Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-15

proofs were struck off and sent to edu-
Gated Syrians and Arabs and British.
American and German scholars, whose
criticisms were carefully considered, and.
after twenty-eight years OF hard work
by DIR. Smith and his successor, DIR. Van
Dyck. the American Press at Beirut is
sued a. translation which has received
the approval Of all the great Arabic
scholars of the day.
The next step was to electrotype the
pages and secure duplicate plates that
would insure its preservation forever, and
that long and costly labor. which involved
probably the hardest task of proofread-
ing ever undertaken, has recently been
completed by DIR. Franklin Hoskins OF
Beirut.
The Mission Press of Beirut under DIR.
Hosains' direction had already issued
I .,.35. a66 copies of the Arabic Bible up to
December 81, 1900, which have been dis
tributed among the Mohammedan races
from the Adriatic to the Yellow sea.
Thousands of copies have gone to our
Mohammedan wards I'm the Philippines
They are to be found in Yucatan, In
Brazil in the Argentine Republic and at
the Cape of Good Hope. There is regu-
lar demand from every section OF Asia
and Africa, where most Of the followers
of Mohammed live. They generally accept
the Old Testament as history and claim
the patriarchs and the Prophet as their
own.
Text Books Next in Importance.
Next in importance to the publication of
the Bible has been the work OF produc-
ing text books for the schools In the
east. Like the general literature, they are
mostly reprints and TRANSACTIONS OF AMER
can editions but they have to be aoapteo
in measure to local conditions ne
courses in the American colleges In 1ur-
KEY are conducted in English. but Frehch
German. Turkish and Otner languages aIe
taught. For these, American teAt ooonS
are used, The same as In our own coi
leges, but for the common schoois vi lnI
Turkish empire an entire set OF scnooi
books had to be created Dy tne ->ineil
can missionaries. which nave s,"ce oee''
adopted by the government for iocaI use.
no geography or history or arithmetic
or ANYTHING else in Turkish or the other
ten languages in common use IN tnat
empire existed when the Americans un-
oertook their campaign or educauon se ".
prepared and printed with the sultans
stupid and malicious censors LOOKING over
the shoulders Of the writer's ana the
printers and the proofreaders to prexeht
the publication OF anything that might
reflect upon the benign policy OF the
great assassin as Mr.. Gladstone called
him. or suggest to the people ideas incon-
sistent with their poverty and retrogres-
sion.
Many amusing stories are told OF the
ouerulous rules and corrections made by
these censors. Even the text OF the Blole
had to be changed and certain passages
omitted because they taught the doctrine
of human rights ana referred 10 penalties
visited upon unjust rulers by God and
man. The word Armenia" the name
of one Of the largest provinces OF the ~ ~.
name of Macedonia, another, was also
placed in the list Of terms that could
not be used. The same rules that We're
applied by the censors to daily news,
tAA 20
other books, but nevertheless the presses
have never been stopped and the 1nnu-
ence of the literature they have issued
is incalculable.
Newspapers Widely Circulated.
For two generations the two publishing
houses of the American missions have
issued newspapers in Armenian GreeK'
Bulgarian, Arabic and other languages
used in the Turkish empire. which have
had a wide circulation and perma-
nent influence among all classes. THESE
papers contain reviews of current events,
religious intelligence. stories ana poetry,
and miscellaneous Information, ana nave
been the only newspapers that have been
allowed to circulate in certain portions OF
the empire.
The orient. a weekly, edited by Mr.. 1
Herbert Allen, and published by the Bible
House in Constantinople, for example.
contains items of interest to the native
Christian communities all over the en-
pire. with other things, i have found
in it the best reports OF the proceedings
of the Turkish parliament l have seen
anywhere.
Monthly magazines containing religious
and general literature are issued regular
". and have a large circulation. The
ological and scientific discussions and the
news of the scientific world are pub
lished for the benefit Of professional
readers. In other words, the missionary
presses have been putting out for cir
culation throughout the Turkish empire
me same sort of literature that is ex-
peeted from our own first-class publishing
houses in the United States. to supply
the needs of a people whose intellects
are gradually awakening, to develop ma
tive writer's. and to create a demand for
their writings, so that they may live
by the pen.