The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-01-05

eStant church, that feature being tho
appointing power. which is vested in
tho bishops who preside over tho an
nual conferences. While 1t Is true that
tho presiding elders constitute the ad-
visory council OF the bishop, and while
il Is also true that tho law OF the
church for the past four years has req.
Quircd that no bishop shall read the
appointments to the conference over
which he ie presiding until the entire
list has been made known to the pre-
siding elders, the appointing power still
rests in the hands OF the bishop as n
rule the bishops confer freely with and
accept many suggestions from the pre-
siding elders In the making OF the APP
pointments, hut even when this has
been done the knowledge of the ap-
pointments as IL whole Is withheld from
all OF the members of the conferences
except the presiding elders and the
growing democratic spirit in the church
is urging a more general knowledge OF
this most important feature of the
session of the annual conference. in or
der that the best interests OF both
preachers and pastoral charges may be
served.
Argument for Change.
Tho argument In favor OF the limi-
tation of the term of service of pre-
siding elders liz based largely upon the
claim that the routine work Of the pre-
siding eldcrship, II followed for many
years in succession. UNITS Il preacher
Tor tho work OF the regular passionate.
Also. the appointment as presiding
elder is often regarded as an honor
conferred upon preachers so appointed.
and the growing democratic spirit of
the church favors the distribution OF
honor rather than combining the Same
TO few members of the conferences.
The subject of the election of bishops
Is not SO prominently before the church
at this time as has been the case dur
ing the months just preceding the
past several sessions of the general
conference. No bishop In the active
work OF the office has died during the
present quadrennium. and the opinion
seems to prevail that no bishops Will
be elected at the session of the gen.
eral conference of 1914, unless several
OF the bishops now active, and there
are thirteen of these. should take tho
superannuate relation, and this is not
likely. During the general conference
of 1910, effort was made to set some
of the bishops TO retire from active
service. who did not do so. and it is
not improbable that the same effort
will be made during the coming gen.
eral conference, but there has been
little expression so farm favor of the
election of additional preachers to the
episcopacy.
Among the constitutional questions
to be considered and answered by tho
general conference of 1914 that Will
prove of special interest will be that
regarding the change in tho name of
the church from Methodist Episcopal
Church, South. to Methodist Episcopal
Church of America. Before the gen
eral conference convenes, the vote on
this question will have been taken by
all of the annual conferences and VA
be known to the general conference.
This vote has been taken by forty-three
of the conferences. The large per
cent Of votes in favor of the proposed
change in name has come from the
conferences in the Northwest, where
the argument is advanced that the
word South" conveys an idea of sec
tionalsm that is likely to interfere
with the work of the church in other
territory than that of the South proper.
While the recorded vote gives n large
majority in favor of the retention of
the present name of the church, 1t is
known that many preachers and lay
men who have voted against the pro-
posed change are in favor of changing
the name of the church to the Metho-
dist Church, and memorials in favor of
this change have been sent to the gem
eral conference
Gift VIII he Declined.
The expression of the entire church.
as voiced by the general conference,
regarding the proposed girt or $1,000
900 by Andrew Carnegie to the medi-
cal department of Vanderbilt Univer-
Sity, will constitute another of the
features of unusual interest to como
before tho general conference. The
resolutions adopted by various annual
conferences are sufficient TO Indicate
that the voice of the general confer
ence will be against the acceptance of
this gift under the conditions proposed
by the donor.
Ono OF tho interesting. facts regard
ing the delegations from the annual
conferences already elected to the gen
oral conference. Is that Of the 15S
clerical delegates elected. only sixty
three wero members of the general
conference OF 1870, and only thirty
three OF the 1853 lay delegates elected
were members Of that body. This fact
is OF special interest, because the per-
sonnet of many OF the delegates from
large per cent Of the conferences dur
ing the past several SencraI confer
ences. has been the same, whereas, in
the general conference OF 1914 a large
majority OF the delegates will be men
who have never before represented
their conferences in the highest court
OF the church.