The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-06-08
EPWORTH LEAGUE SPLIT BY PLAN TO TAKEOVERSCHOOL
(Continued From Page one)

apply on this liability. The entire property is valued at s34,000.
 The total upkeep expense is esti- mated to be S15000 annually. of which upwards of s5,0oo is borne ny tuition fees. Future support, they claimed. had been promised by busi ness men of Haleyville, who are alleged to have gone on record as saying that the school should not suspend it's session if deserted by the entire church.
 Rev. F. R. Mapes followed this re- ply with strong speech against the
 "In the first place." said Rev. Mapes, 'I doubt our constitutional right to consider this matter without authority from the educational board"
 Tn the second place we have no au- thority from the general Epworth league board at Nashville. In the third place, our own budget is very heavy. In the fourth place if 1t is not taken over by someone it cannot continue to run another year" He concluded by urging that the matter be left to the laymen who had prom ised to support the school, stating that he had nothing against this in- stitution but thought the move to be unwise at the present time.
 Rev. J. M. McCleskey took the floor and continued the fight of the cppo- sition vigorously. maintaining that it was not fair to the school, since 1t could not sustain a sound relation to the league conference because the conference has no continuity. He as- serted that only few delegates at tended the assembly more than tnce and that the assembly was the only place where united support could be enlisted.
 AIdridGe Favors Move
 Rev. II. l.. Adridge of the Epworth league board of the annual confer ence attacked the opposition's state ments regarding the lack of author ity No act. He stated that such au- thority was vested in the conference board just as In ether boards of the church. AS for the schools rela- tion to this assembly, l would rather risk our young people to do piece of work like this any time. than our older people" stated Rev. Aldridge.
 Ut will not hurt them to fail; they always try again. The men beside this school will not let it fail." he said as he sat down.
 Fight Is Ended.
 At this point Rev. R. F. Nollner of Nashville, the representative of the general Epworth League board of the Methodist Episcopal church, south. rose and stated thAt an Epworth League conference had no constitu- tional right to own any real prop erty other than an assembly ground. His statement was greeted with the prolonged cheering of one side and firm opposition of the other.
 The discussion would likely have run through the time limit again had not Rev. l.. G. Alverson, the principal of the Haleyville school. withdrawn the offer of the property transfer, stating that discussion was useless if the conference could not legally make the transaction.
 Predictions as to the recurrence of the matter vary. Some assert that it will be brought up before the annual conference in November. while others believe this to be the end of the af- fair. great many maintain that the conference has full authority of ownership and announce that they are going to contest the central of flee interpretation of property rights. 1t is possible that the issue may be injected into the election of officers Saturday. If so, there will be another session of excitement when the time comes to vote on next years officials.