The General Conference.
By Geo. I. Butler
As the appointment for the Conference last week may to some seem hurried and out of season, it may be proper to say a word in regard to it, explanatory of our action. There are several reasons which seem to make an early appointment necessary. There has been considerable said in the REVIEW in regard to Bro. J. N. Andrews’ going to Switzerland this season to look after the wants of the cause there, to attend to the extension of missionary operations in Europe, and to qualify himself by an understanding of the French and German tongues to aid in the preparation of works in those languages. This should properly come before our General Conference, that they may decide whether it be advisable or not. The matter of our Denominational School must be considered immediately. Our brethren have taken hold liberally in the work of pledging their means for the purpose of establishing it. And a legal society for the holding of property, and to decide upon a site for buildings, should be organized at once. It should no longer be left in the hands of an overburdened General Conference Committee, whose time is largely taken up in other matters. Upwards of $50,000 have been pledged, and our brethren, everywhere, should be made to feel that these school matters are placed upon a strictly legal basis, and proper officers should be selected to manage them. The interests of our Tract and Missionary Societies should also be considered. Shall we have a general organization to manage this whole thing—something after the pattern of our General Conference? Do we need a paper to be connected with this enterprise? And how may we best accomplish the objects we have in view in this T. and M. Work? And further, we especially need to consider those questions to which Bro. White has called the attention of our people relative to placing the cause upon a broader basis by enlarging our institutions, establishing branches of them upon the Pacific coast, and looking after these interests generally. What can be done to make the cause more efficient around our institutions at Battle Creek? and in short, how can we best forward the great work in which we are engaged? Missionary work, everywhere, demands our attention, especially among the different nationalities in our own land. The friends of the cause will see that there are momentous questions to be considered. We hope our State Conferences will be represented by men of judgment and discretion, who have the cause of God at heart. We do most earnestly desire the presence of Bro. and Sr. White at this meeting. We hope it will be consistent with their health and views of duty to come and aid us by their counsels. We greatly fear that the great objects of the meeting will not be secured without their presence. Battle Creek, Mich., Nov. 2, 1873.