The Women Must Wait

New York, May S.- The presidlng offieer at yestenlay's session of the Methoflist conEerence was Bishop Ninde, anrl as sbou as the preliminary devotions had been concluded it was resolved to suspend the rules and continue the debate on the admission of vromen as lay delegates. Forty-one delegates at once sprang to their feet and claimed the floor. Rev. H. H. Moore, of the Erio conference, was recognized. He spoke in favor of adniitting vromen. Iïev. Arthur Edwards, of the Detroit conference, and editor of The Northwestern Christian Advocate, opposed their adtnission at the present time, and nission of the question to a vote of the churoh. Judge S. X. Taylor, Ia3r ; 'om the St. Louis conférence, got the floor. ' He vralked down the aislo with a number of law books under liis arm. He proceeded to argue on the question on constitutional grounds. lt would do much hárra, he said, to admit woinen at the present. There wore bistaops to be elected, and other importiint mattei-s to be voted on, and i f women vrere admitted and allowed to vote, and it should sul quently le dcciiled that womon were not eutitleil to scats, the acts oL tlie present general conference would be illegal and unconstitutional. He (juoted law to sustain his pointe, and siiil that rather tlian have t'i ■ u admitted now unconstitutionally, be would pay all their expenses, and do all that lu eoüld to save the body from error. He is in favor of the admission of women. he said, but he wanted the question submitted to a vote of the church, aiid to have thoir seats given to thetn on legal grounds. Rev. Dr. J. H. Bayliss, of the Cincinnati Conference, argued that if the general ference bad power fo construe the constitution in regard to the the admission of local preachers, it ha'l the right to construe the law in regard to eligibility of women. The debate was closed bout 1 o'clock, and a vote ivas taken on che adoption of Rev. David H. Moore's substituto far the report of the committee. It proposed that the women selected as lay delegates to the present general conference be seatod and the question of their eligibility to future genei'al conferences be determined by a vote of the churches and annual conferences. Tuis substituía was lost. ïhen a vote was taken upon the amendment to the report offered by Rev. Dr. Neely, of Philadelphia. This amendraent excludiis the women frora seats iu the pr&sent conference and snbmits the question of eligibility to future general conferences to the animal conferences. It was ' adopted by a vote of 237 aves to 198 nays. The lady delegatos to the conference, and their.frieniis are naturally much disappolnted at the vote by which tho ladies were excluded; uamely: yeas LS9, ministerial, 7S lay; nays 123 ministerial, 76 lay. The vote was eloser tlian expected by the non-admissionists. In füi-t it carne within one of being a tie. That. is, if one more layman had voted for admission, the lay vote would have been a tie, and this would have left the question still imdi'rtiltxl, as ifc requires concurrence between the ministerial and lay delegations to carry or defeat a measure. New York, May 9. - The most interesting portion nf the proeeedings in the Methodist conference yesterday was the adoptiou of a resolution to pay the fares of the women would-be delegates, who were ruled out Monday, to and from their homes. The rest of the day was devoted to settling a question of ailmitting non-resident delegates from Mexico, India and Italy. The delegates live in the United States, and they were admitted.