The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1910-01-20
The Mission Mail Bag.
THE BARONESS UCHIDA.

The wife of the new Japanese ambas-
sador to the United States, the Baroness
Uchida, is daughter of one of Japan's
millionaires and became Christian while
student at the Doshisha Girls School
in Kyoto This is one of the educational
plants started by Joseph Neesima under
the auspices of the American Board.
Mrs. Uchida afterwards studied at Bryn
Mawr. One of her sisters is the wife of
the Minister of Home Affairs in the pres
ent cabinet. Both she and her husband
are Christians and not long ago they en-
tertained all the Protestant missionaries
gathered at Tokyo to celebrate the semi
centennial of the beginning of missionary
work in Japan. Commenting upon the
anniversary one of the japanese news
papers said that the part which women
took in the exercises, appearing on the
platform before large mixed audience,
was striking evidence of the advance
ment of japanese women under the IN
fuence of Christianity. The presence OF
the prime minister, the minister OF edu-
cation and other eminent men on this
occasion marked great change in sentl-
ment towards missionaries since the day
when, no later than 1884, they received
a letter addressed to the four American
DdfpdEldllS, LAWS, LCoI IOu anu
Greene" In it were these sentences:
the evil religion of Christ and as slaves
of the robber Neesima. Those who
brought Buddhism to Japan in ancient
times were killed. But we do not wish
to defle the soil of Japan with your
abominabe blood Hence, take your
families and go quickly" A few years
later those same ''barbarians were hon
ored as guests in the homes of some of
the leading citizens.
AMERICANS EASILY DUPED.
Why is it that swindlers from the
Orient find Americans such easy prey?
Is there a kind of glamour in their
strange garb and tongue? Whatever the
reason the facts remain Inquiries have
recently come to our U. S. consul at Ire
bizond, Hon. Milo A. Jewett, also to DR..
w. w. Peet, an American Board mission
airy at Constantinople, concerning a GER
tain Mar Sergius, and other HISTORIANS
Canada, ostensibly for church buildings,
school and orphanages in Turkey. The
head of the Archbishop of Canterbury's
mission in Van, Rev. w. A. Wigram,
was authorized to make Investigations
and he reports that the money given has
never been spent on anything except the
collectors themselves. He says: "a man
in utter proverty knows that by going to
America and pitching a yarn that he
would not expect to be taken seriously in
his own land he can collect So, 900, which
is fortune here and live well meantime.
Imprisonment is no deterrent to these
men, seeing that the prisons of any civil
LIED land give board and lodging far
superior to any that they can get at
home. Confscation of letters-and
money, if possible-and deportation of
the bearers as undesirable aliens is
preferable if it is possible by American,
as it is by English law. What is needed
for the abating of a custom that is at
once a scandal and nuisance is that the
charitable should be more careful in their
giving. While their carelessness makes
a low form of swindling easy and profit
able poor men will swindle. do not de-
fend Mar Sergius nor his collectors, but
do not think the guilt entirely on their
side.
Mr.. Wigram speaks strongly against
"the folly of those in every country who
have apparently more charity than
brains, and advises people who really
wish to help Turkey in this hour of need
to give their contributions ''for any pur-
pose they wish, to some one of the mis-
sions at work in the land, and they will
have some security that the money will
be expended for the purpose for which it
is given" 1t should also be remembered
thar not an orphanage exists in Turkey
except those established and conducted
by missionaries. The patriarch of the
HISTORIAN church has made efforts to
stop the plumber. He has sent letters to
the government of India, authorizing the
prosecution of any who collect such
funds, and would no doubt do the same
for the U. S. government if requested.