days' treatment. (15) Individual dispensary patients treated. (16) Revisits of dispensary patients.

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¶ 562. Federation

We reaffirm the declaration of the General Conference of 1908 and most cordially invite the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Protestant Church, and other branches of Methodism to join with the Methodist Episcopal Church in a consecrated, persistent effort to unify the various branches of the Wesleyan family of Churches in America into one great Methodist Church.

We recommend that a Commission on Federation, constituted as before and appointed by the Bishops, shall be named, with full power and authority to continue negotiations and to treat with similar Commissions from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the Methodist Protestant Church, and any and all other duly appointed Commissions from other Churches or branches of Methodism, or with each separately, concerning the commendable purposes of advancing organic union or closer federation. Said Commission to report to the next General Conference.

¶ 563. Federal Council with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South

The General Conference of 1908 provided for the formation of a Federal Council as "a practical method of putting Federation into operation." The Federation Commissions of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, adopted the following recommendation to their respective General Conferences relating to the powers of the proposed Federal Council; a recommendation which received the approval of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1910, and of the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1912, as follows:

We recommend the creation of a Federal Council for the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; said Federal Council to be intrusted with advisory powers in regard to world-wide missions, Christian education, and the evangelization of the unchurched masses; and also to have full power to hear and determine finally, without appeal from its decisions, all cases of conflict or misunderstandings between the two branches of Methodism.

The Federal Council shall consist of eighteen members, equally divided between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the membership of the Council being as follows: Six Bishops, six Traveling Preachers, and six Laymen.

The General Conference authorizes the members of the Commission on Federation to represent it as members of the Federal Council for this quadrennium, and that general administrative officers and administrative officers of Annual Conferences and of various Church Boards, organizations, and societies carefully regard the decisions and recommendations of the Federal Council.-Journal, 1912.

564. The Church and Social Problems

The Methodist Episcopal Church stands for equal rights and complete justice for all men in all stations of life; for the protection of the family, by the single standard of purity, uniform divorce laws, proper regulation of marriage, and proper housing; for such regulation of the conditions of toil for women as shall safeguard the physical and moral habits of the community; and for the fullest possible development of every child, especially by the provision of proper education and recreation, and by the abolition of child labor.

It stands for the abatement and prevention of poverty, by the protection of the individual and of society from the social, economic, and moral waste of the liquor

traffic, by the conservation of health and by the protection of the worker from dangerous machinery, occupational diseases and injuries.

It stands for the right of all men to the opportunity for self-maintenance, safeguarding this right against encroachments of every kind; and for the protection of workers from the hardships of enforced employment.

It stands for suitable provision for the workers in old age and for those incapacitated by injury; for the principle of conciliation and arbitration in industrial disputes, and for a release from employment one day in

seven.

It stands for the gradual and reasonable reduction of the hours of labor to the lowest practicable point, and for that degree of leisure for all which is a condition of the highest human life; for a living wage as a minimum in every industry and for the highest wage that each industry can afford, and for the most equitable division of the product of industry that can ultimately be devised.

In its capacity as employer the Church should set Christian standards as to hours and wages, provision for sickness and old age, and in developing the principle of coöperation and profit-sharing. Relations with employees should be in harmony with the utterances of the General Conference.

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Our ministers and people should know the literature of social Christianity, should study their communities and minister to every group in them.

Students in theological schools should be instructed. in practical Sociology, and in the elements of Political Economy, in the social content of the Scriptures, in the methods and principles of Social Service, in the ethical and religious aspect of modern social movements and industrial organization.

Every Methodist educational institution should attempt to give its students the knowledge and the spirit to qualify and lead them to engage in Social Service in their community, and our Sunday School and Epworth League

literature should include the interpretation and application of social duties.

In the social crisis now confronting Christianity, the urgent need and duty of the Church is to develop an evangelism which shall recognize the possibility and imperative necessity of accomplishing the regeneration of communities as well as of persons; whose goal shall be the perfection of both society and the individual.

We recognize the Methodist Federation for Social Service as an agency to rally the forces of the Church in support of approved measures, and recommend that three Bishops be appointed upon the Council of the Federation.

CHAPTER VII

FORMS AND CONSTITUTIONS

¶ 565, 1. Constitution for a Sunday School ARTICLE I. This School shall be called the Sunday School of .., auxiliary to the Board of Sunday Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and connected with the Quarterly Conference of ...... It shall consist of the Preacher in Charge, the Sunday School Committee appointed by the Quarterly Conference, the Officers, the Teachers, and the Pupils.

ARTICLE II. The object of this School shall be the promotion of Christian character through the devout and diligent study of the Word of God.

ARTICLE III. The Local Sunday School Board shall consist of the Pastor, who shall be ex officio chairman, the Sunday School Committee appointed by the Quarterly Conference, the Superintendent, who shall be ex officio Vice-Chairman, the Assistant Superintendents, the heads of departments, the duly elected Secretaries, Treasurer, and Librarians, the Teachers of the School, the Assistant Teachers nominated and elected in the same way as the

Teachers, the President of the Sunday School Missionary Society, the President of the Sunday School Temperance Society, and the Home Department Visitors, who shall be elected in the same way as the Teachers. In case of withdrawal of Officers or Teachers from the School they shall cease to be members of the Board.

ARTICLE IV. The Superintendent shall be elected annually by ballot by the Local Sunday School Board, subject to confirmation by the Quarterly Conference at its next session after such election. In case of a vacancy the Preacher in Charge shall superintend, or secure the superintending of, the School, until such time as the Superintendent elected by the Local Sunday School Board be confirmed by the Quarterly Conference. The other Officers of the School shall be elected annually, by ballot, by the Local Sunday School Board on

The Teachers of the School shall be nominated by the Superintendent, with the concurrence of the Pastor, and elected annually by the Sunday School Board.

....

ARTICLE V. Regular meetings of this Board shall be held on the of each month, for the transaction of such business as relates to the interest of the School, at which the following order shall be observed: 1. Singing and prayer. 2. Calling roll. 3. Reading minutes. 4. Unfinished business. 5. Reports from Committees. 6. Reports from Superintendents. 7. Report from Treasurer. 8. Report from Librarian concerning the state of the Library and the number and kind of periodicals taken by the School. 9. Reports from the Pastor and from the Sunday School Committee. 10. Reports from the Teachers. 11. Miscellaneous.

ARTICLE VI. At all meetings for business constitute a quorum..¿

shall

ARTICLE VII. Special meetings of the Board may be called by the Pastor, the Superintendent, or by any three of the members.

ARTICLE VIII. In case of the withdrawal of Officers or Teachers from the School they cease to be members of