The Hershey Press 1918-06-07

              Church of the Brethren Conference
Or ganized for Annual Deliberations
WHERE THE CONFERENCE IS MEETING
meeting. But little time was consumed in
the organization as the fifty six men
composing the Standing Committee seem-ed
to be almost of one miYid as to whom
they would have to preside over the deli-berations
of the Conference.
The retiring officers with Elder H. C.
Early as Moderator had charge of the or-ganization.
The usual routine was fol-lowed
and there was but little formality
in the ushering in of the new officials.
They took their places and assumed their
tasks with the feeling of unworthiness and
inability to take up the tasks to which the?
had been called and which their Brethren
had found them worthy. ' ¦
To the three main officers, Moderator,
Reading Clerk and Writing Qerk , the
men chosen are not novices. Elder Taylor
was Moderator of the Conference at
Winona Lake, Ind., in 1916, anij brings
into the place here the experience gained
at that Conference. Both Elder Lear and
Dr. Wieand have served previously in the
Elder I. W. Taylor , of Neffsville, is Elected Moderator , With
Eld er J. W. Lear , of Cerro Gordo , Illinoi s, and Dr. A. C.
Wieand , of Chicago , as Clerks. Standing Committee
Gets Down to Business of the Conference. Budget
of Business Not as Heavy as in Some Previous
Conv entions
CONFERENCE OFFICIALS
Moderator—ELDER I. W. TAY-LOR,
Neffsville, Pa.
Reading Clerk—ELDER J. W.
LEAR, Decatur, Illinois.
Writing Clerk—DR. A. C. WIE-AND,
Chicago, Illinois.
Messengers—J. W.- DEETER, Mc-
Pherson, Kansas
RAY HELPER, Thornville, Ohio.
With the above organization effected
almost unanimously, Athe International
Conference of the Church of the Brethren
got into action early Thursday forenoon
and made ready for the business of the
places where they have been chosen and
are well qualified for the service. Because
of their former experience it was generally
forecasted that they would be chosen for
the places they are now filling.
It is an added honor to the Moderator
to be chosen to preside over the delib-erations
of a Conference so near his own
home. Residing only a few miles from
Hershey he is right among his friends and
acquaintances. It is not often that a man
is chosen for Moderator from the district
in which the Conference is being held.
The business of the Conference this
year is not as heavy as in some previous
years. Heretofore there has been a large
amount of unfinished business to come up
but this year the slate is practically clean.
There are two matters ol business which
are deferred and in the hands of Com-mittees
but they report that they are not
read y to submit anything definite this
year and ask for more time. One of these
committees is that of looking after the
matter of holding the children of the
members of the Brethren church for the
church. They made an extended report
last year and their recommendations were
accepted and a new Committee named to
continue the work begun. The other
committee not being ready to give final ac-counting
of their work is that on .revision
of the Conference Minutes. The}' ask for
more time. So the first thing the Con-ference
will have to do is to plunge right
into the new business. Of this there is a
considerable amount but there is nothing
of so great importance that it will consume
much time in discussion. At least, that
is what many think. Of course one can-not
always tell. It may be that this will
be a "talking Conference" and the dele-gates
may want to quite thoroughly dis-cuss
some questions that now seem to be
unimportant.
The Standing Committee will also have
a number of Committees to appoint
which will go to the open Conference for
confirmation . All of the regular com-mittees
will elect members this year.
There will be one place to' fill on the Gen-eral
Mission Board, one on the General
Sunday School Board, one on the Educa-tional
Board, one on the Temperance Com-mittee,
one on the Peace Committee, one
on Dress Reform and one on the Homeless
Children Committee.
There will also be reports.to be heard
from the General Mission Board, the Sun-day
School Board, the Educational Board,
the Temperance Committee, the Peace
Committee, Auditing Committee, Home-less
Children Committee, and the Com-mittee
on Dress Reform.
Committees Chosen
Among the first items of business tran-sacted
by the Standing Committee after
its organization was the appointment of
several regular committees whose work
has to do with the present Conference.
The Committees chosen are as follows:
Credential Committee—-A. S. Thomas,
Virginia; William Minnich, Ohio; John
H. Witmer, Pennsylvania ; P. S. Miller,
Virginia; I. Bruce Book, Indiana.
