Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-04-26

tnat cOntenUlon' 10 the plea that lts
war-tax decision would involve disagree
able consequences the court replied
through Mr.. Justice Brewer: sit furn-
ishes no reason for not recognizing that
which in our Judgment is the true con-
struction of the constitutional limita-
ton"
In this there Is suggestion that the
supreme court might possibly find the
courage to upset, should it see fit, the
plans of duty and destiny and to deprive
Mr.. Mckinley of the opportunity of
showing his benevoence in the arbitrary
rule of upward of 100000 human be-
ing. -New York World.
5000
GOSPEL PROPAGATION IN CHINA.
Mark Twain, whose scathing criticism
of the Christian missionaries in China
called out the replies of DR.. Ament, the
director of the mission work there, and
the Rev. Dr. Smith, secretary of the
American Board, whose agent Ament is,
upon which we commented last week, re-
turns to the attack with an article pub
lshed in the North American Review
which is vastly more condemnatory than
the first of the series, because it is full
of undisputed evidence as to the charges
made. The first is a letter from Ament
to Smith, dated last November, in which
the writer says to his employer: "This
time propose to settle affairs without
the aid of soldiers or legations :" that is,
he proposed to take the punishment of
the Chinese, not the Boxers, but the
people within his reach, into his own
hands. How he did it appears in this
account of Mr. Chamberlain. chief of
the New York Sun staff in Pekin, pub.
lished Christmas day:
"The Rev. MIR. Ament of the American
Board of Foreign Missions has returned
from trip which he made for the pur-
pose of collecting indemnities for dam
ages done by Boxers. Everywhere he
went he compelled the Chinese to pay.
He says that all his native Christians are
now provided for. He had seven
hundred of them under his charge, and
three hundred were killed. He had col
lected 300 taels for each of these murders,
and has compelled full payment for all
the property belonging to Christians that
was destroyed. He also assessed fines
amounting to thirteen times the amount
of the indemnity. This money will be
used for the propagation of the gospel.
"Mr. Ament declares that the compen-
sation he has collected is moderate when
compared with the amount secured by
the Catholics, who demand, in addition
to money, head for head. They collect
800 taels for each murder of Catholic.
In the Wen-Chu country $50 Catholics
were killed, and for this the European
Catholics here demand 900 strings of
cash and $50 heads.
''In the course of the conversation Mr..
Ament referred TO the attitude of the
missionaries toward the Chinese. He
said
"'I deny emphatically that the mis-
sionaries are vindictive, that they gener-
ally looted, or that they have done any
thing since the siege that the crcum-
stances did not demand. | criticise the
Americans. The soft hands of the
Americans is not as good as the mailed
fist of the Germans. If you deal with
the Chinese with soft hand they will
take advantage of it,"
And another by George Lynch, the
trustworthy correspondent of The Her
aid, printed Feb. IS, as follows
"When the soldiers were prohibited
from looting, no such prohibition seemed
to operate with the missionaries. For
instance, the Rev. Mr.. ewksbury held
great sale of looted goods, which lasted
several days.
"A day or two after the relief, when
looking for place to sleep in, | met the
Rev. MIR. Ament of the American Board
of Foreign Missions. lie told me he was
going to take possession of the house of
wealthy Chinaman who was an old
enemy of his, as he had interfered much
in the past with his missionary labors
in Pekin. A couple of days afterward
he did so, and held a great sale of his
enemy's effects. | bought stable cloak
at it for 1928, and couple of statues of
Buddha. AS the stock became depleted
it was replenshed by the efforts of his
converts, who were ransacking the
houses in the neighborhood." N. Y.
Herald, Feb. IS.
None of these statements are denied.
Their truth is admitted by Ament and
there can be no doubt that in order to
punish the native pagans and obtain
money with which to ''propagate the
gospel" Ament and his associates, after
the siege was raised and the Boxers had
been driven away, demanded and got the
heads of hundreds of innocent people,
looted the dwellings and stores of I'M
offending citizens and eXtOrtcd by threats
and force large sums of money. And
now they have the face to insist that
they did it all for Gods glory and to ask
their fellow cOuntrymen to continue to
contribute to their support that they may
go on with such gospel propagation
Mirror and Farmer
%OO>
IN INDIA.
If in Tennessee 900, 900 people had died
of famine and plague; if New York in
stead of million more had $4,000 less
people than In 1891 If, although many