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CHRISTIAN WORK IN LATIN AMERICA
LITERATURE
WOMEN'S WORK
THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
THE HOME BASE
Being the Reports of Commissions IV, V, VI and VII presented to the Congress on Christian Work in Latin America, Panama, February, 1916, with full records of the presentation and discussion of each report.
Published for the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America
by
THE MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT New York City
Copyright, 1916
Missionary Education Movement of the
United States and Canada
1o^7o
9-
GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION FOUR ON LIT- ERATURE 1
The List of Members of the Commission 7
The Report of the Commission 9
Chapter I — The Necessity and Importance of
Christian Literature 9
Chapter II — The Translation and Distribution of
the Scriptures 11
Chapter III— Other Types of Christian Literature. 20
Chapter IV — Tracts and Leaflets 31
Chapter V — Periodical Literature 37
Chapter VI — Literature in Portuguese 47
Chapter VII — Cooperation in the Production of
Christian Literature 54
Appendix A: The List of Correspondents 60
Other Appendices 61
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report... 81 THE REPORT OF COMMISSION FIVE ON
WOMEN'S WORK 103
The List of Members of the Commission 109
The Report of the Commission Ill
Chapter I — The Sources of the Report Ill
/ Chapter II — The Woman's Missionary Movement
^ and its Early Pioneers in Latin America 113
Chapter HI — The Position and Influence of Women
in Latin America 122
Chapter IV — The Education of Women in Latin
America 138
Chapter V — The Social Consciousness Among
Women 161
Chapter VI — The Work of Women's Mission
Boards in Latin America 175
Chapter VII — The Conclusions of the Commission
Appendix A: The List of Correspondents 188
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report... 197 iii
iv CONTENTS
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION SIX ON THE
CHURCH IN THE FIELD 217
The List of Members of the Commission 223
The Report of the Commission 225
Chapter I — The Organized, Indigenous Church 225
Chapter II — Its Membership and Organization 229
Chapter III— The Spiritual Life of the Church.... 240
Chapter IV— Practice and Development 248
Chapter V— The Problem of Self-Support 261
Chapter VI — The Securing of Leadership 274
Chapter VII — Relations With Governments 288
Chapter VIII — General Conclusions 303
Appendix A: The Correspondents of the Commission 312
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report... 315
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION SEVEN ON THE
HOME BASE ZZ7
The List of Members of the Commission 343
The Report of the Commission 347
Chapter I — The Scope and Importance of the Re- port 347
Chapter II — The Present Attitude of the Home
Base Toward Christian Work in Latin America.. 350 Chapter III — Present Activities in Latin-American
Countries 360
Chapter IV — Methods and Means Now Employed
in Developing an Interest in Latin America 277
Chapter V — Measures Required to Secure Ade- quate Support of Christian Work in Latin
America 401
Appendix A : The List of Correspondents 423
Other Appendices 427
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report. . . 433
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION IV
ON
LITERATURE
Presented to the Congress on Tuesday, February 15,1916
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THE CONTENTS OF THE REPORT OF COMAilSSION IV
The List of Members of the Commission 7
The Report of the Commission 9
Chapter I — The Necessity and Importance of Chris- tian Literature 9
Chapter II — The Translation and Distribution of the
Scriptures 11
1. The Task of the Great Bible Societies 11
2. The History of Bible Translation for Latin America 12
a. The Four Versions in Spanish 12
b. The Three Portuguese Versions 13
c. The Roman Catholic Versions from the Vul-
gate 14
d. Portions of the Bible in the Native Vernacu-
lars 15
3. The Distribution of the Scriptures 15
a. The Remarkable Success of the Early Efforts
of Dr. James Thomson 15
b. The Bitter and Successful Opposition of the
Hierarchy 16
c. The Importance of the Work of Distribution to
Missions 17
d. The Official Roman Catholic Policy To-day... 18
4. The Two Societies Cooperative 19
Chapter III — Other Types of Christian Literature 20
1. The Need of a Better Literary Approach to the
Latin-American Mind 20
2. The Content of That Mind 21
a. It is Non-Biblical 21
b. It is Not Literate 22
3. The Varied Literature Needed 23
a. A Good Modern Commentary 23
b. Books for the Training of Christian Leaders.. 23
c. School Text-Books ^. . 24
d. Books ^^'hich Present and Explain Christianity 25
e. Books for the Cultivation of the Spiritual Life 26
f . General Literature 27
g. Hymnals 28
3
4 CONTENTS
Chapter IV — Tracts and Leaflets 31
1. The Popularity of the Leaflet in Latin America 31
2. The Work of the Tract Societies 31
3. The Leaflet Literature Needed 32
a. Simple, Uncontroversial Presentations of Re-
ligious Truth 32
b. Arguments Against Atheism, Indifference or
Pseudo Faiths , 33
c. Prepared by Experts 33
d. Salable at Small Cost 34
4. The Task to be Accomplished 34
Chapter V — Periodical Literature 37
1. The Place of the Church Paper 37
2. Purposes of the Church Paper 38
a. As an Organ of the Church 38
b. As a Source of Inspiration 38
c. As a Source of Information 38
d. As a Source of Scientific and Religious In-
struction 39
e. As an Agency of Propaganda 39
(1) In the Work of Pioneering 39
(2) In Conducting Debates Upon Religion . . 40
(3) In the Clear Representation of Evan-
gelical Christianity 40
3. The Production of a Church Paper 41
4. Types of Periodicals Needed 42
a. A Theological Review 42
b. Monthly Magazines 43
c. Weekly Papers 43
d. A Philosophical and Literary Review 44
e. Periodicals for the Sunday School 44
f. An Evangelical Daily Paper Impracticable at
Present 46
Chapter VI — Literature in Portuguese 47
1. Meagre Results of the First Half Century 47
2. Various Hindrances to Growth 48
a. The Lack of Literary Attractiveness 48
b. The Changing Interests of the Reading Public 48
c. The Lack of Effective Cooperation 49
d. The Publication of Books of Temporary Value 49
e. The Lack of Funds 49
3. The Outstanding Needs 50
a. The Proper Organization and Coordination of
the Work SO
b. The Work of Printing 51
c. The Work of Distribution 51
(1) Evangelical Book Stores 52
(2) A Colportage Association 52
(3) The Use of Trade Channels 52
4. Periodical Literature in Portuguese 52
CONTENTS 5
Chapter VII — Cooperation in the Production of Chris- tian Literature 54
1. In Periodical Publications 54
2. In General Literary Production 55
3. In the Conduct of a Press Bureau 57
4. In the Maintenance of Bookstores 57
5. The Montevideo Plan 57
6. Conditions of Effective Cooperation 58
Appendix A — The Correspondents of the Commission 60
Appendix B — A Selected List of Houses Which Publish
or Sell Spanish and Portuguese Publica- tions 61
Appendix C — A Selected List of Books in Spanish for
Christian Workers 63
Appendix D — Questions Sent to Correspondents 68
Appendix E — A Summary of the Replies 69
Appendix F — A Proposed Plan for Cooperation 75
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report 79
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
Professor Andres Osuna^ Commissioner of Education, Federal District, Mexico City.
VICE-CHAIRMEN
The Rev. John H. Ritson, M.A., D.D., Secretary Brit- ish and Foreign Bible Society, London.
Mr. James Wood, President American Bible Society, New York City.
executive committee The Rev. John M. Kyle, D.D., former Missionary in
Brazil, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Lowell,
Mass. The Rev. Judson Swift, D.D., Secretary American
Tract Society, New York City. The Rev. G. B. Winton, D.D., Board of Missions,
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tenn. The Rev. W. I. Haven, D.D., Secretary American Bible
Society, New York City.
The Rev. A. G. Baker, Canadian Baptist Foreign Mis- sion Board, La Paz, Bolivia.
The Rev. Ernesto Barocio, Templo Bautista, Monterey, Mexico.
The Rt. Rev. Charles B. Colmore, D.D., Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Porto Rico, San Juan, Porto Rico.
7
8 LITERATURE
Mr. P. A. CoNARD, Associate Continental Secretary for
South America, Young Men's Christian Association,
Montevideo. Mr. John Davidson, Director Evangelical Union of
South America, London. The Rev. J. E. Davis, Manager Publishing House,
Southern Baptist Convention, Leon, Mexico. The Rev. Charles W. Drees, D.D., Methodist Episcopal
Church, Bible Revision Committee, Madrid, Spain. The Rev. Roberto Elphick, Methodist Episcopal
Church, Valparaiso, Chile. Dr. W. E. Entzminger, Southern Baptist Convention,
Rio de Janeiro. The Rev. Juan Orts Gonzalez, Presbyterian Church in
Cuba, Sagua la Grande, Cuba. The Rev. Daniel Hall, Methodist Episcopal Church,
Buenos Aires. The Rev. J. P. Hauser, Methodist Episcopal Church,
Mexico City. The Rev. Eric Lund, Editor Revista Homiletica, Los
Angeles, Calif. Dr. Alberto Nin-Frias, Author and Diplomat, Monte- video. The Rev. Cornelius H. Patton, D.D., Secretary Amer- ican Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions,
Boston, Mass. The Rev. J. A. Phillips, Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, San Antonio, Texas. The Rev. W. A. Ross, Presbyterian Church in the U. S.,
Brownsville, Texas. Mr. R. D. Smith, Secretary Bible House of Los An-
geles, Los Angeles, Calif. The Rev. William Wallace, D.D., Presbyterian
Church in the U. S. A., Vera Cruz, Mexico.
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION IV ON LITERATURE
CHAPTER I
THE NECESSITY AND IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
The printed word competes with the spoken word for the attention of mankind. It is less moving but more permanent. It reaches the mind by way of the eye, per- haps the most acquisitive of all the senses. The me- chanical appliances of our day multiply it indefinitely. It will have a still wider field of influence in the future than it now has or ever has had. A nation's consumption of printed matter is a norm of its civilization. Many among the Latin-American peoples cannot now read. Their children will not rest content in that state. In most of the countries, and notably so in some of them, public opinion is aroused and popular desire is keen with re- spect to education. Governments are devoting increased attention to it. And when these nations shall be able to read, there will be a throng of non-Christian interests ready to crowd reading matter upon their attention. It will be their misfortune and our irretrievable fault if the evangelical Churches are not in the very forefront of that advance with a Christian literature that will at once charm the taste and bless the life of these coming lit- erate generations. Since the time of Paul, Christianity has not ceased to make its literature as it advances, and
9
10 LITERATURE
to advance by means of the literature which it makes. In the days of the early Roman Catholic missionaries to Latin America, before the printing press had become common, sermons, catechisms, doctrines, rules of con- duct, etc., were reduced to writing, in both Spanish and Portuguese and in the native dialects, and were multi- plied by the slow process of copying by hand. The body of that Hterature was not indeed large and the hard lines drawn by the Inquisition soon tended to limit its range and to discourage its production; but its history is an instructive one.
Let it be set down as fixed that when people can read, they will read. Demands will be supplied. It is the law of nature. What then will the awakening generations of Latin America find to read? Corrupt men will be prompt to supply them with matter that will lower their morals and vitiate their taste, for thus a market may be created leading to a productive traffic. Apostles of agnosticism and of atheism will not be slow to furnish books and papers for the making of unbelievers. There are many already in these lands, men and women, equipped to be intellectual leaders, who are only too ready to help forward that propaganda. They are people who have concluded that all religion is but superstition and that their compatriots should be freed from it. Chris- tian literature will be especially needed in those countries as an antidote. Against the impact of these two evils, of salacious and vice-breeding literature on the one hand, and of skeptical and materialistic philosophy on the other, we must safeguard the coming generations of Latin America. It is no light undertaking. We must be alert and wise and persistent. It is unhappily too true that in the past much of the religious literature available for the Latin-American peoples has been inadequate and petty. One of the most essential undertakings of the missionai-y enterprise is the creation of a permanent, strong and choice Christian literature.
CHAPTER II
THE TRANSLATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCRIPTURES
I. THE TASK OF THE GREAT BIBLE SOCIETIES
In all mission fields and in all mission work the first book in both time and importance is the Bible. Here the Churches at work in Latin America find their needs an- ticipated and their work largely done by two great Bible Societies, the American, and the British and Foreign. These Societies have provided several versions of Scripture in both Spanish and Portuguese, and are of late seeking to modernize and perfect the translations in both languages. A committee representing the two So- cieties, and made up of members from both Latin Amer- ica and Spain, as well as of English-speaking scholars, is now at work on a new Spanish translation. It is sitting in Spain. In Brazil a committee has undertaken to pre- pare a modern Portuguese version. The British and Foreign Bible Society has published portions of the Bible in several of the Indian languages.
The work of the two leadlnc: Bible Societies is supple- mented by grants of the Scriptures by the National Bible Society of Scotland in Brazil, the Trinitarian Bible So- ciety in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and the West Indies, the Scripture Gift Mission in British Guiana, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Central America and
11
12 LITERATURE
Mexico, and the West Indies, and doubtless some work is done by other agencies also.
The various mission Boards are deeply indebted to the Bible Societies not only for the work of translation and distribution of these volumes of Scripture, so funda- mental in the work of missions, but also because these Societies furnish a concrete example of the efficiency of cooperation. By uniting their forces in these Societies the several Churches have accomplished a work in the publication and distribution of the sacred Scriptures which it is safe to say would have been impossible for any one of them alone, or even for all of them working separately.
The history of Bible translation in Latin America is intimately connected with that of the evangelical mission- ary enterprise in these republics. The facts given below have been taken for the most part from an address read in New York City in 1913, by Dr. John Fox, of the American Bible Society.
2. THE HISTORY OF BIBLE TRANSLATION FOR LATIN AMERICA
a. The Four Versions in Spanish.
Casiodoro de Reina, one of the Spanish reformers, escaping from the Spanish Inquisition to England in 1557 and afterward to the Continent, began a translation ap- parently from the original tongues (though this is a moot point), using other translations as aids, and issued in 1569 the earliest edition of the complete Spanish Bible. Cipriano de Valera, at first a Roman Catholic monk, then a Reformed Christian, who also escaped to England, took his degree in Cambridge, married an English lady, and spent the last twenty years of his life in revising the **De Reina" version. He is often credited wuth having made this version, which appeared in 1596, considerably in ad- vance of our English "King James," and has since been constantly circulated in very many subsequent editions, especially in Latin America by the Bible Societies. The later editions have included many changes from the orig- inal text of Valera. Early in the nineteenth century an- other scholar sought to provide a suitable version for
THE SCRIPTURES 13
Spanish-speaking peoples. Henry Barrington Pratt, a Southern Presbyterian by birth and training, was the sec- ond missionary of the Northern Presbyterian Board to South America. He spent nearly sixty years of his life over the Spanish Bible, and finally in 1886-93 completed a new translation, which he named the "Moderna," in- tended not primarily as a classic, but as a missionary weapon in Latin America. The whole expense both of translation and of publishing was borne by the Amer- ican Society, which has circulated nearly a million copies of it.
For several years a company of American, English, Mexican and Spanish scholars under the auspices and at the expense of the British and Foreign and American Bible Societies have been at work in Spain, aiming to provide a version which should blend the best in all pre- vious versions. The translators have to find the via media between a literal interpretation of the accepted texts which by its very ruggedness will tend to grip the conscience and to stimulate spiritual meditation, and so will become an effective missionary weapon, and a ren- dition into pure literary Spanish, equipped by its inherent graces to win an affectionate reading by lovers of the Castilian. In view of the variations in language already showing themselves in the various republics quite prob- ably no one version will permanently meet the needs of both Spain and Latin America. b. The Three Portuguese Versions.
The foundations for the Portuguese version were laid long ago. There were some fragmentary beginnings under Roman Catholic auspices, but the first complete New Testament made from the originals was that of Joao Ferreira d'Almeida. Born of Roman Catholic par- ents in Lisbon, he became a Protestant in Batavia, and labored as a minister in European communities in the East. He began his work of translation as a boy of fif- teen, making a version in the Portuguese from the Span- ish. Later he based his translation work on the older texts, completing the New Testament, as stated above. and working on the Old Testament also. This latter he
14 LITERATURE
never brought to completion, the working being inter- rupted by his death in 1691. His version was finished by other scholars later and pubHshed in 1748-53, and has since been published in many editions and widely used by both the British and the American Societies in Brazil. It was followed, however, by a Portuguese version of the entire Scriptures in twenty-three volumes, issued at Lisbon in 1781-83 by Don Antonio Pereira de Figueiredo, a Roman Catholic ecclesiastic, who based his work pri- marily on the Vulgate, but sometimes dared to follow the Greek.
The Protestant missionaries in Brazil have been active for more than a decade in making a version under the general patronage of the American and the British and Foreign Bible Societies. The purpose has been to pro- vide a translation suitable for the work of evangehzation. The New Testament has now been published by both So- cieties, and the Old Testament is nearing completion.
c. The Roman Catholic Versions from the Vulgate.
A full account of the Spanish translations made from the Vulgate by Roman Catholics, as well as the one just described in the Portuguese, cannot here be given. The most familiar are those of Fr. Felipe Scio de San ^Miguel, made later Bishop of Segovia. This was published in Spain in nineteen volumes, about the close of the eight- eenth century, accompanied by a Latin text and commen- tary, but it was so large and expensive as to be inacces- sible to any but the wealthy ; even the priests could not usually purchase it. Another translation of the Vulgate was made by Fr. Felix Torres Amat, later Bishop of Astorga, published also in Spain at Madrid, in 1823-24, in two volumes. Of the two versions, Scio is said to be more literal, but occasionally unintelli?:ible. That of Amat is always readable. IMexican priests in 1831-33 issued a new version of the entire Bible, the first ever printed in Mexico, in twenty-five volumes, with maps and plates. It is made from a French version and printed with the Vulgate. The Brazilian ecclesiastics have formed an or- ganization known as the Jerome Society which has re- cently issued the gospel in Portuguese.
THE SCRIPTURES 15
d. Portions of the Bible in the Xatire Veniacidars.
According to the best available statistics, there are in Mexico about 8,000,000, in South America about 6,000,000, and in Central .America some 1,700,000 people, of native tribes, still employing their own languages and dialects. The policy of the various governments is to teach them the use of the Spanish — in Brazil, of the Por- tuguese. In the course of time these dialects will grad- ually die out. The process will be slow, however, and in the meantime it should be possible for them to receive the gospel in their own tongues wherein they were bom. While they are for the most part iUiterate, Christian work among them is immensely facilitated by the translation of the Scriptures. For a century the British and Foreign Bible Society has engaged in work of this kind. Very soon after its organization the .American Bible Society also made a beginning. Portions of Scripture have been issued by the first of these great agencies for na- tives of Latin America in as many as thirteen different languages : Aztec and }^Iaya in Mexico ; Carib and Cae- chiquel, ^^losquito and Quiche in Central America ; and in South America, A}-mara, Bribri, Guarani, Lengua, Quechua and Yahgan, and in addition, the Xegro. To these versions the American Bible Society has added two, Arawak in Central America and Zapotec in Mexico. In not a single instance has one of these versions embraced the entire Bible, and in few, if any, the entire Xew Tes- tament. They are single gospels, usually the w^ork of some devoted missionarv% put into permanent form by the zeal and liberality of the great cooperative Societies.
3. THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCRIPTURES
a. The Remarkable Success of the Early Efforts of Dr. James Thomson. The beginnings of Bible work in Latin America are distinguished by some extraordinary features. One of the most interesting facts in the whole story is the bril- liant success that attended the first efforts. The British Society had a magnetic and energetic representative in James Thomson, D.D., whose stor}- is almost as wonder-
i6 LITERATURE
ful as that of George Borrow in Spain, and perhaps with more striking results in Bible circulation. Thomson ar- rived in Buenos Aires in October, 1818, labored in Mon- tevideo in 1820, went to Chile in 1821 and arrived in Lima in June, 1822. Starting from Lima in 1824, he made his way along the coast to Guayaquil and, crossing under the shadow of Chimborazo, pushed on to Quito.
Mr. Canton, in his history of the British and Foreign Bible Society, tells how governors and eccle- siastics were his aids, friars not only were hospitable, but also aided him in the sale of the Scriptures within monastery walls, and engaged to take Scriptures on consignment, and governors of provinces supported them in it. Arriving at Bogota, there was held on March 24, 1825, a public meeting of clergy and laity, who voted that it was compatible with their obHgations as Colom- bians and Roman Catholics to establish a National Co- lombian Bible Society, to print and circulate the Holy Scriptures in approved versions. At the meeting, held at the principal Dominican convent, distinguished foreign- ers were present ; dignitaries in church and state accept- ed office in the society. This was the most striking aspect of what seemed then a general movement, espe- cially in the more enlightened countries, where many were cordially willing and ready to welcome the Scrip- tures. The managers of the American Society at once shipped 800 Spanish Bibles to Bogota. The British and Foreign Bible Society was also quick, of course, to re- spond to the appeal of its own agents.
Mr. Thomson went to Mexico in 1827, where, with a retinue of twenty- four mules loaded with Bibles and Testaments, he made his way through the mountains and forests from Vera Cruz to the Mexican capital. Here he was received by the highest Roman Catholic digni- taries and his progress at first seemed like a triumph.
b. The Bitter and) Successful Opposition of the Hi- erarchy. After a journey through the country, when Dr. Thom- son returned to the capital, the Dean and Chapter is-
THE SCRIPTURES 17
sued an edict forbidding the sale, purchase, reading, or even possession of the Bibles published by the Society, and in spite of Mr. Thomson's appeals, the remonstrance of the civil government and the evident desire of the people to have the Bible, the clergy successfully enforced the edict among their own parishes. Then revolution broke out, and Mr. Thomson reluctantly retired from the country.
When the next Bible agent visited Colombia he found that the National Colombian Bible Society had vanished into thin air and that the brilliant signs of promise had faded away.
The Roman Catholic Church has ever since been fairly consistent in resisting the introduction of the Scriptures into Latin America on the two well-known grounds that the "Protestant" versions are defective and that igno- rant people ought not to be trusted with the Scriptures in the vernacular.
c. The Importance to Missions of the Work of Distri- bution, Most missionaries are of the opinion that the Churches in general do not set enough store by the work of the Bible Societies. Perhaps not many of them would go the length of using such language as was employed by Bishop Mitchinson. After returning from Barbados he deplored in a public address "the absolute ingratitude of the Church of England as a body" to the great organ- ization which was serving them at every turn in the mis- sion field. But it is certainly true that if Christians at home appreciated as keenly as do their representatives abroad the generous and absolutely fundamental work of these Societies, they would support them far more en- thusiastically than most of them now do. That that work is both generous and fundamental demands no proof. While it is the policy of both Societies to insist on the sale of the Scriptures rather than on their free distribution — since the latter cheapens the books in the eyes of those who receive them — it is still true that the returns from sales is rarely equal to fifty percent, of the total cost of
i8 LITERATURE
distribution. Even when missionaries give their service without charge as local managers of depositories and col- portage, with free rental and other facilities, the Societies always have deficits to cover, and their work, however successful, is yet a constant drain upon their treasuries. Happily the cooperation between these great agencies and the missionaries is almost invariably hearty. Most of the versions are the work of missionaries. Generous aid is always ready for any individual who finc^s it in his heart to make the sacred writings available to is people in their own tongue.
The unflagging zeal of the Bible Societies and the per- sistence of their agents and colporteurs have fertilized every field for the later coming of the missionaries. Had the Churches been under the necessity of themselves sup- plying their missionaries with Scriptures, their work would have gone forward far more slowly. In numerous cases not only has the way been prepared for active evan- gelization, but the Bible has itself brought the good news home to the hearts of the people. Long after he has passed, the colporteur may often be traced by the groups of devout believers who are found gathered about some neighbor fortunately able to read, listening joyously to the story of the gospel.
d. The Official Roman Catholic Policy To-day.
The persistence of the two great Societies in circulat- ing vernacular Scriptures, ''without note or comment," has, however, caused the ecclesiastical leaders of Roman Catholicism to deal afresh with the whole subject of the Bible and its use. As already stated, they have them- selves issued new versions in both Spanish and Portu- guese, and have authorized their circulation, once they are duly annotated. These editions have been usually expensive and cumbersome, and have therefore not ob- tained a wide distribution. Their chief value has been in that they furnish an unanswerable reply to the claim that the Bible Society versions are "defective," since a word-by-word comparison makes it clear that there are no essential differences.
THE SCRIPTURES 19
4. THE TWO GREAT SOCIETIES COOPERATIVE
The British and Foreign Bible Society and the Ameri- can Bible Society, after some measure of competition and overlapping, have begun the task of distributing the ter- ritory of Latin America so as to avoid further waste. It is important that these plans be carried to a full consum- mation. These Societies are also working together in the effort to produce satisfactory versions in both Spanish and Portuguese, and are exchanging facilities in the pro- duction of minor versions. In all this, as need not be pointed out, they are setting the example and blazing the way for the Churches and are promoting one of the great ends for which this Congress was brought together.
CHAPTER III OTHER TYPES OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
I. THE NEED OF A BETTER LITERARY APPROACH TO THE LATIN-AMERICAN MIND
With reference to the whole spirit and method of approach to the Latin-American mind through Chris- tian literature, a correspondent writes: *'Few races of mankind have a more distinct social inheri- tance with all that this implies of temperament and of prejudices than have the people of Latin lineage who speak Spanish, whether they live in Spain, Mexico, South or Central America, or in the former Spanish is- land possessions. Looking at the missionary task from the modern viewpoint, one of our first problems is the adaptation of our literature to meet, so far as may be possible, these native peculiarities and predispositions. This brings up many questions that were scarcely thought of when our older missionary literature was pro- duced, and that have only begun to enter in the editing of some of the material that has been published in recent years. The forging of an opening wedge for the evan- gelical message that will not depend so patently on an appeal to the authority of the Bible and on its private in- terpretation, is a task we might well consider. To what- ever school of evangelical thought we may belong with respect to the degree and kind of inspiration of the Bible, however firmly we may adhere to the conviction
20
OTHER CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 21
that only by bringing our hearts ultimately to a pro- found reverence for the place of the Bible in the scheme of salvation can v^e really help them, the fact must be faced that much of our literature is of little value for initial propaganda, as it depends for its appeal so wholly on an acceptance of biblical authority. Our v^hole evan- gelical scheme, as we have been presenting it, is too much a logical argument from premises which are unac- ceptable to those who hear or read. One is never so forcibly reminded of this fact as when looking over a large body of evangelical literature for propaganda. Some of the longest and profoundest of our argumenta- tive works have been circulated for many decades with little apparent result. The whole approach needs to be reconsidered. Suffice it to say our labors should be con- fined to constructive channels.
2. THE CONTENT OF THAT MIND
a. It is Non-Biblical.
To catalogue advisedly the best available evangelical literature for use in the Latin-American republics, as well as to counsel wisely as to what should be prepared, we have to bear in mind not only the intrinsic value of that literature, but also and principally its point of con- tact with and its acceptability to those who are to read it. For lack of this important qualification some excellent books, tracts and pamphlets, which have accomplished a great deal of good among English-speaking peoples, have failed to produce any impression upon the Latin-Ameri- can mind, when translated into Spanish.
