The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-20
THINK 1T IS Fl SCHEME
EASTERN PRESBYTERIANS WILL OP-
POSE THE .'INDIANA PLAN"
Views of New Yorker on the PrOPO-
sitiOJl to Permit SynOds to Do Their
own Home Mission Work.
,pec,aI to the indianapolis Journal.

Special to the indianapolis Journal
NEW YORK, Nov. ia great deal OF In
terest attaches to the preliminary report OF
the committee which met in indianapolis
this week concerning Presbyterian synodlca
mission work A lively contest is ahead over
the matter. Particular objection is made
to the leaving of the appointment or the
subcommittee charged with the duty or
drawing up practical working plans to the
Rev. DIR. Withrow. of Chicago Said
prominent Presbyterian leader of New York
city to-day-a leader who does not, how
ever, hold any official position.
THE decision of the Presbyterian General
Assembly committee to report in favor Of
What Is known the Indiana plan is a
far-reachlng one, and yet not generally I'M
derStoOd. The committee which has just
held It's meeting in Indianapolis grew out
OF an attempt lnAuguraIed by the Rev. DIR.
w. Z. Kane, of the Second Church, Bloom
lngton, Ill.,. and ably seconded by the Rev.
DR.. Jonn L.. WiIhrow, of the Third Church,
Chicago, and moderator of the last General
Assembly, to induce Presbyterian synodS to
do their own home mission work There are
those who freely charge that this commit
tee is nothing more or less than an organ
lied effort to cripple the home board of the
Presbyterian Church. Certain 1t is that there
has crept into the movement good deal OF
religious politics and some personal feeling.
THE statement telegraphed from Indian
apolis this week that the plan approved by
the General Assembly at WinonA next year
is the same that has been long in successful
operation in Eastern States. notably in New
Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, is mis-
leading. That it is so will be understood
when it is explained that the plan long in
use in these Eastern States was proposed
and is supported by the home board itself
and any one familiar with the heated con-
troversy over the matter that is now going
on among PresbyterianS of the whole coun-
try knows full well that the Rev. DR.. Will
approved plan a.
vored in the slightest degree by the Presby-
terrain home board
THE men named headed a movement
some time since which was said to have for
its object the removal of the headquarters
of the home board from New York to Chi
cago. Failing In that attempt, they set up
what they called the 'synodical sustentation
plan'-each state synod it's own home mis-
sion board. The leader of the movement in
favor of this plan is the Rev. DIR. Kane, of
Bloomington. The work was inaugurated in
Indiana hence it's name Of the Indiana
plan,' and the Winona assembly grounds
some of the profits from which, when there
are any, are to go to the Indiana Synod is
a part of the scheme. Another part of 1t
was the very committee which just met in
Indianapolis, a city that is, with Chicago,
the stronghold of the movement against the
home board.
ITO understand that those behind this
plan aim directly at the home board IT is
nent provision of their plan is that no NOR ey
shall be sent by Indiana churches to the
shall send none except under a provision
that prevents, and which was intended to
prevent any money ever being available to
contribute to the home board. Under the
New Jersey and Pennsylvania plans
churches send their money direct to the
home board and take separate collections
for Synodical work. Under such plan
marked progress has been made, especially
in Pennsylvania, whose contributions to the
home board have more than doubled not
withstanding the fact that the Pennsylvania
Synod supports work in West Virginia and
in its own mountain region.
1.-The leaders on the committee that Just
sat at Indianapolis are the same who had
the books of the home board overhauled.
who raised the question about keeping the
Presbyterian building in New York and
who brought in and championed the meas
ure before the last General Assembly favor
ing the discharge of one of the secretaries
of the home board"
The meeting to decide which of the two
secretaries is to be discharged is to be held
I'm New York next Tuesday The whole sub
ject is important at this time because it
involves the method of work IN one of the
largest of American religious denomina-
lions. and because it will form one of the
topics of debate at Winona next year when
the subcommittee with the Rev. Dr. With
row. of Chicago. at it's head brings In its
proposed method Of work under the In
diana Dlan.'