New-York tribune., 1900-04-22
| NATIONAL WELCOME.
PRESIDENT M'KLNLEY GREETS
CONFERENCE DELEGATES.
GOVERNOR ROOSEVELT FOLLOWS FOR
THE TE-EX-PRESIDENT HAIR
RISON RESPONDS FOR THE
ECUMENICAI4 VISITORS.
ECUMENICAL VISITORS.

With the President of the United States "a
welcome them on the part of the Nation. the
Governor of New York to welcome them on the
part of the State, and an ex-President OF the
country TO respond for them, the delegates TO
the great Ecumenical Conference in this city
were started upon their labors yesterday under
auspices which must have convinced the foreign
ers among them that America glad TO
them. and the whole Christian world that New
York is in active sympathy with the objects Of
the gathering.
One hundred and four Protestant missionary
societies are represented this conference. and
for that reason if for other. it is expected to
surpass its predecessors in ecUmenical or world
embracing results. These societies have sent
about two thousand delegates. and Carnegie Hall
yesterday looked as if they all there. and
their wives with them 1t packed to the
utmost. and at once proved the wisdom Of those
IN charge. who have provided other auditoriums
in which simultaneous sessions will be held
while the conference lasts. The doors had to be
closed a few minutes after they were opened
and many hundreds We're turned away.
AN IMPRESSIVE SIGHT
The vast assembIage made an impressive
sight and the many elements composing IL q
suggestive one. Statesmen were there who have
attained emnence in politics; thinkers who have
written books that are widely read: theologians
who differ radically among themselves In mat
ters of creed; missionaries who have carried the
Bible in hand and their lives in the other
into unexplored lands. and converts and mission
workers from those same lands whose bright
costumes and swarthy compilations formed a
sharp contrast to the somhre clothing OF some of
their neiglbors. That these widely divergent
types should rally from all over the world to the
support of such cause shows that missionary
work is supported by brains well as by fervor.
This Conference viii engage the attention of
the entire Christian world. and even a cursory
examination Of its personnel and it's programme
the community is more and more attracted and
he'd by modern missionary methods Fully one
half of the programme is devoted 10 the consd-
Grafton OF purely educational and medical az
fairs and the missionaries serving as educators
and physicians are steadily increasing. while the
spirit of missions is gradually outgrowing the
purely theological phase and is assuming a dis
tinctly humanitarian function well.
a LASTING DISTINCTION
The widely inclusive character OF this Con.
ference will probably lend il peculiar and a
lasting distinction and it would seem as II even
the habituaI scoffer at mission work must be
impressed by it. 1t is hoped that a few win
be led 10 desert the ranks OF the honest doubters
as to the real value OF missionaries and Will be
brought To admit that the great ethical impulse
now discernible in races that were once sunk in
contented degradation Is largely due TO the abors
and teachings of devoted OF this class for
the last hundred years.
The reports to which this Conference viii
listen of the results achieved by these 1O4 So
cieties viii reveal in detail how difficulties are
overcome. how methods are adapted 10 smer-