Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-10-04
The SIMPLE LIFE or 4 COhlMONfR
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY

OF the cabinet, that is the meeting
OF the Bishop and Presiding Elder,
were held at the home of Mr.. An
drew Groves, where the Bishop wa.
entertained.
The Presiding Elders, who are thu
advisors Of the Bishop, assist hin
TN making the appointments Of the
preachers. Many of the appoint.
ments. however, are arranged as far
as possible by the Presiding Elders
before they reach the seat of the con.
ference. Each Elder is expected to
look after his own district, and see
that both churches and preachers
are properly cared for. Generally,
on all the districts a majority of
the preachers are successful and
these he seeks to retain, but those
who for any reason are undesirable.
he is willing to part with, and ia
always ready to exchange for some
other man he likes better. But these
exchanges are not always easy to
bring about. Naturally each Presid-
ing Elder seeks after the best men
and when he secures one who IL
desirable, he retains him as long az
he can do 80 without doing him an
injustice. by standing in the way of
his promotion. Considerable diplo-
matte skill. II not the highest grade
Of piety 10 needed in the making of
appointments, and even then, after
the very best in the judgment of the
appointing powers has been done, a
few Of the preachers and q few of
the churches will inevitably feel ag-
grieved.
1t Is chiefly in the higher grades
OF appointments that the Bishop
figures most conspicuously, for it is
almost always concerning these
stronger charges that contentious
arise. They are Of course the most
desirable, the larger churches want
the best preachers. and the best
preachers want the hreer churches
whicn n an natural enough, provid-
ed the campaign is conducted in the
right spirit, and 1t usually is. The
Bishop acts in the capacity of judge
or arbitrator. and when occasion
calls for his interference. which is
quite often. he decides the points at
issue between the Presiding Elders,
and from his decision there is NO
appeal. AS one of the bishops face
tiously remarked: "The Presiding
Elders make the appointments. and
the Bishops fix them., which is un-
doubtedly true. at least the preach
ers sometimes think so.
1t is visionary among our bishops
at the opening session Of the cabinet,
to inquire If there any formal COM
plants against any OF the preachers,
and II there are any, to take such
steps as may be necessary for an
investigation. The next thing Is to
make such changes in the boundaries
of the districts or circuits as may be
deemed advisable. After these things
have been attended to, the work of
making the appointments Of the
preachers begins. and is generally
done In the following order: The
list Of charges In each district are
carefully gone over and the preach
ers who are to return for another
year are agreed upon. Next It ID
ascertained who may 60 back with
out detriment to the work. in case
the wisest adjustments Of the con-
ference seem to demand their return.
Finally, oil cases where 1t seems
advisable that the preacher should
remove to another field of labor are
considered. and such dispositions
are made a. appear to be for the
greatest good Of all concerned. Al
ways 1t requires every afternoon, and
often some Of the evenings to per-
form the work of the cabinet, toward
which the eyes of every preacher and
every church are turned. Tor vast in
terests are at stake. often far reach
ing In their consequences.
We received many expressions of
good will from the preachers and
churches of the district at the close
OF our term, which were very highly
priced by US. Following is one which
was adopted at the last District Con-
ference:
RESOLUTION.
Adopted with unanimous vote by
the Dubuque District Conference, at
It's Eleventh Semi!Annual Session,
held at Independence. June 30 tc
July 2, 1890.
Whereas. our beloved brother
Rev. H. H. Green. Elder OF Dubuque
District Of the Upper Iowa Confer
eAcs. therefore. !.
r. Resolved. that we. thA mouDAoll
bSf this Dlbrtiet Cen(eGlG t1nl
pleaspve n heesiag test1nG
l oblosape suoecs( s(al uIRke1 = NJ