so coming to shame them that their dolorous and caustic voices are not often heard. No one but a moral agnostic, a medieval race-hater, or a dogmatic religious quack could be cynical about an enterprise that shows such amazing success as does the missionary propaganda. Here are some figures that show the growth of thirteen years:
1895. 1909.
Total amount given $13,470,318 $24,613,075
Given by native
churches 1,458,464 4,859,605
(Not included in above.)
Number of missionaries 11,033 21,834
Number of native
workers 49,566 92,272
Number of stations 18,545 43,934
Number of actual
church-members 1,030,776 2,097,963
Number of adherents 2,770,240 4,866,661
Number of accessions
to church in year 62,256 135,141
Number of schools 19,384 29,190
Number of pupils 860,287 1,413,995
The grand total of receipts for the great cause is seen to be a total of nearly $30,000,000, and the number of workers employed to be more than 114,000. In each case the numbers have about doubled in the thirteen years, while the number of stations has increased in a like proportion. The total of actual communicants in the churches has more than doubled, while that of the adherents has fallen but little below the same rate of increase. As the missions grow older and the life of the communities about them is elevated, the number of church-members will advance in an increasing ratio over that of adherents. The total number now in the Christian communities in the foreign field reaches practically 7,000,000.
(2064)
MISSIONS AND COMMERCE
Commenting on the work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Dr. N. D. Hillis says:
What if the American News Company
should send a shipload of books to Borneo?
The people can not read. What if they
send a shipload of typewriters to western
Africa? The people can not write. What
if you send a cargo of sewing-machines to
the Hottentots? Well, they do not wear
clothes. Wealth comes through selling manufactured
goods. But savages do not want
these conveniences. Now, think of what
this American Board has done. Once they
sent out a band to civilize a South Sea
island. In the band were six carpenters, two
blacksmiths, two bricklayers, one architect,
two tailors, two shoemakers, two weavers,
two farmers, one physician, four preachers.
In forty years after they landed one ship
a week unloaded its cargo at that port—that
tells the whole story. Since then the
trade from New England ports alone has
yielded enough profit to merchants in a
single year to pay for the entire missionary
enterprise.
(2065)
MISSIONS APPROVED
Jacob A. Riis says that he once "growled
against foreign missions, like many others
who know no better." He writes that now
he has learned that "for every dollar you
give away to convert the heathen abroad,
God gives you ten dollars' worth of purpose
to deal with your heathen at home."
(2066)
MISSIONS AS SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS
The influence of a Christian mission in safeguarding a community is set forth in the following:
"During the great dock strike September,
1889, which shook London to its center,
the strikers—gaunt, grim and desperate—were
marching en masse past the mission
premises, when a socialistic leader, who
stood watching, turned to Mr. George Holland
(a notable promoter of London missionary
work), and said, 'Do you know what
keeps these men from sacking London?'
'What do you mean?' was the reply. 'Only
this, it is the influence of such missions of
mercy as yours.' All thoughtful, observant
men know that this witness is true."
(2067)
Missions, Medical—See Renewal.
MISSIONS, REASONS FOR
In the Peninsular war, for every Frenchman
killed there was sent out by England
the weight of a man in lead and eight times
his weight in iron, not to speak of the
cost in blood and treasure. In the Indian
wars in this country it has sometimes cost
on the average a million dollars to kill
an Indian, while an average expenditure of
$200 was spent in converting them. There
is no lack of money nor means to compass
the evangelization of the world within the
