The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-07
All Things Must Be Done
 in the Open.
CONFERENCE MUST HEAR ALL
Full Explanation of Everything Be- fore Reference to Committee.
Charges Against Bishops Tn Regard to Their omctaI Actions-Cases of Rev. Mir. Hawkins and Rev. sr. wadsworth-consoli-
 dation of Societies.
By win T. sheehan.

|
 By win T. sheehan.
 Birmingham, May s-(speciaL Cor respondence 1-The General Conference of the Methodist Church is opposed to star chamber proceedings. It's demo- cracy is of that sort which demands that everything shall be in the open and in the sunlight, even if 1t IS a charge of a disgruntled minister against the oficial action of a Bishop of the Church.
 The Conference wrote itself down on record yesterday. Nothing is to pc slipped into a committe and there pig Ion holed. The Conference must know of everything that goes before com nnittee. It may be unimportant. 1t may be an unsubstantiated charge against Bishop, charge which under no circumstances could be substantiated. But the Conference must know of it.
 The delegates must know what the matter is. must be able to enquire about its disposition. The Conference must be the first court as well as the last court Everything must come in through the Conference as well as go out through 1t.
 There is no reason to fear the light. All places are temples for justice If there is better place for justice to come into it's own 1t Is in the sunlight II V faith and the purpose of the quadren- nial Conference, the highest law making body in the Methodist Episcopal Church South. A
 The Conference openly stood for this when yesterday it adopted the resoiu- tion of pr. Paul Whitehead, of Virginia. Dr. whitehead proposed that every reso- lution before 1t should be sent to the committee, should be read before the Confidence and it's meaning fully un- 6erstood by the delegates The resolu- tion. did not rob the committees of any of their prerogatives. but 1t prevents rovernment by committees. thing not unknown to deliberative bodies. Pub licity is thing that the General Con ference does not fear.
 Honesty sad Not Policy.
 A more diplomatic course might have been followed by other bodies. There are those who might even have sug- fested that it was not a good tnins that the outer world should know who demanded investigation Of the or ficial acts of various bishops
 sut this was not the view or the ronference The position of the con ference was that If the bishops nao mfsused their authority the conieI- ence should know of it. If the nish- ops had not misused their authority
  ted before the world.
 So the conference adopted the reso- lution of Dr.. Whitehead after tnere had been some talk of 1t.
 And fast upon the heels of the res o,ntion there came challenges of the ofaciaI acts of at least three pisnops with the talk there might be the pos sibility of charges against the omciai conduct of a fourth bishop. Not one og these challenges or charges had aurht to say against the personal character of any bishop. They had onIv to do with the official acts of the bishops in question. They were only appeals from their official actions ana perhaps If he had decided the cause at issue in another way there would have been an appeal just the same.
 The celebrated case of Rev. James Thomas, of Arkansas, brought one of these affairs before the conference. MT. Thomas is the minister with the mystery In his life. Of the past or his life before eighteen years ago he has had nothing to say. To the Gre dentIals Committee which investigated the charge that he was not entitled to a seat in the conference to which he was elected he said in substance:
 Statement of Rev. MT. Thomas.
 There is secret in my life. What that secret is. concerns me. l came to Arkansas eighteen years ago and aligned myself with the Methodist church, My life since then has been an open book. I have kept the faith and my life has been known of all men. My people have seen fit to hon or me, and no act of mine has called upon them to regret the confidence they placed in me"
 The committee rendered a unanimous and immediate verdict that MT. Thomas was entitled to a seat on the floor of the Conference and in so doing declar- ed him worthy of the confidence placed in him by the Methodists of Arkansas.
 The decision was distinct defeat for Rev. J. c. Hawkins of Arkansas, who has proved himself the stormy petrel" of the Conference. It was Mr Hawkins who had challenged Mir. Thomas right to a seat in the conven- tion He had hired a hall in ,Texarkana Ark. to preach a sermon attacking Mir Thomas, because he had had a secret in hls youthful years and MT. Hawkins had printed pamphlets attacking hls brother minister. Mir. Thomas brought the matter before the church authori- ties and Bishop E. E. Hoss sustained him throughout. Therefore MT Flaw kins has asked an investigation of the oficiaI character of Bishop Hoss. But tba Conference in effect has already endorsed the action of Bishop Hoss
 The appeal of Dr. Wadsworth from the action of the North Georgia Con ference is an appeal from the decision of Bishop W. W. Duncan. Tn the con- sidoration of this appeal the Confer ance will consider, too, whether Bishop Duncan misused his authority. In all probability the Conference will endorse the action of Bishop Duncan and the North Georgia Conference
 pr. Wadsworth, who is now suspend
 afpfS Str IA nf one year. was pastor of the church at Hartwell. Ga A married woman. 2 member of his congregation. charged that Dr. Wadsworth kissed her. Tried by committee from the District Con- ference. Dr. Wadsworth was acquitted. but tried by the following Conference. he was convicted and sentenced to q years suspension and now he asks that the Conference investigate and re- seind the acticn.
 As to Bishop Morrison.
 It is thought that certain oficial acts
 TT xxzfjl k.