Committee on Resolutions—Edward
Frantz, Illinois; Otho Winger, Indiana ;
C. D. Bonsack, Maryland.
Committee on Letters of Greeting—
Galen B. Royer, Illinois; E. H. Eby,
Kansas.
Vacancies Filled
J. H. B. Williams, who for many years
has been the secretary of the Educational
Board and one of its most active and
efficient members, presented his resigna-tion
and it was reluctantly accepted.
Brother Williams has been elected as
secretary of the General Missicm Board
and he felt that his duties were such that
he could not do the work of both places.
Elder J. W. Lear of Cerro Gordo,
Illinois, was chosen to fill his unexpired
term. His time will expire in 1922. Dr.
J. S. Flory, of Bridgewater, Va., whose
time as a member of the board expired this
year was appointed to succeed himself for
a period of five years.
Other Appointements
General Mission Board, Qtho Winger,
North Manchester, Ind. Succeeds him-self.
General Sunday School Board, S. S.
Blough, Astoria, Illinois. Succeeding La-fayette
Steele who resigns because of ill
health. Time expires -1919. James M7
Mohler, Leeton, Mo., was appointed to
succeed himself on this board for a period
of five years.
Auditing Committee. E. M. Butter-baugh.
Succeeds himself.
Temperance Committee, P. J. Blough,
Hooversville, Pa. Succeeds himself for a
period of three years.
Peace Committee, Dr. A. C. Wieand,
Chicago, 111. Succeeds Charles M. Wright
time expired, for a period of three years.
Committee on Dress Reform. J. J.
John, Maryland. Succeeds S. N. Mc-
Cann, deceased, time expiring 1920.
Miss Eva Trostle was appointed to suc-ceed
herself on this Committee for a period
of three years.
Homeless Children Committee—Frank
Fisher, Mexico, Indiana. Succeeds him-self
for a term of three years.
General Railway Transportation Agent.
P. S. Miller, Roanoke, Va. Succeeds him- »
self. T
Treasurer Annual Conference—J. B.
Deeter, West Milton, - Ohio., succeeds
himself.
Tract Examining Committer—E. B.
Hoff , Chicago, Illinois. Succeeds"* him-self.
Down to Business
With the Board and Committee ap-pointments
out of the way, the Standing
Committee Thursday evening began tie
work of classifying the Queries which
come up for action this year. These will
be thoroughly gone over and made ready
for action in the open Conference which
will convene on Tuesday morning of next
week. There are thirty three items of
new business contained in the Confe r-ence
booklet together with the two items
of unfinished business from last year but
which will not necessitate any special
action this year. Together with the hear- .
ing of reports from the various activities
of the church this will make considerable
business to be disposed of. The sessions
of the Standing Committee are held from
8.30 to 11.30 in the forenoon; from "2.00 ?o
5.00 in the afternoon and from 7.00 io
9.00 in the evening. It is no easy task io
be a member of this Committee.
RETURNED MISSIONARIES HERE
Rev. J. Homer Bright and wife, mis-sionaries
from China, home on furloughi
are attending the Conference. They just
recently landed in the United States after
seven years in the Orient and are full of
the missionary zeal. Mr. Bright and wife
have been quite active in evangelistic work
and success have crowned their work in a
splendid way. During the past winter
the pneumonic plague swept over the
country adjacent to their mission sta-tions,
causing much misery and death,
scarcely anyone who was attacked by tne
disease recovering. The entire medical
force of the two Brethren Mission? in
China were put at the disposal of trie
authorities and were thus able to alleviate
much of the suffering through preventive
measures. Miss Anna Hutchinson, an-other
of the China force, is also at the
Conference.
CLOSED A SUCCESSFUL REVIVAL
Evangelist Isaac Frantz and wife have
just closed a most successful revival cam-paign
in the Ebersole Church, Maryland,
with 46 additions to the church and a
greatly awakened interest. It was. one
of the greatest revivals ever held in this
church and it was the general opinion
that the meeting should have continued.
GOVERNOR MAY SPEAK
TOMORROW
• ; It is probable that Governor Brurii-bkugh
will attend the Conference Sat-urday
and speak at the Historical meet-ing
in the afternoon at 1 o'clock and at the
Tjemperance meeting in the evening. He
will come if it is possible for him to lie
here.