"With our Bible-saturated social inheritance, it is al- most impossible for us to realize the absolute contrast to this in Spanish-speaking lands. Where our literature is rich in allusions to the Scriptures, and our great ora- tors and writers gladly acknowledge their debt to the English Bible for inspiration, for figurative allusions and for style, Spanish literature, in this regard, is almost a blank. Take the great classic, 'Don Quixote,' for ex- ample. In the prologue the only Scripture quotations are in Latin and are used in Cervantes' railings at the affec-
22 LITERATURE
tations of his great rival, Lope de Vega. The inference is that only a pedant or a poseur would quote from such a scholastic source. To this may be added the well- known fact that for centuries the mass of the Latin peo- ples has been taught that the Bible is a dangerous book, not to be owned or read except under priestly guidance."
h. It Is Not Literate.
To begin with, it is necessary to create a demand for such literature on the part of those who are not accus- tomed to it. Even where by reason of the liberal policy of the government in public education, illiteracy is fast disappearing, few people have developed the reading taste or habit. The Roman Catholic Church of to-day does not greatly stimulate reading and indeed produces little good literature. It has been declared that this has been the case for more than a century. In France mod- ernism has somewhat stimulated religious thought, but even modernism has left Spanish thought and feeling largely untouched. The tracts and books most used are manuals of prayer, many of them composed of special orders for the observance of the nine-day festivals of Saint Joseph and of the Virgin Mary, or of the months of spiritual services, known as Month of Mary, or Month of Saint Joseph. An astounding fact about the matter is that in the fifteenth, sixteenth and in a part of the seven- teenth centuries the religious literature of the Roman Catholic Church in Spanish-speaking countries was very rich, and even to-day we would find in it much that is commendable. Few writers reveal deeper religious ex- periences and fuller devotion and consecration than many of those belonging to what is known as the Spanish school of mystics. Friar Luis de Leon, Friar Luis de Granada, Friar Juan de la Cruz and Teresa de Jesus published books which were read and are full of genu- ine, individual religious experience.
In the opinion of many, one of the most deplorable re- sults of the influence of the Roman CathoHc Church has been the suppression among its followers of any individ- ual desire to think about religious problems. Its follow-
OTHER CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 23
ers tend early to become either automatic in their obedi- ence to the Church or unreasonable in their enmity to it. In the very schools and colleges in which they have received their education many young people have learned to regard religion as being suitable only for women.
Illiteracy among the older people in these republics ranges from forty to eighty percent. To many literates reading seems to bring no pleasure or profit. Some seem incapable of getting spiritual nourishment through read- ing, and others seem to lack incentive to use the power of reading they have acquired. Moreover, the minds of many of the youth have been filled with sensational, emo- tional and degrading romances. Nothing that fails to appeal powerfully to the emotions and the imagination touches them at all.
3. THE VARIED LITERATURE NEEDED
a. A Good Modern Commentary.
It is greatly to be desired that there should be accessible to Spanish-speaking readers a sound, modern commen- tary on the whole Bible. It may be that some work al- ready existing in English can be found to meet this de- mand if in the process of translation it be adapted to fit the Latin modes of thought. The need is voiced by cor- respondents from all parts of the field. A few satisfac- tory volumes on separate sections of the Scriptures have already appeared. There are large portions, however, that have not yet any representative commentary existing in either of the languages of Latin America.
b. Books for the Training of Christian Leaders.
It is to be taken for granted that one of the funda- mental activities of the churches in Latin America will be the establishment and maintenance of schools. Books for the use of students then will be of prime neces- sity. The one department of such literature that must be supplied by the churches is that of theological text- books. There is a great shortage of such books in the Spanish and Portuguese languages. The several denom- inations have at least begun the work of supplying their
24 LITERATURE
own students for the ministry with treatises on theology. There are various summaries to be had, in both Spanish and Portuguese. It is greatly to be desired, however, that a standard work of a somewhat general character, suitable for use by all the churches, should be prepared. With such a standard work available for all, the several denominations could issue supplementary material as might seem to them desirable.
In addition to the treatises on theology mentioned above, there will be an equally keen demand for works on homiletics, on the whole field of Sunday-school in- struction, and on other departments of pastoral activity, besides some sound treatises on history, sociology and philosophy. If the literature is properly used for the creation of ideals among those who are in a position to mold the thought of a nation, it should become a very powerful factor in building up life as well as thought. A leading Brazilian says that every book of real value published in French or Latin immediately affects the Brazilian mind. The higher strata know quite well the philosophical literature in German. William James is widely read in Brazil in a French translation. A Por- tuguese translation of any good philosophical work would reach the public mind if it were well written and were sold through the leading book distributing agencies in the large towns. A similar affirmation can doubtless be made of most Spanish-speaking countries.
c. School Text-books,
To what extent the Christian agencies should attempt to prepare miscellaneous text-books may be an open question. Suffice it to say that the future development of educational work in the countries using the Spanish and Portuguese languages is sure to make a profit- able market for acceptable text-books. Moreover, it is manifestly important that in all the schools, state or pri- vate, text-books should be employed that meet two requi- sites: first, they should be strictly modern and in line with the best pedagogical and scientific developments of our day, and secondly, their attitude toward the Christian view of man and the universe should not be unfriendly.
OTHER CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 25
To aid in providing a supply of such text-books would be a real service to the countries which we are seeking to benefit.
d. Books Which Present and Explain Christianity.
Here is the field in which the Churches are primarily interested. Books are munitions for their campaign. They are ''fixed ammunition." To convince the opposers, to persuade the vacillating, to defend positions taken and to vindicate claims, is the work possible to the printed page. Much has been done to supply such books, chiefly through translations. But the field is one that de- mands original work. The questions at issue, though old questions, vary constantly with the setting in which they are presented. The manner of treating them must be modern or it will not appeal to the modern mind.
The Roman system of to-day is the carefully thought out product of many of the greatest intellects of the past. By this product of the centuries we are confronted. Nevertheless, after sixty or seventy years of work in Spanish-speaking countries it is claimed by some that we have not produced a satisfactory comprehensive exposi- tion in Spanish of the Christian religion from the evan- gelical standpoint. What is more, some of our mission- aries, and even members of the native ministry, are far too ignorant of the viewpoint and teachings of Roman Catholic divines, and of the best ways of meeting these.
It is especially to be desired that in the realm of con- troversy our efforts shall be primarily to establish the truth, and only secondarily to combat error. On the whole subject of ecclesiastical controversy let it be said that it is always important to preserve a Christian spirit. It may be assumed, as a general rule, that the truth once clearly stated will ultimately vindicate itself as against error. Our prime purpose is not proselytism, but so to present Christian truth as to persuade those not now Christians at all, or only nominally so, to become Christians.
A frank recognition of so much of the Roman Catholic teaching as in good conscience we can recognize as truth
2^ LITERATURE
will be an advantage to our cause rather than otherwise. Indeed a failure on our part to recognize such truth, however fragmentary it may be, which may be validating itself in the Christian consciousness of sincere souls, will react upon us in the end.
It has been suggested that a book pointing out the striking resemblances in the thought, life and writings of the greatest men of the various sections of the Church universal, would appeal powerfully to the best class of devout Roman Catholics. Here the materials are abun- dant and illuminating. These will go far in helping such individuals to understand the true spirituality of evan- gelical Christianity.
Simple treatises for making clear the meaning of Scrip- ture and for helping forward the work of inadequately equipped pastors and teachers will be of great service in spreading Christianity. It is important that these books, as well as books of propaganda, should not be merely translations. There is no likelihood of finding already prepared treatises of this type so helpful as those written for the purpose and on the ground. e. Books for the Cultivation of the Spiritual Life.
Devotional books from the beginning have exercised a wide influence among Christian people. The writings of men and women who have the gift of spiritual insight, to whom the unseen world is real and who know how to make it real for others, are greatly needed and will be exceedingly useful among the people of Latin Amer- ica. The spiritual life of these countries is suffering in two different ways. On the one hand, the in- telligent and educated thinkers are being drawn into a barren and lifeless materialism. In their thinking the spiritual world scarcely seems to exist at all. They need not merely a reasoned philosophy which will enable them to see the fallacy of their conclusions, but even more, perhaps, they need vivid and profound spiritual medita- tions, exhibiting an insight that is in a sense superior to philosophy and that will appeal to their own profound re- ligious instincts. At the other extreme is the marked tendency toward crass superstition. It is not merely the
OTHER CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 27
ignorant and untrained who yield to this tendency. Spir- itism and kindred delusions have made inroads even among the educated classes, marking apparently a re- action from the unsatisfying philosophy of materialism. Of the superstitions of the uneducated, it is unnecessary to speak. Their one redeeming aspect is the revelation they offer of a real reaching out towards a spiritual ex- pression of life on the part of the masses. Unfortunately there is little in the way of literature which offers for these prevailing superstitions a substitute which will lead the people to a nobler spiritual life.
Among books yet to be written, but for which a felt need exists, are the following: "The Message of Evan- gelical Christianity" ; "The Essentials of Religion as Found in the Bible" ; "Helps for the Devotional Reading of the Bible" ; "The Nature of Church Authority," and "Helps to Character Building." Concerning this last mentioned book the following remark is made : "We need a work which shall set forth the main things to be pon- dered by children as they grow up. There should be some systematic instruction of our children, either in catechetical form or in some other desirable way. I feel sure that, though it would be difficult to write, a .text- book might be prepared which might meet the approval of all the different Churches."
Much remains to be done toward bringing within reach of the growing youth of the evangelical Churches in these lands the stimulating helpfulness that comes through Christian biography.
A valuable work might be written especially with the object of impressing on the minds of intelligent profes- sional men the humanizing influences resulting from the Christian religion — its effects in general in developing the spirit of kindness and of human brotherhood. Such books in English are "Gesta Christi" by Brace, and "Re- ligion in History and in Modern Life" bv Fairbairn.
/. General Literature.
Several correspondents urge that the evangelical Churches recommend to the reading public of Latin America a list of clean and high-class novels and other
28 LITERATURE
popular literature. The reason for this is the fact that there exists a mass of objectionable fiction which has been translated into Spanish and Portuguese. It is thought that the evils done by these books ought to be counteracted by the wider distribution of works of a better character. A number of wholesome short stories already translated into the Spanish have been acceptably received. It is probable also that books of the popular type, not necessarily fiction, could be prepared in the sev- eral countries themselves that would find a large sale and be of distinct service to public morals. The preparation of books for boys, and of others of a similar type for girls, offers a large field of opportunity. This reading constituency has developed immensely in the countries making use of the English language. Book depositories that are established by the Churches will do well to con- sider the advisability of securing the production of such works and sets of works as these, and should also make a point of handling cheap editions of those works of wider merit which have already appeared in the Spanish and Portuguese languages.*
g. Hymnals.
Wherever the gospel goes it sets the people to sing- ing. Nowhere has this been shown more clearly than among the music-loving nations of Latin America. The effort to supply hymns to express the newly- found emo- tions and experiences of the converts in these lands, to voice their aspirations and their worship, has resulted in the compilation of numerous hymnals. Without hyper- criticism it may be said that these collections leave much to be desired. The root of the difficulty doubtless is to be found in the fact that the poetry of the hymns is not indigenous. Translated verse and im- ported tunes can never properly express the spiritual life of a people. Indeed, in the effort to adjust lines to tunes, it must be confessed that the canons of Spanish
^ A list of books in Spanish and Portuguese will be found in an appendix to this Report. This list, while not complete, yet will indicate a few of the very best available books.
OTHER CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 29
and Portuguese versification have often been rudely vio- lated. The genius of Latin poetry is not, at least in form, the same as that of a language so strongly Saxon in structure as the English. But the tunes were ready to hand, and by rather violent paraphrasing it was possible to frame lines based on the English but made up of Spanish words at least, that could be sung to them. To make these verses all the less "Latin" in their type, the translation or paraphrasing has often been done by Anglo- Saxon missionaries. A sense of the poetical genius of a language is one of the last and most difficult of a for- eigner's achievements, and when one's attainment of it is still an open question and he is seeking, besides, to render verse from his own language, his mind charged with the time and rhythm of it, his success is most problematical. It must be admitted, therefore, that while the people in Latin America sing well and lustily, many of the hymns are in shockingly bad verse — so bad indeed that the taste of those who sing is in danger of becoming permanently vitiated.
It is this fundamental difficulty which more than any- thing else accounts for the ephemeral quality of the nu- merous hymnals and collections of songs, especially in the Spanish language. Few of them have lasted. In Portu- guese these collections have not been so numerous. Nev- ertheless, despite all difficulties and defects, a consider- able body of available hymns and sacred songs has come into use. To what extent it will be possible to secure a common hymnal in Spanish that will meet the demands of all the Churches and of all the several nationalities, it is impossible to say. Apparently the new hymnal pub- lished by the American Tract Society is the most satis- factory thus far produced. In Portuguese the task should be simpler, since only one nationality is involved. A prime object in the compiling of such a hymnal will be to incorporate as large a percentage as possible of selec- tions that both in verse and in music shall reflect the genius and the taste of the peoples in Latin America. Doubtless the emergence of hymns which are both up- lifting to the Latin people and express the best in their
30 LITERATURE
spiritual experience must wait somewhat on the devel- opment of a rich Christian life on the part of considerable numbers of people. The coincidence of a deeply spiritual experience and a poetic genius is too rare an occurrence in Christian history for a quick development of a rich hymnology to be expected.
CHAPTER IV TRACTS AND LEAFLETS
I, THE POPULARITY OF THE LEAFLET IN LATIN AMERICA
In all countries the leaflet has been used, ever since the invention of printing, as a means of winning ac- cess to the public mind. In the more highly organized nations it is now to some extent giving way to the daily paper, but among those peoples which have not yet accus- tomed themselves to this latter agency of advanced civi- lization, the tract has yet a wide field. In most of Latin America, reading matter is still exceedingly scarce. A Mexican historian complains mournfully because owing to the scarcity of paper many old books that would now be invaluable for throwing light on past times, have been torn up to be used as wrappers on the counters of grocers and chandlers. In nearly all the countries under consid- eration in this Congress, outside the important cities, something to read is at a premium. Well edited leaflets can, therefore, be widely and advantageously used.
2. THE WORK OF THE TRACT SOCIETIES
The production of such tracts has hitherto been rather desultory. The Religious Tract Society of London and the American Tract Society of New York have done excellent work in the printing of tracts in Spanish and other modern languages. Indeed, the workers in all of
31
32 LITERATURE
Latin America will recall with gratitude the contribution of both of these Societies not only in the way of supply- ing excellently edited and printed leaflets, but in provid- ing other kinds of literature. A Sunday-school paper for children has long been issued by the American So- ciety in Spanish, and the list of bound volumes in both Spanish and Portuguese brought out by it is a long and important one/ Two principles should direct the fu- ture production of tracts and leaflets. The work should be coordinated and made cooperative. There are many advantages in this, such as on the one hand, the avoid- ance of duplication, and, on the other, the achieving of economies in production, due to the increased size of edi- tions. This will make possible a greater typographical attractiveness without increasing the cost above that in- volved in issues published apart from cooperative action. Cooperative editing may naturally be expected also to improve the quality of the tracts. The second principle should be the encouragement of the production of tracts on the field. When the inspiration to writing comes from actual experience of a vital sort, the tract is far more likely to be vigorous, pertinent, well-timed and well- aimed, in a word, eflPective, than if the leaflet grows out of a matter-of-fact recognition of a general need.
3. THE LEAFLET LITERATURE NEEDED
a. Simple, Uncontroversial Presentations of Religious Truth. What kind of tracts are needed to meet the present conditions of the peoples of Latin America? The great majority of the people are Roman Catholics — nominally so at least. They are in unfortunate ignorance of the
^The American Tract Society has published and circulated in the Spanish and Portuguese language 536,983 volumes and 4,051,- 205 copies of tracts and leaflets, making a total of 4,588,188 copies of volumes, tracts and leaflets in the above languages. The Manzanas De Oro, a Spanish paper for the children in Latin America, has reached a total circulation of 10,160,400 copies, making a grand total of all publications in the Spanish and Portu- guese languages of 14,748,588 copies, including 126,000 Spanish hymnals, at a total value of $663,546.
TRACTS AND LEAFLETS 33
simplest gospel truths. Tracts should be prepared to meet this need sympathetically and fairly. Those that violently attack the Roman Catholic Church will not reach the most positive results ; those written in the spirit of love and fairness do more good. When Romanists re- ceive tracts of the nature of controversial attack on their inherited religious system, resentment rather than re- spect is likely to be engendered, and not only is an oppor- tunity for real helpfulness lost, but also a hearing for the evangelical message is less easily won by the next personal or printed messenger of the truth.
b. Arguments against Atheism, Indifference or Pseiido
Faiths.
Throughout Latin America there are many atheistic and rationalistic thinkers who have their followers. Sane and carefully written tracts which expose the unsound- ness of these types of thought prove of great value in evangelical work. There is also in Latin America a wide-spread indifference to all religion. ]\Iultitudes have broken away from the Roman Catholic Church and are practically irreligious. Tracts are needed which will arouse the conscience, teach Christlike conceptions of God and point to the Way, the Truth and the Life.
It should be said, also, that not a few of the *'isms" that are undermining the faith of many in Protestant countries are getting a hold among Latin-American peo- ple, also. Tracts should be produced to meet the ap- proaches of Christian Science, Spiritism, Mormonism, and like cults.
c. Prepared by Experts.
The production of a vernacular literature of the above kind, definite in its Christian message, varied to meet the needs of race and class and adequate to the demands of the times, must needs be a work of much detail. To carry the same message suitably to the educated Latin- American, the Mexican peon, and the Indian of the Andes, calls for varied knowledge, for experience, for aptitude and for insight. Such tasks confront mission- aries within the limits of each geographical division. The
34 LITERATURE
West Indies, Mexico, Central America and South Amer- ica each present a complexus of varied problems.
For the most part the tracts published in our Latin- American work have been produced by missionaries al- ready overworked by other and more direct duties perti- nent to their office. Many of these tracts have been translations from the English. It is natural that this should be so. The pioneer missionary in a new land must be his own author and perhaps his own compositor and printer, at least until the earlier stages of the work are past. It is impossible that the best work should be pro- duced under such conditions. More men must be set apart for the work of authorship alone. Excellent results are often gained by men released for short periods from an active missionary life. The demands for emphasis on service through authorship are especially compelling when Christian leaders are face to face as they are in the whole of Latin America at present, with intellectual, social and political difficulties. Writers should be given ample opportunity to acquaint themselves with the trends of thought and with the latest literature.
d. Salable at Small Cost.
The question whether tracts should be sold or given away elicits a variety of replies. The prevailing convic- tion seems to be that leaflets issued at small cost should be used widely in the work of propaganda, and often money returns should not be expected, but that as soon as a demand arises for a more formal or elaborate lit- erature the cost should be covered at least in part through sales. It is the opinion of some that tracts dis- tributed without charge should have the cost price marked thereon.
4. THE TASK TO BE ACCOMPLISHED
With respect to the whole background of the writers who are to prepare the new Christian literature for Latin America a correspondent writes :
"Our new apologetic must not only have a scholarly attitude toward the great literary monument of God's
TRACTS AND LEAFLETS 35
dealings with men ; it must also preserve that balanced relation of religion toward all the interests of life which so distinguishes Jesus from the rest of earth's teachers. Our intellectual presentation of the evangelical message as a group of doctrines to be believed, must be rein- forced by the ethical and social content of Christ's teach- ing concerning the kingdom of God which he came to establish.
"In probably no class of men in the civilized world to- day is infidelity so rampant as among the professional and student classes of Latin America. As suggestive of their attitude toward religion, Dr. Robert E. Speer quoted a Brazilian professor of law : 'The Catholic faith is dead. There is no longer confidence in the Christian dogma. The supernatural has been banished from the domain of science. . . . God is a myth. . . . Man in- vented gods and God that the world might be ruled. The simple spirit refrains from all criticism and accepts the idea of God without resistance. The cultured spirit re- pels the idea in virtue of its inherent contradictions.'*
"Another aspect of the attitude of the educated Latin American to religion was expressed in a recent address by a Mexican litterateur before the Hispano-American Society of Chicago. The speaker divided the field of cultural interests into three great realms. The first was scientific or material, where all was exactness and pre- cision ; the second was the abode of beauty, poetry, art ; and the third was the gloomy limbo of mysticism, where ghostly shades from the past reign supreme, and where religion is the dominant interest as represented by St. Francis of Assisi. Kipling's Tomlinson,* who said :
'And I have patted my God on the head That men might call me brave.'
has many imitators in Latin America. The attitude of amused and patient tolerance, of regarding religion as a legitimate and harrnless amusement for women and chil- dren, is, perhaps, even harder to deal with than down- right opposition and attack.
* "South American Problems," p. 93.
36 LITERATURE
"The practical wisdom of our missionary pioneers led them to see the necessity of education as the surest hope for establishing evangelical Christianity in the Spanish- speaking world, and this contribution of theirs has been a most worthy one, so far as it has gone. Splendid workers have been trained in evangelical schools and in the Christian environment which these created, and have toiled nobly as preachers of truth and righteousness. But they have not been given an equipment that would en- able them to meet the scientific skepticism of the edu- cated body of their fellow countrymen. The Churches seem to have given this up as a hopeless task, and have consoled themselves with quoting, *Not many wise and not many great are called.' The time is ripe for the in- troduction of scholarly Scripture study, as it is carried on in our best schools, and for a more complete provision for broad, Christian culture.
CHAPTER V
PERIODICAL LITERATURE
If we are to plan wisely for cooperation and for high est efficiency in the realm of Christian newspapers and magazines on the mission fields of Latin America, we must consider these as a whole, and so give to each one its proper place.
I. THE PLACE OF THE CHURCH PAPER
By the church paper is meant the whole group of evan- gelical periodicals edited and published under the super- vision of evangelical agencies. Their importance will not be doubted by those who have been engaged in mis- sionary work for any length of time. In Mexico, the Presbyterian, Methodist and other missions have from the very beginning of their work founded fortnightlies (quincenales) and weeklies of a fair standard of excel- lence. These have, unfortunately, shown little improve- ment, nor have they been able very considerably to in- crease their circulation. Four of the denominations at work in Cuba have each its own church paper. It is to be hoped that the Commission will be able to secure a complete list of all the evangelical papers published not only in Latin America but in Spain and the Philippines as well. The investment of missionary time and talent and money tied up in this form of Christian activity shows that it is considered to be of great importance by
37
38 LITERATURE
those on the field. Much literature of this kind has been produced in Latin America. While a church paper of a really high order has not yet appeared, yet much talent has been developed and much experience acquired which should serve us in good stead in the future.
2. PURPOSES OF THE CHURCH PAPER
The evangelical Churches everywhere have tended to express their religious-social consciousness and to foster this consciousness through church papers. The pri- mary stimulus towards the production of such a paper may arise from various felt needs, and in the course of its history, there may be variant emphases from time to time, but the scope and purpose of such a paper, consid- ering the various objects it may have in view, may be treated under the following topics :
a. As an Organ of the Church.
Numerous religious papers of Latin America are of this character. Each mission, each Church desires to. have some means of communicating its actions and poli- cies to its own constituency. Conferences, associations and presbyteries wish to develop a group consciousness among their congregations, and to guide their common activities.
b. As a Source of Inspiration.
The church paper should keep in mind the culture of Christian manhood and womanhood on the part of its readers. Biographical materials pertaining to the great Christian leaders in life, thought and action, including the missionaries, will be of value, for like begets like. Devotional articles which direct thought to the great Source of all life may likewise be of the highest signifi- cance to the end sought. The editorial columns may be equally constructive if the keynote of uplifting optimism be set.
c. As a Source of Information.
Few of its readers will have access to sources of gen- eral information, hence the church paper should furnish
PERIODICAL LITERATURE 39
a reliable survey of current events, correlating and inter- preting the social, political, commercial and scientific news of the day. The news will be threefold in charac- ter, news of the larger world, news of the Church uni- versal and news of that particular group of churches which the paper serves.
d. As a Source of Scientific and Religious Instruction. In this department should appear many popular, inter- esting articles on commerce, industry, invention, art, hy- giene, sanitation, etc. Judicious use may be made of a type of periodicals appearing on both sides of the Atlantic which mediate between the experts in political and social science and in the pure and applied sciences on the one hand and the classes of people who are deeply interested in the modern developments in these varied fields, but who are non-technical in their knowledge of them. One such periodical, e.g., is Popular Mechanics. The temptation to devote large space to these interesting topics of human enterprise and thought is to be resisted, as the secular press, including the great dailies, employ able writers who treat of these subjects and it must not be forgotten that the chief emphasis must be upon the re- ligious aspects of the paper. Nevertheless, there are many people living in out-of-the-way places, including our own members, who never read any paper except the religious one, and they must not be sent away empty. To this department belong also sermons, homiletical ar- ticles and Bible studies. As the Sunday-school literature, young people's periodicals and homiletical monthlies in- clude these, it is not necessary for the weekly paper to give them as large space as formerly.
e. As an Agency of Propaganda.
(i) In the Work of Pioneering. — One value of a religious paper as a mission pioneering agency is very great. Many cases might be cited of persons who were led to the reading of the Bible, to attendance on stated services, or to conversion by the reading of an evangelical paper. The handing of a church paper to a
40 LITERATURE
neighbor by a church member is frequently the first step in getting him interested. People are wakened out of re- ligious lethargy, prejudices are dispelled, errors are suc- cessfully combated in this way, when other means are in- effective.
(2) In Conducting Debates Upon Religion. — The articles which give permanent and wide-spread value to such a paper will need to be thoroughly prepared. Con- troversial material, it is needless to say, should be free from bitterness and bigotry and should be verified as to statements and quotations with the utmost care. No one should be permitted to appraise the practices of the Ro- man Catholic Church who is not well informed with re- gard to its history, teachings and spirit.
Controversy with infidelity is just as real, certainly as necessary, and often more difficult to conduct than that with Romanists. Rome has always spoken clearly, and her position is unmistakable. In combating skepticism, evangelical artillery often fires into a fog-bank, which collects as densely as ever after the shot has been dis- charged. Dialogues "con el Sr. Cura" or "con un libra pensador," such as have appeared in El Evangelista Cristiano of Colombia, win their way where more serious articles are passed by.
(3) In the Clear Presentation of Evangelical Christi- anity.— The positive presentation of evangelical Christi- anity in an attractive garb is a third and very important aspect of our propaganda. Controversy is likely to open deep wounds. Evangelical truth is the balm poured in to heal those wounds. Let the whole emphasis be placed on those doctrines on which evangelicals are in substan- tial agreement. The place for denominational instruc- tion is in the school and in the home. Some denomina- tional organs, feeling the deficiencies in these circles, or impelled by sectarian zeal, have tried to make up for it in the church paper. It is easily possible to put such a dis- proportionate emphasis on these matters as to destroy perspective for non-evangelical readers. The safest pro- cedure is to make the paper unmistakably and unavoid- ably constructive on those aspects of truth and conduct
PERIODICAL LITERATURE 41
with respect to which there is common agreement among evangehcals.
