Evening journal., 1908-03-10
METHODISTS TO
ELECT BISHOPS
Coming General Conference
Meeting to be a Great
Gathering
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS
TO BE ACTED UPON

The coming General Conference of
the Methodist Episcopal Church. which
will begin May c and continue about
month, viii be one Of the most i'm
portant ecclesiastical gatherings ever
held in Baltimore.
lt VIII have especial historical i'm
portance because It VIII mark the can-
tennial Of the organization Of the Cen
erai Conference at Light Street Par
sonage,' and win recall that the Meth
odist Episcopal. denomination was
organized in Baltimore at the Lovely
Lane Meeting House IN 1874. Aside
from the historical Importance Of the
time and place of tho meeting. it win
command attention on its own account
because, according to all indications.
It viii show that the church has made
great strides since the last meeting, In
1904. =
The growth has been particularly
great since 1900 For the last year
there were 2,s2s.sss members. ana for
1907, s,sOs,221, gain OF s74,sss for eight
years. From 1906 to 1907 the gain was
6S.6s7. There has been an increase az
2'2sS In churches and a net increase
allowing for deaths, Of 1850 in minis
tors.
In order not to have an unwieidy
body the basis of representation viii be
1 ministerial delegate for every As
preachers of the annual conference and
one lay delegate for each ministerial
delegate. 1t is possible that the future
meetings viii be on stin smaller
basis. although so far the conferences
that have voted on making the basis /
IN 6Os in 75 and / in 30 have stood up
for the present basis.
Coming the World Over.
The gathering involves a tremendous
outlay Of money. Ths delegates win
come from all around the world. II
has been figured out that it costs about
cent year for each member. but
this IS exclusive Of the bill which the
hosts have TO meet. Baltimore Meth
odist viii have to 20 down deem into
their pockets to pay for the glory Of
having the meeting here. The dele
gate has nothing to pay.
The questions that win come up win
be the most important the body has
ever had to consider. Discussions at
the annual conferences, at special gath
erings and in the denominational ma
pers have not had the effect of bringing
INTO a crystallized form the opinions
Of the leaders on these questions.
There are fourteen standing commit
tees, in whose hands most of the great
problems have been placed. Comprising
member from each Of the annual con.
ferences, Of which there are 1874, these
committees have been holding annual
meetings since the last conference
These meetings, almost approach tha
Importance Of a general conference.
cave not smoothed out the kinks o.
reiuced to a cut-and-lrled form the ac-
tion for the general body to take There
are seven commissions, each engaged
ir some particular work, as wen as ST,
boards which form permanent execu
tive bodies.
There are now IS fun bishops and
seven missionary bishops, and deaths
and the growth of the church have
made il necessary for several
bishops to be elected at the coming
This fact alone would
make the session notable and would
furnish thrills OF anticipation for MANY
men Of prominence in the church. If
there We're not other inducements to
attend.
There are four constitutional amen
ments to come before the general con-
ference, to be decided according to the |
instructions of the delegates to the an |
nual conference. Sixty-three of 1s1 con-
had already voted when the
last tabulation was made on the ques-
tion Of having bishops for races and /
languages and for foreign missions. /
The combined vote cast has been s,ss9 I
-2,S24 for and 6,12S against. The vote
on changing the ratio Of representa-
tives of the Iowa conference from 25
to 80 has been 2.476 for and 6,969
against. On the question OF changing
the ratio Of the Wisconsin conference
from IA to go the vote has been 2.248 (
for and 5.765 against. The vote on
the change OF ratio Of the Illinois con-
ference from rs to IS has been 1894 for
and 5,776 against.