IX. Boards of Church Location

448. There shall be, in each District of an Annual Conference, a Board of Church Location, consisting of the District Superintendent and three Ministers and three Laymen, nominated by the District Superintendent and approved by the Conference. It shall be the duty of this Board to prevent the selection of improper sites, and consider and determine all questions relating to the selection of new Church Locations which may be referred to it by the District Superintendent or by the vote of any Quarterly Conference. The decision of said Board shall be final, unless overruled by the Annual Conference. It also shall be the duty of this Board, when requested by the District Superintendent or the Quarterly Conference of a Church contemplating the erection of a new edifice or the extensive remodeling of an existing one, to consider carefully the entire situation, and report to the District Superintendent and the Quarterly Conference its opinion as to the feasibility of the enterprise.

X. Administration of Missions

¶ 449, § 1. A Mission shall meet annually at the time and place appointed by the Bishop in charge, who shall preside if present. In the absence of the Bishop the, Superintendent of the Mission shall preside. The presiding officer shall bring forward the regular business of the meeting, and arrange the work. This Annual Meeting shall possess the functions and powers of a District Conference, although the authority to license Local Preachers, and to renew the licenses of Local Preachers and Exhorters, shall remain with the Quarterly Conferences.

§ 2. In Annual Missions using a language other than English examinations of local and traveling preachers shall be held by the Mission, and certified to the Annual Conference concerned. The Mission shall also make the recommendations for Admission on Trial in an Annual Conference.

§ 3. In the Italian Mission the Quarterly Conferences shall be presided over by the Superintendent of the English-speaking District within the bounds of which they meet, that he may be closely in touch with the work, and have responsibility for its progress.1

CHAPTER VI

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY

450. There shall be an organization known as the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which Society shall have authority to collect and disburse money, employ Missionaries, and do work among the neglected populations in the home field under the same Disciplinary rules and regulations as those which apply to the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society except the requirements contained in ¶ 429, §§ 3, 4.

1 The continuance of the Italian Mission was referred, by the General Conference, to the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension, with power.

CHAPTER VII

FREEDMEN'S AID SOCIETY

I. General Object

451. The work of the Freedmen's Aid Society shall be the establishment and maintenance of institutions for Christian education among the colored people in the Southern States and elsewhere. The instruction in these institutions shall include such literary, professional, and biblical courses of study and such industrial training as will tend to develop the highest Christian character. These institutions shall be located with reference to an educational system comprising collegiate centers and cooperative preparatory academies, so that with the greatest economy the educational needs of the people may be most fully met. Contributions shall be taken through the Church for the maintenance and support of this work, and for this purpose Lincoln's Birthday shall be observed wherever practicable. The schools shall be made self-supporting as rapidly as the financial conditions of the people will permit. Special efforts shall be made to secure permanent endowments for the various institutions, and the Board of Managers, whenever it is satisfied that the support will be ample and that the property will be maintained and perpetuated, may convey the control of said schools to a local Board of Trustees.

II. Board of Managers

452. There shall be a Board of Managers consisting of five Bishops, twelve Ministers, and twelve Lay

men, to be elected quadrennially by the General Conference, upon nomination by the Bishops; their term of service shall begin on the first Wednesday in June following their election, and continue until their successors shall enter upon their duties. An interim vacancy shall be filled by the Bishops until the session of the ensuing General Conference, and the absence of any member from four consecutive meetings of the Board without reasonable excuse shall create a vacancy. The Board of Managers, being incorporated according to law, shall be subject to the control of the General Conference and the provisions of the Discipline, and shall have such powers and prerogatives as are needed to conduct the work of the Society, to designate what institutions shall receive aid for the ensuing year, and, as far as practicable, the amount each school shall receive; to determine the total amount to be expended in the support of the schools and for administrative purposes. Eleven members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of all business, except the purchase and sale of real estate, in which case a majority of the members shall constitute a quorum and the concurrent vote of eleven members shall be necessary to complete any such transaction. The Board shall make a quadrennial report to the General Conference, and shall publish quarterly, or oftener, full information concerning its work.

III. Officers

¶ 453, § 1. The officers of the Board shall be a President, three or more Vice-Presidents, two coordinate Corresponding Secretaries, a Recording Sec

retary, a Treasurer, and an Assistant Treasurer, all of whom, except the Corresponding Secretaries, shall be elected by the Board at its annual meeting each year; but a vacancy may be filled at any meeting.

§ 2. The Corresponding Secretaries shall be elected by the General Conference, and as Administrative Officers shall be in all official acts subject to the authority and control of the Board of Managers. Their time shall be occupied, under the direction of the Board, in promoting the interests of the Society by conducting the correspondence and office work, traveling through the Church, giving general supervision to the institutions of learning under the care of the Society, and rendering other needful forms of service. In case of vacancy by death, resignation, or otherwise, the Board shall provide for the duties of the office until the Bishops shall fill the vacancy. The Board shall fix and pay the respective salaries of all its salaried Officers.

§3. The Publishing Agent at Cincinnati shall be the Treasurer of the Society, and the Board of Managers may appoint such Assistant Treasurers as it deems wise.

IV. District Superintendents

¶ 454, § 1. Each District Superintendent, as early in the Conference year as possible, shall inform each Pastor in his District of the amount to be raised in his Pastoral Charge, and he shall also inquire at the third Quarterly Conference if the amount asked for has been raised, and if not, he shall urge that it be secured before the close of the Conference year.

§ 2. At the last Quarterly Conference of each year