The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-30
CONFERENCE OPENS THURSDAY MORNING Most Important Gathering in
 History of Church BIRMINGHAM IS READY
Clergy and Laymen of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Will be Represented Here in
 Large Numbers.

The quadrennial general conference of
 the Methodist Episcopal church, south
 which eonvenes in this city next Thurs
 day morning promises to be one of the
 most important in the history of the
 church.
 The general conference is the only law
 making body of the church and it's action | is supreme in all questions of church government It is made up of delegates l from the forty-seven conferences which embrace the southern ehureh's sphere of action. There will be PAP accredited dele gates to the general conference. half of
 whom are lay and half clerical delegates. | They will come from not only every state in the south but there will also be rep
 resentatives from Japan, China, Brazil
 and Mexico. Texas alone will have l thirty-three delegates. | In addition to the accredited delegates
 it is expected that there will be daily
 attendance of visitors from other cities | of between 500 and 1O0O since special rates | have been given on all railroads. l Among the fraternal messengers from other churches will be Vice President
 Fairbanks, who comes from the North
 ern Methodist Episcopal church. It is expected that he will speak either on the
 evening of May or May 10. While in | Birmingham MT. Fairbanks will be the | guest of Col T. c. Bush.
 | One of the most notable foreign dele gates will be Dr. Young J. Allen, who has spent the past forty years in China. He ] is the editor of paper in China, has published many books, is in close touch with the government and the great men in China, and his opinions on the mis-
 sionary work in that field are of great | value.
 Dnsdale T. Young comes from Lon
 don as the representative of the Wesleyan
 church of England.
 Daily Sessions.
 The general conference will be in ses-
 sion about three weeks and the sessions will convene each day at o'clock and | adjourn at l. All committee meetings will be held in the afternoons, and each | night meetings will be addressed by the prominent members present. Among the
 more Important matters to be taken up | by the approaching conference are these | The establishment of university for women in the south, to be supported by ] the church. It is the intention to make | this institution rank with anything of the kind in the United States, and it is pro- l posed to raise at least a million dollars
 as beginning.
 l A change in the present presiding elder
 ship system. Presiding elders are at pres
 ent limited thirty charges and they 1 are supposed visit each charge at least l four times each year.
 | It is probable that two more bishops will be elected because of the increased | demands of the church. The churchmen
 most prominently spoken of in this con-
 nection are Dr. Collins Denney. Nashville. | Tenn; Dr. J. J. Tigert, Nashville, Tenn, editor of the Quarterly Review, and the
 Rev. w. B. McMurray, St. Louis, Mo. 1 Institutional Churches. | Another matter that will be brought up | is that of institutional churches. It is | pointed out that the growth of cities in the south and the increase of what are | known as downtown churches makes 1 necessary the extension of the present l four year tenure of pastors which is iron | clad under the present laws of the l church. It Is maintained by those in | favor of the proposed change that the | successful club work that should be done | in the "down-town' churches Is handi- | capped by the pastors feeling that he must leave and turn over the work to someone else at the end of four years | The general conference will probably be | called to order Thursday morning by | Bishop Alpheus W. Wilson of Baltimore, Md, who Is the senior bishop, and the, bishops will preside in rotation over thf various sessions. The eleven bishops of tf ! church at present are: Bishop A. w. Wilson, Baltimore; Bishop John c. Gran bery Ashland. Va; Bishop W. W. Dun | can. Spartanburg S. C.; Bishop Charles | B. Galloway. Jackson, Miss; Bishop D. | R. Hendrix, Kansas City, Mo. Bishop J. | S. Key sherman. Tex; Bishop O. F. Fitzgerald, Nashville, Tenn: Bishop W. 1 A. Cander, Atlanta, Ga; Bishop E. D. Hoss, Dallas, Tex; Bishop A. Coke | Smith. Asheville, N C., and Bishop H. C.
 Morrison, New Orleans. All of these are 1 on the active list except Bishop Gran | bery and Bishop Fitzgerald.
 An Eminent Career. | Senior Bishop Wilson has had one of tho r,ost eminent careers of any man in