Evening star., 1924-05-14
METHODISTS DODGE
FREE SPEECH STAND
Vote Editor, Who Defended Com.
munists, Beyond Conference
Jurisdiction.
AVOID PARTISAN ACTION
Delegate Who Upholds Liberty Of
Expression Cheered.
BY the Associated Press.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass, May IA
charge that the Methodist Church had
been brought into Ill repute as a
supporter of communism and the.
third internationale threw the Meth
odist Episcopal General Conference
into an uproar today. 1t was finally
voted that Harry F. Ward. chairman
of the Civil Liberties Union and edi-
tor of the Methodist Federation for
Social Service, was beyond the juris-
diction of the conference.
Circulation by the Civil Liberties
Union OF bulletins of the federation
in regard to the arrest of a group of
communists in Berrien County, Mich,
about two years ago, was the basis of
a report by standing committee,
which was adopted as the confer
ence's final action.
The church ought to take action"
said John c. Willis of the Michigan
delegation. The church has been
brought into great reproach in Ber-
rien County. We ask a deliverance
whereby the people of that county
Will know that the church does not
stand fer communism and the COM
mun1sts that seek the overthrow of
the United States government"
Used as Smoke Screen.
Wards chairmanship of the Civil
Liberties Union has been used as a
smoke SCREEN" the delegate con-
tinued.
G. Bromley Oxram of California re-
ceived an ovation when he said that
the matter of free speech was at is
sue in Michigan and that the sending
out of the bulletins was in defense of
the federal Constitution.
Unity was the keynote at the start
of the twelfth business day of the
Methodist Episcopal General Confer
ence. The $50 delegates adopted COM
mittee reports recommending interde-
nominational cooperation for better
negro educa ton in the south and in
dorsing interchurch programs for
making the church power in the
land"
Education of Negroes.
The great advance in negro edu-
cation made possible by the centenary
fund brings great encoura cement,
the committee on the board of educa-
tion for negroes reported Thou
sands of hoys and girls now are re-
ceiving training In secondary and
higher schools.
TT is a fact, however, that the ne
groes in the south now receive from
the states less than one-ninth of state
appropriations for education or the
white population, while negroes com
prise one-Quarter of the population
ing the District of Columbia. This
shows the need of further expansion
in the Methodist educational pro-
gram"
The committees report proposed
that a provision be inserted in the
Methodist discipline for cooperation
of the board of education for negroes
with the schools of other denomina-
tions or those under independent con-
troll.
Trend Is to Unity.
The committee on federation in it's
report noted with qualification the
trend toward unity in the Methodist
and other churches indorsing tne
Churches, the report urged co-opera-
tion with other churches, provided
that the freedom and autonomy OF
individual denominations be pre-
served.
An amendment passed by the con-
ference called for the appointment of
a special committee, two of the mem
bers to be bishops, to suggest meth
DDS of cooperation, particularly In
the smaller communities
governing the remarriage of divorced
persons and assurance to ministers
dependents of prompt payment of
benefits upon the death of ministers
were among the positive acts of the
conference yesterday. The delega tes
rejected decisively a proposed change
in the rules to forbid the voting of
conference delegates in more than
one standing committee.
Education of Clergy.
Only 20 per cent of Methodist min
listers have had college and seminary
training, and one-quarter of them
have not been beyond high school, it
was declared in a report of the spe-
cial commission on courses of study,
filed with the secretary of the con-
ference today, by the chairman,
Bishop Edwin H. Hughes of Maiden.
The report recommended modern
curriculum for all entrants into the
ministry.
The committee on education voted
to recommend to the general confer
ence that Methodist colleges, here
tofore dependent upon their own eff
forts for raising funds, should re-
ceive appropriation from the board
of education, as Is now the case with
secondary schools.
Publication of Hymnal.
The publication of a Methodist
hymnal in Spanish for use in Cen
trail and South American countries
was approved by the standing COM
mittee on the Methodist Book Con-
Germ, subject to final action by the
general conference. The committee
voted non-concurrence in memorial
for aid from the book concern in
the printing of a hymn book for the
Joint use Of all evangelical Protes-
tant denominations.
The latter project, it was SAID, was
In the hands of the Federal Council
of Churches. Members of the COM
mittee who disapproved of 1T de-
clarcd that many of the favorfte old
hymns of Methodism might be de-
prived of a place in an interdenom-
national hymnal.
Progress in India.
The rise of India from the caste
system to the equality of Christian
brotherhood was described by Bishop
Frederick 8. Fisher Of Calcutta al
the anniversary meeting of the board
of foreign missions
Bishop Herbert Welch of Korea de-
clared that the Methodist Church in
the foreigl. field has earned the
right to Independence and self-as-
sertion.
BILLY SUNDAY ON WAY
TO ROCHESTER CLINIC