Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1908-10-31

or students was $4,000 last yea
They 60 q into the neighborhoods
and they cannot but have a good ef-
feet throughout that great empire.
large enough as It Is. to promote the
ideas Of Christianity and the ideas OF
civilization. Two or three things
make n impatient when he under
stands the facts. One Is this criticism
OF the missionaries as constantly in
yolving the governments In trouble,
as constantly bringing about war.
The truth is that Western civilization
IN trade Is pressing into the Orient
and the agents that are SEN forward.
| am sorry to say, are not the best
representatives Oh Western civilian
ton. The American and Englishman
and others who live In the Orlen, a o
many OF them excellent, honest, God
fearing men; but there are In that set
OF advance agents of Western civflixa-
ton gentlemen who left the West
for the good Of the West, and be-
cause their history In the West might
prove embarrassing at home. More
than that. even where they are hon
est, Woodworking tradesmen and
merchants attempting to push busi-
ness into the Orient, their minds are
constantly on business. 1t Is not hu-
man nature that they should resist
the temptations that not infrequently
present themselves to get ahead OF
the Oriental brother In business
transactions. They generally are
quite ont of sympathy with a spirit
of brotherhood toward the Oriental
natives. Even In the Philippines
that spirit Is shown. for while l was
there I can remember hearing on the
streets, sung by a gentleman that did
not agree with my view OF our duty
toward the Filipinos:
@He may be a brother of William II.
Taft,
But he amt no brother Of mine.s
Now that is the spirit that we are
SO likely to find among the gentle
men who go into the Fast for the
purpose OF extending trade. Then I
am bound to say that the restraints
OF public opinion, of a fear or the
criticism Of ones neIghbors that one
finds at home, to keep men In the
straight and narrow path. are loos-
ened In the Orient. and we do not
find that they are the models, many
Of them, that they ought to be In
probity and morality. They look mp
on the native as inferior, and they are
too likely to treat him with insult.
Civilization Paralleling Trade.
Hence 1t is that in the progress OF
civilization we must move along as
trade moves; and as the foreign mis-
sions move on, It Is through the for
eign missions that we must expect to
have the true picture OF Christian
brotherhood presented to those ma
tives. the true spirit Of Christian sym
patty. That Is what makes In the
progress OF civilization the immense
Importance Of Christian missions.
You 60 into China to-day and try to
find out what the conditions are In
the interior-consult In Pekin the
gentlemen who are supposed to know,
and where do they go? They 60 at
once to the missionaries, to the men
who have spent their lives far adj
vanced into the nation. far beyond
the point or safety II any uprising
takes place. and who have learned
by association with the natives, by
living with them, BY bringing them
into their houses, by helping them an
secret of what Chinese life Is. And
therefore 1t Is that the only reliable
books that you can read, telling you
the exact condition OF Chinese CIVIL
ization, are written by these same
foreign missionaries who have been
so much blamed for involving US In
foreign vars.
The Boxer War.
Ii Is said that the Boxer war was
due to the interference Of missionar-
fes. and the feeling OF the Chinese
against the Christian religion as
manifested and exemplifled BY the
missionaries. That Is not true. 1t
is true that the first outbreak was
against the Observation-Disclosures
the outbreak was against foreign In
reference. and 1t was easiest to at
tack those men who were farthest
il the Chinese nation. and there they
made expression Of that feeling BY
their attack against the whole for
eign interference. But that which
really reused the opposition Of the