This Week in Texas Methodist History  June 9

Southwestern Mexican Conference Meets in Austin, June, 1946

Official organization of Spanish speaking Methodists in Texas began in 1874 when the West Texas Conference created the Spanish District.   As Methodism grew among Spanish speakers on both sides of the Rio Grande, the work increased, first to two districts, then to the status of mission conference.  The appointments paid no attention to international boundaries so the conferences included churches in both Texas and Mexico.  

The Mexican Revolution had a large component of anti-clericalism directed against the Roman Catholic Church, and Methodist work was greatly hindered by the same climate of opinion.  Laws directed against Roman Catholic educational programs had a chilling effect on the Methodist mission schools set up by both the MEC and MECS.  

A variety of conference configurations were tried until unification in 1939 brought together the Texas Mexican Conference, the Texas portion of the Western Mexican Conference, and the Spanish speaking churches in New Mexico that had been part of the Methodist Episcopal Church into a new conference--the Southwest Mexican Conference.  

The 1946 Annual Conference of the Southwestern Mexican Conference met in Austin in June 1946.  Bishop A. Frank Smith, who also presided over the Texas and Southwest Texas Conferences, presided.   The district superintendents of the three districts were Felix Soto, J. W. Daniel, and D. Venegas.  Other appointments beyond the local church included Frank Ramos as traveling evangelist for the Dry Cause and Alfredo Nanez as Sunday School Executive Secretary. 

In covering the conference, the Advocate reported “the American people who were there” (yes, the reporter actually used that demeaning phrase.)  included names familiar to students of Texas Methodist history, Edmund Heinsohn, R. F. Curl, Dawson Bryan,  and Kenneth Pope, among others. 

There were two other speakers of note.  A. E. Rector and Pauline. Kibbe (1902-?).  Mrs. Kibbe was representing the Good Neighbor Commission.   Perhaps many of you have not heard of the Good Neighbor Commission.  It was established as a state agency in 1943 at the urging of the Roosevelt administration.  

Texas-Mexico relations in the first half of the 20^th century were a roller coaster of highs and lows.  Events of the Mexican Revolution created militarization of the Border to a degree that had not present earlier.  The Revolution also prompted a large migration of Mexicans to Texas to provide valuable labor in agriculture, mining, railroads, forestry, and other industries.   When the Depression hit, their labor was no longer needed and Mexicans were often subjected to discrimination in housing, education, social services, and employment.  

When World War II broke out, American strategists remembered the Zimmerman Telegraph and also noticed the rise of Fascist ideologies in several Latin American nations.  Fascist propaganda in some Latin American nations used photos of signs from Texas such as “No Dogs or Mexican Allowed.”

 FDR needed the enthusiastic support of Latin American nations during the war—for Panama Canal security if nothing else.   The discrimination against Mexican immigrants in Texas proved to be an embarrassment for FDR’s attempts at hemispheric solidarity against Fascism.

The Good Neighbor Commission was formed with a mandate to alleviate the social and economic condition of Mexican-Texans.   The Executive Secretary was Pauline Kibbe who had become recognized in the field for producing “Americans All” for KTSA in San Antonio and writing columns in the San Antonio Light calling for upgrading the housing, employment conditions, and health care for Spanish speaking Texans.   She was the banquet speaker at Annual Conference, held on the campus of Samuel Huston (today’s Huston-Tillotson) College.  She implored Methodist leaders to get behind the work of the Good Neighbor Commission.

Another attendee at Annual Conference was 92 year old A. E. Rector (1855-1955) who spoke
“with great power.”   Rector had been one of the most prominent members of the West Texas Conference but also served in the German Mission Conference and the Texas Conference.    He was one of the few Anglo Methodist preachers who had a first hand knowledge of immigration issues.  He headed the Methodist Immigration Bureau in Galveston from 1909-1912---right at the start of the Mexican Revolution.  He had also established a church on the West Side of San Antonio.  The conference honored him for his long and productive life.  

The name “Southwestern Mexican Conference” touched a nerve among some of the members, especially in the New Mexico portion of the conference.  Many New Mexicans claim Spanish rather than Mexican heritage.  The name of the conference was changed to Rio Grande Conference.