The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-05-05
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF
CHURCH BEGINS TOMORROW
May Decide On Law To Relieve Pre-
siding Elders Of Quarterly Confer
ences-One or Two More Bishops
Probably Will be chosen-Many
Changes Suggested.

Oklanoma Clty, Okla., may 0.-faso
after page of the registers at the lead
ing hotels in this city filled today with
the names of bishops, clergy and prom
inent laymen of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, South They are the
delegates to the seventeenth general
conference of the denomination, which
| will convene in St. Luke's Church to-
morrow for a session of three weeks.
Among them the opinion prevails that
the meeting is destined to be one Of
the most important and profitable that
the denomination has ever held. The
fact that the general conference meets
only once in four years increases the
interest attached to its sessions, and
owing to the many questions of vital
importance to the future of the church
to come before the meeting for con- .
sideration it will be more largely at
tended by non-delegates than any OF
it's predecessors.
The attendance at the conference
will include between three and four
hundred delegates, divided equally be-
tween ministers and laymen. The gen.
eral sessions will be presided over by
Bishop Mouzon of San Antonio. other
bishops who are expected to partici-
l. pate in the proceedings, and nearly
;. all of whom are now in the city, are
Mccoy of Birmingham, Hendrix Of
Kansas City, Gambler of Atlanta, Hoss
l. of Nashville, Denny of Richmond, Wa
# terhouse of Los Angeles, Murrah OF
n Jackson, Miss, Wilson of Baltimore,
,. Key of Sherman, Texas; Atkins Of
Waynesville, N. c.; and Kilgo of Dur
ham, N. c.
Vanderbilt Question Up.
large number of memorials and
l. suggestions concerning proposed
:. changes in the organic law of the
church will come before the genera
conference for consideration and ac
: ton. The educational work of the de
:. nomination promises to receive more
It than the usual amount of attention
n owing to the decision of the supreme
n court of Tennessee that the church
n has no title to the Vanderbilt Univer
=. sity. A plan to establish another uni
o versity to be under the exclusive con
a troll of the church may be considered
II The conference will receive repor
from the commissioners of federation
O. appointed by the general conferenc
te of the Methodist Episcopal Church a
Is to the advisability of a union of tn
ly two branches of the church. The plal
e. of union has been agitated for man
se years and has made considerable prt
lg gress, but no action looking to its cor
IS, summation in the near future is e,
6, pected. :.
10 May Change Church Law.
The general conference may decid
lg upon a change in the law of the churcl
IN that will relieve presiding elders Q
d. the responsibility of holding quarter
o. ly conferences and making them NOR
nearly district superintendents. Som
J" change also may be made in the la,
Of relating to the care of superannua'
n ed ministers. =
. There are at present more bishop
ty in the active service of the churc
-, than ever before, but the opinion e,
IS lists that the general conference shoul
is elect one or two more to meet th
o. present needs Of the denomination.
number of prominent preachers al
10 already being spoken Of for the episc
On pacy, and the election win be an ever
m Of far more than ordinary interest
IS the entire church