Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-07-16
SUBJECT
OF ADDRESSES
GIVEN SUNDAY
Rev. r. O. Void and Mrs.
Hotvedt Speak in Trinity
Church.
Jap Aggression is the Seri-
Gus Question of Far East,
Says Seminary Head.

Yesterday forenoon Rev. R. G.
Void, president Of the Central China
Union Lutheran Theological semin-
airy near Hankow, China, delivered
am address IN political and religious
conditions in China before a large
\ church.
Mr.. Void has been lecturing a num-
! Der Of cities.
He has lived in China since 1889.
I In 1913 he became president of the
theological seminary and has had
ample opportunity to study Chimes
conditions close at hand.
Mr.. Void gave his audience a vivid
description of the turbulent condi-
tons prevailing in China and VEN
tured the prediction that it will be
long before order will come out Of
the, chaos. The political situation is
very peculiar and the country suffers
from continual strife between the va
rious political factions always trying
to get the upper hand. What COM
plicates the situation is the fact that
Of the population which numbers
100000 900, 70 per cent of the men
r. absolute ill%iterates; there are
about 200, 000, 1000 million women in
the country and nearly all of them
are illiterate..
In his lecture Mr.. Void emphasized
the fact that the republican form Of
government had not proven a bless
Ing to China. The population as a
whole is not ripe for democratic gov
eminent, and the fact that the boy
emperor h other day assembled the
throne only to be deposed again after
q couple Of days shows clearly how
unstable conditions are and how fu-
tile it is to hope hat they will i'm
prove materially in the near future.
Regarding China's sentiment
toward the European belligerents Mr..
Void said that it was now generally
speaking, in favor of the cause Of the
allies. Until the entrance of America
upon the arena Of the world war y
large number of Chinese had been adj
mittedly pro-German, especially be-
cause they resented Japan's capture
of the German-Chinese colony, Using
tao. h president Of the Chinese
republic did not work very harmon
iously In cooperation with his cab
met and advisers at the time when
America broke off diplomatic rela-
lions with the German empire.
The ever present problem in China,
Mr.. Void said, is Japanese aggression
which may not be directed so much
toward military as toward industrial
superiority. Through a thousand va
rtous channels Japan Is constantly at
tempting to dominate, commercial life
Az S1AiiNo AOi Lie puTpOS6 VI gaming
n holding the position as leader OF
Asiatic nations, and Mr.. Void said
that Americans, generally speaking,
were not aware of the methods en-
ployed by the Japanese government.
Life atta mission station and in a
theologicaas seminary wastinteresting-
ly describbd by Mr.. Void who said
that the difficulties under which mis-
mission work formerly was carried
on had become greatly Aminimized
during the last few years, with the
result that influential Chinese now
look with favor upon the religious
and cultural work being done through
the agency Of mission schools and sta
tions. So
Last night Mr.. vold's address was
ably supplemented by a lecture given
by Mrs. /. j. Hotvedt OF Muskegon,
Mich, who has spent six years in
Central China in connection with hos
pital work under the auspices of the
Lutheran mission stations. Mrs. Hot
vedt spoke about the difficulties and
the results of the stnitary and hygien-
1c efforts which have been made by
the mission stations for a number OF
years and also mentioned the fact
that nearly 10000 persons are being
a annually at the two hospitals
which have been established by the