The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-02-17

When on New Years eve, Rev. Dr. Ed mund M. Mills announced at service in Trinity Methodist Episcopal church. In Springfield. Mass, that the twentieth cen- tury thank offering of $2O000,000 had been raised. the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States slapped itself on the back.
 Dr. Mills to whom the credit is univer- sally given for making success of the project to raise this enormous amount of money is by no means an obscure man in the Methodist Episcopal church, and that his fame has been increased largely by his work for the twentieth century fund is conceded.
 Tt was a long pull, but it was pull altogether" Dr. Mills said the other day.
 His use of the boat race simile came naturally to him. Away back in 1870 he was a student in Wesleyan University In Middletown, Conn. In his student days he was no mean athletic. On the athletic record of the college 1t is shown that he was a member of the champion class crew of his time They rowed in six pared shells In those days, and tradition has it that Student Mills was about the husSiest man in the boat. The training which he received in those days did him no harm.
 His Early Career.
 When graduation came in 1872 1t found him among the members of the class en- titled to election to the Phi Beta Kapa society, the honor which goes to those which excell in scholarship. From col lege he went into the ministry Of the Methodist Episcopal church.
 Most of his lfe has been spent fin Cen tral New York. He became affiliated with the Central New York conference of the church, and is still member of that organization. His brethren in the minis try early recognized his ability, and for year after year elected him secretary Of their organization. Half dozen times he has been delegate from the Central New York conference to the general conference of the denominations the great law-mak- ing body. So it was not as an obscure man that Dr. Mills became the corres- bonding secretary of the commission which in 1S9S,, undertook to raise $20, ,00O.- 900 to mark the going out of the century.
 No mention has been made of the enor- nous amount of work which had to be done to make the twentieth century fund project a success. There were those in the church who, for some weeks after the appointment of pr. Mills as the cor responding secretary of the commission, thought that he was the right man in the wrong place. They were the persons who like to see things go with hurrah. It is a hard task to hurrah dollar out of mans pocket, and pr. Mills knew 1t. He devoted the necessary time to making careful plans.
 The Methodist Organization.
 The Methodist Episcopal church is a great machine. There are the bishops who arc the general superintendents. Be- low them in rank comes the presiding eld- CTS, about five to each conference. Each of these supervises the work of about forty preachers, who are pastors in charge. The preachers. in a measure ac- countable to the presiding elders. report annually at their conference at which bishop presldes At the conference. the Appointments as they are called, are made for years work To the best preachers the best appointments are given by the bishop, by and with the advice of the presiding elders. So 1t is seen that the work of the preachers Is passed upon annually and the work of the presiding elders as well. In other words. there is an annual reckoning and taking of stock. It was this great machine which Dr. Mills undertook to set working to raise s2O OOO.OG0 for various church purposes for the cause of education, the raising ot church debts. philanthropfes and chari- ties And it did not take him long to get it into active motion.
 There was one presiding elder-a very conscientious man-who early succeeded in raising nearly the quota assigned to him." said Dr. Mills in conversation re- gently. 'ne was so near success that l