3. THE PRODUCTION OF A CHURCH PAPER
The first thing in the production of a church paper is to find an editor. The second is to give him a chance to develop. Once discovered and developed he must be kept free from other heavy responsibilities. Editorial talent and instinct are not qualities often found among missionary workers, as may be seen from the character of a large number of periodicals. The editor is the soul of the paper. There doubtless exists more editorial talent than we suspect ; but what there is needs to be cultivated. The Madras (India) Sectional Conference of 1912^ made the following recommendation : "Since effective literary work can as a rule be best done by those who have al- ready had considerable missionary experience and who in their daily work are in close contact with the people, the Conference urges that the right policy is, not to bring out fresh men from home for the purpose, but to make arrangements whereby those best fitted should be set free for a limited period to prepare literature." This same thought runs insistently through the recommendations of the large majority of the twenty-one conferences, held in Asia, during 1912-1913, under the supervision of the Continuation Committee of the World Missionary Con- ference.
In order to utilize available editorial ability, coopera- tion among the different missions is necessary. No one Society can set aside an editorial staff, and most Socie- ties have been unable to release even one man for this work. The editors of these papers are almost always pastors of local churches, or superintendents of districts.
This matter of cooperation is the crucial question. As will have been seen, all our studies of the subject of Christian literature for Latin America lead back to it. This is generally the one department of missionary en- deavor in which cooperation is most easily attained. The demand for it is so general and so insistent that no rea-
* "Continuation Committee Conferences in Asia," 1912-1913, 36.
42 LITERATURE
sonable plan is likely to meet with serious opposition. It is believed that in each of the Spanish-speaking countries and in Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken, it will be pos- sible to combine on a single general church paper, to be edited and published by a national joint committee on literature and issued from a common publishing house.
The general editorial work would be under the super- vision of the cooperative committee for that particular country. In this way all the subscribers to the paper can secure the benefit of the higher class of periodical which will be made possible by the enlarged constituency and increased financial resources, but can also get with each issue the denominational news and announcements with which the denominational paper has hitherto sup- plied them.
An exhibit of all the church papers now or recently issued in Latin America will disclose two striking facts: the real excellence of many of these publications, in view of the slender resources out of which they have been produced and of the numerous other cares that have weighed upon their editors and contributors, and the inevitable waste which duplication involves, since in many a country there are several struggling little sheets, where one of real strength would serve every purpose better and would be far more economical to produce.
4. TYPES OF PERIODICALS
a. A Theological Review.
Any of the great denominational quarterlies furnishes a suitable pattern for a periodical of this sort. In Argentina a review of this character, though on a more modest scale, has been published for some years called La Reforma, a monthly review in its fifteenth year, edited by an Anglican clergyman, the Rev. \V. C. Morris, director of the Escuelas Philantropicas Argen- tinas, of Buenos Aires. It has attained a remarkably high standard. Such a magazine might eventually be published as an interdenominational enterprise. Its edi- tor should be a man who could give his first attention
PERIODICAL LITERATURE 43
to the magazine, and have his other work so subordi- nated as not to distract his energies.
b. Monthly Magazines.
The monthly is in many ways pecuHarly adapted to the promotion of special lines of Church activity. At present we have Esfuerzo Cristiano, published in Spain and dedicated to the interests of Christian Endeavor so- cieties in that country. It has had a long and successful career. El Esforzador Cristiano, in Mexico, tried to fill a similar need, had a rather checkered career, did a good deal of good, but finally ceased publication.
In a number of instances denominational periodicals have been issued as monthlies. This has been due to the pressure of time upon the part of their editors or to the economic difficulty of bringing them out oftener to serve a small and widely scattered constituency. Such month- lies as the vehicles of Christian doctrine and meditations, of the explanation of Scripture passages, of sermons and at times even of extended works published in instalments, have done a noble service and have carried the truth to many remote sections of Latin America.
c. Weekly Papers.
This classification includes the great majority of de- nominational papers. Some of these like El Faro and El Ahogado Cristiano, and La L^iz (now succeeded by El Faro Cristiano), published in Mexico City, were founded and continued for many years as fortnightlies (quincenales). The Forto Rico Evangelico, a semi- monthly published in Ponce, as the organ of the United Brethren, Presbyterians, Baptists, Christians, and Con- gregationalists, is a well-established paper. El Heraldo Evangelico has been the organ of the Presbyterian mis- sion in Chile for over forty years. In 1914 it was com- bined with the Methodist Episcopal organ. El Cristiano. The two now appear as one publication under the name of El Heraldo Cristiano. These papers have reached a wide circulation and have done an immense amount of good. A few of them have had editors of marked abil- ity, but they failed to attain a really high excellence be-
44 LITERATURE
cause their editors, like Martha, have been cumbered in serving about many things. Moreover, too much respon- sibility has generally fallen on the shoulders of one man in preparing articles, as the work of unpaid collaborators is a very uncertain quantity.
d. A Philosophical and Literary Review.
A number of correspondents have expressed a very great interest in the suggestion that a general and philo- sophical review be published in the Spanish language. We can say in reference to these suggestions only that such a publication could undoubtedly be made of very large value. The numerous practical difficulties in- volved in its production, editorial and fiscal alike, are of such a character as to preclude any satisfactory discus- sion of them at this time.
e. Periodicals for the Sunday School. Sunday-school helps are published in most of the
Latin-American countries. In the case of Mexico, the Presbyterians, the Methodists and the Disciples have been cooperating for the last three years in publishing graded lessons for children under thirteen, a common quarterly for adults, following the Uniform Lessons, and a magazine for teachers. We believe that similar ar- rangements could be made in every country or in given sections comprising several small countries. The ideal for this kind of publication as well as that for church papers is to have a set of publications for each country, or group of countries, well adapted to local conditions and needs.
The Publishing House of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has been publishing in Nashville, Tenn., the Primary and Junior Courses of the International Sunday-school Graded Lessons. Both Methodist Churches have furnished originals and also the Church of the Dis- ciples working in Mexico. Th- lYesbyterians undertook the publication of the Courses ior Beginners, and though they have been obliged to suspend their work because of the war in Mexico, it is believed that they will continue
PERIODICAL LITERATURE 45
as soon as conditions will allow the missionaries to return to their field of labor. According to the plan adopted by the Churches working in Mexico, which are cooperating to publish the Graded Lessons, the Manuals for Teach- ers are to be published together, forming an attractive volume bound in cloth which will be a real contribution to the permanent literature of the Sunday School. The Methodist Publishing House has already on sale the three years comprising the Primary Course and two years of the Course for Juniors. This house has made arrangements to publish the other two years of the Course for Juniors. The field secretaries for South America of the International Sunday-school Association have welcomed these graded courses in Spanish, and most of the missionaries and other workers in Latin America who have had a chance to examine the courses have heartily approved them. There is already a movement on foot to undertake similar publications in Portuguese, and the anticipated sub-committee on Liter- ature will doubtless see that the work is continued in the future. The historical interpretation of the Scriptures, the adaptability of the lessons selected to the development of the child, the pedagogical principles employed in this kind of teaching, also the excellent devices utilized, such as collections of beautiful and artistic pictures, are among the things that commend this graded literature to Christian workers through the Latin countries. A really satisfactory children's paper for Sunday-school use would be very valuable.
The Commission recognizes that the Christian Churches working in Latin America have paid much attention to the important w^ork of the Sunday School, and have endeavored to furnish the best kind of Sunday-school helps. But it is the common opinion of the correspondents of this Commission that there is still room for improvement and tharintelligent cooperation is the best way to supply this demand. At the same time such cooperation will result in economies in the produc- tion of Sunday-school helps, which will release funds for other greatly needed departments of the work.
46 LITERATURE
/. An Evangelical Daily Paper Impracticable at Present.
At interdenominational conventions in Mexico, and doubtless in other Latin-American republics, the idea of founding a great evangelical daily has been repeatedly- proposed, and committees have gone so far as to draw up plans and solicit funds. But these plans have always remained ''in the inkstand," to use a Spanish phrase, and have failed of accomplishment for lack of a solid finan- cial basis. The impracticability of founding such a daily for Latin America in the immediate future seems to be confirmed by the lack of a constituency.
Any daily paper to be effective must reach its readers the day of its publication, or at most with no more than twenty-four hours of delay. This limits its range to soiiie two or three hundred miles from the place of pub- lication. There is probably no place in Latin America where within that range could be found a constituency friendly to the evangelical position sufficient to sustain a daily paper, no matter how effective and attractive it may be made.
CHAPTER VI
LITERATURE IN PORTUGUESE
Most of what has been said in the earlier chapters of this Report pertained primarily to the Spanish-speaking countries. Very little literature is available in any of the other languages except the Portuguese. Conditions in Brazil are not dissimilar to those obtaining in the Span- ish-speaking countries ; but Brazil is so vast a field that the following special study of the needs of Brazil, prepared by a member of the Executive Committee of this Commission seems worthy of separate publication.
I. MEAGRE RESULTS OF THE FIRST HALF CENTURY
Leaving out of account the Methodist mission which was begun about 1837, and was discontinued some five years later, it is just sixty years since the present evan- gelical movement in Brazil was begun. Only about fifty years ago, however, the first effort was made to provide evangelical literature in the Portuguese language. Be- fore that time there had been published the Book of Common Prayer, various tracts and a small collection of hymns. There were also a few books, certain great classics, such as "The Imitation of Christ," by Thomas a Kempis; the "Confessions of St. Augustine," and a poetical paraphrase of the Psalms, which were available to evangeHcals, but were never widely read by them.
During these fifty years there has never been a sys- tematic and united effort to prepare evangelical books
47
48 LITERATURE
in Portuguese. With the exception of the work done by the Religious Tract Society of London through its agency in Lisbon, and the books and tracts issued by the Amer- ican Tract Society, this work has largely been left to private initiative, working to meet local and temporary demands. The evangelical constituency has not been large enough to enable any publishing agency to cover the expense of publication and distribution save in rare instances. For this reason there has been little incentive to embark upon the publication of a book in the hope of reaping financial profit.
During the early years when more funds were avail- able, colporteurs were employed to canvass for the sale of books and tracts, and where this work of colportage was given careful oversight, much seed sowing was done. Stringency of funds gradually compelled the giving up of this form of work, so that the sale of evangelical books and tracts is left to private enterprise, to the initi- ative of missionaries and of Brazilian pastors who are interested in this form of effort, and to the bookstores maintained by one or two of the missions.
There have been several hindrances to the growth and spread of evangelical literature in Portuguese in a way fruly commensurate with the progress of evangelical re- ligion.
2. VARIOUS HINDRANCES TO GROWTH
a. The Lack of Literary Attractiveness.
Too many of the earlier books and tracts were lack- ing in literary grace and were unattractive to those who had a knowledge of Portuguese literature. This was blameworthy only so far as it was due to carelessness. Some of the translations were either too slavishly literal or were prepared in a careless manner. Since the evan- gelical constituency has grown in size and intelligence many of these older books and tracts have lost much of their value.
b. The Changing Interests of the Reading Public. The ever-changing attitude and interests of the read- ing public and the requirements of the growing Church
LITERATURE IN PORTUGUESE 49
are not met by the earlier publications. At first, works of a controversial character were in demand. Questions of local and ephemeral interest had to be met and too often claimed attention to the exclusion of subjects of wider and more permanent interest. Little was done, for instance, in the preparation of manuals for theological students and workers, to say nothing of histories, com- mentaries and other works which are essential for the building up of an intelligent Church.
c. The Lack of Effecth'e Cooperation.
There has been an almost continuous lack of co- operation among those of the same Board, to say nothing of different Boards, in forming definite plans for pro- viding the needed publications. What was everybody's business was nobody's business. If, in spite of these dif- ficulties, and after much effort, a book was prepared, the funds for its publication were often so grudgingly given that the individuals interested became discouraged.
d. The Publication of Books of Temporary Value. Much too often a desire to prepare books of a popular
character which would meet with a large sale, led to the publication of books which, however useful in their way, consumed funds which should have been used in part in providing other books of a more lasting value.
e. The Lack of Funds.
The two reasons of supreme importance in determin- ing the slow growth of a suitable Christian literature have been the lack of cooperation and the lack of money. Because of the small amount of money available several valuable books have been allowed to remain out of print when the first editions were exhausted. If literary work is to be taken up in an adequate way by the mission Boards working in Brazil, plans must be laid for the preparation of new books, for the republication of books now out of print, for the proper distribution of literature now available, and for the preparation, publication and distribution of new books in far larger numbers and cov- ering every department of religious interest.
50 LITERATURE
3. THE OUTSTANDING NEEDS
a. Proper Orgcmization and Coordination of the Work.
What has been done so far, largely by individual ini- tiative and without any broad plan, should be placed in the hands of a competent committee representing all of the Boards, with power to select men qualified for original work and also others to be translators of standard works from the French, English and other languages. Funds should be provided for compensation for this work and possibly the entire salaries of some men should be given to enable them to devote themselves exclusively to this task. This committee should also be charged with the duty of providing for the publication of all approved works and should make arrangements for their sale and distribution.
When it is remembered that no small part of our re- ligious literature in English consists of lectures given under various foundations, it would be well to provide for a lectureship in Portuguese, with the condition that the lectures should afterwards be published. A variety of subjects could be treated in this way and the results given to the public. Such a lectureship would act as a stimulus to Brazilian Christians and would lead them to give their best efforts to literary work. Prizes might also be offered for the best original treatises presented on certain designated subjects. Some such stimulus is nec- essary in order to overcome inertia. The impression has been general that it was useless to prepare a book of any kind, for the reason that the means for its publica- tion could not be obtained. The assurance from the committee in charge that a book of merit would be pub- lished and widely circulated would encourage some pas- tors to spend their spare hours in preparing the neces- sary manuscripts.
In the religious press there are many articles of per- manent value which should be gathered up and issued in book form, under a proper editorship. From the files of the older periodicals can be collected material to make several volumes of real value.
LITERATURE IN PORTUGUESE 51
h. The Work of Printing.
The committee in charge of publication work should be ready to cooperate in every way possible with the ex- isting interdenominational tract Societies of New York and London. We are indebted to the American Tract Society and to the Religious Tract Society of London for many of our best books and tracts. These Societies have an undoubted interest in this work and we should avail ourselves of the many facilities which they offer.
All books and tracts of permanent value should be printed in sufficiently large editions, or plates should be made from which new imprints can be had at small ex- pense. This has the advantage of providing for the pur- chaser freshly printed books instead of those which are shelf-worn and time-stained.
An effort should be made to keep down the price of books to the purchaser, in view of the fact that so large a part of our constituency is in moderate or in poor circumstances.
c. The Work of Distribution.
No less essential than the preparation of new books is the work of placing them, when ready, in the hands of those who most need them. This will require, not only the cooperation of the mission Boards and tract So- cieties, but also the active interest and cooperation of every evangelical missionary, pastor and worker. Pres- sure must be brought to bear upon those who are indif- ferent, or who neglect this kind of work. If books and tracts are not put into circulation, all previous labor and expense are rendered futile. It is most important that the duty, as well as the privilege, of having a part in this work, be impressed upon the minds of all Christian lead- ers. It is vain to establish bookstores and depositories, if the new books and tracts are to lie year after year on their shelves. A persistent, tireless, tactful effort must be made by all to place religious literature in every evan- gelical home and to spread it among the multitudes who can be reached in no other way. Missionaries and pastors should be convinced that their usefulness will be greatly
52 LITERATURE
widened by the spread of Christian books and tracts. Spoken words fly, but the printed page remains, a silent witness to the truth.
(i) Evangelical Bookstores. — These can be estab- Hshed in the larger centers under the direction of the proposed interdenominational committee. The manage- ment of these stores should not be given to already overworked missionaries, but to laymen who can devote to it all their energies and can promote in every way the circulation of the books.
(2) A Colportage Association. — Colporteurs should be employed to sell books from house to house. Stu- dents should be encouraged to sell books during vaca- tions. Most missionaries lack time to distribute tracts or books outside the areas of their own activities. Nor can Latin America be evangelized by mail. Colporteurs of general literature who are also evangelists must be trained and set to work. A Latin-American Colportage Association is an indispensable corollary to the whole scheme of literary production and distribution. The ex- isting missions will aid these colporteurs, but cannot han- dle their task. A colporteur of general literature would probably find the Bible Societies ready to utilize his ser- vices. Experience in other lands has shown that the most satisfactory service can be secured by paying all such col- porteurs a minimum wage plus a percentage on all sales. The colporteur is thus protected against the financial dis- tress that may accompany persecution or work in barren fields, yet he has the advantage also of a financial motive leading him to do his best at selling his literary wares.
(3) The Use of Trade Channels. — Liberal discounts should be given to private firms which are willing to carry a few books in connection with their business. Other methods, such as mail-orders, the encouragement of ministers and laymen to serve as unsalaried agents, etc., should be tried out.
4. PERIODICAL LITERATURE IN PORTUGUESE
A bi-monthly religious review or magazine should be issued in charge of an interdenominational committee, for
LITERATURE IN PORTUGUESE 53
the publication of articles, Biblical, theological, historical, which would be of interest to all ministers and educated laymen.
The various denominational publications which provide lesson helps for the Sunday Schools should be united into one interdenominational monthly, in charge of a co- operative committee.
A union religious weekly should be issued under the auspices of the cooperating missions, giving the more im- portant items of church news of general interest, but having for its main province the promulgation and de- fense of the principles of our common evangehcal faith. Subscriptions for this union paper should be solicited from the public in general. Provision could be made, however, for denominational editions in which the articles and news items would be provided by a repre- sentative of each of the cooperating missions.
In the secular papers space may be purchased and articles of evangelical propaganda given to the public. This should be done persistently and systematically, and money so used would bear much fruit. Thousands of people would be reached who are largely inaccessible by any other means. Cliches or electrotyped plates of state- ments of evangelical belief and similar selections should be prepared. These plates can be inserted at a minimum cost in the secular papers both of the large cities and of the provincial towns. We need to learn wisdom from the children of this world. Certain proprietary medi- cines, for instance, have been advertised from one end of Brazil to the other in this way, and at a compara- tively small cost to the proprietors. Many able journals may be induced to print contributions regarding Chris- tianity in the form of information respecting the growth of the Churches, the progress of ideas and reviews of important new books, if these are in a style attractive to the general reader.
CHAPTER VII
COOPERATION IN THE PRODUCTION OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
The need and the possibiHty of effective cooperation in the production of evangelical literature are voiced on every hand. A British correspondent, for example, re- marics in regard to certain suggestions as to specific kinds of literature needed: "I cannot help thinking that these come second. The matter of first importance is to get a strong interdenominational and international organization that is well financed, then we can deal with the problems of authorship and distribution and the character of the publications to be issued."
I. IN PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS
Considerable space was given to this matter above (Chapter V. 3). It seems to be generally agreed that it should be possible for the several missions in each Latin- American republic to unite for the publication of a single periodical of dignity and worth that would take the place of the special "organs" hitherto issued. Certainly if it is possible for a union paper to be made to serve this need, such a paper would be serviceable in a larger way than has been possible to the separate publications. By virtue of united endeavor it could be made of a type to appeal to many intelligent persons outside the member- ship of the Churches. Liberal postal facilities in sev- eral of the republics encourage all periodical publica- tions, in some instances free carriage being provided. It
54
COOPERATION IN PRODUCTION 55
will not be easy to smooth out all of the difficulties in the way of a union church paper. Many will think it im- possible for such a publication to serve denominational ends as well and as satisfactorily as a special organ would.
There will be, moreover, obstacles as to the budget, the editorial staff, etc. No doubt all these will prove rather serious, but as the object sought is so well worth while, there is all the more urgency that the difficulties be at- tacked as promptly and as vigorously as possible.
Another line of cooperative endeavor in periodical lit- erature has been suggested, and that is the publication of a high class magazine in the languages of Latin Amer- ica. It is believed that such a publication would meet a warm welcome in those republics, not only among the evangelicals but also among intelligent and progressive persons generally. It seems to be felt that it might be brought out in New York, since that city offers better communication with all Latin America than any other. It might well be the care of a commission on literature, should such a commission be organized in accordance with suggestions of this report. (See also below, para- graph 5.)
2. IN GENERAL LITERARY PRODUCTION
Some books on apologetics are good, and some of them are useless. It is evident that the translators of some of these books were not conversant with present- day conditions and underestimated the hold which skep- ticism has upon these countries. This is a field which should be continually under the survey and supervision of a commission on literature, which should seek to furnish the missionary forces with suitable, modern books on apologetics. If it is left entirely to the enterprise of the individual missionary, much precious time and energy will be spent on the translation of books which are of but little value.
The lack of an adequate missionary literature is forci- bly brought to one's attention by a survey of the cata- logues of the various depositos in connection with the
56 LITERATURE
missions. Here we find at our disposal only about 130 books, big and little and on all subjects. In some depart- ments there is a greater deficiency than in others; but it must be apparent, even to the blindest, that one of the very first duties of the various missions is to unite their efforts in some way so as to secure an ample and satis- fying literature. The individual effort of the past, while it has done much, has utterly failed to cope with the situation.
It is of the utmost importance that the most cordial cooperation should exist between missionaries and the Latin-American leadership in productive authorship. Some go so far as to feel that so long as the literature is primarily the output of foreign authors it will be inadequate for the end sought. A correspondent writes : *'It is impossible for Chris- tian literature to meet the needs of the people, if it is to be the work of foreigners. Everywhere there is need of Christian literature written by Latin-American Chris- tians presenting Christian verities and Christian ideals according to their modes of thought and feeling as well as in their own languages. It is to the Latin- American writers that we must look, not only for the interpretation of Christian doctrine to the Latin-American mind, but also for the exposition of Christian ethics and ideals by means of fiction.
"The Christian Church should have its own authors capable of producing tracts which show the marks of the native mind. Translations are of secondary value, espe- cially translations from the English. If translations are used, let them be from one Latin language to another. But originals are the best and these should be written by Latin-Americans themselves, or by foreigners who have lived, eaten and suffered with the Latin-American peo- ples, and who have so far become Latin Americans. There are multitudes of translations which have perhaps given the translators practice in a foreign language, but which are of little value to the people.
"There should certainly be in our schools special train- ing for vernacular authorship. Manifestly authorship
COOPERATION IN PRODUCTION 57
will need encouragement and training. The convert who in his pre-Christian days was a man of learning may readily turn in his Christian days to authorship, but other men of capacity and aptitude may need to be helped both in the furnishing of the mind and in the technique of authorship before satisfactory work can be expected.
"Our very strongest men should be encouraged to write tracts and suitable literature for the popular mind, and not to spend all their energy in preparing the more solid literature for leaders and teachers. Men equipped for this work should be urged to write on subjects which have been for them favorite subjects of study and medita- tion. Prize essays by able men should be valuable. But prize essays, although strong and scholarly, are some- times lacking in that vitality which comes with the ex- pression of life purposes and convictions."
3. IN THE CONDUCT OF A PRESS BUREAU
Another correspondent suggests that a press bureau be organized in each field. There should be an editor in charge who would make assignments to missionaries and ministers and other workers with the idea of covering different kinds of news. The bureau should be in touch with the several sources that supply material for the press so as to distribute news according to its nature. Such a bureau, ably conducted, would no doubt result in getting much more church news before the public.
4. IN THE MAINTENANCE OF BOOKSTORES
The evangelical work in any of the larger cities needs a well located bookstore. It should present a display effect on a par with that of the better stores of other types. Such an establishment would give an added in- fluence and standing to the evangelical work. Conve- nience and economy would be promoted. In certain cities the present agencies could be combined.
5. THE MONTEVIDEO PLAN
In May, 1914, in Montevideo there met some sixty workers representing fifteen denominational and inter- denominational missionary bodies, in a conference of
58 LITERATURE
secretaries of the South American Young Men's Chris- tian Associations. One of the problems up for discussion was that of literature needed for work among young men in these countries. Because of the crisis growing out of the war, and the reduced force of workers since that meeting, the plans there laid have not been carried for- ward, but those plans show the results of the careful de- liberation of a very representative group of evangelical leaders. The decision was to establish but one publica- tion headquarters, and that in Montevideo, bringing from Brazil workers needed for the publication of material in Portuguese. The periodical it was proposed to publish was to have had identical editions in both Spanish and Portuguese, since the fields and conditions and problems of the different countries are similar. If such an arrange- ment could be made for this international and inter- denominational publishing house of which we are writing, there would be, of course, a great saving in administra- tion, rent and other expenses, besides the advantage of having the combined experience on all publication prob- lems of the leaders in the whole of the Latin-American field.
6. CONDITIONS OF EFFECTIVE COOPERATION
Any adequate plan for cooperation must begin with the naming of a board of control or literature commis- sion, made up of representatives of the various missions, a sufficient proportion of them to form the executive committee being resident in or near the city chosen for headquarters or central office and depository and pub- lishing house. Such an organization would require from the first the services of an editor-in-chief, a business manager, and of others whom the experience of those given to this kind of work would recommend. Author- ship would not be limited, but the cooperation of many outside the circle who have thus far made contributions could be secured. Many strong men of different coun- tries would welcome the opportunity to cooperate, es- pecially on the lines of civic, social and national righteous- ness, and with reference to many of the gravest problems
COOPERATION IN PRODUCTION 59
that confront any student of the vital needs of these peoples.
This plan presupposes, of course, a disposition to back financially and adequately such an enterprise, by initial and annual subvention. Estimates of such needed sub- sidies can be given only by those of some experience in this line, and would depend, too, on the results of the enterprise, but these subsidies should be sufficient to place both books and periodicals within the reach even of those whom ignorance or station or misfortune or the high cost of living keep in the ranks of the poor. But however small or large the subvention may be, we shall have made a great advance when there is a joint committee and some authoritative information and when that which is done can be made to serve all. (See below, Appendix F.)
APPENDIX A
THE CORRESPONDENTS OF THE COMMISSION
ARGENTINA
The Rev. Robert F. Elder (Evangelical Union of South Amer- ica), Tres Arroyos.
CHILE
The Rev. W. E. Browning, Ph.D. (Principal Institute Ingles),
Santiago. The Rev. James F. Garvin (Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
A.), Concepcion.
MEXICO
Prof. Jasper T. Moses (Christian Woman's Board of Missions), formerly President Institute Christiano, Monterey, Mexico.
The Rev. Charles C. Petran (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Mexico City.
PERU
Dr. Robert M. Fenn (Evangelical Union of South America),
Cuzco. The Rev. W. T. T. Millham (Evangelical Union of South
America), Lima. The Rev. W. H. Rainey (British and Foreign Bible Society),
Callao.
