Dr. Bryan

The focus of interest last week was the annual Presbyterian General Assembly at Indianapolis. William Jennings Bryan, a layman from Florida, was nominated for Moderator. Opposed to him were two liberal ministers, and the president of a college where evolution is openly taught. On the first ballot Bryan led, and Dr. Silsley, the liberal minister of Oakland, Cal., transferred his votes to Dr. Walker, of Los Angeles, for the second ballot. On the second ballot, Mr. Bryan polled 421 votes, with only 439 necessary to election. Dr. Wishart, president of Wooster, Ohio, College, took all the liberal votes except 56 for Dr. Walker. On the third ballot Dr. Walker withdrew, and Dr. Wishart was declared elected with 451 votes to Bryan's 427. The cheers that attended the announcement made it seem like a political convention. It meant that the Presbyterian Church had " gone liberal."

It is customary to make the defeated candidate Vice Moderator and Chairman of the Committee on Bills and Overtures, which is really the steering committee of the whole Assembly. This post was offered to Mr. Bryan, but he took so long to think it over that Dr. Wishart finally appointed Spencer Chapman, a Philadelphia lawyer. Mr. Bryan refused the chairmanship of the Home Missions Committee, declaring that he would be able to carry on his fight against Darwinism better on the Education Committee, of which he is a member. The Moderator of the Assembly has the power of appointing the chairman of the 21 leading committees in the Presbyterian Church--and is a liberal. Aside from the Moderatorship struggle, the most important business to come before the Assembly was Will H. Hays' plan, as Chairman of the Committee on Ministerial Relief and Sustentation, to raise an endowment of $15,000,000 to enable retired ministers to look toward a decent old age. The 10,000 Presbyterian ministers in the United States today receive an average weekly salary of $34.67.