| Show EP RESENT A MILLION Tke First International Gathering oft I I of-t e EfNYortli League Men and Women Who Will Be There and What They Will Talk About CLEVELAND June 2SSpeciallThe first international conference of the Boworta League of the Methodist Episcopal Epis-copal church is expected to bring a quarter quar-ter of a million people into this city tot to-t morrow RepTesentatives will be in attendance rf at-tendance from all parts of the United States and Canada The vast assemblage if will be called to order in the Cleveland Music hall which seats 5000 people and t > also in the Epworth Memorial church I which will accommodate 3000 more The growth of the Epworth league is I the marvel of the Methodist Episcopal i church In Cleveland 0 the league ii i i BYRON E lIE AN was organized on the 14th of May 1889 f with only a handfull of members Today the league has nearly one million members E mem-bers and is adding daily to its great membership Governor McKinley of Ohio will deL de-L liver the address of welcome to the delegates dele-gates and speeches in response will be made by the Rev James N Fitzgerald I bishop of the Methodist Episcopal i church the Her Alpheus W Wilson i bishop of the Methodist Episcopa i church south and the Rev Dr A Car man general superintendent the Methodist Meth-odist Episcopal church of Canada t i The five societies which combined to form the Epworth league were the Young Peoples Methodist Alliance organized at a camp meeting held at DesPlaines i Illinois in thesummer of 1883 the Oxford Ox-ford league founded by Bishop J H Vincent about the same time the Young t Peoples Christian loaeue which came I into existence in Boston in 1881 the t Methodist Young Peoples union formed r in Detroit later in the same year and a l fifth socIety organized under the auspices of the North Ohio conference in 18SS Twentyseven represuntatives of these i societies gathered here four years ago twentythree of whom were ministers and after thorough discussion and consideration con-sideration the new Epworth league was evolved possessing the characteristics of all following what was known as the ji I r t < 8 r t REV JAMES P FITZGERALD l Ohio plan or Cleveland plan as it has been variously designated was drawn in this city by Mr Byron E Hel man il8SS and upon this justly lies the H claim 1 Helmans friends that he is the founder of the Epworth league The plan was suggested by the federal system of executive work and the Oxford Ox-ford wheel as it was then called now the Epworth wheel tJ embodies the idea The sIx spokes show the departments depart-ments into which the work is divided spiritual mercy and help literary social so-cial correspondence and finance Six r vicepresidents of each chapter are in charge of these departments and through r them the president directs the work of each local society This wheel was drawn by Mr Hel man in 1SSS and became the system under o un-der which all the Methodist Young Peo Dies societies of this city which before had had no common organization were brought together Its success was so marked that the Oxford League soon adopted as a model constitution Th r I later growth of that organization was largely due to the popularity of this f scheme of work But for it the membership member-ship of tho Oxford League would hardly t have succeeded that of any oi the other i societies when union took placer place-r With the junior league which is specially spec-ially designed for the children and of which there are over 3000 chapters the cross of the Epworth League now has enlisted under it the immense army of nearly 1000000 young people |
