The Republican journal., 1909-09-23
The Mission Mail Bag.
RADICAL REFORMERS.

them to be men of strong character. An
edict went forth last year forbidding the
sale or the sowing of poppy seeds, and
Paul L. Corbin, an American Board mis-
sionary at Tai-ku writes: at is hard to
believe, but it is true nevertheless, that
old Shansi in single season absolutely
and completely stopped the cultivation Of
the opium poppy" The words of ex-
president Tucker of Dartmouth may yet
be fulfilled ''For aught we know" he
says, ''before the century is out America
may need China in Christian way as
much as today China needs America. :"
Perhaps these Shansi men can give US
points on how to enforce our laws against
the sale of alcoholic drinks and other
evils.
HANDS ACROSS THE SEA.
Our government made wise choice in
selecting Roger S. Greene, U. S. consul
at Hardin, Manchuria, to be official guide
for the party of forty japanese business
men now making tour of our principal
cities. He happened to be on furlough
here, and has just the qualifications for a
delicate task which requires wide knowl-
edge of both countries. By his life in
Japan as missionary's son, his father
being DR.. Daniel C. Greene of Tokyo, he
has had an opportunity to study the far
East at close range. He is a Harvard
graduate and was in consular service in
Rio Janeiro, Nagasaki and Vladivostock
before his appointment to Hardin, the
place planned by Russia to become ''the
Moscow of Asia, the Minneapolis of the
far East and the Chicago of the Orient.
AS ''guide, philosopher and friend'' to
these Japanese visitors, Mr. Greene will
be likely to see that they carry away a
correct impression of our Christian in
stitutions and their bearing upon our
commercial success. We are living in
an age when the services of missionaries
and their children are in great demand in
international matters.
1.-THE MIRACLE OF THE TWENTIETH CEN
TURY."
This was the way Wn Ting Fang, for
mer minister of China to the United
States, described the awakening of his
own country, in an address before the
Civic Forum in New York city. Fore
most among the influences which have
wrought the miracle he placed the edu-
cational institutions of American mis-
sionaries. He said these formed a part
of the leaven which has leavened the
whole empire of China. How signifi-
cant part becomes more and more ap-
parent as plans are unfolded for the edu-
cation of Chinese youth. Few Americans
have had larger share in these plans
than DR. D. T. Sheffield, president of the
North China college in Tung-c ho, who
has been in service there forty years I'M
der the American Board with only three
visits to the United States. Although the
college was wiped out of existence by the
Boxers in 1900, and the land sowed to
corn, it was promptly rebuilt with indem-
nifty money, and is still training picked
men for efficient leadership in the nation.
DR.. Sheffield holds high rank as an ad-
ministrator as well as a scholar The
federation OF forces representing three
religious denominations, English as we'll
as American, into a general educational
scheme, was due largely to his initiative
and skill. These missionary plants, work.
ing tremendously together towards a
given end, the making of Christian char
acter, have made deep impression upon
the Chinese. Another educational factor
is miniature Yale which was opened at
Changsha by alumni of that university,
in 1898. This year few alumni of the
Harvard medical school have decided to
duplicate that institution in the fowery
kingdom. Such are some of the infu-
ences to which WI Ting Fang ascribes
the awakening of China.
ALL ABOARD FOR AGRA.
The plan to hold the next international
Christian Endeavor convention in Agra
is focusing the attention of the religious
world upon India, especially upon the
progress of Christianity there during the
last century. DR.. R. A. Hume, who was
born in Ahmednagar and has spent his
life, as his father did before him, in mis-
sionary effort under the American Board,
has just issued a small pamphlet setting
forth the great outstanding results of
Protestant missions in India. Chief
mong them he notes the practical aboli-
ton of idolatry among educated Hindus,
their universal reverence of Jesus Christ
and their growing belief in the father
hood of God. This amazing difference IN
their religious views he feels is due to
contact with missions, though other influ-
ences have helped to bring about mighty
changes in thought and life. Another re-
suit is the marked way in which Hindus
are copying missionary methods in caring
for the neglected classes, whom hitherto
they have treated with contempt. Now
many high caste people, seeing how
Christianity has uplifted the poor unfor-
Inmates, are convinced that it is a social.