New Britain herald., 1916-05-29

Methodist church appointed com mission to meet with a similar com mission from our church, should such a one be ordered to formulate, the plans of union, and then by a rising unanimous vote they asked for this union. Our conference, without debate, ordered a similar commission, and the conference rose as one man and cheered and sang while the two senior bishops, Bishop Hendrix of the Church South, and Bishop Cranston of our church, men who had fought on opposite sides in the Civil War, clasped hands across the chairman's desk in the sym bolic representation of the coming union. It was a great sight long to be re- membered to that great audience of 800 delegates and nearly 4,000 visitors cheering and singing and crying in demonstration of this reuniting of a church family.
 Revision of Ritual.
 Next to this in importance I think is the action taken by the conference in revising the ritual of the church. It is impossible to speak fully about
  changes were a substitution Of the American edition of the scriptures for the old King James version, eN- cept in the psalms, and the substitu- tion of the word Holy Spirit for Holy Ghost The phrase at the be- ginning of the infant baptismal form For as much as all men are con ceived and born in sim has been elim-
 
 the skin worms destroys this body from the burial service. There has been added to the burial service for very simple and beautiful service for the burial of infants. Some of the more important changes however, come in the forms for adult baptism ana adult membership. The old form TOT both of these required that can oloates must subscribe to belief in Apostles Creed and the articles of fehg1on of the Methodist Episcopal church These have both been taken out and in their place is substituted very simple but real declaration of purpose as to ones faith and life.
 Recognition of Organized Labor.
 The Question of Recognition of Organized Labor: The question of the action of the church regarding organ
 
 lzed labor has not received a clear re- port probably because after debate or two days, the conference took an acuon which 1t did not intend to take because or misstatement of amendment, and therefore had to re. verse itself the following morning. The debate hinged upon the question as to whether the church should rec ognize organized labor to the extcnt of allowing it's book concern plants to be under the preferential shop. And the final decision of the conference was to admit into the report the 1,ara- graph which expressed sympathy with all that had been accomplished by or ganiZed labor in the way of shorter hours and a minimum wage and for the betterment of women workers and against child labor, and the adoption of these scales in all our Methodist shops, but not to put the book con- cern plants directly under the prefer ential shop. The eight words of the paragraph doing this were stricken out.
 Temperance Pronouncenent.
 Let me just say that the pro- nouncement on temperance was the strongest the church has ever made, calling upon its forces to move for a saloonless nation by 1920, and call- ing upon it's men to insist, where they nave Influence, upon the old