The Daily Missoulian., 1912-08-22

/ signed, having accepted a position
with the Washington Anti -saloor
league. j. q. Ross Of Plains has
cared for Camas during the summer
and the two points viii doubtless con-
tinuc to be operated together for a
1 time.
| In February received from Bishop
| Warren. whose recent death caused
the whole church to mourn, a notice
OF the transfer Of George r.. Klein
from this conference to the Colorado
conference. Brother Klein had been
working In the Black Hills mission, his
last charge being Edgemont.
The year has been unusually rich
In personal notation. Little children
came to bless the homes Of Brothers
Adams at Philipsburg. Putnam at
Clancy Elliott at Townsend, Rhodes
at Drummond. and F'ulford at shcri-
dan. The last named was called upon
to mourn the loss Of the little one
few weeks after birth.
In January. after few weeks ILL
ness. Mrs. Beatrice Whitford. wife OF
our pastor at whitehall. died In the
full assurance of faith. The bercaved
husband and children have our
sincerest sympathy The committee on
memoirs will make suitable reference
to this sad event.
In May Brother Western of Unity,
Butte, journeyed east and was mar
ried. the bride coming from England.
Brothers Blaming OF Thompson, and
Swisher Of Meadow Creek. were mar.
ried just before coming to the state.
Our congratulations and best wishes
to all these parties.
In the Matter Of Making Good.
Twenty eight charges have been
operated on the district this year.
These comprise 81 preaching points,
receiving regular service. The
brethren have been abundant in
Mborr. They are faithful in all things
except In the matter of answering cor
respondence Letters OF inquiry de-
signed to elicit information on a
dozen points for the enrichment Of
this report were answered by only 21
OF the Is addressed. The failure OF
one fourth of the brethren to reply
vitiates some OF the totals entirely.
1t Is possible, however. to make fair
approximations in other cases. II
appears that our gain In membership
Will reach 225; that the average
prayer meeting attendance per week
liz 275: that 175 infants have been
baptized. and that the preachers OF
the district have been called upon to
perform 175 marriages and to Of
ficiatc at 200 funerals. Their influence
upon public life is further shown by
the fact that they have made about
125 addresses, other than sermons, and
have published $50 articles in the daily
and weekly press. These trained OBJ
servers of moral conditions report
also that In three fourths of the
places there has been Improvement In
those conditions during the year. In
nc-fourth Of the places conditions are
about the same. and I'm no case arc
they worse than a year ago
New Work.
w. $. Tester. who was appointed
last conference to work which did
not exist. has developed an encourage
Ing circuit at Ravalli. st. Ignatus and
Post Creek. These points are on the
Flathcad reservation. So In Roman.
n town OF rapid growth and great
promise. This has heretofore been
operated for us by the North Mon
tana conference. but next year will be
cared for by ourselves. In this con-
nection I may say that the most dis
agreeable task ! have to perform is
to read the glowing prophecies of
former superintendents, and OF my
self In former years relative to the
near and marvellous development of
territory In this section of the state.
The Intentions OF the prophets were
good. but their abilities are clearly
below par Some small growth IL
observable In the territory contiguous
to nearly every charge. but the great
development looked for depended en-
tirely upon the creation of new rail-
way facilities. This doth not yet ap-
pear. and four localities-e an
empire In extent--the Big Hole base.
and the valleys OF the Blackfoot, the
Madison. and the Fiathcad--arc still
bottled up from the outside world.
When transportation facilities will he
available In these sections no one
knows but the high officials of the
railways, and they decline to tell.
TIL they speak there Is nothing for
us to do but "meekly wait and murmur
not"
~ Tendencies in Church Lie.
. Our churches arc constantly laying
more stress upon tithing and SYSTEM
attic giving. upon graded Sunday
schools. and upon various forms of
activity designed to interest and in
fluence men and boys The new mis-
slonary policy of the State Epworth
league. by which our chapters furnish
support for "A Montana missionary In
Africa. has aroused large and general
enthusiasm. The furnishing Of supplies
to the deaconess school and hospitals
has become quite popular. A growing
tendency IL seen to emphasize the
work OF the Woman's Home and For
eign Missionary society
There Is an unfortunate propensity
to initiate other churches and to do
things merely from force OF habit.
More initiative and originality on the
part Of the local pastor and offIciary
would be most beneficial. Thus the
sessions Of the Epworth league, Junior
leagues and Sunday schools Of the