60
APPENDIX B
A SELECTED LIST OF HOUSES WHICH PUBLISH OR SELL SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE PUBLICATIONS
American Bible Society, Bible House, Astor Place, New York
City. American Tract Society, 101 Park Avenue, New York City. D. Appleton & Co., 35 West 32nd St., New York City. Bible House of Los Angeles, 702 Knickerbocker Building, Los
Angeles, California. Biblioteca de "La Nacion," Calle San Martin, 344-360, Buenos
Aires. Biblioteca "Renacimiento," Calle San Marcos, 42, Madrid; Calle
Libertad, 172, Buenos Aires. Vda. de Ch. Bouret, 23 Rue Visconti, Paris; Avenida Cinco de
Mayo, 45, Mexico City. British and Foreign Bible Society, 146 Queen Victoria St., Lon- don, E. C. Casa Metodista de Publicaciones, la de Gante, 5, Mexico City. Casa Publicadora Baptista do Brazil, Rua Conselheiro Magalhaes
Castro, 99, Estacao do Riachuelo, Rio de Janeiro. Deposito de Publicaciones Evangelicas, Apartado 423, Ponce,
Porto Rico. "El Faro," 5a de los Heroes 83, Mexico City. Garnier Hermanos, 6 Rue des Saints-Peres, Paris. Grant Publishing House, 2827 Hyans St., Los Angeles, California. Henrich y Cia., Corcega, 348, Barcelona, Spain. Imprenta Bautista, Leon, Mexico. Imprenta Metodista, Calle Junin, 976, Buenos Aires. Imprenta Moderna, Calle Moneda, 131, Santiago, Chile. Libreria "El Inca," San Cristobal del Tren, 165, Lima, Peru. Libreria Nacional y Extranjera, Caballero de Gracia, 60, Madrid. Libreria Rivadavia, Calle Florida, 359, Buenos Aires. Livraria Evangelica, Rua Sete de Setembro, 71, Rio de Janeiro.
61
62 LITERATURE
Livraria Evangelica, Rua das Janellas Verdes, 32, Lisbon,
Portugal. Mardin, O. S., 29 E. 22d St., New York City. Maucci Hermanos, Sarmiento 1057-1065, Buenos Aires; Mayorca
166-168, Barcelona, Spain, Publishing House M. E. Church, South, Smith and Lamar,
Agents, 810 Broadway, Nashville, Tennessee. Religious Tract Society, 65 St. Paul's Churchyard, London, E. C. Scripture Gift Mission, 15 Strand, London. Sempere, Llorca y Cia., Apartado 130, Valencia, Spain. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religiosas, Flor Alta 2 y 4, 1°, Madrid. Sociedad Interdenominacional de Tratados, 730 San Pedro St.,
Los Angeles, California; Apartado 492, Barcelona, Spain. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Northumberland
Avenue, Charing Cross, London, W. C.
APPENDIX C
A SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS IN SPANISH FOR CHRISTIAN WORKERS
I. Theology and Criticism
BANKS, J. S. Manual de Doctrina Cristiana. American Tract Society. $1.00.
BEAUDRY, L. N. Conflictos Espirituales. El Faro. 65 cents.
BETTEX, F. La Religion y las Ciencias Naturales. Libreria Nacional y Extranjera. 60 cents.
BUSH NELL, HORx\CE. Quien es el Cristo? American Tract Society. 25 cents.
CANDLER, W. A. Christus Auctor. Smith & Lamar. 75 cents.
DRAWBRIDGE, C. L. Esta Minada la Religion? La Re- forma, Buenos Aires.
G. H. G. Innovaciones del Romanismo. Libreria Nacional y Extranjera. 40 cents.
GLADSTONE, W. E. El Papa y el Poder Civil. American Tract Society. $1.00.
GORE, C. Porque Creemos en Cristo. Juan Kidd y Cia., Re- conquista 274, Buenos Aires.
HARNACK, A. Esencia del Cristianismo. 2 volumes. Hen- rich y Cia., Barcelona. 40 cents.
LITTLEDALE, R. F. Razones Sencillas. American Tract So- ciety. $1.00.
MAIR, A. Evidencias Cristianas. American Tract Society. $1.00.
NIN FRIAS, A. El Cristianismo. Pedralbes, Montevideo.
ORTS GONZALEZ, JUAN. El Mejor Camino. American Tract Society. $1.00.
PATTON, F. L. Sumario de la Doctrina^ Cristiana. Presby- terian Board of Publication, Philadelphia. 45 cents.
RICCI, C. Documentaci6n de los Origenes del Cristianismo. La Reforma, Buenos Aires.
63
64 LITERATURE
SIMPSON, P. C. Jesucristo, su Realidad y su Significado. Kidd y Cia.
TILLETT, W. F. La Salvacion Personal. American Tract So- ciety. $1.45.
II. Commentaries and Biblical Studies
BALDWIN, J. L., and THOMAS M. Lecciones Graduadas. 4 Courses. 20 cents each.
EL NUEVO TESTAMENT9 CON NOTAS. American Tract Society. Leather, $1.25; imitation, 60 cents,
MILES, A. R. Introduccion al Estudio de las Santas Escrituras. American Tract Society. 75 cents.
PRATT, H. B. Estudios Biblicos (Genesis, Exodo, Levitico). American Tract Society. 50 cents each.
RAND, W. W. Diccionario de la Biblia. American Tract So- ciety. $2.00.
RYLE, J. C. Los Evangelios Explicados. American Tract So- ciety. Mateo, 75 cents; Marcos, 75 cents; Lucas $1.50; Juan, $1.50.
SELL, H. T. Estudio de la Biblia por sus Libros. El Faro. 65 cents.
SLOAN, W. H. Concordancia. American Tract Society. $6.00.
THOMSON, H. C. Historia del Antiguo Testamento.
in. Philosophy, Sociology and Education.
ANGELL, NORMAN. La Grande Ilusion. Thomas Nelson &
Sons. 30 cents. BERGSON, HENRI. La Evolucion Creadora. 2 volumes. El
Renacimiento. $1.40, COLMO, A. Los Raises de la America Latina. Hijos de Reno,
Madrid. $3.00. DAVIS, E. Manual Cientifico de Temperancia. W. C. T. U.,
Evanston, 111. 50 cents. DRUMMOND, HENRY. La Ley Natural en el Mundo Espiri-
tual. El Faro. $2.00. EUCKEN, RUDOLF. Grandes Corrientes del Pensamiento
Contemporaneo. Daniel Jorro, Madrid. $1.60. MARX, CARL. El Capital. Sempere, Llorca y Cia. 55 cents. MUIRHEAD, J. H. Elementos de fitica. Smith & Lamar. 75
cents. NELSON, ERNESTO. Hacia la Universidad del Futuro.
Sempere, Llorca y Cia. 20 cents. OSUNA, ANDRfiS. Psicologia Pedagogica. Smith & Lamar.
$1.25. SPENCER, HERBERT. La Educacion. Libreria Nacional y
Extranjera. 20 cents. STALL, SYLVANUS, y WOOD, ALLEN M. Pureza y
Verdad ; Lo Que Debe Saber el Nifio ; el Joven ; la Nina;
la Joven, etc. Bailey-Bailliere, Madrid. $1.00 each.
APPENDIX C 65
IV. History and Biography.
FISHER, G. P. Historia de la Reformacion. American Tract Society. $1.50.
FITZMAURICE-KELLEY, JAMES. Historia de la Litera- tura Espanola. El Renacimiento. $2.00.
HAYGOOD, A. G. El Hombre de Galilea. Smith & Lamar. 50 cents.
HURST, J. F. Historia Compendiada de la Iglesia. Smith & Lamar. $1.50.
KELLER, HELEN. Historia de mi Vida. Maucci Hermanos. 40 cents.
LELIEVRE, M. Juan Wesley. Smith & Lamar. $1.25.
STALKER, JAMES. Vida de Cristo. American Tract So- ciety. 60 cents.
STALKER, JAMES. Vida de San Pablo. American Tract So- ciety. 60 cents.
VARETTO, JUAN C. Heroes y Martires de la Obra Misionera. Imprenta Metodista, Buenos Aires. $2.00.
WASHINGTON, BOOKER T. De Esclavo a Catedratico. D. Appleton & Co. 25 cents.
ZULOAGA, J. U. Martin Lutero. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religiosas. 20 cents.
V. Organization and Methods
ATKINS, JAMES. El Reino de Dios en Mantillas. Smith &
Lamar. 75 cents. HENDRIX, E. R. Trabajo Habil para el Maestro. Smith &
Lamar. 75 cents. JOHNSON, HERRICK. El Ministerio Ideal. El Faro. $2.50. NEELY, T. B. La Predicacion. Imprenta Metodista, Buenos
Aires. $1.25. SLATTERY, MARGARET. Platicas con los Maestros de la
Escuela Dominical. Methodist Book Concern, New York.
25 cents. TRUMBULL, H. C. Trabajo Personal con Individuos. El
Faro. 25 cents. WILSON, NEBLETT & STORY. Manual Normal. American
Tract Society. $1.00.
VI. Books for Spiritual Culture
AINSLIE, P. Dios y Yo. Imprenta Metodista. Buenos Aires. 55 cents.
A KEMPIS, THOMAS. Imitaci6n de Cristo. Gamier Her- manos. 20 cents.
BUNYAN, JOHN. El Peregrine y la Peregrina. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religiosas. 75 cents.
DRUMMOND, HENRY. La Cosa mas Grande en el Mundo. Libreria Nacional y Extranjera. 20 cents.
66 LITERATURE
JAMES, WILLIAM. Fases del Sentimiento Religioso. Men-
desky, Buenos Aires. 30 cents. JAMES, WILLIAM. Los Ideales de la Vida. Henrich y Cia.
40 cents. MURRAY, A. Con Cristo en la Escuela de la Oracion. La
Reforma, Buenos Aires. 60 cents. SPURGEON, CHARLES H. Sermones. El Faro. 50 cents. TORREY, R. A. Como Obtener la Plenitud de Poder. Smith
& Lamar. 40 cents. WESLEY, JOHN. Sermones. Smith & Lamar, $1.50.
VII. Fiction and General Literature.
ALCOCK, D. Los Hermanos Espaiioles. Sociedad de Publi- caciones Religiosas. $1.00.
CLARK, FELICIA BUTTZ. El Jorobado de Nuremburgo. So- ciedad de Publicaciones Religiosas. 35 cents.
CLARK, HATTIE A. El Padre Jeronimo. American Tract So- ciety. $1.00.
DARIO, RUBfiN. Prosas Profanas. Bouret. 60 cents.
EBERS, GEORGE. La Hija del Rey de Egipto. Maucci. $1.20.
EMERSON, R. W. Siete Ensayos. Henrich y Cia. 40 cents.
FLAMMARION, CAMILLE. Dios en la Naturaleza. Bouret. 94 cents.
GORDIANO, S. F. Transformacion y Redencion. Deposito de Libros Evangelicos, Ponce, Porto Rico. $1.00.
HUGO, VICTOR. Los Miserables. 2 volumes. El Faro. $2.25.
LESLIE, EMMA. Glaucia. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religi- osas. 40 cents.
MAETERLINCK, MAURICE. La Vida de las Abejas. "La Nacion." 30 cents.
MANZONI, ALESSANDRO. Los Novios. 2 volumes. "La Nacion." 50 cents.
MARDEN, O. S. Abrirse Paso. Author's address : 29 E. 22nd St., New York City. $1.25.
MARTINEZ, E. Julian y la Biblia. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religiosas. 12 cents.
MARTINEZ, E. Julian y la Biblia. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religiosas. 20 cents.
PEZA, JUAN DE DIOS. Cantos del Hogar. Bouret. 60 cents.
RUSKIN, JOHN. Las Siete Lamparas de la Arquitectura. Sempere, Llorca & Co., Valencia. 20 cents.
SIENKIfiWICZ, H. Quo Vadis? 4 volumes. "La Nacion." $1.00.
SMILES,^ SAMUEL. El Caracter. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religiosas. 30 cents.
TOLSTOY, LEO. Resurreccion. 2 volumes. "La Nacion." 50 cents.
VAN DYKE, HENRY. La Historia del Otro Mago. Sociedad de Publicaciones Religiosas. 40 cents.
APPENDIX C 67
WAGNER, CHARLES. La Vida Sencilla. Imprenta Metodista,
Buenos Aires. 75 cents. WALLACE, LEW. Ben Hur. 2 volumes. "La Nacion." 50
cents. WISEMAN, CARDINAL. Fabiola. 2 volumes. Bouret, Paris.
80 cents. YOUNG, EGERTON R. Ovikapun. El Faro. 50 cents. ZOLA. EMILE. Roma.
VIII. Juvenile. AMICIS, E. DE. Corazon. El Renacimiento. 25 cents. ANDERSEN, HANS CHRISTL\N. Cuentos. "Lz Nacion."
25 cents. KINGSLEY, FLORENCE. Esteban, un Soldado de la Cruz.
El Faro. $1.00. NEWBERRY, L. B. El Atleta de Filipos. 65 cents. ROY, CHRISTINE. En el Pais del Sol. Sociedad de Publica-
ciones Religiosas. SEWELL, ANA. Azabache. D. Appleton & Co. 25 cents. TORRES, EMILIO. Dialogos y Recitaciones. El Faro. $1.00.
APPENDIX D
QUESTIONS SENT TO CORRESPONDENTS
1. What books has your Church published in Spanish (give
complete list) :
(1) From original manuscripts?
(2) Translated?
2. What has been your method :
(1) In preparing manuscripts?
(2) In making the publication?
3. What books has your Church published in Spanish during
the last ten years?
4. What is your method for publishing tracts?
5. What tracts has your Church published during the last ten
years ?
6. What periodicals do you publish?
(1) Church papers.
(2) Sunday-school helps.
(3) Any other kind.
7. What is your method for circulating Christian literature?
8. What are the amounts spent every year in Christian publi-
cations ?
(1) From your Board of Missions.
(2) From other sources.
9. What has your Church done to select, classify and recom-
mend secular literature?
10. What is the amount spent annually by your Board of Mis- sions in Latin America?
(1) For general missionary work.^
(2) For Christian literature especially.
68
APPENDIX E
A SUMMARY OF THE REPLIES
Books published: Original Translated
By the Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
Report sent from Brownsville, Tex 1
By the American Missionary Associa- tion. Report sent from New York
By the Protestant Episcopal Church. Report from Porto Rico 2
By the United Brethren. Report sent
from Porto Rico 1
By the Methodist Episcopal Church :
In Argentina 16 8
In Mexico 35 30
In Chile 1 3
By the Disciples of Christ in Mexico 2 ^
In Argentina 1
By the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Report sent from Nashville, Tenn 6 34
By the Presbyterian Church in U. S. A. :
In Mexico 7 2^
In Chile 2 ?>
In Guatemala 1
By the American Friends in Cuba 23
By the Southern Baptist Convention :
In Brazil 2 10
Unclassified Reports :
W. C. Morris from Buenos Aires 39 9
C. N. Mitchell from Bolivia 1
In Argentina 1 1
Tli "l64
Note : In several of these report pamphlets were included.
69
70 LITERATURE
2. Methods.
(1) Preparing manuscripts. Two reports state that the man- uscripts were prepared by "voluntary and individual initiative"; six state that the trans^lations were made by missionaries and the manuscripts corrected by a native or by a committee; the Methodist Episcopal Church at the beginning of its work in Mexico had an official paid translator; the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, has been using in connection with the Methodist Publishing House in Nashville, Tenn., an official translator for twenty-six years.
(2) Publication, (a) Five have their own printing presses, and two have used secular presses, (b) Three published the original in a periodical, and then used the same type for the book form, (c) Three reports speak about how the expenses are paid. The Method/St Episcopal Church in Mexico: expenses paid by th^ mission Board with assistance from the American Tract Society. The Presbyterian Church in Mexico : expenses paid by the mission Board. Methodist Episcopal Church, South : one-half of translator's salary, composition and plates paid by the mission Board, and the other half of the translator's salary and the rest of the expenses paid by the publishing house, (d) One report states that fox^ the work of publication the authoriza- tion of a Press Committee is required.
3. Books Published During the Last Ten Years:
By the Protestant Episcopal Church in Porto Rico 2
By Lutherans in Porto Rico 1
By the Methodist Episcopal Church in Argentina 24
By the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mexico 41
By the Disciples of Christ in Mexico 5
By the Disciples of Christ in Argentina 1
By the Methodist Episcopal Church, South 19
By the Presbyterians in Mexico 16
By the Presbyterians in Chile 2
By the Baptists :
In Brazil 6
In Argentina 2
In Bolivia, according to report from C. N. Mitchell... 1
120
4. Methods of Publishing Tracts.
(1) Preparation of the original. Two reports state that most of the tracts published are translations ; the Disciples have pub- lished some original tracts in Mexico. As to this, the Rev. J. W. Butler, from Mexico City, says : "Our method for publish- ing tracts has been as follows : Many of these have been original manuscripts, but especially in 'the earlier days of the mission a good part of them have been translations. Now, however, we have more originals than translations." An interesting item is given by the Rev. A. G. Baker, from Bolivia: "As a general
APPENDIX E 71
rule we publish short tracts and leaflets for special occasions, feasts, etc." It seems that most of the work has been done by individual initiative; but five correspondents refer to some kind of press committees. In the report from the Evangelical Union of South America, sent from Peru, mention is made of the Andean Tract Society, which comprises the foreign and Chris- tian workers of Lima and Callao, and is supported by many in the provinces. We quote the following paragraph: "Each tract deals with some outstanding aspect of evangelical truth in its relation to the religions of the country, and is published in the form of a monthly periodical entitled El Alba (The Dawn), 20,000 of one tract being printed each month. Previous to the formation of the above society, tracts were written or trans- lated from time to time by members of the staff and printed by the mission press 'El Inca.' For a number of years a system of postal propaganda has been established, whereby packets of assorted tracts have been supplied at a merely nominal figure." In Porto Rico, as the Churches have formed a federation, there is a Committee on Literature appointed by the Federation. In regard to this, the Rev. P. W. Drury of the United Brethren Church says : "A new plan has been formed whereby all of the denominations in Porto Rico have available tracts. The Com- mittee on Literature of the evangelical Churches of Porto Rico has begun the pubHcation of tracts in editions of 25,000 and up. These are sold to the different workers, who use their own method for distribution."
(2) Method of publication. Besides the methods mentioned above, three correspondents state that certain tracts were pub- lished first in periodicals and then were republished in tract form.
(3) Expenses. One correspondent says : "Work has been done locally, and paid for by special gifts." Another says : "Writers themselves pay expenses." The Rev. G. E. Schilling of Chile refers to one man who is financing the publication of tracts. Dr. J. W. Butler says : "In the early days of Protestant missions in Mexico, for several years we had a grant from the Religious Tract Society of London, which was made to all the missions in the country, and was distributed according to rules adopted by a local committee in this city. Our own Methodist Tract Society aided us for many years with an annual subsidy varying in amount from $300 to $1,000. We have also had pri- vate gifts and collections here on the field for the publication of tracts, and by all such means we have now for a long time endeavored to circulate millions of pages annually."
5. Tracts Published During the Last Ten Years:
By the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. Report sent
from Brownsville, Tex 1
By the American Missionary Association. Report sent
from New York: "Organization leaflets." By the Protestant Episcopal Church in Porto Rico.... 4
72 LITERATURE
By the United Brethren in Porto Rico... 1
By the Methodist Episcopal Church in Porto Rico 8
By the Methodist Episcopal Church in Mexico 24
By the Canadian Baptist Church in Bolivia 2
By the Disciples of Christ in Argentina 2
By Lutherans in Porto Rico 1
By the Disciples of Christ in Porto Rico 2
By the Disciples of Christ in Mexico 33
By the Disciples of Christ in Mexico for Christian En- deavor 21
By the Evangelical Union of South America in Peru
through the Andean Tract Society 17
By the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A 7
By the Canadian Baptists in Bolivia 2
125
6. Periodicals Published.
United Brethren: In Porto Rico, Puerto Rico Evangelico, in connection with the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches. El Sendero, Rayos de Luz, El Amiga and Joyas independently.
Methodist Episcopal Church: In Porto Rico, El Defensor Cristiano; in Argentina, El Estandarte Evangelico, also La Aurora; in Mexico, El Abogado Cristiano, Hojas Bereanas, Mex- ico, and a medical paper in Guanajuato; also cooperating with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and with the Presby- terians to supply Graded Lessons. In Chile, El Heraldo Cris- tiano, in cooperation with the Presbyterian Church; a monthly for the Peru Mission and a small paper printed in Boliva.
Disciples of Christ: In Porto Rico, cooperate in the publica- tion of Puerto Rico Evangelico; in Mexico, La Via de Paz, also El Discipulo.
Evangelical Union of South America: In Argentina, El Tes- tigo, also Lus y Verdad (printed by the Victoria Gospel Press) ; in Peru, El Heraldo, also a complete series of International Les- sons, La Temperancia (official organ of the National Temperance Society), and La Educacion Nacional (organ of the Normal Training College for Teachers).
Methodist Episcopal Church, South: In Mexico, El Evangel- ista Mexicano; also Graded Lessons, in combination with other Churches; in Cuba, El Evangelista Cubano; in Brazil, O Testu- minto.
Presbyterians: In Mexico, El Faro, El Fanal, and El Eco de Coyoacan; in Chile, El Heraldo Cristiano, in cooperation with the Methodist Episcopal mission.
American Friends: In Cuba, El Ramo de Olivo, Manf::anas de Oro, and Graded Lessons in Spanish, also for a time. El Faro Cristiano.
Southern Baptist Convention: In Brazil, 0 Jornal Baptista, Quarterly Review 0 Infantil, Monthly Bulletin and Quarterly
APPENDIX E 73
for the Ladies' Society. In Argentina, El Expositor BauHsta, also La Escuela Bihlica.
In Guatemala, El Mensajero, for all Central America.
In Argentina, La Reforma.
In Bolivia, El Amigo de la Verdad.
7. Method for Circulating Literature.
Out of the thirty reports received, twenty state that the dis- tribution is made through missionaries, preachers and other workers. Four refer to libraries or reading rooms. Four book depositories or agencies are mentioned; three in Mexico (M. E., Pres., Bapt.), two in Chile (M. E., Pres.), two in Argentina (M. E., Ev. Union S. A.), one in Peru (Ev. U. S. A.), and one in Porto Rico, under the Federation of Churches, one in Vene- zuela (Scand. All. Miss. N. A.), one in Nashville (M. E. So.), the American Tract Society of New York and The Religious Tract Society of London.
8 Amounts Spent Yearly for Christian Publications.
Original Translated
Presbyterian Church in the U. S.... $240 $
World's Sunday School Association. 300
Bible House 308
Southern Baptist Convention 13,947
United Brethren in Porto Rico 125 425
Methodist Episcopal Church :
In Porto Rico 900 400
In Mexico 1,000*
In Uruguay from 200 to 1,000 500
In Chile 800 1,000
Disciples of Christ :
In Porto Rico 200 100
In Mexico 930 50
Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 4,000 ....
Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.:
In Mexico from 2,800 to 3,800 1,200 to 2,000
In Chile from 600 to 800
American Friends in Cuba 500 250
In Guatemala, report of W. B. Alli- son 850 to 1,000 400
In Bolivia, report of C. W. Mitchell 400
In Bolivia, report of A. G. Baker 150
• Board of Missions paid one-half of agent's salary.
9. What Has Been Done to Select, Classify and Recommend Secular Material. Four reports show that something has been done individually and through Christian Endeavor Societies. The report of the Young Men's Christian Association in Mexico says: "We have given a considerable amount of time to this. Many of the best
74 LITERATURE
books available we have in our library for circulation among our members. Lists have also from time to time been prepared and posted. In a really practical way, however, we have made no beginning, because of lack of funds and lack of really usable literature. The Presbyterian Church and the Methodist Episco- pal Church through their book agencies in Mexico, and in mu- tual cooperation, have arranged a catalogue containing useful secular Hterature. There is a permanent catalogue of books in stock on the covers of El Testigo (E. U. S. A.).
APPENDIX F
A PROPOSED PLAN FOR COOPERATION IN THE PRO- DUCTION, PUBLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF EVANGELICAL LITERATURE FOR LATIN AMERICA
Growing out of the researches of the Commission and the sug- gestions of its correspondents, is the following plan, presented to the Congress for its consideration :
1. A Latin-American Committee similar to the present Edin- burgh Continuation Committee, except that it should be officially representative of the several Societies.
2. A subcommittee of this body appointed by it (consisting of five or more) for the supervision of literature.
3. A corps of editors.
4. A joint committee in each one of the Latin-American countries.
5. The manufacture and publication of books in the United States.
6. A single joint publishing house and periodical in each re- public, and the issue of tracts and periodicals by these houses.
7. The use of these houses as depositories and agencies of the general committee.
8. An interdenominational expense account.
DETAILS OF PLAN
The plan given above is dealt with in detail below, the para- graph numbers in each case referring to the like numbered item in the plan:
1. The permanent committee on Latin America should be of the same general type as the present Continuation Committee of the World Missionary Conference, excr-pt that distinct advan- tage would arise from making it officially representative of the several Societies.
75
76 LITERATURE
2. The subcommittee on literature should be appointed by this general committee. It should then :
a. Select the editors which for the general office in the United States should consist of one editor-in-chief, one editor for Span- ish and one for Portuguese. It is thought that the general editor should be a scholar in English, and that the assistants should be one whose native tongue is Spanish, and one whose native tongue is Portuguese.
b. Pass upon all manuscripts submitted, whether translated or original.
c. Have supervision of the work of the editors and be re- sponsible for their compensation.
d. Have general charge of the work of the separate agencies and committees in the several countries of Latin America.
e. Receive and dispense all funds contributed for Christian literature in Latin America.
3. The editors, consisting of one general and two special ed- itors, should:
a. Have charge of preparing and editing manuscripts, both originals and translations.
b. Employ translators, under the direction of the committee, and purchase material for books.
c. Travel through the various countries and preside over the meetings of local committees on literature, representing before them the general committee.
d. Promote the work of literature by calling meetings of the local committees, by giving advice and stimulation to the local publishing houses in the matter of selling books and distribut- ing tracts and leaflets, and by preparing and sending out a gen- eral catalogue, circulars and other advertising matter.
e. Edit the reports of the general committee on literature.
4. An interdenominational committee should be formed in every country where the cooperating Societies have missions. Its members shall be representatives of these missions duly elected for the purpose. Its duties shall be :
o. To take charge of the local union publishing house.
b. To select the staff for editing the church papers, the Sun- day-school papers, tracts, etc.
c. To have general supervision of all local publications.
d. To select the business managers of the publishing houses and to assist in the organization of their staffs.
e. To take charge of the depository of books and the agency of publications and to promote activity in the sale and distri- bution of literature.
