# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1902_S23
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Tenth Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1902. 23

...in order. The Building Treasury ought to have no debts and needed to
have none. We have, as is known, the rule that for resolved-upon buildings
two-thirds of the appropriated sums must be pledged or paid in before the
buildings are begun. This rule has, as a rule, had the consequence that the
two-thirds were collected more or less promptly, but the last third was
forgotten. This, namely the forgetting of the third third, has become
almost the rule. The thought has therefore occurred to me and to others
whether it might not be better to broaden the two-thirds rule into a
three-thirds rule; in this way the deficits in the Building Treasury would
be avoided in future. Since the dear Christians of our Synod lack neither
the means nor the willingness to pay for the buildings we need in order to
carry out the work commanded us, the necessary buildings would not fail to
be built even under a three-thirds rule.

Our Relations Abroad.

Within the Synodical Conference, brotherly harmony has been preserved.
Where disturbances threatened in a few places, these were removed through
brotherly negotiations. Among our fellow believers in Australia,
misunderstandings have occurred that threatened to destroy, at least in
part, our twenty years of work there. Since both parties desired our
mediation, and there was good hope that the disturbances could be removed
through a delegate from our midst, I commissioned, on the advice of
individual brethren and of whole conferences, Prof. Graebner [*Gräbner*] to
travel to Australia. Prof. Graebner departed from St. Louis in mid-March
and arrived in Sydney, Australia, before mid-April. A, it is hoped,
favorable report from him is still outstanding at this time. Prof. Graebner
will, God willing, return to America by way of Germany, in order also to
serve with counsel in a matter touching the relationship of our fellow
believers in Germany to one another. Since danger seemed to lie in delay
both in Australia and in Germany, I assumed that the Reverend Synod would
approve my measures.

A few more words on the administration of the General Presidency during
the past triennium. Three years ago the Synod made a change in that it
again joined the presidency with the office of a theological teacher. I
have sought to do justice to both offices. Because, by God's grace, I
enjoyed good health, I myself attended 19 of the 28 district synods that
were held. Vice-President Schmidt represented me in 1900 in the California
and Nevada, and in the Minnesota and Dakota District, and in 1901 in the
Illinois, Michigan, and Nebraska District; Vice-President Brand in 1900 in
the Michigan and Canada [District], and in 1901 in the...