THE SOUTHERN UNION CONFERENCE

This was the first Union Conference to complete its organization, weigh anchor, and unfurl sails. Its territory embraces the nine Southern States, formerly known as District 2. The Conference membership is nearly three thousand; its staff of ministers and other Conference laborers about seventy. The annual tithes for 1900 were reported to be thirteen thousand dollars. It has a publishing house at Nashville, an academy at Graysville, and an industrial school for colored people at Huntsville. There are several small schools and missionary enterprises being operated in various parts of the Conference. During the past summer, five State Conferences have been organized in the Southern Union Conference. When we remember the difficulties that would naturally attend the beginning of the new organization, the lack of funds, and the nature of the field itself, we are filled with courage regarding the future of this new departure.GCB July 1, 1901, page 514.1