/. To pass upon the expense accounts of the publishing houses, papers, Sunday-school li^rrature, etc., and to assign to each Society the part of this expense for which it should be responsible.
g. To see that a vigorous campaign is inaugurated for the circulation of the periodicals and the sale of books.
APPENDIX F 'jy
5. The organization provided for in paragraphs "2" and "4" is for the purpose of issuing books only. Whether a single pub- lishing house should be designated for the manufacture of these books, or whether such manufacture should be let by contract to outside presses, would have to be determined by the general sub- committee on literature. It is expected that this committee and the editors would have headquarters in the United States.
6. This item is sufficiently provided for in the details under paragraph 4.
7. Explained under paragraph 4.
8. The expense of the general committee and editors should be taken care of by means of an appropriation by the several Boards as well as by such gifts and contributions as may come to this committee. It has been estimated that an assessment of one percent, of all monies expended in Latin America by the several missions would be a sufficient fund for inaugurating the work of this committee with its editors. The expenses of the publishing houses and periodicals in the various countries will be estimated by the local committees and such provision made for meeting them as may be agreed upon by those committees and by the representatives of the general committee in the United States.
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUS- SION OF THE REPORT
At the Meeting of the Congress on Tuesday, February, 15, 1916
AGENDA FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE REPORT
I. In each principal area of Latin America what literature is most urgently needed: (1) for the educated classes who do not accept the Christian position; (2) for less educated non-evan- gelicals; (3) for the building up of evangelical church members; (4) for the training of ministers and other Christian workers?
II. What can be done to raise up able writers, both among Latin Americans and missionaries? To what extent would setting apart workers for specified pieces of writing for a limited time meet the case?
III. Is there need in any area represented in the Congress for consolidation or federation of existing agencies in order to pre- vent overlapping and to promote the preparation of the litera- ture most needed?
IV. What are the most serious obstacles In the way of some such plan as that outlined in Appendix C? Is it desirable to ask the "Committee on Cooperation in Latin America" to take necessary steps to put into operation some such plan?
V. What causes you most solicitude regarding the existing translations of the Bible, and also concerning Bible circulation?
VI. Suggestions in the light of experience as to how to insure the better distribution and use of Christian literature.
VII. How far are the existing church papers meeting the needs of the situation, and how may they be improved?
VIII. How may the Christian forces make larger and more effective use of the secular press?
Considerations of space have made it necessary to abbreviate the addresses and remarks made in the course of the presenta- tion and discussion of this Report. In doing this the attempt has been made to preserve everything that throws light upon the subjects considered in the Report. It has not been found possible in many cases to submit the Report of the addresses to those who delivered them for their revision.
80
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT ON LITERATURE
Dr. R. E. Speer: It was the expectation until just before the Congress assembled that Prof. Osuna would be able to present the report of Commission IV on Literature. But he has been assigned by the Government of Mexico to what is perhaps the most responsible position in connection with education in that country and is unable to be present. Through Dr. Butler, he has sent his greetings to this Congress with many regrets that he cannot be with us. The report on Literature will be presented by Dr. Winton.
Rev. George B. Winton, D.D. (Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tenn.) : I desire first to bring to your atten- tion several aspects of the work of the Commission not em- bodied in the printed Report. One of these is before your eyes in the literature exhibit. Another is the completion of a full bibliography of works already translated into Spanish and Portu- guese, of such a character as we may appropriately recommend. That work is in process and will be published later in a separate pamphlet. The third element of activity is the correspondence. A questionnaire was sent out by Dr. Patton of Boston on the subject of cooperation in publishing plants, and an extensive body of information has been accumulated in reply to it._
I would not seem to apologize for the Report, to which a good deal of attention has been given. I think it only right, however, to say that the chairman of this committee has been obliged to depend much on those who were corresponding with him. There was a lack of coordination which we all feel. There was a failure of the mails, so that the Report is less complete than it should be and will be in its final form. I might say also of Mr. Osuna that while he makes a very free use of English, he is rather timid about writing the language. So he secured con-
81
82 LITERATURE
tributions from many other persons who would write for him, and there is a slight lack of unity due to that fact.
This Commission prides itself on having a topic of which there is only one view to be taken. Our whole outlook is roseate. We have no difficulties that are real obstacles. They are such that we do not worry about them. We present to you a sub- ject, which, more than any other, is practically the same in the minds of us all. That this is the line of missionary activity in which cooperation is easiest may be seen in the fact that it has already largely begun. Take, for example, our group of Sun- day-school publications, the beginning of the system of graded lessons as arranged by the denominational houses for the use of all. Plans were made for the distribution of the whole of the graded course of lessons among the several presses, so that there would be no duplications, denomination preferences or politics. Again, our outlook is roseate for the simple reason that we feel that we know our ground. We know the literary achievements which will be of the most benefit to Latin America. We have already tested nearly all of these problems in our own and other countries. We begin on the great foundation stone of the Bible, and on that we can build a literature for Christian nur- ture. I am glad to believe that it is the purpose of God that the minds of men shall be aroused. I read some years ago a magazine article by that strange genius, Lafcadio Hearne, who had spent some time in the West Indies, and had absorbed the atmosphere of the life there. He told how his Negro nurse, during the time he was convalescing from malarial fever, would slip into the room with her bare feet, making almost no noise, and speaking to him in her soft, gentle patois would say, "Ne pense pas" ("Don't think"), and I have felt that that was often the word of the religious teachers of Latin America. "No se Calient e la caheza" ("Don't get your head hot") they say in Spanish. But men must think. The movement arousing the minds of these peoples is a movement that cannot be stopped. It grows out of modern commerce and modern life. The present situation demands that men shall be aroused intellectually, and I am glad that the religion of Jesus Christ also does arouse the mind of man. In fact, it is presented to us as the religion of light. The light of the Sun of Righteousness burst on the world when Jesus came. ^ The great apostle Paul, when he looked over the nations with whom he had to deal, and saw how they had been submerged in deadly slumber, called out, "Awake thou that sleepest and Christ shall give thee light." We are to be the bearers of that light, which is not spread abroad without full assurance that God's providence will take care of it. We trust that this literature that we are beginning to prepare will send rays of light abroad into Latin America. I have been riding about the city in my host's automobile. He told me yesterday how the gasoline cylinders can be made to serve as a brake, if the chauffeur does not send a spark through them. I
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 83
suspect that the human mind is like that car. We do not get any satisfactory results without the spark. I am looking for- ward to the time when the life of all nations shall he more and more stimulated because of the spark that we proposed to send among them, a shock which we shall send abroad in the world through the influence on men of Jesus Christ and His religion.
Literature for the Uneducated.
Rev. Roberto Elphick (Methodist Episcopal Church, Valpa- raiso, Chile) : The uneducated does not necessarily mean the ig- norant. There are many uneducated people in South America who are thinking and are striving to understand things. These men belong to the artisan class, and in spite of the bad conditions of their occupation, they are thinking a little more than about the way of getting their daily bread. They are thinking about economic problems and social problems, and they want to know how best to bring their ideas into real use. They devour the literature circulated by the anarchist and the socialist classes. They are not very much attached to the Roman Catholic Church, nor wholly under the influence of the priest. They think with independence. They are not depending on the upper classes, since they live by the work of their own hands. We can go among them with our literature with great hopes of success. The books we put in the hands of these uneducated people should, no doubt, be very simple. There are three kinds to recommend. First, of course, the New Testament. It should be put in the hands of these people rather than the Bible, because they need the simple story of Jesus. We should make it attrac- tive by good printing and binding and pictures. Then there is another kind of literature which is of religious value, but pub- lished in cheap form, like "Que Debemos Creer," "Razones Sen- cillas," "Estudios Religiosos," "El Peregrino" and "El Pais del Sol." Thirdly, in the way of controversial books I should like to recommend "Pepa y la Virgen," which has made more con- versions than any other book I know.
Rev. Alejandro Trevino (Baptist Church in Mexico, Mon- terey) : Much good v.^ork has been done in Mexico, but there are still some deficiencies. My first recommendation is that simple tracts should be published that will reach the homes that are in Mexico close to the mission. Many families have been converted by such tracts, which are simple statements of the gospel truth. In the second place, I would recommend for the middle class periodicals well edited, not translations in bad Spanish like some that have been made. Whoever tries to write in Spanish should not make their document half English. And thirdly, I would recommend for the upper class good evangelical books. The country is flooded with pernicious translations which are poorly translated and poorly written and with French novels and such literature, but we need good evangelical books.
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Senorita Juana Palacios (Methodist Episcopal Church in Mexico, Mexico City) : I desire to say a few words about the way in which the Bible should be presented in Mexico to the educated classes. We want everybody in Mexico to read the Bible, but the Roman Catholic Church has accustomed the people to think that not everybody can understand the Bible and that it is a very queer book. We must realize that there is some truth in what they say. Unless there has been special preparation for the reading of the Bible, very many persons might be shocked in reading it the first time. I was talking with the president of the University of Puebla, speaking with him about the Word of God, and he said, "Don't you know the Bible is a book that I would never put in the hands of my daughters?" I thought he would go on to speak about the historical diffi- culties, but it was not that. When I asked him why, he said, "It is a very immoral book." Now he is a man of great culture. I said to him, "Why do you say that?" He said, "You know that many of the psalms are immoral ; they teach vengeance and I do not care to put them into the hands of my daughters." The Old Testament can not be understood as we understand it, unless there has been some preparation for the use of it. I think therefore that we should not put the Old Testament stories into the hands of persons who have not had that preparation. The gospels are very different. I shall always remember with pleasure the experience that I had not very long ago in the State Normal School of Mexico City. I was trying to explain to some students certain details and referred to the words of Christ. Among the students was a girl who asked, "Who wrote those words?" and I said, "Those are the words of Christ," and she said, "How beautiful." It was her first impression but ex- actly the right one.
What Literature is Most Urgently Needed for the Training OF Ministers and Other Christian Workers? Rev. John Howland, D.D. (American Board of Commission- ers for Foreign Missions, Chihuahua) : My theme does not mean literature for theological seminaries, because we have no institutions that are really worthy of that name. One of the sorest and yet the most urgent needs in all this Latin American world is the preparation of workers and ministers. We are getting some strong men, but it is very hard to get enough of them. It is hard to keep them when we have got them, there is such a tremendous current drawing them away. Men have to educate their families. They can get double, yes treble the missionary salary in other work. We must raise up more Chris- tian workers, not more ministers necessarily, but leaders of some sort. One trouble with the native ministry is that Latin Ameri- cans consider it to be a profession to which its members are destined from their earliest youth. They need to feel acutely that they are in the pulpit for no other purpose than to convert souls.
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 85
I would therefore emphasize, first of all, books on the spiritual life which will touch the heart and develop the longing for souls that gives one no rest when he sees his countrymen drifting, — and some of them are very rapidly drifting down towards de- struction. Another important need is for commentaries. It is a fearful condemnation of the work of the missionary in Latin America that we have not any good commentary for use. The four Gospels and the first three books of the Bible are the only ones on which comments are available. The Tract Society has put out a valuable little commentary on the New Testament, but it is very meagre. And then we need something in the line of exposition. Some men are trying to furnish help by way of the suggestions of the Homiletical Review. It is a very convenient publication. It is very nice to be able on Sunday morning to take up a book, take out a little outline and go into the pulpit and preach. But the habit of doing this is dangerous, particular- ly for young men in the ministry.
Rev. W. H. Teeter (Methodist Episcopal Church, Santiago) : We need whatever literature is required for the development of a Christian ministry. I wish there might be some good books translated. One of the first I would like to see is Dr. King's "Ethics of Jesus." We should eliminate the denominational in all books that are translated, so that they may be of interest to all. I have occasion once in a while to teach a certain book. It is by a Methodist author and in the class I have some Presbyterians. There is one chapter about the middle of the book given up entirely to pointing out the errors of Presbyterianism. That book takes up problems that were placed on the shelf almost a century ago and should be eliminated entirely. What we want is to get together. We have enough points of contact now, so that we can develop a literature of the Christian church. The literature needed for the training of preachers ought to be tried out in the classroom, not merely once or twice, but for a term of years before being printed in final form. Then we will have a result which is worth while. We ought to do our work and our thinking in twentieth century terms. The nineteenth cen- tury was all right, but its literature is not that for the present day. If we are going to lag behind a century in our theological books, then we are going to have theological teachers who are a century behind.
Mrs. Lemuel C. Barnes (Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society, New York (lity) : In Chapter II of the Report of Commission IV, on page 15, we read : "According to the best available statistics, there are in Mexico about 5,000,000, in South America about 6,000,000, and in Central America some 1,- 700,000 people, of native tribes, still employing their own lan- guages and dialects. The policy of the various governments is to teach them the use of Spanish — in Brazil of the Portuguese. In the course of time these dialects will gradually die out." The figures here quoted total 12,700,000 Indians, unacquainted with
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the language of the country in which they live, and consequently unreached and unreachable through literature or oral teaching in those languages. Likewise, in the third section of Chapter III of the Report of Commission I, page 86, it states: "Dr. Leon, the most recent student of the linguistic families of Mexico, has divided them into seventeen families and one hundred and eighty dialects," and that "at least two millions of them do not speak any other language than their tribal dialects." We note that these statements are made concerning a single one of the Latin-American republics, Mexico. Had it been practicable to secure equally reliable statistics of all Latin American countries the number of individuals and tribes so conditioned would have been found to be vastly greater. For the most part these people are entirely illiterate. Needless to say, the process of putting literature into their languages and dialects is almost prohibitive- ly slow, since many of the dialects have never been reduced to writing. Even the British and Foreign Bible Society and the American Bible Society together, with all their facilities, with all their devoted courage, report translating and publishing mere- ly "portions of the Scriptures," and in only fifteen of these hun- dreds of dialects, during the last one hundred years. In view of the time, vitality and money required for such work and the relative meagreness of the results, shall we not cooperate with the various governments in teaching the Indians the dominant language in the countries in which they live, — the only countries which they can claim as in any sense of their own? Were this done, not only the Scriptures in their entirety, but all other Christian literature which may be published in the two dominant languages, Spanish and Portuguese, would be available for Indi- ans, as well as for all other dements in the populations of those countries. Would not this be better from every point of view than to wait for the hundreds of dialects to be reduced to written language form, then to teach them the art of reading, unknown to them in any form, then to translate Scripture and other literary material into that form, and finally to teach that form to those who are to be teachers of the Indians? Were it possi- ble to accomplish all this within the lifetime of any who now are living, would it be the most desirable method of approach to the Indian "problem" in any country? Would it not foster in the Indians a habit of separateness, of segregation from the common life and common interests of the republics to which they belong?
We have abundant testimony to the possession by the Indian, however illiterate, of native qualities which under instruction would make them valuable citizens. They need education and moral idealism, and the shortest way of attaining both is by teaching them Spanish or Portuguese, as the case may be, giv- ing them, from the first day, literature and life together. I should not dare to raise these questions if there was nothing more substantial than theories with which to answer them. For
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 87
six years I have been watching the solution of similar problems in the United States of North America. In New York City more than sixty languages and dialects are spoken. Many of the people speaking them are illiterate when they reach our shores. Most of the ilHterates come from countries in which the Bible is not an open book. I have seen half a dozen different nation- alities represented in one class, no member of the class knowing one word of English. I have seen them all making excellent progress under the instruction of a teacher knowing only Eng- lish. The text-book used in those classes is composed entirely of Biblical material rendered in the simple terms of everyday life and common need. The work has been carried on very quietly and experimentally but the stage of experiment has been passed. The Baptist City Mission Societies in New York City and else- where have established the teaching of English through Biblical material as a regular part of their program. They use the "Di- rect Method," basing their work on such passages as the stories of the trees (Luke 6:44, 45), of the seeds (Luke 8:5-8), of the builders (Luke 6:48, 49), of the lost money (Luke 15:8-10), or of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-20). These stories arouse no controversy and have proved to be efficient media for use in giving first lessons in language and for awakening dormant spiritual life in various parts of the country. Why may not similar service be rendered in Spanish and Portuguese to the people in Latin America who need Biblical ideals of life?
Rev. Merrit B. Wood (Christian Woman's Board of Missions, Bayamon, Porto Rico) : I came this morning to make an ap- peal for a type of lay worker that I have not distinguished clearly as yet, the one whose mental and material education and experience might correspond to the last year of our boys' high schools. On their behalf I ask for the type of book which corresponds to Dr. Gordon's book on "Prayer and Power," the type of book which comes into use when the world is shut out and the heart seeks to find something which will touch it most seriously. Another type of book which we need is a good mis- sionary text-book or something which will develop a missionary spirit in our people. Then we need books for the devotional life. We need aids that will help us to interpret the will of God. In the Scriptures the eunuch said to Philip, "How can I understand except some one shall guide me?" From this plat- form we have heard of some of the difficulties of certain people with the Word of God. These difficulties are but natural when we understand how the Bible is viewed in Catholic lands. Un- derstanding that, we will wish to produce some helps for its interpretation, something which will help us appreciate the efforts which men have made to reach out in faith after God.
Miss Clementina Butler (Methodist Episcopal Church, Providence, R. I.) : At Cincinnati a resolution was passed con- cerning the publication of books for young people. Since then the idea has become increasingly attractive. We need something
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available for our students, and something to go into their homes. This would call for much expense, if attempted at four different centers. May we not, however, use the syndicate idea with one general editor who might be located in New York, where all of the best reviews of the Latin world are available? This edi- tor could secure articles from the best Latin as well as from the best English writers and make translations into Spanish and Por- tuguese, furnishing this material to four editors, one in Brazil, one down on the West coast, one in the West Indies, and one in Mexico, who can determine the questions of publication. These articles might fill three fourths of the customary space, leaving one fourth to be provided locally. Bright clean fiction would displace the miserable fiction that is now in circulation. Strong, scientific, historical and philosophical articles commanding the respect of all readers will set them to thinking. Such journals should not be obviously Protestant, but rather human and of universal interest. How could we start a publication of this sort? Somebody would have to give a very large subvention of money for the first few years. A large subscription list could be gradually obtained. The journals would be self sustaining in five years, and in ten years they should make money. Mean- while we should be publishing serials, which would be available in book form later on. Since President Butler says the_ world needs something of an international mind, would not this syn- dicating method help the young people of Latin America to discover and accept it?
Mr. R. E. Magill (Presbyterian Church in U. S., Richmond, Va.) : We have found in the Sunday School Council of the Evangelical Churches of North America representing thirty-four different churches that we have much more in common than we have apart. Consequently one new series of lessons is now go- ing to six different denominations, all edited by the staff of one periodical. Each denomination gets them under its own name. Every one thinks he has his own church publication, but they are actually prepared by one group. Another series is being used by four different denominations. In our own church I am fur- nishing our editorial matter to six denominations. In the foreign field this is the only possible solution. Syndication produces just what is needed in a very effective way. It will solve the problems of reaching the children and of educating the ministry. There has never yet been any obstacle in the way of appealing to children. The one problem of the Sunday-School is to send the living word through the voice of the living teacher. Let this power be multiplied by the printed page and you have all the machinery for efficiency.
The Training of Competent Writers The Rt. Rev. Charles B. Colmore, D.D. (Bishop of the Prot- estant Episcopal Church in Porto Rico, San Juan) : Without question there is a great need of able writers among us and
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 89
of better literature. This last year I had occasion to study the rapid growth of the Spiritualist movement in Porto Rico. I found that while there was not so much written on the subject of Spiritualism, there were numerous novels of the kind inter- esting to the people, which brought that question in. The people can be reached readily if one takes the right course. The able writers we are looking for must, first of all, be Latin Americans. The more Spanish one knows, the more he realizes how poorly he knows it. In order to bring these books to the view-point of the people whom they are expected to reach, it becomes abso- lutely necessary that the real book shall be written by Latin Americans. There are two sorts of literature, original and translations. The statement has been made here this morning that we do not desire translations. We certainly do not want any translations that are perfunctory, literal renderings from English into Spanish, but we do need real translations, made by one who can take a book, can make it a part of himself, can put it into real idiomatic living Spanish, and give it to the people who need it, in a form which he knows they will appre- ciate. But how are we going to raise up these able writers? We will get them some day through Christian colleges estab- lished throughout these countries. People will then know what our work is and will understand the evangelical view-point. Among our students will be from time to time a man who will begin to write in the way that people need. For the present we must depend on Latin Americans who going to the institutions in the United States or in England, there to imbibe the culture and spirit which they will be able to transfer to their people in their own way.
Spanish Translations. Sr. Guillermo Delgado de Vargas (Barcelona, Spain) : There is an enormous amount of valuable time, money and personal effort lost in the work of evangelizing Latin America through lack of linguistic efficiency on the part of those men and women through whom Christ's message is delivered to the people. Latin Americans are as proud of their mother tongues as any other race of people in the world. When, therefore, this message is given to them in clumsy speech we should not wonder if they feel contempt for the speakers and indifference for the message itself. They see only the form, they miss the real substance. What do you think would happen, if any Latin American went over to England or to the United States to convert people to some new political or religious creed, who had no mastery of English? Would he find people ready to accept his message? It has been my privilege to visit many of the foreign Christian missions in Latin America and with few exceptions I have found that the men at the head of such missions were handicapped in their work through their inability to speak and write fluently the language of the people among whom they were working. Much
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of the Spanish Christian literature which is circulated in Latin America never serves the purpose for which it is written, be- cause it cannot be called Spanish in the proper sense of the word; it contains thoughts and ideas conceived by a foreign mind and, therefore, although put into Spanish words, it fails to find a response in the minds of those who read it To a^ large extent such publications are meaningless for a vast ma- jority of the people. Even when they do convey the exact meaning of the authors, they are lacking in that beauty of form which alone can make them attractive. The Christ and the religion thus presented are a foreign Christ and a foreign re- ligion ; and people wanting to understand and appropriate them will have to come out of their normal and natural sphere of thought, and struggle in their attempt to seize the essence of the message before them. When original literature cannot be ob- tained, translations are to be made, of course, but this part of the work must, of necessity, be entrusted to natives who alone can translate both the letter and the spirit of the books in question.
Attempts have been made to translate books into the respec- tive vernacular of every Latin-American country, overlooking the fact that all classes in Latin America strive to attain the high- est possible standard in the use of their national tongue, and that they look even with indifference upon any book in which no effort is shown to attain that literary standard. There are no such languages as Peruvian, Chilean, Venezulean or Mexican. Portuguese and Spanish are the languages of the Central and South American countries ; therefore, any literature meant to nourish the minds of the inhabitants of these countries must be written in the purest possible Spanish and Portuguese. The version of the Bible published by the American Bible Society, the Moderna, cannot be and will never be the cherished Bible of the people in Latin America because it is not what the Bible ought to be in every country, not only a sacred book, but also a literary monument. The version referred to may be closer to the orignals than that of Cipriano de Valera, but it is full of anglicisms, and often descends to the common if not the vulgar, as is the case in Galatians V; where the word "jaranas" is given for "contendas." Valera's version of the Bible is to Spanish speaking people what the King James version is to English speaking people. The highest possible compliment was paid to it by Father Scio in the introduction to his trans- lation of the Latin Vulgate, where he calls it one of the purest and best examples of Spanish literature. In fact, Valera's Bible is considered (at least in Spain) as the best model of classic Spanish after Cervantes' Don Quixote.
The Spanish hymn books used in the churches throughout Latin America exemplify even better the inferior linguistic equip- ment of many of the missionaries at work in these countries. Most of them are translations in which the most elementary
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 91
laws of poetry and even of rhyme have been outrageously tres- passed. When singing such hymns the mind is invariably driven to criticise both their shapelessness and the boldness of the translators, but no spirit of praise or prayer is inspired by them. The only remedy to this state of things is a better preparation. Thoroughness and efficiency alone will produce the fruits which Christ has a right to expect in His Latin-American field. More than half the members of this Congress speak neither Spanish nor Portuguese, have never lived in the countries which we are studying and therefore have never had an opportunity to become acquainted with the moral, social and racial conditions and peculiarities of the people they want to Christianize. But every one can realize that only those can evangelize Latin America who sympathize with the inhabitants of its countries, who are able to reach their hearts through their language, their idiosyn- crasies, their thoughts and ways of expressing them. What Latin America needs are those who will show nothing at all foreign in their work. Such men and women are not plentiful, but some can be found, and the rest can be made.
Cooperation in the Production of Literature Rev. a. G. Baker (Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board, La Paz, Bolivia) : One of the departments of Christian endeavor which seems to offer least resistance to cooperation and also the most alluring prospect of success is that of Christian litera- ture. It is for this reason that the Commission has been pleased to submit for our consideration a certain plan of cooperation which it hopes may serve as a solution of the situation. I need not explain it in detail. You will find it fully outlined in Appendix F. Some of its details, however, seem to demand slight notice. First of all, note the recommendations for the cooperation of all the laboring forces at present under the direction of one properly appointed executive or central committee on Hterature. It has been felt by all who have given any consideration to this matter that certain departments of literary activity would best be served by unifying them, for ex- ample, those of the publication of books and of Sunday-school literature. Our report reveals the astonishing fact that for all the labor of half a century we evangelicals have only at most one hundred and thirty or one hundred and fifty books to show. Now how can this great lack be remedied ? I have no doubt that a much larger proportion of our best Christian talent will devote itself to literary work if assured of the backing and cooperation of some such committee. Furthermore, in order to meet the local and national conditions of various countries, it is recom- mended that the mission forces of each country organize a na- tional committee. The report recognizes the fact that there are so many divergent conditions in the several countries, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Panama, etc., that the particular form of organization for these national bodies must be left to the dis-
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cretion of the mission forces laboring in each district reported in this Congress. I am convinced that there are no insuperable difficulties in the way. Let me enumerate briefly some of these advantages which would follow such united action. In the first place, I see here the only immediate solution for this very per- plexing problem of editorship and authorship of which we have heard so much. We all know that an editor is the life of his paper, and that an author is the very soul of his book. But when the life and soul are ground under a crushing burden of varied responsibility too great for one man to bear, how can we expect a literary output to be other than slightly insipid ? When one man must preach the gospel on Sunday, on Monday visit his flock, on Tuesday serve as a business administrator, on Wednes- day write editorials, and possibly be obliged to set up type on Thursday, can we expect, when the last Friday of the month rolls around and the paper makes its appearance, that it w^ill measure up to our highest ideals? Let us arrange for a proper division of labor and it will be possible for talented and clear- headed men to render the sort of brilliant service to which they have been especially called. And in performing such service they will find a supreme personal satisfaction which will give them the stimulus which will quicken, broaden and deepen their lives. In the next place this cooperation in literature will have a definite unifying influence among our Christian forces. Where we are already unified, such cooperation will increase efficiency. In a city where two or three Christian bodies are employing the same Bible, the same hymn-book and the same Sunday-school literature, there will be no necessity for any one to preach on unity. Common Christian literature will speak louder than any human words.
