New-York tribune., 1908-06-02
METHODISTS CLOSE
No Act;on on Amusement Quest1on
-4ssignnent of Bishops.

had been looked forward TO as oil much IN
portance-the amusement question ana the iia'.e
Of time limit On pastorates. Nel'her wa. pc
mtted to come before the conference Tor discus
sion Hence the much talked Of paragraph s's
stands as It has been without the elimination u
dancing and the other words suggested III 'he
.scopal address. and pastors may be returned "
their charges year after year, as has III recent
years been customary.
The time honored title presiding elder was
abolished BY the adoption OF a minority iepoit
from the revision committee recommending thsi
the name be changed to district superintendent
by vote of S22 ayes to 210 noes rms raoica'
change OF terms is the outgrowth Of desire 10
aes.ote the Office correctly.
resolution indorsing the movement started py
the Young Mems Christian Association for the es-
tabshment Of a mothers day., TO be observed
on the second Sunday III May yearly. was tabled
The General Conference confirmed the report OF
tine judiciary committee sustaining the appeal or
Professor Einckey G.. Mitchell. who was III eHect
declared hereto by the Central New YORK Con-
ference Hereafter the conference decided, Meth
odist Episcopal bishops will be relieved OF the
duty Of passing upon charges of heresy which may
be laid against professors in theological semnaries
These complaints. If they come to the bishops,
will in the future be turned over to the annual con-
ference of which the accused man is a member II
he be minister. and If a layman to the pastor
Of the church which he belongs In the past
when charges Of this character have been preferred
against a teacher the bishops have had to pass
upon their validity and afterward, as presidents
of conferences to sit at their trials an act which
the judiciary committee declared TO be unconstitu-
tional.
report which received careful consideration be-
fore 1t finally adopted one doing away
with the six months probation system Under the
new rule persons may be received into the Church
they recommended by the official
board by the class leaders and stewards meet
Ing with the approval of the pastor. 1t allows for
a period of probation of any length that may be
deemed necessary.
Resolutions were passed looking to the amalga-
nation of all national Sabbath day alliances in this
country; providing for the appointment of a COM
mission Of arrangements for the celebration in
1910 of the silver jubilee of the founding of the
Methodist Episcopal missions in Corea, and indors-
Ing the laymens missionary movement under way
In all the evangelical Protestant denominations and
recommending the appointment of a commission of
laymen to visit those fields.
It was resolved that the changes in the discipline
and course Of study shall go into effect June /.
1909. The committee home missions recon-
mended the establishment of real estate fund by
the board and favored missions among the Jews,
and the reports embodying these We're adopted
DR. Buckley. for the committee on ecumencal
council. reported resolution providing for the APP
pointment by the board of bishops Of a committee
to represent the Methodist Episcopal Church in
the preparations for the meeting of the ecumencal
council in America in 1911, said committee to act with
like committees of other denominations. The ju-
dlclary committee recommended tRat Wien charges
of immoral conduct may be made against a mis-
sionary bishop between meetings of the General
Conference, the board of foreign missions snail
appoint committee to investigate the charges and
report fully thereupon to the next General Confer
ence. and that when the charges are sustained
the committee may suspend the accused bishop
until the next meeting of the General Conference
1t resolved that subsidies granted by the
conference to various shall become effective
upon the titles such papers being transferred to
the Book Concern.
Managers elected of the boards Of foreign
missions. of home missions and church extension.
of Sunday schools. of the Church Temperance So
ciety, trustees OF Drew Theological Seminary.
whose terms will expire in 1920; the board Of
education the general deacOness board board of
conference claimants and the board of Freedmans
Aid. The board of bishops authorized to ap-
point and publish the remaining boards.
The committee the episcopacy reported ia
vorably to the characters of all the bishops and
effective missionary bishops, and the report was
adopted.
Bishop Cranston for the board of bishops, spoke
OF the difficulty Of formulating a universally sat
isfactory plan for the assignment of the bishops
The following announced: Alabama, Atlanta,
Central Alabama and Georgia conferences, Bishop
Anderson; Alaska Mission and East Oklahoma
Mission. Bishop Smith; Arizona, California Ger
man and California Bishop Warren; Atlantic, Bal
timOre. Central New York, East Ohio and Cen
essee Bishop Cranston; Austin Gulf and Iowa,
Bishop Quayle; Black Hills. Bishop McIntyre
Blue Ridge. Central Tennessee, East Tennessee
and Holston Bishop Goodsell; Central German,
Bishop Nuelsen; Central Illinois and Illinois,
Bishop Berry; Central Swedish and Chicago Ger
man, Bishop Nicely; Cincinnati, Indiana and Ken
lucky Bishop Moore; Colorado. Bishop Mcdowell;
Columbia River and Idaho, Bishop Hughes; Dakota,
Bishop Wilson; Des Moines Bishop Spemeyer; De-
troit Erie and Michigan, Bishop Hamilton; Min
nesota, North Dakota, Northern Minnesota, North
Swedish and Norwegian-Danish, Bishop Will
son; Missouri, Northwest Iowa and Western
Swedish, Bishop Spellmeyer; Montana, North Mon
tana and Wyoming Mission Bishop Mcdowell;
Nebraska, North Nebraska and West Nebraska,
Bishop Mcintyre; Nevada Mission, Pacific Chi
nese Mission, Pacific japanese Mission, Southern
California, Bishop Warren: New Mexico Spanish
Mission and Oklahoma, Bishop Smith: North Caro-
lima, Bishop Cranston; Northern German North
west German st. Louis German and West Ger
man. Bishop Nuelsen; Northwest Indiana, Pitts
burg and Southern Illinois, Bishop Berry; Savan-
nah and South Carolina. Bishop Hamilton; Ohio.
Bishop Anderson; Oregon, Puget Sound, West Nor
wegian-Danish. Bishop Hughes; Southern German,
Texas and West Texas, Bishop Quayle; Upper
Iowa, Bishop Lewis; Central Ohio Bishop Bristol.
The usual resolutions OF thanks were adopted
the minutes of the session approved Bishop
Warren senior Bishop present, briefly addressed
the assemblage behalf of all the bishops Bishop
Bristol. junior of them all, uttered fervent
prayer. hymn sung, Bishop Warren delivered
the Denediction. and the twenty-ffth quadrennial
General Conference finally written into his
tory.
At the close of the afternoon session TODAY the
Methodist Layman's Unihcation League was or
ganzed to the earnest cooperation of all
laymen, North and South, who favor the ultimate
organic unfcation of the several branches of
Methodism into officers elected as fol-
lows: President, George f. Washburn, of Boston;
first vice president, VI. S. Daniels, Of Newark;
second vice president, to be elected by mem
brs of the Methodist Church South; third vice
president. TO be elected by members OF the Metho-
dist Protestant Church; secretary, George W. Tay-