Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-26

late war, when the russian fleet came near
Japan, the Japanese had conSoli.ig feel
ing in knowing that Admiral Togo with his
forces was near. So we can always fall
back on our Leader, and we can feel con-
fdence in His power, which never knows
defeat"
Immensity of the Work.
Statistics showing the immensely of the
work done by the American Tract Society
in the past and discussion of the great
door of opportunity that is now opening
were presented by Mr.. Swift. He said, IN
pant:
For twenty-five years we have prayed
for the open door. And now suddenly, as If
by divine providence, the doors are open in
all the world. We could send out thousands
of missionaries and tons of literature ana
yet not meet the demand and needs IL Is
significant, however, that the east is turn
| ing to us. More than million immigrants
are coming to this country every year. You
have no idea of this until you visit Ellis Is
| land, where they are landed. While the So
| clety has nothing to do with the mantle
nance of the station, 1t has everything 10
DO with giving the immigrants Christian NJ
| erature in their native tongues and in thus
making them Christian citizens. one OF
| our colporteurs, who distributes literature
| there describes one day on which twenty
| two languages were spoken on the lslaho,
| and yet literature In their natlve tongues
was distributed to them. At another time
! fourteen families were gathered there ana
| received some of the literature. Some time
| later they wrote stating that they had set
| tied in the west and that they wanted some
more of the literature, so that their chill
| dren could be brought up as CHRISTIANS.
| That is an example of what is going on
every day.
Society consist of books, volumes, booklets
leaflets, etc. These have now been printed
in 1853 languages or dialects. me iotaI
number of pieces of literature puDilsheo pS
80 ntu NJ,
uted through all the world and all present
ing some message of Chrlsts loFe. " MAJ
has been accomplished can never be known
until the books are open on lne Iiidi uay
Resides the work at Ellis Island the COZ
porteurs have visited the people In their
homes throughout the entire country. IN the
sixteen years that the work mas Pee, peeh 15
| tablished the colporteurs have visited To-
| 1851 Q3S families and have distributed lo,oio'-
All nieces of literature. This represents the
largest circulating library in the world
Among the Immigrants.
an addition to the great work among the
Immigrants. there is work in the new island
possessions of the United States. There are
now more than 800 distinct publications in
the Spanish language. 1t is essential 10
have the missionary work follow the nag
But without these publications the mission
aries acknowledge they could not carry on
fine work From their territories the mis-
| sionar ies have written that without Chris-
| ttan literature In the native language their
work would be limited -
1.-THE great orient Is now open. one can
have no conception OF the literature needeo
there to follow the world movements Ine 50
| ciety stands in the front or the Work tneie'
| the watchword is educational ChIisti ana
| ton II Is stated that one man with Chrls-
| tian literature in the native tongue can 90
| the work Of two without that heip' some
churches have sent out men not thus equip
ped 1 say to these churches that they a!e
tgctn
equip them for the work they are eh-
'srbe great problem today, however, Is the
Immigrant problem. The commissioner gen
eral saws: The immigrant problem looms
up SO largely in the prospect of our country
that 1t may be said, without giving JUST
cause to charge exaggeration' that an othe
questions of public economy Ieiatins 10
things rather than to human beings SHRINK
into comparative insignifioance.' Twice as
much literature Is needed for the lmn:i-
grants and the islands, and ten times as
much as at present is Wan.ed lot the
orient"
The American Tract Society has just ccm-
Melted a translation of the Bible, with helps,
into the Chinese language, which is TO De
used in the orient.
Where Gospel is Free.
Gen. oliver o. Howard entertained the
audience with "reminiscences which empha-
| sized the Importance and value OF the work
| of the American Tract Society. He men
toned the Spanish war and expressed his
| belief that it was justified. I'VE hear critf-
| cisms of the steps taken then" he said;
| .'b,,t when you size up the situation yod
see that Dewey couldn't have gone back,
| for he had no place to go. We sustained
| him and there has been no avoidance of the
| situation since In it. believe, you will see
| the providence of God, that the people of
| the east shall come under the flag, where
| the gospel is free. And we must follow The
| flag with our Christian missionaries and our
! Christian literature.
| ..trhis institution stands head and shoul-
| ders over all the others in the work OF
| spreading the gospel. 1t sends It's books
| into every nook and corner of the world.
| What could we do In the missionary work
| without the society to back up the mission
| aries?
| II hope that every minister of every de-
| nomination will preach one sermon a yeaI
| on this literature which displaces the bad
| literature by fhe good and will let the neo-
| pie give their portion to back up the work
| Of the missionaries everywhere"
| DR.. Butler pointed out the fact that Presi-
| dent Roosevelt spoke at .he anniversary
| meeting last year, and that Gen. Howard
| Justice Brewer and Mr.. Juison Swift spoke
| last evening showed the high appreciation
| of the work done by the society.