And there is another matter that should not be overlooked. Why should two printing establishments, for instance, be main- tained, half-manned and under-equipped, when the amalgamation of the two would supply the deficiencies of both? Surely ordinary business judgment demands not only the poohng of our common interests to-day, but also the avoidance of similar duplications in the future. What the world is demanding of missionaries to-day is ordinary business judgment in their ad- ministration of affairs. Shortly we will be going before our various home constituencies, pleading for the money essential to the carrying out of our larger undertakings. Believe me, it will not be sufficient for us to plead the unspeakable needs of which we have just heard and which we so well know. If we are to open up the pocketbooks of the men who have gained their thousands and their millions by applying strictly business principles, then we as missionaries, when we go to them, must give abundant evidence that we are able to administer these funds wisely and well. No capitalist, if he knows what he is doing, will give a hundred thousand dollars over into the hands of a five hundred dollar man. And the best way to convince
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 93
him is to show him that we are willing to submit our mission- ary endeavors to the keenest business scrutiny. If we are to be able to do that, there must be an elimination of this needless duplication in our work. The Christian church speaks its mes- sage in the first place tjirough Christian literature and in the second place from the Christian pulpit. As a general rule our publications have been speaking in altogether too feeble tones, some of them almost in a whisper. This should not go on. There must be such a concentration of time and money and of thought upon our publications that they shall be dignified, repre- sentative, and able to commend themselves to the attention of thinking men. In this world we find that every man receives the attention and respect which is his due, no more, no less. If we as mission workers expect to receive the attention of these peoples we must obtain it by the intrinsic merit of our publications, and we have no other way of attaining this more speedily than by cooperation.
Mr. Harry Wade Hicks (Missionary Education Movement, New York City) : The need of cooperation in literature work is more apparent to workers in Latin-American fields than to the home churches, and therefore there is a greater prepared- ness in the fields to cooperate. It must be remembered that at the home base the work of Christian literature, as an integral and necessary part of the missionary enterprise, is less known and appreciated by the rank and file of the churches than any other chief phases of missionary endeavor. It has never come into prominence. The scope of cooperative literature work now possible in Latin America is sufficiently extensive to warrant immediate steps to organize for advance.
The present time is opportune to propose practical measures at the home base. The Committee on Christian Literature of the Continuation Committee of the World Missionary Conference through the activity of the American section has stirred many into real interest. The longer cooperation is carried on, the more extensive will the field of cooperation become. What now may seem impossible will soon become practicable and neces- sary. By working together, many difficulties that once may have seemed formidable will disappear without comment or debate. There is no Hne of cooperative work that can be more easily undertaken, provided the plan in the beginning is limited to those lines of work upon which enough denominations agree to warrant common action, and provided the cooperation includes opportunity for editorial approval by representatives of the de- nominations desiring to use the material to be published. Fur- thermore cooperation here leads directly, rapidly and naturally into other important lines of cooperation. No lines of coopera- tion in the field will command more instant and hearty approval of men and women supporters at the home base than economies in editorial production, in publication and in distribution, in greater efficiency in use, in higher standards from literary and
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educational points of view, allowing the corrective of many minds and view-points, and in the wider circulation because of responsibility assumed in the process of preparation. If these advantages lead on the fields to the adoption of a comprehensive businesslike and bold program, a basis of appeal for larger financial support will at once be provided.
There will be obstacles : Such as the coordination of coopera- tive work with that of the existing literature agencies, both de- nominational and interdenominational or independent, and the publication of a distinctive denominational literature for which provision must be made. The separate publication of denomina- tional literature should not be considered as a breach of co- operative etiquette, but perfectly proper, and in the case of sonie lines of literature, a necessary course. By making this plain from the start the cooperation of some bodies can be secured that otherwise would be reluctant to enter upon the federative work. It will be necessary to secure interdenominational edi- torial approval in advance. This strengthens the matter printed, and greatly multiplies circulation. The process is trying, causing delay and raising some critical issues. A fourth difficulty is that of financing the enterprise on an adequate basis. It calls for appropriations by Boards and for independent gifts. There is little hope of securing largely increased approval from Boards without cooperation and practically no hope of securing larger independent support without cooperation in preparation, publica- tion and distribution. With such cooperation understood, there will be a sound basis for the hope that funds can be secured for a large advance.
Mr. William E. Sweet (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Denver, Col.) : There is a very important department of Christian literature which has not been meri- tioned from this platform this morning. A brief reference is made to it on page 27, "Much remains to be done toward bring- ing within the reach of the growing youth of the evangelical churches in these lands the stimulating helpfulness that comes through Christian biography." Next to meeting a man of power- ful personality is reading his biography written by a competent writer. I know whereof I speak, because I am identified with the Student Department of the International Committee of NortH America, and we find that the publication of stimulating bio- graphical works, such as the life of Horace Tracy Pitkin, has been very helpful in our student work. When I find that cer- tain intelligent young men in Latin America are inquiring about the Christian life, I long to see just such books put into their hands. They can get apparently, a "Summary of Christian Doc- trine" and "The History of the Reformation," but I would like to put before them "A Young Man's Questions," "The Marks of a Man," "Christian Service and the Modern World," the books written by Dr. King on character building and the two books written by Dr. Fosdick, which have had such a tremendous sale
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 95
in North America, "The Meaning of Prayer," and "The Manhood of the Master." Here is a splendid opportunity for the mis- sionaries of Latin America to consult with the Missionary Edu- cation Movement to see if it cannot cooperate in a movement to raise the standard of available Christian literature along the line of biography.
Rev. John Ritchie (Evangelical Union of South America, Lima, Peru) : I am so keen regarding cooperation that I v^ish this morning to criticize. I would be exceedingly sorry to see the cooperative scheme suggested in the appendix of the report go through just as it is, and to justify my criticism let me say that I started a little book store several years ago on thirty-five pounds that I borrowed. That book store to-day has a shop in the main street of Lima ; its business has grown considerably. The proposed scheme does not seem to me sufficiently economical. Economy and efficiency should, I believe, be the tests of it or of any other scheme. First, as to the committee in North America, even the committee which planned this present Congress has aroused much suspicion among the very men who are running the book stores and periodicals in South America. They under- stand that it will be necessary for those of us down here to consult this proposed Committee on Literature about all matters relating to book distribution and sale. It will have control of all the books we handle. In that case we may as well shut our shops. Then there is the suggestion of a general editor who should be a scholar. I think he ought to be a skilled administra- tor. Where would the book stores in North America be, if they were managed by scholars? Then the scheme proposes that the committee "take charge of the several separate agencies." But why should the committee manage my business? The average foreign administrator arrives at eight o'clock on Monday night, and immediately announces that he will sail at ten o'clock Tues- day morning. I have labored on Sunday-school books for three years. As they have been given to us from North America they are utterly beyond the reach of our people in Peru. It is a mis- take to print books in New York. I can not sell them down here. Spanish books can be printed more cheaply in Spain than in New York. And the very fact that they have been printed in Spain helps to get a Spanish-speaking community interested in them.
Dr. John R. Mott (The Advisory Committee, New York City) : In determining a policy we need to combine both the experience of the various foreign fields and the experience at the home base. During the last three or four years some thirty churches and mission organizations at work in Japan have united in one Christian Literature Society. Just now they are serving that community of fifty millions of people. Then in the last three or four 3^ears the workers on behalf of the Moslems in all parts of the world, on behalf of that great population of two hundred million, have united to found and manage the Nile Mission Press with its headquarters in Egypt in the very hear^
96 LITERATURE
of the Moslem world. Just at this moment earnest and con- structive efforts are being made to pool the experience, to unite the activities, both denominational and interdenominational, that have to do with Christian literature. Only the week before I left New York I received the detailed minutes of the National Missionary Council of India, Ceylon and Burma, showing that they are now dealing in a most constructive way with what should have been handled long ago in some adequate manner, the bringing together of almost countless little agencies that have been producing literature for about three hundred millions there in many languages and dialects. The discussion we have heard this morning is right in line, not only with these tendencies but with the constructive judgment of the leaders everywhere. To produce the kind of literature we need, three or four things are required. One is what I might call first-hand, intimate, rich personal experience; secondly, a style which appeals to those who are to read the books ; thirdly, sufficient time for the pro- duction of good books ; fourthly, in many cases money for setting apart men who have the experience, who have the style, and who, if they had the time, could produce these works. Obviously we need the cooperation of all the agencies at the home base and we need properly constituted committees on the principal fields, if we are going to set apart men and women to give their entire attention to this work. We will require some people as direc- tors, some for boards of editors. Some of the best writing will be done by people who are so busy and so successful in the work they are now doing that it would be nothing less than a calamity to set them permanently aside from their work to make them secretaries or editors. How are we going to get them? We must have committees whose business it is to discover such men and women and then to negotiate with their Societies or churches so as to secure their temporary assignment to the task and the money that will make this possible. When I was in Japan one of the keenest, clearest minds in that country was that of Dr. Uemura. He was set apart to prepare a life of Jesus Christ, a Japanese interpretation of the Master. He is now at Oxford studying under the greatest living authority in that line, Dr. Sanday, and being in occasional contact with leaders in Scotland. This man has left Japan and isolated him- self in the British Isles, in order to write a book which will make Christ loom larger to his own people. We ought to have coming from every language and every nation a similar inter- pretation of Jesus Christ. I wonder where the man or woman is to give us this adequate interpretation of Christ in the Portuguese language? And of course we need it also in Spanish. When I think over all that is required, there seems tc be no subject upon which we should bestow more prayer than that He should thrust forth laborers for this highly specialized work. We have in existence in Latin America both Latin-Ameri- can writers and missionary writers who have had wonderful
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 97
experiences. But they are so busy and so useful in what they are doing that only some large cooperative plan will detach them and break away from their present work and send them to som.e other land where they can utilize the best of their experience and place it at the disposal of all the various churches.
The Bible Societies and Their Work.
Rev. a. R. Stark (British and Foreign Bible Society, Val- paraiso, Chile) : For nearly one hundred years, the British and Foreign Bible Society has been making attempts to perfect the Spanish version of the Scriptures, known as the Valera. There has been criticism of the results, and to a certain extent I am in hearty accord with what has been said. These versions are not always judged on their strict merits. If a book bears the imprint of Madrid the Latin-American people are eager to get it. At present we are busily at work at all these revisions. Certain missionary workers in Latin America, and their fellow- workers in Spain are to-day engaged in making a new version at Madrid. They have completed the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. A revision is also going on of the Portuguese version. Furthermore translations are being made into the vari- ous dialects of the Quichuas of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. The Bolivian Indian missionaries are at work over the New Testa- ment and have already translated the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. In a rough draft the whole New Testament is ready in the Quichua. The circulation work of the Bible Society can be illustrated by the following incident. A little girl in Bolivia heard the message of Jesus made very real by a colporteur. Early the next morning he was about to leave, when the child knocked at his door, walked into the room and said, "O, sir, will you give me an introduction to Jesus Christ? I am so often hungry and cold and my mother is cruel and I have no one to love." Our colporteurs are going around this great continent of Latin America giving introductions to Jesus Christ.
Rev. H. C. Tucker (American Bible Society, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) : The history of Bible circulation in Brazil is one of the most illuminating chapters of missionary history in South America. Many native churches have been founded upon the reading of the single volume of Scripture that may have gone out far ahead of the missionary or the native preacher. ^^'e have fully completed the new translation of the Bible into Portuguese from the original Hebrew and Greek. In this work we have been greatly indebted to members of the Congress, to Bishop Brown, Dr. Eduardo Pereira, and others. The New Testament has been in circulation for several years, growing in favor and popularity with the missionaries, native preachers and Bible students. The Old Testament is now being printe^^ in New York by the American Bible Society, and is eagerly looked forward to by all. This work of Bible translation and circulation helps all classes of the people, not only in building
98 LITERATURE
up a strong evangelical community, but in widening the influence of that community in Roman Catholic circles. Not a great while ago, the first Roman Catholic Congress held in Brazil discussed this question: "What shall we do in the face of the Protestant propaganda of the Bible?" It was decided that the only thing to do was to translate their own Scriptures, sending them out with notes and comments. In his preface to one of the resulting books (Sarmiento's translation of Carrier's French paraphrase of the Acts of the Apostles) the Cardinal Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro said, "At the moment in which we write these words of approval of the work of popularizing the reading of the Holy Gospels, we judge it convenient to make very clear, that this our attitude can never be confounded with the propaganda that our separated brethren, the Protestants, are actively making. They, faithful to their principles, wish to substitute the Gospels for the Church. They claim to find directly and exclusively in the Gospels the dogmas of faith and the rules of living." Then he goes on to state the Roman Catholic position in this matter. Not only has this work of Bible circulation and translation stimulated interest in Roman Catholic circles, but it is reaching out to the educated classes, among whom are many Bible stu- dents to-day that have not come within the organized circles of Protestantism. A remarkable example is that of one who is now engaged in writing an introduction to the OM Testament and to the New Testament, giving a good deal of attention to the manuscripts and the sources, a short introduction to every book of the Bible and chapters on the doctrine revealed in the Old Testament and in the New. The editor in chief of the Jornal do Commercio of Rio de Janeiro, when recently asked for an appreciation of the work of the Society responded with a learned and effective recognition of the place of Bible read- ing in the growth of the Christian Church and in the Christian growth of Latin America. He declared that his own life radical- ly changed after reading a little book sold to him half a century ago, by a colporteur. The millions of the Scriptures spread abroad in Brazil have been really heavenly showers, making certain abundant crops in Latin hearts.
Rev. William H. Rainey (British and Foreign Bible Society, Callao, Peru) : The Bible Society employs an army of colpor- teurs to scatter the Word of God throughout Latin America. The colporteur is not simply a book-hawker nor a commercial agent. To be that would not be dishonorable but he goes as a pioneer evangelist, a pathfinder, a scout of the great militant Church of Jesus Christ. He goes where the pastor does not go. He goes to open the door for the pastor. Again he cooperates with the missionary. He goes to a town and visits every house. He finds those who are interested and gives a list of their names to the nearest pastor. Sometimes he calls the people together and preaches to them, so that when the pastor comes he finds a church all ready for him to organize.
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 99
The pastor in turn cooperates with the colporteur. We have lost some very good men because missionaries and pastors, in place of encouraging and stimulating them, have discouraged them, treating their work as purely secular. They tell the poOr man that he is just a book-hawker. He returns to the central station and gives up his pack. But the colporteur is really an evangelist. He must work alone a great deal of the time; he must travel the dusty roads in the broiling sun ; he must climb the mountains ; he must go down the rivers in open boats, tor- mented by mosquitoes; he bears the heat and the burden of the day in order that the way of the missionary and the pastor may be made more easy. Let us recognize his work as true evangelism and the colporteur himself as a real missionary, and thus digrfify his task.
Dr. John Fox (American Bible Society, New York City) : I would like to say a word about the modern version, recalling what was said by our distinguished friend from Spain. Of course Mr. Pratt, its translator, is an Anglo-Saxon. He did his very best. His version has been exceedingly useful, but no doubt the new version will be an improvement. J\Ir. Speer has told us about some of the great books he brought down with him. I brought down some with me, Augustine's Letters and Confessions, Martin Luther's commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, and a part of the Apologia by John Henry Newman. I wish I had time to read some passages from them. They would justify us in standing up boldly to say that we are both Protestant and evangelical; each will be equally meaningless, however, if we keep on. Only God can make a great book, such as He has made for the Church in the Bible. There are other books well worth while, like those of St. Augustine and Luther. It means much to be able to reproduce and circulate them. It is needless to say that I disagree with Dr. King when he de- clares that modern historical criticism will prevail in the Chris- tian Church. That means in my opinion that the Bible is true in spots or false in spots. Those who hold such a belief soon find that the true spots are becoming fewer and fewer and the false spots more numerous. I hope that Latin-American stu- dents in the universities and seminaries are not to be placed under the influence of men who teach, however sincerely, that the Gospels are only half true.
The Distribution of Evangelical Literature. Rev. J. P. Hauser (Methodist Episcopal Church, Mexico City^ : There are only twelve different angencies or depositories iti Latin America where evangelical books are being sold. There should be more and better ones. I^ have in mind four or five suggestions for the getting of books into the hands of the people. First, we should have attractive book stores in every large central place with attractive show windows, and books in at- tractive bindings which appeal to the eye. We should also use
100 LITERATURE
the secular book stores. A number of good books which every- one should own, have been referred to. These book stores would keep them, if we really tried to have them do so. In the third place, we can use colporteurs for the sale of books. I have heard in Mexico of sales amounting to over 100 pesos just by taking attractive literature from house to house and personally pre- senting it. Again, we should advertise our literature through our church papers and through a general catalogue, which ought soon to appear. Then there should be special circulation for our new books as they come out. In every possible way we should bring them before the people. Finally, by far the best method for securing the reading of our books is that we read them our- selves ; and then when we come to know what they are and realize their value, we will lead the people to buy them and give them to others.
Mr. Fleming H. Revell (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., New York City) : There are three matters to which I would like to call your attention. The first of these is translation, the next is interest, and the third is production. As regards trans- lation I have had experience in connection with the arrange- ments for translations from several different languages through men who had the reputation among us of being very capable translators. I discovered that though they had not been for any long period away from their home land, not over five or six years, these men had unconsciously lost their native idiom to a considerable extent and could not properly translate into their own language. If it is true that a large proportion of the translations now current in Latin America are unsatisfactory, it would certainly suggest the wisdom of having an editorial com- mittee use unusual care to see that the books are translated by men who are thoroughly conversant with the languages in which these books are to be printed. In the second place, there is no question that, whether North or South or East or West, there must be a vitally attractive interest, if you are going to get people to read. I question whether a volume of sermons has ever been found, even in North America, among the best sellers, and yet most of the literature you wish to scatter through the Latin countries is of that distinctively religious nature. I was in Boston at the time of the "The World in Boston," that great missionary exhibit. I was being shown through that exhibit by one of the secretaries. I was trying to learn from him what was likely to be its probable effect upon the country and upon the city. I asked whether it would interest the members of the church as well as the people of the town. Just at that moment one man behind me, evidently a laborer, said to another, "I never knew that re- ligion could be so interesting." Many are like him. They
never know that there is anything interesting in religion. Again, as to production, both men and money are too valuable to waste. Unless there is an actual positive need, a need that cannot be met otherwise, I venture to say that the presses that are now
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT loi
established in South America are sufficient, and there is no necessity for placing a large sum of money in a great printing plant. Editorial work may be done anywhere and plates of the books can be made. Both processes should be under the con- trol of the committee, so that the work may be done economically and the results sent everywhere.
Rev. Judson Swift, D.D. (American Tract Society, New York City) : I am associated with a publishing house which has issued three hundred distinct publications in Spanish and Portuguese. Let me discuss briefly one or two underlying ob- scure facts. I feel that this is a serious stage of the Congress because it is the munition stage. Without munition an army is utterly helpless. We have heard that during all these years the Christian Church has been playing at missions in Latin America. The reason is that we have neglected to furnish munitions or Christian literature. The purpose and the mission of the Church is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to unsaved people. What saves them, if not the word of the living God? We do not go to the mission field primarily to build colleges or universities or to carry on social work. All these are the outcome of the converting of men and women, boys and girls. The Christian university has primarily the purpose to build Christian character, to make Christian men and Christian women. But what can it accomplish, if there are no converted hearts to start with? So I repeat that we must become more alive to the primary need of promoting Christian literature and utilize to the full all agencies, old and new.
In Closing. Rev. George B. Winton, D.D. (Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tenn.) : It seems to me that this Commission has had one of the most attractive and satisfactory sessions of the whole Congress. One of the paragraphs in the report that has called forth not a little criticism is that on hymnology. T wrote that paragraph originally, and after I had read all the criticisms I did not change it. My friend from Spain has sub- stantiated what I said in even stronger words. The poetry in Spanish and Portuguese employs a different metrical scheme from that in English. Our hymns are written in iambic measure. The trochee and the anapest are the measures of the Romance languages. You may take up any book of Latin-American poetry and you will read page after page without finding a solitary iambic foot. Music written to fit iambs will never fit trochees. Some member of the committee in New York remarked that we would have to wait a long while to get a good Spanish hym- nology. I do not believe that to be true. Translations are a makeshift. I do not believe that a man can quite dispossess himself of his own idiom. He will always be better as a com- poser than as a translator. Even some of those translating into their own language are so affected by the idiom of what they
102 LITERATURE
are rendering that their Spanish or Portuguese is not of the first quality. We must continue to use translations for some time to come, but I am convinced that they should be made by a "national," not by a missionary. My Church adopted this principle nearly thirty years ago. I was then given general charge of such work, and am more than ever convinced through experience of the wisdom of the principle. It was a little de- nominational literary enterprise and in comparison with the pres- ent far-reaching plans, like Ezekiel's little trickling stream that scarcely made a murmur as it came out from under the altar. But the waters began to flow until they reached up to the ankles. Soon we found them about the knees and they continued to rise, and now a little way ahead I hear the murmur of a mighty river, "waters to swim in."
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION V
ON
WOMEN'S WORK
Presented to the Congress on Wednesday, February 16, 1916
THE CONTENTS OF THE REPORT OF COMMISSION V
The List of Members of the Commission 109
The Report of the Commission Ill
Chapter I — The Sources of the Report lU
Chapter II — The Woman's Missionary ]Movement and
Its Early Pioneers in Latin America 113
1. Its Organized Beginnings 113
2. Its Rapid Development 114
3. Some Heroic Pioneers 115
a. Melinda Rankin of Mexico 115
b. Mary Hartman of Surinam 117
c. Martha Watts of Brazil 118
d. Mrs. Frances S. Hamilton of Mexico 119
e. British Pioneer Women 120
Chapter HI — The Position and Influence of Women in
Latin America 122
1. The Scanty Sources of Information 122
2. The Share of Women in the Struggles for Freedom 122
3. Their Influence Toward Nation-Wide Peace 124
4. Their Collective Traits 126
5. The Women of the Leisure Class 12/
6. The Women of the Self-Supporting Class 129
7. The Women of Humbler Class 133
8. Indian Women 136
Chapter IV— The Education of Women in Latin Amer- ica 138
1. The Influence of Latin- American Women 139
2. Considerations Prehminary to Any Organized Edu-
cational Advance 140
a. The Type of School Needed 140
b. The Special Object of the School 140
c. Shall it be National or North American? = 141
105
io6 CONTENTS
3. The Question of Coeducation 141
a. In Primary Schools 141
b. In Secondary Schools 142
c. In Institutions for Higher Training 142
d. In Normal Schools 143
e. In Schools of Commerce 143
f . In Industrial Schools 144
g. In Schools Not Controlled by the State 145
4. The Inadequate Provision for the Education of
Women 145
a. What Is Being Done Today By Each Govern- ment 146
5. The Evangelical Schools 147
a. The Schools of the Methodist Episcopal
Church 147
b. Those of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
South 148
c. Congregational Schools 149
d. The Presbyterian Contribution to Education . . 149
e. The Southern Presbyterian Schools 150
f. Those of the Baptists 150
g. Anglican Schools 151
h. Other Evangelical Schools 151
i. The Problems of Teacher Training 151
j. The Secondary Schools 152
6. Different Types of Latin-American Schools 152
a. Three Influential Schools 152
(1) Liceo Numero Dos de Ninas in San-
tiago 152
(2) The Convent of the Immaculate Concep-
tion, Santiago 153
(3) The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Lima 153
b. Their Complete and Beautiful Equipment 155
c. Types of Curricula 156
(1) That of the Liceo Nacional de Serior-
itas, Buenos Aires 156
(2) That of the Woman's University, Mon-
tevideo 156
7. Conclusions to be Drawn 157
a. Latin America is Developing Her Own Educa-
tional System 157
b. Few Women Take Advantage of Collegiate or
University Education 158
c. The Liceo Type Appeals to Upper Class
Women 158
d. The Normal Schools Are Attracting and De-
veloping Able Women 159
e. The Elementary Schools Must be Maintained. 159
f. The Great Religious Problem of Today 159
CONTENTS 107
Chapter V — The Social Conscience Among the Women
IN Latin America 161
1. The \Vorld-\Mde Range of the Woman Movement 161
2. What it Means in Latin America 163
a. Women in the Professions 163
b. Women's Clubs and Societies 165
c. The International Woman's Congress 169
d. The Young ^^'omen's Christian Association... 170
e. Their Common Social Interests 172
Chapter VI — The W^ork of Women's Mission Boards in
Latin America 175
1. Their Special Interest in Educational Service 175
2. Types of This Service 177
a. The Kindergarten 177
b. The Day Nurseries 177
c. Provision for the Needs of Children 178
d. Secondary Schools 179
3. The Similar Need for Evangelism 180
a. Following Up the Elementary School 180
b. Home Visitation 181
c. The Use of National Workers 183
d. Visiting Nurses 184
e. Evangelism Through Literature 185
Chapter VII — The Conclusions of the Commission 188
1. Three General Convictions 188
2. Specific Findings 189
a. The Women Commissioned for Service in
Latin America Should be Gifted, Cultured
and Specifically Prepared 189
b. Their Number Should be Increased 189
c. Provision Should be I\Tade for Varied Types
of Educational Service 190
d. Inter-Board Cooperation Is Desirable 190
e. The \^'^ork of Evangelization Should be
Pressed 190
f. Literature Should be Freely Utilized 191
g. Latin-American ^Vorkers Should be Used in a
Greater Degree 191
h. Organized Christian Social Service Should be
Promoted 192
i. Cooperation Is Essential 193
Appendix A: Correspondents of the Commission 194
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report 197
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
Miss Belle H. Bennett, President Woman's Mission- ary Council, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Richmond, Ky.
VICE-CHAIRMAN
Mrs. Ida W. Harrison, LL.D., Vice-President Christian Woman's Board of Missions, Lexington, Ky.
SECRETARY
Miss Maria L. Gibson, Woman's Missionary Council, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Kansas City, Mo.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Miss Irene T. Myers, Ph.D., Dean of Women, Transyl- vania University, Lexington, Ky.
Mrs. R. W. MacDonnell, Home Secretary, Woman's Missionary Council, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tenn. (Advisory Member of Com- mittee).
Mrs. W. C. WiNSBOROUGH, Superintendent Woman's Auxiliary of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S., Atlanta, Ga.
Mrs. Wm. D. Barbour, Secretary Women's Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church, New York City.
109
no WOMEN'S WORK
Miss Elizabeth R. Bender, Secretary Women's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, New York City.
Mrs. Fred Smith Bennett, Vice-President Council of Women for Home Missions, New York City.
Miss Laura Clay^ Protestant Episcopal Church, Lex- ington, Ky. : ' ; \-k\^\
Mrs. C. E. CoNWELL, American Baptist Home Mission Society, Mexico City.
Srta. Elisa Cortes, Secretary Young Women's Chris- tian Association, Buenos Aires.
Miss Ida W. Hayes, Madero Institute, Saltillo, Mexico.
Miss Mabel Head, Secretary Women's Missionary Council, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nash- ville, Tenn,
Mrs. John Howland, American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, Chihuahua, Mexico.
