# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1905_S24
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

24 Proceedings of the 26th General or

...on the spot, whenever "he is convinced that a district president has
erred in the handling of a matter" ("Handbook," p. 41). Yet this case
can occur only very rarely, because the General President as a rule
does not know the circumstances under which the district president has
acted. Only in one case, under our present constitution, is the
General President the proper visitor of congregations and pastors,
namely when it is a matter of complaints from outside, that is,
complaints coming from sister synods. This case has occurred three
times in six years. Thus the activity of the General Presidency is
essentially confined to visiting the district synods. Given the
present large number of districts, visiting all the district synods
would keep the General President fully occupied if the district
synods were distributed fairly evenly over the twelve months of the
year. To visit 14 to 16 district synods in twelve months would involve
a considerable physical and mental undertaking. Experience has shown,
however, that the district synods cannot be distributed even
approximately over the year, or even over the greater part of the
year. There is rather a tendency to hold almost all the district
synods within four months, in the months of May, June, July, and
August. But visiting all the district synods within this short span
far exceeds the strength of one man, even if he is only General
President and administers no other office. Out of necessity,
therefore, a division of labor had to be introduced already in recent
trienniums. The General President had to share the visiting of the
district synods with the two vice-presidents. A third General
Vice-President should be elected, regardless of whether the General
President still holds another office or not, especially since the
formation of four further synodical districts is in prospect. In order
to maintain as much as possible the unity in the representation of the
General Synod at the district synods, those persons who hold the
General Presidency should meet every year before the district synods
begin and hold thorough deliberation on the matters to be presented.

Preserving Unity of Spirit within the Synod.

In the last triennium we were advised from one quarter that we should
part ways and form a number of smaller ecclesiastical bodies, in order
better to display the poverty of the church and more successfully weed
out impure elements, which more easily...