The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-05-23
CUMBERLAND
 IS VOTED IN General ASSembly'S Action
 at WinOna Lake. A STORM OF APPLAUSE Final Action on Greatest Question Since War. Branch of Organization Which Went Out Over Slavery Back Again. Negroes at Huntsville Send
 Telegram.

Winona Lake, Ind, May 22.-The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was voted into the General Assembly here at noon, amid a storm of applause, without a speech being made and with out a dissenting vote.
 It was the final action of the Gen. eral Assembly on one of the greatest questions which has come before 1t since the Civil War. and brings back into the organization a branch which went out during the war because of differences over the question of slavery. If the opposition to the union had made any fight. 1t would be chiefly at the fu- ture meeting of the canvassing com mittee, appointed last Saturday, but there were today no signs of such con test. The special committee in charge of the canvass reported the votes taken by Presbyteries on the question of union. It showed IA yeas. 39 noes. Two took no action. one gave condi- tional assent and five made no re- sponse.
 The special committee, in its recom- mendations asked that the proposi- tion be referred to the Committee on Cooperation and Union; that the com mittee be increased fin membership to twenty-one; that 1t have power to con- fer with a committee from the Cum berland Church; that 1t find what de- tdlIS might Dt WOIheu Oul tO mate the union. and that report be made to the General Assembly next year. This committee is to consider the corporate rights of both assemblies The purpose is to keep the consolidation within legal limits, that all civil suits and injunctions may be avoided. Tho committee Is to confer with tho trus- tees of the General Assembly, that the corporate and other rights of this body may be preserved Tho report was ac~ cepted as a whole
 An official telegram was read by Stated Clerk Roberts from the negro church assembly in attendance at Huntsville, Ala, saying committee of seven had been appointed to con- slider union with the Presbyterian Church and asked that similar com mittee be named by the assembly here. It was referred to the Committee on Bills and OveFtuves.~-5a-ass4--- --. f
 Celebration in May.
 The General Assembly of tho Pres byterian Church today voted to select a special committee to arrange for celebration during May of next year of the 200th anniversary of the formation of the First Presbytery in Philadelphia It is the general understanding that this celebration will be held In Phila- delphia.
 The proposition to allow separate Presbyteries in the boundaries of old Presbyteries was adopted with but one dissenting voice. This is to allow separate Presbyteries for negroes and foreigners.
 The Board of Missions for Freedmen submitted its report through R. J. In- glis of Newark, N J. Speaking to the report Dr. D. R. Breed of Philadelphia said the peril before the negro is that he will not rise to his racial rights, but fo ha oa t, the white race It Is possible, he said. for the negro to rise in attainment un- til the race will be the peer of the whites.
 Rev. W. A. Alexander negro, of Brooklyn, spoke on the alleged crim- inal tendency of the negro. He said when disturbances arise in the South the negroes who have no local attach ments to a community begin to move. It Is largely this class which goes Into the North Much of the criminality among the negroes, he said, is due to taking them into police courts and prisons for trivial offenses. The negro race is growing fin it's power to delib- crate He said the negroes are against separate Presbyteries.
 Justice John NJ. Harlan said 1t Is the glib talk about growing criminality among the negroes which comes from people who want to keep up race preJu- dice. In proportion to numbers, he said there are no more negro criminals than whites.
 pr E. P. Cowen, Secretary of the Board of Freedmen; Dr. T. c. Clelland of Washington. Pa, and others spoke to the report Dr. Cowen said the negro problem has so many phases that US solution Is most difficult, and that solution has not been found. The Board of Freedmen, he said, was not trying to solve the problem. but was deaIlng with the negro as a man in need. He said primary, industrial and higher ed- ucation is the program which will in the future be applied to the negro by a1 organizations interested in his up- lifting. The resolutions of the com mittee were adopted with no reierehce to the negro criminality.
 At apopular meeting held tonight In the interest of freedmen. several of the commissioners availed themselves of the opportunity to continue the de" hate. Among the speakers were Rev. W. L. Brodie of Davis College, N C.; Rev, w. l.. Brascomb. of Birmingham. Ala: Rev. J. J. Sanders, president or Riddle University. South Carolina
 Marriage and Divorce.
 The resolutions in the committee re- mort on marriage and divorce were spoken to by former moderator Dr. Charles Dickey of Philadelphia. Four teen denominations are united in the movement to have ministers refuse to perform marriage ceremonies of di- yorced people unless they were di- yorced on scriptural grounds. "Di- yorce," said he, "Is a question of state which churches have the right to take up. The taking of a government cen sus on divorces will show an alarming condition"
 He commended the divorce reform ideas of the American Bar Association and said churches could well follow those ideas as they show great possi- bilities of reform.
 A new point in the resolutions pre- vents the remarriage of an Innocent party to a divorce until a year has passed and he urged its adoption as an advance step in the divorce movement. He said when men and women rush from the divorce court to the marriage altar they are not innocent. The reso- iutlons were adopted.
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