| Show methodists GO HOME CLOSE OF THE conference A number of important changes made during the session the general Conte lon ference ronco of the episcopal church which lies haa been in tes islon cislon c in omaha since the gild nd of may eli its ita do de liberations libe rations on the octh this has been a conservative conference ol 01 this groat great church As a whole it has been i a harmonious conference at no time has ther been awakened anything that might be termed extreme bitterness even lu in tho the elections the th conference seemed to be impressed with th idea that there were only a few things lings ti that thai really needed changing very bad and then were lint but few radical changes the first decisive change was waa tho the move of the laymen to demand separate seats from tbt ministers in the conference hall this marked an era in the lay jay re representation presen ta lion of I 1 he church then the conference decided that the constitution of the general conference and the church did not need reconstruction although a commission that had bad been appointed four foul years before was eager to have bay lWi it report adopted next came a deci blou that no more bishops worn were needed at present and none were elected later on the conference decided that the time limit on the ItIn itinerancy crancy should not be taken off notwithstanding the urgent demand on the part of 0 a great number of the ministers that the limit should be removed one of the most meet important decisions of the conference was that the church should re ccleo nomore no more money from the cho 1 gaw eminent tor for the support of its ita indian mission schools and another vital matter was the recommendation ommen dation to the annual conferences that the laymen be given representation inthe in the general conferences of the future tho the shrewdest and most skillfully managed piece ot of legislation of the entire conference was that passed in the last session cession relating to the woman boman question those who have opposed the admission ot of women as aa delegates to the general conference have invariably fallen back on an the statement that them the word ord laymen meny did not mean women and therefore women could have no right under the con constitution ti to seats in the general conference taking advantage of this argument the friends of the women succeeded in getting gelling a proposition submitted to the annual confer that will undoubtedly give the opposition considerable uneasiness the substitute adopted in place of the committee report sub wits to the annual conferences the question docs the word IlaT laymen men 1 as applied to lay delegates mean male delegates only if this Is confirmed by two thirds of all the annual conferences and two thirds of the general conference at the next session ses glon the women will not be entitled to seats on the floor of the conference but the proposition also provides provider that thai it if this construction of the word laymen Is not confirmed by the vote of the conference then the word sord shall mean both men and women this simply dimply throws the load ot of proof upon those who oppose the admission of women they will have to work with great energy to carry the prop proposition i and it Is not likely that it will carry A failure to carry the proposition will mean vie tory tor for the women the advocates of the admission ol of women seemed to be scarcely a match tor for the opposition up to the last session but in the closing hours of the conference they won a victory that more than over balanced all their apparent defeats during the entire session |