Miss Miller, Evangelical Union of South America, London.
Mrs. Frank J. Miller, Chairman Editorial Commit- tee, Woman's American Baptist Home Missionary Society, Chicago, 111.
Miss Mary Irene Orvis, Christian Woman's Board of Missions, San Antonio, Texas.
Srta. JuANA Palacios, Mexico City.
Miss Mary Pickett, American Friends' Board of Foreign Missions, Brownsville, Texas.
Miss Janet Nasmith Scott, Secretary Woman's For- eign Missionary Society, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Philadelphia, Pa.
Mrs. K. B. Shaffer, Ph.D., Editor Lutheran Woman's Work, Delaware, Ohio.
Miss Florence E. Smith, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Valparaiso, Chile.
Miss Harriet Taylor, Secretary National Board, Young Women's Christian Associations, New York.
Miss Elisa G. Walter, Secretary South American Missionary Society, London.
Miss Elsie Wood, Methodist Episcopal Church, Peru.
Mrs. Arthur Yeager, San Juan, Porto Rico,
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION V ON
WOMEN'S WORK
CHAPTER I
THE SOURCES OF THE REPORT The task undertaken by the Commission on Woman's Work in Latin America has never before been attempted by any body of women. The Commission has felt keenly the lack of precedent to guide it. Its members are fully conscious of the shortcomings and limitations of the Re- port, and can only hope that it may help to point the way to a more scientific and satisfactory study of the great subjects entrusted to it.
The Commission sent out its lists of questions to many missionaries in Latin America and to a number of spe- cialists in the United States. It regrets deeply that war conditions in Europe have prevented conference and co- operation with the British and Continental Societies work- ing in these lands. Eighty correspondents have re- sponded with papers of great length and value; ten of these were from the West Indies, eight from Brazil, eight from Argentina and Uruguay, twenty-seven from Chile, three from Peru, fifteen from Mexico, and nine from the United States. Twelve of the missionaries who have cooperated through correspondence have labored in Latin America twenty years, and two have served for more than thirty years each.
It is regretted that no reports have been received from Central America, and from several of the South American
111
112 WOMEN'S WORK
republics. However, the responses that have come con- stitute an invaluable mass of material from expert sources on the little known subject of the women of Latin America.
The Commission desires to express its deep apprecia- tion of the work of these correspondents who have laid the treasures of their experience before it, and its feeling that the report would have been impossible without their aid.
In addition to these contributions from the field, the Commission has found it necessary to read much of the large amount of literature on Latin America that is being issued by the press, in order to obtain the sympathetic and intelligent point of view that the Pan-Americanism of to-day demands. Very many volumes have been care- fully consulted, the great majority of them written within the last decade. The Latin point of view has been sought in recent books by Sefior F. Garcia Calderon, M. Georges Clemenceau, ex-Premier of France, and in publications of the Pan-American Union ; the historic perspective in books by Professor Bernard Moses, Reginald Knock, and Thomas C. Dawson; the modern social, educational, and political problems in books by James Bryce, Albert Hale, Professor Hiram Bingham, Professor E. A. Ross, Edgar Ewing Brandon, and others ; and surveys of its religious needs in books by Francis E. Clark, Robert E. Speer, Harlan P. Beach, Melinda Rankin, and in the reports for the year 191 5 of Boards, both general and of women, working in Latin America. Besides these, articles in many magazines and in the new Catholic Encyclopedia have been freely consulted. In much of this literature, however, the Commission has found but a minimum of information in regard to the women of Latin America, and has secured from it only a background for this Report. The Commission feels, therefore, a sense of diffi- dence in presenting this Report, and claims for it only a sincere purpose to seek a sympathetic angle of approach to the women of Latin America, and a desire to make them better known to the women of other continents so that all the womanhood of the world may love and understand each other better.
CHAPTER II
THE WOMAN'S MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
AND ITS EARLY PIONEERS IN LATIN
AMERICA
I. ITS ORGANIZED BEGINNINGS
The century for missions and the century of woman's uplift were coincident periods, so when the call came to women to bear an independent part in missions, the psychological hour had come for them to launch out into the deep of world evangelization. It came from the lips of missionaries, both men and women, but these only voiced the exceeding great and bitter cry of the women of the Orient. Social conditions in Eastern lands made it impossible for any but a woman's hands to minister to the healing of the diseased bodies of women, or any but a woman's lips to carry the gospel to their sin-sick souls. This clear call was answered by the organization of the Woman's Union Missionary Society in New York City in 1861. Its timeliness and vitality were shown by the fact that even the throes of Civil War could not arrest it ; auxiliary societies sprang up in many different churches in other places ; and this new legion in the army of the Prince of Peace kept on multiplying throughout the four dark years of wasting war.
This movement was especially significant in two ways — it enlisted a new and almost unused element in the spiritual forces of the Church for the advancement of
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the kingdom of Heaven, and it was an earnest of the closer union among Churches that the missionary enter- prise was to bring. It is an increasing joy to every wo- man to know that the first step in woman's distinctive work for missions was thus promotive of larger in- terests.
2. ITS RAPID DEVELOPMENT
At the close of the war between the States, there came a fresh impetus to woman's work for missions, resulting in the formation of the great denominational woman's Boards. This was not due to any divisive or sectarian spirit among women, but was owing to a widening ap- preciation of the greatness of the task, and was an effort toward more adequate organization, in order to attain to greater efficiency. In the period from 1868 to 1874, practically all of the large evangelical Churches in the United States organized Woman's Boards of Missions, and the work entered upon a new and splendid era of service and achievement.
The call of Eastern women to their sisters in Western lands has grown in depth and volume with the passing years. We know now the futility of attempting social and religious uplift in any land with the home and the family untouched, for any efifort to help the men of a race must begin with the mothers of men. While the great field of the woman's Boards is the home, the woman, and the child, yet that work links it with all society, and with all missionary enterprises, and while their work began with the prisoners of the harem and zenana, it now embraces in its ample reach all women and children, and all that afifects them, throughout the world.
The directory of Societies, in Volume III, gives a total of thirty-two Woman's Boards of Missions, either inde- pendent or auxiliary, having headquarters in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Germany and main- taining work in Latin America. The summary of sta- tistics as given by Commission I indicates that there are 418 unmarried women and widows (not including physicians) who are at work under all Boards and So- cieties in Latin America. The number of women mis-
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sionary physicians is not stated. At least two of the woman's Societies support men and their wives as well as single women.
It must not be forgotten how this elect body of la- borers is still further swelled by the 580 wives of mis- sionaries in Latin lands; many of these mothers and home-makers have been bright and shining lights in mission history, and this Commission is proud to claim them as important factors in women's work in Latin America. This Report is especially indebted to the wives of our missionaries for invaluable contributions to its pages. The various mission Boards have, in addition to these women sent to Latin America, 1,055 Latin women in their employ. Surely the women that carry the tidings in that magnificent domain have become a great host.
3. SOME HEROIC PIONEERS
In order to show the spirit and the quality of the noble army of workers who have devoted their lives to Latin America, a few of the pioneers will be mentioned who have been called to their reward, and whose lives of heroic self-sacrifice lend lustre to the annals of mission- ary achievements.
(i) Melinda Rankin of Mexico. — One woman's name is written large in the history of Latin- American missions ; to her must be given the place of pioneer in Mexican missions. She was among the early Protestant mission- aries in Latin America. While missionary work among women was still in the stage of the little local society, she determined to leave her New England home and to de- vote herself to the extension of the Kingdom of God.
While but a girl, in the thirties of the last century, she wrote of herself : "Had public sentiment been my guide, I should probably have settled down in my New England home with the belief that it was highly improper for me to undertake any signal enterprise for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. But when the light of the glorious gospel of the Son of God shone into my heart, the desire for its extension throughout the whole world took entire possession of me."
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She tells this in her book/ and says that her reason for writing it was, "to prove by actual facts which have occurred in one woman's life, that our divine Master has still work for woman to do in His kingdom on earth.'"
In those early days, women went to the foreign field only as wives of missionaries, and it was not until later that the way was opened for single women to go out alone. In 1840 she went South to teach, and was in Mississippi while the Mexican War was going on. She wrote at the close of the war, in 1847: "1 learned through returned soldiers and officers much about the moral destitution prevailing among the people in Mexico. Here . . . was a country right upon our border from which the light of the Bible had been excluded for cen- turies. . . . My sympathies became enlisted in be- half of these long-suffering and neglected people. . . I wrote several articles for publication, hoping to enlist an interest among the churches and missionary Boards ; but my appeals met with no response, and I resolved, God helping me, to go myself to Mexico, and do what I could for the enlightenment of her long neglected people." '
And so this quiet, timid young woman made the hard and perilous journey to Texas alone, without help or en- couragement from any one. In 1850, she started a school in Brownsville, on the Rio Grande, just opposite Mata- moras, Mexico, for the children of the large number of Mexicans who lived there. She could not go into Mexico, because at that time the law forbade teaching the Bible there. In addition to her school work, she be- gan visiting the Mexicans in Brownsville, giving Bibles to those who could read, and many copies of the Word of God found their way over the river to Matamoras, where the people received them gladly.
Her method of dealing with the Mexicans was full of love and wisdom. 'T believe it wise," she wrote, *'as far as possible, to avoid exciting prejudices in our labors
* Melinda Rankin, "Twenty Years Among the Mexicans," 17. '/Hrf., 16. "^ Ibid., 22, 23.
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among Roman Catholics. ... It has been a fixed principle with me not to attack their religion, but to pre- sent the truth, and let that do its work. ... If you wish to enlighten a room, you carry a light and set it down in it, and the darkness will disperse of itself." '
In two other respects, she anticipated the view-point of our day; she said: "Mexico should become evangelized mainly through the instrumentality of Mexicans them- selves, yet they need to be guided into the best manner of working." ' She also aimed to make her work un- denominational, so as not to perpetuate the divisions of the Church at home in this new territory, and to avoid confusing the people with doctrinal distinctions about which they neither knew nor cared anything.
In 1857, when religious liberty was declared in Mexico, she went over first to Matamoras, and later to Monterey, and from then until 1 871, when broken health forced her to give up the work, she labored with single- hearted devotion in this difficult field. She found no Board which would support her work, or would send others to help her, so several times she had to make the long journey back to the States to solicit funds herself. Her work was mainly that of teaching and distributing the Word of God, but in this way she undoubtedly laid the foundation of missionary work in Mexico. Under her supervision, her pupils established and ministered to fourteen little congregations ; after her retirement, these were taken over by the Presbyterians. In this brief out- line, no fuller statement can be made of her abundant and heroic labors, but she opened the way into that near and needy field, and deserves to rank as the pioneer woman missionary of Mexico.
(2) Mary Hartman of Surinam. — Another courageous woman should stand out preeminently in the earlier annals of Latin-American missions. In 1826, Mary Hartman went to Surinam in South America, with her husband, and labored in Paramaribo and other stations
* Melinda Rankin, "Twenty Years Among the Mexicans," 197. 'Ibid., 196.
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with him until his death in 1844. In 1848, she volun- teered to go alone to Bergendal on the upper Surinam, where there had once been a small mission which had been abandoned, and here she ministered like a proph- etess. From there she would go now and then into the land of the ''bush negroes," and finally made her home among them, thus voluntarily cutting herself off from those of her own race and color. Once in the ensuing four years she left her heroic work to visit friends in the city, but she soon returned to her self-appointed task in the bush. With the patience of a saint, she kept alive the spark of religious life in these humble negroes, and maintained a Christian station amid a wilderness of heathenism. Industries were promoted, especially the manufacture of earthenware and the weaving of cotton cloth, and a quiet, peaceable life was led in this lonely and remote spot. She fell a victim to elephantiasis, and had to be taken to Paramaribo, where she soon died in December, 1853.
(3) Martha Watts of Brazil. — Another example of de- voted work under different surroundings may be cited as an indication of the spirit and temper of the women missionaries to Latin America. The first missionary sent to South America by the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was Miss Martha Watts, who went to Brazil in 1 88 1. She opened a school in Piracicaba in a rented room, and for months taught with only one pupil, then for months more with only three. Her patience of love and her steadfastness of purpose laid the foundation, not only for the splendid college for girls that now stands on ground formerly devoted to bull fighting, but for the great work that the Board is now doing in Brazil, with its thirty-two missionaries and forty-five Brazilian workers, and with its ten schools, representing a value of more than $300,000. Her works do follow her in the lives of her spiritual children, who rise and call her blessed ; the methods and spirit of her school have been an example and a model for the public school system of Brazil. The first elected President of Brazil, Prudente de Moraes, was
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a citizen of Piracicaba, and a great friend of the school there, and when he began to advocate a public school system for Brazil, he conferred with Miss Watts, because he had found in her institution the methods and ideals that he desired for education throughout his own land. (4) Mrs. Frances S. Hamilton of Mexico. — And the race of heroic pioneers continues to this day ! On June 5, 191 5, Mrs. Frances S. Hamilton died at the Bible House in New York City — a woman belonging with that elect company. She went to Mexico in her young woman- hood, as a missionary of the Presbyterian Church, and married the Rev. Hiram P. Hamilton, the representative of the American Bible Society for that country. Her fine command of the Spanish language, her business abil- ity, as well as her rare tact and grace, made her an in- valuable assistant to her husband. At his death, in 1905, though it was an unprecedented thing for the Society to consider a woman as an agent, yet her unusual fitness for the place, and her familiarity with the details of the work, made them appoint her as successor to her hus- band, with full authority and salary.
Her ten years' administration of the duties of her office fully justified the confidence reposed in her. The Bible Society Record for August, 191 5, bears this tribute to her work and efficiency : 'The duties of the agent re- quired the oversight of a large staff of Mexican col- porteurs journeying amid discouragements and perils all over the republic. It required the careful handling of considerable sums of money, from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars annually sent from New York alone, as well as all the sums collected from sales, and the gifts of the people all over Mexico. It required the selection and appointment of a Bible House or headquarters in Mexico City, and all the dealing with the authorities both of the city and of the nation in matters of business, ex- changes, the law of the land, etc. It required an intimate and sympathetic fellowship with all the various mission- ary bodies in the land. And above all, it required a true Christlike love for the people of Mexico and sympathy with them and their best and highest aspirations.
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"Nobly, in the storm and stress that came on this land of her love, she was true to this trust. Again and again as the storm gathered fury, the Board advised her to retire to the United States ; but she would not, and only at the command of the Board did she come away at last in May, 1914. In the interests of the Society she trav- elled all over the Republic of Mexico. She was known and honored in all the Mexican churches. In our own country she spoke with great acceptability, when she was on furlough, before delighted congregations. Her colpor- teurs she knew by name, and over her desk in her office in Mexico was a map of the country on which the move- ments of each man were noted. Daily she remembered these workers in prayer. To Mrs. Hamilton belonged the unique distinction, so far as is known to us, of being the only woman in the world entrusted with the full and responsible care of a Bible Society agency, and the American Bible Society was proud of this fact." (5) British Pioneer VVome^i. — The Commission regrets that it cannot give the details of the noble pioneering work of Mrs. Burleigh, who with her devoted husband spent eleven years in charge of an industrial school for boys at Keppel in the Falkland Islands. They then vol- unteered to open a work at Wollaston Island near Cape Horn among the Yaghan Indians. They already knew the language spoken by the degraded inhabitants, but faced physical difficulties of great magnitude. The soli- tude is hardest to bear. In a recent report of the South American Missionary Society it is stated that the single missionary family now located in that distant mission has had only one visitor in five years. Matching the loneli- ness is the privation and the close contact with degraded life. After some four years at Wollaston station, Mr. and Mrs. Burleigh moved with their people to Tekenika Sound, where the conditions of success seemed more realizable. Here the work of the mission began with much promise, but within a short time Mr. Burleigh lost his life by drowning and Mrs. Burleigh with her chil- dren was obliged to return to England, there to become a continual spur to interest in missions to pagan Indians.
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The missionary wives and mothers in the Paraguayan Chaco and in Araucania endure hardships in similar fash- ion for the Lord's sake and for the gospel. They are heroines and martyrs indeed.
CHAPTER III
THE POSITION AND INFLUENCE OF WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA
I. THE SCANTY SOURCES OF INFORMATION
One of the baffling things that confronted this Com- mission in the preparation for its report was the almost complete omission of any mention of the women of Latin-American lands in the large number of books that are now being written about those countries. One mem- ber, having procured bibliographies of recent Latin- American literature, both from the Pan-American Union at Washington, and from the National Bureau of Edu- cation, the latter having prepared a comprehensive list for the use of high schools and colleges, found that not a single one of these books was written about the women of those lands, and in the large number of books read, scarcely a chapter was devoted to them. Both volumes and chapters were written about the wonderful products of those countries and efforts made to establish trade re- lations with them, with accounts of their heroes and patriots, and their struggles for liberty ; about their men in all relations of life — but hardly a word about the mothers of men.
2. THE SHARE OF WOMEN IN THE STRUGGLES FOR FREEDOM
But while sources of information are scanty, yet there is enough to show that we may say of them, as the Jews said of the Centurion, ''they are worthy for whom thou shouldst do this." One of our correspondents. Miss
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Clementina Butler, Methodist missionary to Mexico, writes : "The women of Mexico, while deprived to a great extent of broad educational opportunity, have con- siderable influence through their social charm and un- daunted courage. In the history of the revolutions of Mexico, the names of various heroines are found and to their valor general recognition is given by the nation. In fact, the Mexican Republic has shown its respect for the prowess of woman in many ways, such as by placing upon its two-cent postage stamp the image of one of the heroines in the struggle for liberation from Spain. In the present revolution there are tales of many women who have shown their courage and their devotion equally with their brothers. This characteristic will prove of inestimable value to the Christian Church when young women of such temper are won for active service.
"In the Plaza de Santo Domingo in Mexico City is a monument to the memory of Senora Josefa Dominguez, the heroine of Mexican independence, at whose home in Queretaro the first meetings of the patriots were held. When the viceroy learned of these meetings he sent her and the patriots to prison, but with woman's wit Sefiora Dominguez contrived to communicate with a trusted ser- vant to whom she gave orders through the keyhole of her dungeon door to go with speed to Aldama, and tell him to convey to Hidalgo the news that their plot had been discovered by the viceroy.
"When the venerable patriot priest, Hidalgo, received the tidings near the hour of midnight on September 15, 1810, he went into his church, called his parishioners together by the ringing of the bells, took from the altar the banner of Guadalupe, and became the standard bear- er of independence. Making known to his ardent fol- lowers his plans, he ended with the shout, Tong live Mexico,' which was taken up by the crowd, and carried with ever-increasing enthusiasm to other towns and states. Senora Dominguez was carried a prisoner in a cart from Queretaro to Mexico City where she was con- fined in prison for several months. Posterity has re- warded her patriotism with a monument, thus extending
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her influence, as an incentive to this generation to emu- late her fidehty to the cause of freedom."
Dr. John W. Butler of Mexico says: "In the early stages of the present revolution in Mexico, women en- tered enthusiastically into the work of political clubs, and even into army service. There have been several cases where women have risen to the grade of captain and even colonel, and have won laurels on the battle- field."
Examples of this high courage and patriotism are be- ginning to emerge from this same unhonored and un- sung part of South American life. Elizabeth Fitzhugh tells of the Brazilian women of Sao Paulo, who in early colonial days, when their husbands on one occasion re- turned to them after a crushing defeat at the hands of the Indians of Minas Geraes, scornfully rebuked the van- quished warriors with the imperious command, "Go back and conquer, and as victors we will receive you."
One of the first victims of Colombia's early struggle for liberty was the beautiful Policarpa Salabarrieta. She was executed with seven men, and died exhorting them to meet their fate with courage. Dawson, who tells the incident in his "South American Republics," says that under the name of La Pola, her memory is preserved in the songs of the people. Sixty years after her death, the Colombian Congress voted a pension to her surviving relatives.
3. THEIR INFLUENCE TOWARD PEACE
Not only have women been constant and courageous in war, but an Argentine woman has been a distin- guished advocate for peace. The colossal statue of Christ on the summit of the Andes, at the border line between Chile and Argentina, commemorates the conclu- sion of the most remarkable treaty of peace and arbitra- tion ever made between two spirited nations. The statue is cast from bronze of old cannon which the Span- iards left at the time of the achievement of Argentine independence. On the monument is the inscription, "Sooner shall these mountains crumble into dust than
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the people of Argentina and Chile break the peace to which they have pledged themselves at the feet of Christ, the Redeemer.'' G. F. Scott-Elliot says that King Ed- ward VII. of England was arbiter in the dispute about the boundary lines when Chileans and Argentines, rising- above the vain-glory of national self-love, renounced the solution by force, and instead of asking the decision of the dispute from the unconscious and brutal mouths of cannon, agreed to receive it from the line of an inter- national tribunal.
The conception of such a monument came from the hearts of Bishop Benavente and a noble woman, Sefiora de Costa ; and it was she, who, as president of the Chris- tian Mothers' Association of Buenos Aires, undertook the work of securing funds and of having the statue erected. This was accomplished and the colossal statue on a great column, in a pass about thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea, was dedicated March 13, 1904, in the presence of more than three thousand persons. The Bishop of Ancud on that occasion said: ''Not only to Argentina and Chile do we dedicate this monument, but to the world, that from this day it may learn the lesson of universal peace."
In the Independent, Sefiora de Costa tells the story of the monument, and the following quotation is given from this account, because it brings a lesson and a rebuke at this time of universal war, and shows the spirit of the woman in whose heart and mind it was conceived : ''The penetrating idea of the commemorative monument was in the national atmosphere, and I had but to condense it in my spirit to give it tangible form. If the idea is mine, it is in the same way as to the sculptor belongs the statue which he brings forth from the block of marble where it was sleeping invisible, and I even dare to think that the idea had to issue from the brain of a woman, because it is an idea of sentiment, and in all time men have re- proached us for thinking with the heart.
"Moreover, everything which tends to perpetual peace by its prestige and glorification especially interests and affects us women, that is to say the mothers, wives,
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daughters, the betrothed of those who must fall, sacri- ficed on the battle fields. War may dazzle men with its lightning flashes of military glory. For us women, it represents only tears and pain ; that is why the Latin poet called it 'accursed by mothers.'
"It may be said that I had to contend with obstacles which seemed insurmountable for a woman. But I have a moral quality which I may call Saxon. I am persistent and tenacious in all that I believe true, good or just. I have always thought that there is no force more powerful than an energetic will, which knows how to desire with faith.*'
This article closed with an appeal for money to build a monastery near the statue, to serve as a refuge for lost travelers, thus showing the devotion of Senora de Costa to deeds of love and mercy. She fitly represents in her lofty spirit and natural powers the ideal in position and influence which might be placed as the goal for the young women of Latin America.
4. THEIR COLLECTIVE TRAITS
It seems hardly fair, in writing of the women of Latin America, to speak of them collectively. In that vast ter- ritory we should aim to become so familiar with the his- tory, the traditions, and the peculiar institutions of those twenty republics, that we may be able to recognize the identity and individuality of each one of them. But the limits of this report require that they be treated col- lectively, and in a certain sense, the word Latin-Ameri- can does convey a true and broad generalization — a peo- ple of Latin origin and traditions, of Latin speech, of a common religion, an inherited understanding and appre- ciation of art and beauty, and an inborn and charming courtesy. Albert Hale says : ''You cannot travel through South America without finding an appreciation of art, education and good manners ; boorishness is practically unknown ; kindliness, courtesy and breeding characterize the people, from the village shop-keeper and the cowboy to the cabinet oflicer."*
Albert Hale, "The South Americans," 297.
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5. THE WOMEN OF THE LEISURE CLASS
For the purpose of this report, then, we might divide the women of Latin America into three classes, the high- er, the middle and the lower. Of the higher class, it may be said that in them the exquisite courtesy of which Dr. Hale speaks has reached its full, consummate flower. M. Georges Clemenceau, ex-Premier of France, says of the higher class women of Argentina in a recent book : 'The family tie appears to be stronger in the Argentine than, perhaps, in any other land. The rich . . . take pleasure in having large families. . . . The greatest affection prevails and the greatest devotion to the parent roof-tree. . . . The women . . . enjoy a repu- tation, that seems well justified, of being extremely vir- tuous. I heard too much good about them to think any evil. ... In their role of faithful guardians of the hearth they have been able to silence calumny and inspire universal respect by the purity and dignity of their life." '
Professor E. A. Ross says that "in the higher classes of tropical South America the women are distinctly brighter than the men," and that on the West Coast they "have more character." "" He attributes this to the early immorality of the men, which affects unfavorably both body and mind.
Another writer, Nevin O. Winter, has this to say of the high-born Mexican women : "They are sympathetic to an extreme. They are almost invariably watchful for the needs of their poor relations, and are everywhere sup- porting numerous charities. Even when their means are limited, it is common to see in a household several chil- dren outside the immediate family, taken in from time to time, and cared for by the tender-hearted lady of the house."
It should not be forgotten with respect to a class v/here women are dependent, because the custom of their peo- ple as well as their own lack of training forbid their
^ Georges Clemenceau, "South America of To-day," 150 ft. ^ E. A. Ross, "South of Panama," 183.
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earning their own livelihood, that fidelity to the ties of relationship often lays a heavy burden on the heads of families.
One of our correspondents, who has been for twenty years a missionary in Brazil, relates the following : ''One man often supports his own family and a number of rela- tives. I have never known or read of any people so kind and generous as the Brazilians. A few years ago, a prominent physician died, and to the surprise of many, left his family in very modest circumstances, for it was understood that he had made a great deal of money dur- ing his lifetime. One day, a friend of his was at our college, and in speaking of him said, *He was a true saint — one of the great souls of our country.' During our conversation, I asked her how he spent all of his money, and she answered quite simply, that he could not possibly accumulate wealth, because he had to support forty relatives." Surely such loyalty to a sense of duty to the ties of blood is worthy of all praise!
Remnants of the old Spanish and Moorish seclusion of women linger in this class, though great changes have taken place in the more advanced republics, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, in the last twenty-five years. Young girls remain on the edge of society until their mar- riage, when they enter into their heritage of social free- dom and leadership. They are trained sometimes in the convents of their own land, sometimes in Europe, but their education is generally superficial. Like most other women, they are generally loyal to the religion in which they have been reared, and are the stronghold of the Ro- man Catholic Church. This is only to be expected in a sex notable for loyalty to ideals, and in which long ago devotion was expressed in being last at the cross and first at the sepulchre. The educational and other influ- ences which have alienated the men from the Church of Rome have not yet largely affected the higher class wo- men. Before such estrangement comes, it should be our sacred task to give them something better than they have, so that they may not have to repeat the pathetic cry of the woman of old at the sepulchre, ''They have
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taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him."
