The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-03-17
CORRESPONDENCE.
CHRISTIAN MISSIONS IN JAPAN
Tsu, Use, Japan, Feb. 10th, 1898.

Tsu, Use, Japan, Feb. 10th, 1898.
To the Editor Of the Bdnner.-DEAR
Sm:-Many thanks for your continued
kindness in sending the paper which
breaks in upon the quiet of the home
with an odOr of America and home quite
pleasing.
Should you see fit to favor me with the
the paper still longer, will you be so good
as to change the address from Tottori to
Tsu, Ise, and oblige. 1t will bring the
paper to our door several days earlier
and save mall-carriers in the country.
You know wrote you that my mar
riage took place in Kobe, July 18th, 1892
and so my location for labor was chang
ed. We have a foreign style house
which was built for the former family at
the usual expense of 50, 100 (gold). If
we had fOreseen that our lives would be
spent in Tsu, we should have protested
against the erection of such house, we
now think, for it is away from the main
streets of the city and is not built on the
best terms, all things considered, being
in direct opposition to the laws of the
country-yet in accord with practice
that has grown up in Japan. No for
eigner can hold land off the concession
accorded by law. Yet here and there
all over Japan, Christians among the
japanese have bought land and built
houses for foreigners, using Board mon
ey and letting the local Keucho Govern
ment Office), suppose they, the Japanese,
owned the property, while the missiona-
ries have considered the property as be-
longing to the Board of which they are
representatives. The land here is in the
name of man in Osaka and the house
is in the name of Tsu Christian who has
just died. If investigations were made
it seems as if the cases would all stand
thus: The properties are all in foreign
possession and contrary to the laws of
the country, or the properties are really
those of the Japanese in whose names
they stand before the Government. and
the American Board and other Boards
must make them over as a free gift. We
are not happy at finding this condition
of things, but as we are not responsible
we must feel easier about it. We GER
tainly would gladly move into Japan
csc house which could be rented in a
perfectly honorable way, although it
would not afford us the comforts of our
pretty home on the hill o'er-looking beau
tiful Dwarf Bay
We are well and have a field that
ought to be hard worked. Have been
only two and one-third years in japan.
yet | can do something in public address
already.
1t has been discussed in America for
years, whether the time has not come to
withdraw missionaries and let the Kum-
iai Congregational Churches carry on
their own work. They have the Dosh-
lsha and are turning out preachers every
year. They have old and well establish
ed churches with gifted pastors.
confess there is much to make one
believe the Japanese Christians would
feel the responsibility upon them and
work harder, wree the foreigners to re-
turn to their homes. Their great cry is
for money and not for men at present.
Money will not make Christians and
therefore 1 should say missionaries
should be retained as long as they ask
for money. The lives of Christian mis-
sonaries, if they really work in the spir-
it of the Saviour, will tell more in Japan
than their salaries given here alone.
We all need to pray for the grace of
Christ in our lives, and we need the fel
lowship of the Christian brotherhood
home. When the Japanese feel they can
carry on the work, then we shall all be
glad to resign, but meanwhile we labor
in hope. The missionaries of the A. B.
c. F. NJ. are held in good repute through
out the empire, but the real state of the
property question should be rectified it
seems to me.
Very truly yours,
CLAUDE NJ. SEVERANCE.