The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-09-26
TO MODIFY REPRESENTATION
Protestant Episcopal Church I
Discuss Plans

The general convention of the Pro
testant Episcopal church, which
meets in New York October s, will
be the occasion of a dete mined eff
fort on The part of the larger dioces
es in the country to change the plan
OF representation in the house of
deputies. The change will be advo-
Gated on the ground that the present
plan of representation is unjust, in
equitable, undemocratc and I'M
American.
one Of the leaders in this move
ment is Rev. Dr. Randolph IT, Nc
Kim of Washington, now the p-esi-
dent of the house of deputies.
The annual convention of the dio-
cese of Washington which was held
in May of this year. DR.. McKim in
trcduced resolutions which were
adopted and which have served to
start the agitation that may come be
fore the convention.
In the preamble TO his resolutions
DR. Mckim set forth that under tn,
system OF representation now exist
ing in the chu oh, dioceses that have
less than 5000 communicates have as
many representatives and as many
votes in the house OF deputies as
these dioceses which contain $4,000
or even 10000 communicates.
Legislation adopted under these
conditions" said Or. McKim yester-
day, may utterly fail to reflect the
mind of the church. and may, there
fore, fail to command the loyal sup
port OF the several dioceses More
over, should any vital issue as Chris
tian doctrine or ritual. or ecclesiasti-
cal polity. upon which the mind OF
the church was sharply divided, be
decided by technical majority of vot-
es which really represented small
minority of communicates, the peace
and unity of the church is seriously
imperlled.
There is a widespread demand
that our present undemocratic and
un-Amcrican system. which is trav-
esty upon representative government,
shall be changed.
by agreeing upon certain mum
Der of clergymen in diocese as the
unit, in a vote by diocese and or
ders. and by adopting the fractional
system of voting in the smalle- do
ceses, il is possible to approximate
equality of representation without re
ducing or Increasing the present mum
Der of deputies from the dioceses.
The representation in the house of
bishops as it stands at present, ap-
proximates sufficiently the principles
of the equality of the dioceses after
the analogy of the United States Sen
ate The case has been cited time
aud time again OF the diocese of Lex
ington which has % ciergy and 1887
communicates and has the same vo,-
ing power as the diocese Of New
York, for example. with 412 clergy
and $3.50 communicates.
Under our present system of rep
resentauon, the two dioceses of Vir-
GINA and Southern Virginia. with
l9S clergy and 81 POS communicates
have in the general convention 16
votes. while Jhe six dioceses Of Kan.
sas City, indianapolis. Springfield.
Dallas, Delaware and Duluth. with
lS6 clergy and 24.29S communicates.
have As votes do not think it ne,
essary for me 10 refer to any other
NAtAthlfAtF W ouNM A4lt INJUSTICE anu
un-Americanism of the present sys-
TEN OF representation"
The diocesan convention az Wash
ingtOn by resolution authorized a
committee of three clergy and two
laymen TO prepare a memorial to
The general convention asking that
body to take immediate steps to
remedy defects. 4 few weeks later
the diocese OF Maryland passed simi-
lar resolutions and these we're quick
y followed by resolutions Of the do
cese OF Southern Virginia.
The convention meets for three
weeks on the grounds Of the Cattle
dral OF ST. John the Divine and dur
ing those weeks the men who want
the plan Of representation changed
viii work constantly to carry out
their wishes.