.
ling"
Then according to chat decision" said
Kew Mr.. Morrison, of KANSAS, 'all Kan.
sas farmers are gamblers, for it is n game
of chance with us all the timen
The sentiment of the cop fnrnn m aa,,otl
to be in favor of an advisory clause
against harmful amusements, but that
no prohibitory law should be enacted.
Part OF the report was sent back to the
committee for modification.
The committee on boundaries recon-
mended but few changes in annual con
ference boundaries. The name of the
Parkersburg conference was changed to
West Virginia confererpe. New confer
cnces were authorized ih Japan China and
Oklahoma.
Rev. DIR. Dysinger, fraternal delegate
from the Lutheran Church, was intro
dnced ana made an address. Bishop
Weaver responded.
tary of the Woman's Missionary Associa.
ton, made her quadrennial report, stat
ing that over S13, 600 had been contributed
TO foreign missions by the women of the
United Brethren Church in the past four
years.
a gavel made in Germany from wood
secured in Africa, representing the union
OF mission interests, was presented to the
conference by Bishop Castle. A .resolu-
ton was adopted providing for a centen-
NAL celebration in 1900. The fourth Sab
bath in November was adopted as Tenn
perance Day.