# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1911_S91
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13th Delegate Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, 1911. 91

Amendments to the Regulations for the Emigrant Mission Commission.

To the Venerable German Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, assembled in St. Louis, Mo., as the 13th Delegate Synod.

The Commission for Emigrant Mission at New York hereby requests the Venerable Synod to examine the title of ownership (deed) of the Lutheran Pilgrim House at New York and to make the arrangements necessary so that § 5 of the "Regulations for the Emigrant Mission Commission at New York" can, if needed, actually be carried out. This paragraph reads:

"The Commission, as trustees of the General Synod, has full authority to act in matters concerning the Lutheran Pilgrim House as best serves the emigrant mission, so that the Commission has a free hand, should it prove necessary and advantageous, to sell the Pilgrim House (whether because of a relocation of the immigrants' landing place or for other reasons), to carry out the sale itself in consultation with the General Präses [president] and the district Präses, possibly to acquire other property, and to make such other changes regarding the house as appear advisable." (Report of the 12th Delegate Synod, p. 86.)

Although the wording of this paragraph leaves nothing to be desired in clarity, the Commission's hands are nevertheless tied when it comes to actually selling the Pilgrim House. Under state law, the members of the Commission for Emigrant Mission are not "trustees of the General Synod"; they therefore cannot, in the manner the state requires, convey to a prospective buyer the property that was duly transferred to the General Synod twenty-five years ago; in a sale of the house they cannot give the buyer valid title. Nor do we know who could do so. Recent experience — namely the almost insurmountable difficulty in selling the institution at Hawthorne, N. Y. — has amply shown that the Venerable Synod has still made no provision for how such real property, once made over to the Synod, can be sold in the manner legally required by the state, even after the Venerable Synod has resolved on the sale.

We therefore ask that the necessary arrangements be made, so that the Commission for Emigrant Mission at New York is put in a position to carry out, when needed, the resolutions of the Venerable Synod set down in § 5 of the Regulations.

With all due respect,

The Commission for Emigrant Mission
at New York.