Salt Lake Tribune | 1916-05-02 | Page 5 | Methodist Church Conference Opens

METHODIST CHURCH " CKKE OPffiS For First Time in Years Germany Has No Elected Representative. SARATOGA SPRINGS. Y., -May 1. Conditions resulting from tho European Euro-pean w)ir caused a varancv antoop; tho foreign delegations wlio gathered hero tolny for the oponiuc;- td thi; twenty-seven twenty-seven iii general conference of tho Methodist Kpi?vopal chiirch. For the first timo since the: German Fat conference confer-ence became part of this world-wido Methodist lepriskil ve body, no elected representatives oi: the churches in Germany Ger-many answered the' roll call. It, wits explained thai, although the usual delegates luid been chosen, they feared to touie becuuse of possible arrest ar-rest and removal from neutral shif. Consequently their sole represontal i ve will be Bishop John X. Nj nelson, an American citizen, who bus miner vision over the Germanic con ferenec. Tbe slow task of organization faced the 900 delegates when Bishop Karl Cranston of Washington, D. ( the so-' nior bishop, convened the session. At the beginning business wns checked temporarily tem-porarily while tbe names of Henry W. Warren, John M. Waldcu, Thomas Bowman, Bow-man, JJobert Melntyre, Charles A- Smith and A'aphthal; Lu crock, bishops who have died during the last year, were calh-d. The roll call of the f)00 delegates indicated in-dicated that, virt eaily every nation on the five eont inents covered by M.ctho-dist M.ctho-dist activities will be represented. The conference activities were characterised as likely to be epoch-making through possible union of the churches of the north and south, and .settlement, of tbe questions of permitting the election of negro bishops, eliminating tho ''ainuse-oipnt ''ainuse-oipnt clause'' of tho church discipline, abolishing compulsory retirement ot" bishops over seventy vcars of age, and combination of tho financial work of; the church. j