The correspondents from the field are practically unan- imous in recommending that greater efforts be made to reach the women of the higher class through both re- ligious and social agencies, though in the past women of other classes have been more largely reached by mis- sionary work. For one thing, it is the right of these women — it is their Christ who stands knocking at the door, as well as the Christ of the burden-bearers among the poor. Again they are the natural leaders of their people, both by the position that is accorded them every- where, and by the better opportunities their station has given them. It is a method that was used by the first and greatest of Christian missionaries. We read that at Thessalonica, of the chief women "not a few became followers of the Apostle," and at Berea "the Greek women of honorable estate" became obedient to the gos- pel ; and when the enemies of Paul in Galatia wished to stir up persecution against him, we are told that they followed the same eminently practical plan — they urged on "the devout women of honorable estate," as well as the chief men — with the result that we all know.
The tribute of Dr., Albert Hale to the women of this class of people seems so fair that it is here given: "I have had an intimate acquaintance in Latin-American homes for years, and nowhere in the world have I seen a purer domesticity ... a sincerer love of children or an honester attempt to lead the life which according to their interpretation God intended them to lead. . . Our ways may not be their ways . . . but it is a shock- ing error to withhold just praise from a pure-minded sex at the other side of the equator."^
6. THE W^OMEN OF TKE SELF-SUPPORTING CLASS
There seems to be a conflict of opinion among writers of to-day about the middle class. One author says : "The greatest obstacle to improvement of political life of South America is want of a middle class." The truth
' Albert Hale, "The South Americans," 301.
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seems to be in regard to women, that in the more for- ward republics, where new opportunities are opening be- fore women and a better education is given them, this class is just emerging. In the annual report of the Young Women's Christian Association of Buenos Aires, is this statement: "To the women of the Old World, with its social restrictions and its crowded employments, the New World offers a temptinis: home for freedom, for adventure, for earning a livelihood. Thousands of women come yearly to the cities of South America, seek- ing posts as teachers, governesses, professional nurses, artists, private secretaries, dressmakers, heads of depart- ment stores, hair dressers, milliners, office help and shop girls." Another correspondent, also from Buenos Aires, says : "There is a large and ever-growing number of business women in our city and province at least. An immense army of school teachers leads, and stenography is becoming very popular. Teachers of languages, spe- cial branches, dressmaking, etc., abound. I should say that for the most part, instead of introducing new ele- ments into the problem of womanhood, they help to solve it. When even intellectual labor among women is re- spected, to say nothing of that which blends the intellect- ual with the manual, it is a very encouraging sign." The correspondents from Brazil show that practically the same conditions prevail there as in the Argentine.
In Chile our correspondents write that the business world is just beginning to open its doors to the women. While they have not entered into as large a number of wage-earning occupations as in some of the countries of Latin America, yet they have introduced an element of greater independence into Chilean womanhood, as, for- merly, they were barred from such work, and were entirely dependent upon their families for support. Their entrance into the industrial world has put a new emphasis on the dignity of labor, and has made them more open to foreign ideals. In the large cities they are mainly in factories and stores, but they are earning an entrance into government and business offices. In Santiago, prac- tically all the street car conductors are women. Sten-
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ography and typewriting are now being taught in the girls' professional schools, and an increasing number are being employed as telegraph and telephone operators. The main profession open to them is that of teaching, and one correspondent says there are a few women doc- tors and dentists.
The movement to give woman more opportunities to develop her abilities, to express her personality, to receive higher education, and to exercise equal rights with men in public affairs which affect the home and the life of the child, has gradually spread until it has reached Peru. It came late and will have a hard struggle before it pre- vails. The great gulf between the laboring and well-to- do classes makes it especially hard for women to enter into business. A correspondent from Lima writes : "The young woman who has to work for her living has to suffer much disdain, and this makes her lot far from easy. Many prefer to sew at home for big commercial houses, which pay fifteen cents gold for the making of a man's shirt, or twelve and a half cents gold for working buttonholes in a dozen shirts, thus barely eking out a mis- erable existence. Even women teachers have very little social standing. It has only been in the last ten years that any number of women have taken positions in the stores as clerks, cashiers, or stenographers, and a very few are telegraph operators. One Peruvian woman is at the head of a company, composed mostly of women, which is trying to bring moral moving picture films into the country, and to run a cinema that shall make for the uplift of the public, and serve the educational interests of the schools. Of the handful of women graduated from the university, one is practising medicine, two dentistry, a few pharmacy, and a few others are running private schools. There are many more midwives here than in the United States, be- cause, as a rule, doctors do not take obstetric cases, unless called in on account of serious complications. These women, trained in the local hospitals, lack thorough training for this profession. Recently an American trained nurse has been given charge of the training classes for nurses in one of the hospitals, and the plan is to
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place the classes in the women's hospital also in charge of a foreigner — so there is hope for improvement. As yet the problems of Peru are not much complicated by the entrance of women into business. The hope of Peru lies not with the idle well-to-do, but with the women who are gradually forming a middle class, women who are intelligent, and who, because they are not afraid to work, are developing intellectually and morally."
The idea of women in business does not seem to have arrived in Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. Professor Ross says of the women of the tropics on the West Coast : "As yet there has occurred no such emergence of unin- cumbered women from the confines of the home, no such entrance into the industries and professions, no such par- ticipation of gifted women in public discussions and public life as has taken place in the United States since the mid- dle of the past century. There is scarcely any paid work for women outside the home.'"^
In Mexico, the middle class, which is the business class, is not only emerging, but has already arrived. For a number of years, women have acted as clerks in the stores, and as teachers in public and private schools, but of late years, schools have been founded for giving a business education to women, and now there are many stenographers, bookkeepers, telephone girls and private secretaries, employed in government and other offices. All of our correspondents speak most highly of this class, as one of the hopeful signs of the times. A Mexican leader says : "The highest moral development is to come from the middle class/' and others speak in the same strain.
One of the strange things about progress is, that every step upward and onward brings us new dangers to face and new problems to solve, and so it is in the case of the Latin-American business woman. Two ex- perienced missionaries speak of the problem of safeguard- ing these new conditions as one of the urgent duties of Christian women.
E. A. Ross, "South of Panama," 200.
INFLUENCE OF WOMEN 133
One of the findings of the Continuation Committee Conferences in Asia in 1912-1913, in regard to the wo- men of the Orient, might as truly be said of the women of Latin America who have entered the industrial life of to-day: ''The walls which guarded the young girl are being demolished rapidly, and the spiritual walls which can protect her purity and peace are rising only slowly. The girls who leave Christian homes and schools to enter these new conditions must know more of the world than their mothers did, must have more poise and self-control, and above all they must have the spiritual power of the indwelling Christ and the sense of a divine call to service." ^ IMay we be able to help these young and heedless spirits, who are venturing into untried and unknown paths, in the complex and difficult times in which we live !
7. THE WOMEN OF HUMBLE CLASS
When we come to the lower class, then we need the heart of the Master, who had compassion when he looked on the multitude ; for here we have the great mass of humanity who bear the heaviest burdens of the race. Professor Ross in his recent book wTites of the women of tropical South America on the West Coast : "One woman, bent under a burden, carries a child at her breast, and is soon to become again a mother. Another laden woman plies distaff and spindle as she creeps along. Here is a file of barefoot women bent under loads of earth or bricks, escorted by a man with a whip." ^ On the West Coast, the birth rate is large, but the death rate among infants is also great. From forty to ninety percent, die under two years of age. "The causes are an unguarded milk supply, an appalling diflfusion of venereal diseases and a state of morals which leaves half of the children to be reared by an unmarried mother without aid from the father." ' Miss Florence E. Smith, a
^"Continuation Committee Conferences in xA.sia : 1912-1913,' 359.
E. A. Ross, "South of Panama," 27. E. A. Ross, "South of Panama," 194.
134 WOMEN'S WORK
missionary to Chile, in her striking article on "Woman's Work in Missions in Latin America," speaks of the wo- men of Colombia, as they work with pickaxe and shovel on the highway, or stagger under burdens too heavy to be borne — of the sixty out of every hundred women in the whole continent who have lost honor, self-respect and hope — of the mothers of the 40,767 babies who died in Chile alone in 1909, less than one year old, because of alcoholism and unhygienic conditions.
These women bear not only the physical loads of life, but the crudest burden of all — that of sin ; the bur- den of illegitimacy, brought about by the lack of any high standard of male chastity, falls most heavily on them. The official records of these countries, especially of the more backward republics, give an appalling rate of illegitimacy. Dr. Robert E. Speer says : 'Tt is safe to say that from one-fourth to one-half of the population is illegitimate." "" Miss Smith, in the article quoted above, gives the lullaby that one of these sad young mothers sings to her newborn babe:
"In a night of torment was I conceived.
Therefore, I am like a cloud which, dark with bitterness and
grief, dissolves in tears at the slightest breath of the wind
of adversity. Thou, little one, hast come to a sad refuge. The rain and torrent have been thy cradle. Abandoned and alone, I erred, seeking a loving heart. No one pities my misery.
Cursed be my birth ! Cursed my conception ! Cursed the world ! Cursed all things ! Cursed myself !"
Miss Smith pleads thus for these poor fallen girls: "Immoral? Perhaps, as we count immorality. But who of us dares to say that, given their heritage, their ig- norance, their temptations, we should not have sunk so low ? Listen : T was only fourteen. I knew nothing ; my mother sold me.' 'The times were hard ; I had no work, and a sick sister to feed.' T was an orphan; my aunt tired of me and connived with an evil woman, who caused me to be drugged.' 'My own father seduced
^Robert E. Speer, "Missions in South America," 151.
INFLUENCE OF WOMEN 135
me.' 'I did not know how to work; to beg I was ashamed.' 'He promised to marry me, if I proved good and obedient after six months.' Or as the Indian mother's lullaby says, 'Abandoned, and alone, I erred, seeking a loving heart.' These are not suppositious ex- cuses. They are actual statements, written in letters of blood in God's book of remembrance. Who will deny that there is a work to be done for the women of Latin America ?"
The people of the lower class, as well as those more fortunately placed, have many noble traits ; they have strong natural affections, both to their families and to their friends. Filial love is universal, and brings about a gentle attitude to old age that we do not always find in our land. A correspondent says, "Elderly and married women obey their mothers like little children." Another, for twenty years a missionary in Mexico, writes : "Obedience and deference to parents, or to the head of the family is universal. Grown sons and daughters, who are working out, take all their earnings home, and are satisfied with the part that is allowed them by their parents. Children upon meeting or leaving father or mother, invariably kiss them either upon the hand or the forehead."
A new era has dawned in Latin America, and one ex- pression describes most accurately the present and the possible future of those fair lands, "the Continent of Opportunity," a title given to South America by the founder of the Christian Endeavor Society during his visit some years ago. Statistics show that the percentage of illiteracy has always been high in Latin America, but the hopeful feature is that it is constantly growing smaller. In former years women were little more than prisoners in the home, and in many parts of South Amer- ica it was customary for the careful husband and father to lock them in the home when he went to business that they might not come to harm or enter into any entang- ling alliances during his absence. Women have now a larger amount of social freedom and greater opportun- ity for intellectual and moral development. With the
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new freedom have come new problems and new dangers, but light is breaking everywhere and there is ground for hope and even certainty of wise solution of these prob- lems.
8. INDIAN WOMEN
In addition to the women already mentioned in this chapter, there is another group, belonging to a distinct class by themselves; these are the native Indian women, descendants of the early races of Latin America. Few Christians have any idea of the vast numbers of these unevangelized multitudes. No one can say accurately how many Indians there are in Latin America to-day — recent statements range all the way from eight to seven- teen millions. The Rev. Gerhard J. Schilling of Argen- tina, in an article in the Missionary Review of the World for November, 1915, pleads for the "ten million neglected Indians in South America." He says that in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia the last census reveals the fact that more than one-half of the population is Indian, and no man living can tell how many of the aboriginal tribes still roam the unexplored regions of Brazil. In North America there are less than three hundred thousand Indians, and many mission Boards carry on work among them. In Latin America there has been no general and concerted work for them — the majority of missions to them are of a sporadic character, and are distressingly few in number. The call of these millions of fellow Americans, many of them in pagan darkness, is one of the most compelling of our day.
It must be remembered that many of these Latin- American Indians, notably the Aztecs of Mexico, the Mayas of Central America, and the Incas of Peru had reached a stage of civilization and social development far in advance of the North American Indian, when the white man landed on the continent. They dwelt in cities of imposing architecture, some of them had ac- quired a written language and excelled in various arts and handicrafts. Their descendants show that they are not unworthy of their ancestry. Many of the Indian women show an inherited dexterity in various crafts and indus-
INFLUENCE OF WOMEN 137
tries. A Mexican correspondent says the Indian women in that country live in villages by themselves, and culti- vate their little plots of ground ; they carry their flov^ers and fruit and vegetables to the city, and sell them on the etreets, or from stalls in the; markets. These daughters of the Aztecs weave blankets, mold pottery, and make beautiful lace and drawn work, and still offer for sale feather work like that for -thich their forefathers were famous.
Charles M. Pepper says of the Indian women of Bo- livia, descendants of the Incas : "The Indian woman in Bolivia occupies a plane on an equality with man. She has no lord and master like the North American Indian. She works, but he also must work. She accompanies him with the pack trains, all the while as she trudges along, twirling her spools, and winding the wool into yarn; it is rare to see her without her spools, unless she is weaving at the loom." He speaks also of the fact that marriage bonds are not loose among them, and that, on the whole, the women seem superior to the men.^
A missionary from Lima writes : "Children from the mountains of Peru, who are of almost pure Indian type, often show exceptional artistic ability, and frequently surpass the coast children in ability to draw, to appreciate good designs, and to develop original decorative motives from nature forms." The Rev. Alan Ewbank writes that among the Mapuche Indians of Chile, there is a woman priesthood, and the machi, or witch doctor, is a woman. She has some knowledge of herbal remedies, and prac- tices healing, but is a priestess, as well as a physician. If a man aspires to become a witch doctor, he must assume the dress of a woman.
These probably represent the highest type among In- dian women in Latin America, and promise a hopeful field for missionary effort. But the great multitude of Indian women are still in heathen darkness and in primi- tive savagery. The missionary world has no greater need than for messengers to carry the gospel to these wait- ing millions, who are born in paganism and who die without any knowledge of the Christ who died for them.
^ Charles M. Pepper, "Panama to Patagonia."
CHAPTER IV
THE EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA
It is difficult to make general statements concerning the education of women in Latin America, that will have distinctive value. The work done by Commission III, on Education, must necessarily include the general lines upon which the southern republics are developing their institutions and systems, and in so far as women have been included in these, they have also been considered in the report of that Commission.
But there are details wherein the education of women diverges from that of men, and the state and private provision for women differs from that for men, and where, in consequence, the needs of women and men vary. It is in these details that this chapter, it is hoped, will supplement the report of the Commission on Edu- cation.
There has been no body of information accumulated on this subject. A little here and there may be extracted from volumes written upon other subjects ; additions may be made from the reports of missionaries and teachers ; further additions are possible from the state reports ; yet, when brought together, these total small, and one is forced to conclude that if the subject is worth study- ing at all, it is worthy of the attention of an educational expert who can speak after first-hand investigation.
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EDUCATION OF WOMEN 139
And even then, so fast are these southern republics mov- ing that specific conditions described may have been changed before the printed report reaches its public.
Bearing this rapid progress in mind, as well as the ne- cessity of keen statesmanlike supervision which it im- plies, the subject still seems to be an important one to consider, for on all sides we are told of the great influ- ence exercised by Latin-American women.
I. THE INFLUENCE OF LATIN-AMERICAN WOMEN
In the report of the United States Commissioner of Education for 1909, Professor Rowe, of the University of Pennsylvania, assures us that in no other portion of the world is woman's influence as far-reaching; he tells us that the training of the children is almost exclusively in the mother's hands, and that the father's authority becomes prominent only when his son would choose a calling.
Professor Ross (191 5) states that nearly a third of the elementary school teachers of Colombia are women, that further south the relative number rises, until in Chile it is seventy-five percent., and in Argentina it is eighty percent.^ He quotes a young Chilean matron as saying that the mother controls the education of the children and disposes of the hand of her daughter. He repeats also the remark frequently heard from observers of conditions in tropical South America, that the women there are distinctly brighter than the men, higher in in- tellectual grasp, quicker of comprehension, but less schooled. Like testimonials to these might be multiplied many, times.
It is the character of the Latin-American woman, whether it be disciplined or undisciplined, it is her stand- ards, whether they be high or low, that leave the in- delible imprint upon the children's most impressionable years. In other v/ords, it is she who largely fashions the national ideals. It is obvious that her education is a matter of suprem.e importance. It would seem to be
E. A. Ross, "South of Panama," 200.
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obvious also that any projected evangelical effort in Latin America should take into account both her achieve- ment and her failure, her opportunity and her need. But before any expenditures on the education of women in Latin America can be most helpfully undertaken, there are certain fundamental questions to be considered.
2. CONSIDERATIONS PRELIMINARY TO ANY ORGANIZED EDUCATIONAL ADVANCE
a. The Type of School Needed.
The locality in which a school is placed can best be served by some particular type of institution ; it may be primary, or it may be secondary in rank, or it may be a combination of the two ; it may be a liceo or a normal, or an industrial school. To illustrate : In the Argentine and in Chile there is a rapid extension and standardiza- tion of normal schools by the government, accompanied by strict supervision and even discouragement of private normal schools. This does not seem to be the case in Peru or Ecuador. The difference in the national policy would suggest a difference in the policy of Boards or individuals wishing to invest their funds most advan- tageously. Again, the government provision for ele- mentary schools has in some places been less adequate than its provision for secondary schools. It is to be ex- pected that a warmer welcome will be accorded to work which adapts itself to the recognized need of the locality, than to that which does not. And this welcome is ac- corded in the Escuelas Populares of Valparaiso and Con- cepcion, under the conduct of the Presbyterian board, and in the Morris Schools of Buenos Aires, which are largely supported by private contributions, and in the Instituto Central do Povo of Rio de Janiero, under Southern Methodist control, all of which admit both girls and boys. They have found a comparatively un- occupied field.
b. The Special Object of the School.
Is the object of the projected school to train deacon- esses, Bible women, and other social workers? Is it to
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furnish teachers adequately prepared for elementary or secondary schools ? Is it to give wage-earning efficiency ? Is it to fit wives or mothers for more intelligent super- vision of homes? Such questions as these must be con- sidered in the light of the locality and of the social classes concerned. There must be definite, clear thinking on the part of the promoters of a school, and absolute sincerity in the quality of the work done. It should be kept in mind that the training of a deaconess may not fit her for a teacher, or the training for the home meet the requirements of the wage-earner; further, that it is extremely difficult to combine these different kinds of work in one institution and retain standards that will command the respect of the community in which it is located, or the support of the different classes to which it would appeal.
c. Shall it be National or North American?
Is the school to be founded as closely as possible upon North American lines, or in conformity with the national type of the country in which it is located? This ques- tion is, of course, in a large measure ansv/ered by the government itself in the Argentine, through its minute specifications of curricula and schedules, but elsewhere the type is less definitely prescribed and must in some way be determined, either by the people in charge on the field, by the proper authorities at home, or by both in conjunction. In any case, a continuity of policy is to be safeguarded.
3. THE QUESTION OF COEDUCATION
In regard to coeducation, there are widely divergent expressions of opinion, but the attitude of the Latin- American peoples themselves seems to be one of tolera- tion rather than of sanction.
a. In Primary Schools.
Vice-President Edgar Ewing Brandon, of Miami Uni- versity, shows that the prevailing sentiment is against it in the large cities of the states, even in the primary
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schools, although in the country, for financial reasons, or convenience, it is permitted ; some states, however, forbid the enrolment of boys beyond a designated age in mixed classes/
b. In Secondary Schools.
The colegios and liceos (secondary schools) are rarely coeducational.
c. In Institutions for Higher Training.
The higher education offered by the state is coeduca- tional. For instance, the Escuela de Educacion Fisica of Santiago, which is almost of university grade, enrols both, although there are many more women than men. It especially prepares teachers of household arts, physical culture and manual training.
In the Instituto Pedagogico also, which is a coeduca- tional normal college for the state university at Santi- ago, the women very largely outnumber the men ; but when it was opened in 1890, no women were expected, and the few who at first asked to enter were admitted on sufferance. The graduates from this institution are nearly what we in the United States of North America call "college women," and are prepared to teach in the secondary schools for girls.
In the Argentine a similar institution was provided by the founding of the Instituto Nacional del Profes- sorado Secundario in 1904.
The State Universities are everywhere open to wo- men. In the University of Buenos Aires, the Depart- ment of Education in the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, and in the University of La Plata the Faculty of Pedagogy, attract them in large numbers. In Lima Vvomen are v/elcome in San Marcos, and are expected to enter in increasing numbers as the new Faculty of Pedagogy' develops its courses. In Montevideo, while the ''Woman's LTniversity" is really a liceo, it is an in- tegral part of the University of L^ruguay, just as the
^ "Latin-American Universities and Special Schools," p. 126. U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin No. 30, 1912.
EDUCATION OF WO^^IEN 143
liceo for boys is an integral part. But the boys' liceo is also open to girls, as are the various faculties of the University. It is significant, however, that there are ap- proximately two hundred and fifty girls enroled in the "Woman's University," and very few in the coeduca- tional liceo.
d. In Xormal Schools.
In the normal schools coeducation is frequently found, and usually the women outnumber the men. For ex- ample, at Rio de Janeiro, in the Xormal School, in which one thousand and seventy-one pupils were enroled, all but forty were women and girls. A similar report comes from Bolivia. In the Argentine, approximately half of the more than seventy state normal schools are coeduca- tional. The Xorth American influence upon the begin- nings of these schools may, in part, account for this sit- uation, for we are told that coeducation is not here gain- ing ground.
On the other hand, in Peru, the state law provides for three normal schools for men and three for women, one of each in Lima, in Northern, and in Southern Peru.
The fact that women, more than men. are crowding into the coeducational normal schools does not indicate a growing sentiment in favor of coeducation. It means that men of Latin America, like the men of North America, are leaving the education of the children to women.
e. In Schools of Commerce.
In some of the Latin- American countries there is lit- tle demand as yet for the commercial education of girls, but it is increasingly being oflfered in connection with the alreadv established cole,s:ios and liceos. Sometimes also there are separate commercial schools. There are several of these in the provincial towns of the Argentine in which girls are admitted, and of the three schools in Buenos Aires, one is for the girls alone. In La Paz, Bolivia, a special two-year course is offered girls, where the regular course offered to boys covers five years. In Brazil there are no national commercial schools, but they
144 WOMEN'S WORK
are provided by the provinces, or the municipaUties, and in some cases the state subsidizes private schools. One in Sao Paulo and another in Rio de Janeiro are coeduca- tional, and the latter enrols a relatively large number of women. In Mexico City the government maintains a commercial school for women, with a two-year course. /. In Industrial Schools.
Commercial training is also provided in connection with industrial, or professional, or technical schools, and in these cases is usually not coeducational. For example, the Escuela Profesional Superior of Santiago, estab- lished in 1888, gives commercial training in addition to its courses in cooking, sewing, designing, millinery, painting, modelling, embroidery, woodwork, etc., and in- structs about seven hundred girls and women annually, besides giving a three-year normal course to women wishing to teach in the provincial professional schools, of which it is the head.
In general, industrial schools are not coeducational, al- though some industrial training may be found offered in coeducational schools of other types. To illustrate: In Brazil, the Escuela Industrial de Meninas, which was es- tablished by the government at Rio de Janeiro in 19 13, offers courses to large numbers of girls and women in sewing, embroidery, designing, dressmaking, millinery, corset-making, flower-making, bookkeeping and type- writing. In Magdalena, Peru, the government has just established a domestic training school for three hundred girls, which is to teach them to manage their own homes, or to take ''adequately rewarded service" "in respectable families." In Lima, the Convent of the Sacred Heart, which has charge of the women's State Normal School, located at the capital, offers industrial courses to the teachers being prepared for work in the elementary schools. The Liceo Nacional de Sehoritas in Buenos Aires, while not to be classed as an industrial school, offers a scientific and inclusive program in domestic arts.
Costa Rica has established a school of domestic arts for girls at San Jose.
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 145
San Salvador aids a colegio for girls at Sansonate, which in addition to the regular curriculum, gives courses in dressmaking, embroidery and cooking. Panama has recently established a school for women, where, in ad- dition to instruction in the Spanish language, arithmetic, bookkeeping, national history, geography, hygiene, and home sanitation, they are given training in cooking, darning, laundry, cutting, designing and costume-mak- ing, plain and artistic embroidery, hand and machine sewing, hat-making, etc.
Latin America is clearly recognizing her duty to pro- vide education of different types for her women as well as for her men, but does not choose to do so in coedu- cational schools unless pushed towards it, usually by eco- nomic considerations.
g. In Schools Not Controlled by the State.
In the non-state schools there is practically the same tendency noticeable, although coeducation may be said to be the rule rather than the exception in evangelical primary schools. For instance, the Escuelas Populares of Chile are coeducational, as is the Instituto Central do Povo of Rio de Janeiro, while, of the Morris Schools, some are coeducational and some are not. Evangelical and other non-state schools of secondary rank are for the most part not coeducational. Of the evangelical schools which attempt work beyond that of secondary rank, Mackenzie College, Sao Paulo, Brazil, is coeduca- tional, although of its three hundred and sixty-six stu- dents, but twenty-seven are women. Granbery College, at Juiz de Fora, under the Southern Methodist Board, also enrols women in all of its departments.
4. THE INADEQUATE PROVISION FOR THE EDUCATION OF
WOMEN
Two facts — the rapid growth in population of some of the Latin-American republics, and the large propor- tion of Indians in others — of themselves create an educa- tional problem which would tax the utmost resources of rich nations to solve. It is not remarkable that the
146 WOMEN'S WORK
provision made by the governments, notable as it has been, and vigorously as it is being extended in the ad- vanced states, is inadequate to meet the needs both of men and of women.
fli What Is Being Done To-day by Each Government. Professor Ross tells us that ''according to the Colom- bian census about one person in twenty-two is attend- ing a public school;" that Ecuador enrols one in six- teen; and Bolivia one in about forty; and Peru about eighteen percent, of her nine hundred thousand chil- dren of school age/ Of the seven hundred thousand children of school age in Chile, three hundred thousand are in the elementary schools, perhaps fifty thousand of these in the church parish schools. The public schools are full, and children being turned away from them. The sixty-one government colegios of Chile are also full — only one-third of them are for girls — and it subsidizes sixty-seven private secondary schools. In the Argen- tine, according to the figures given in 191 5 by Dr. A. Colmo, Professor of Law in the University, Buenos Aires, the school population was 1,194,000, of whom 865,- 161 were enroled in school, and 670,643, the average at- tendance, leaving forty-three percent, without education. In Uruguay the government provision for education is more nearly adequate But not yet equal to the situation. The great progress in this republic is shown by the fact that from 1890 to 191 4 the public schools increased one hundred and twelve percent. The private schools de- creased forty-six and nineteen hundredths percent., and a comparison of the statistics shows that this decrease is in the lay schools ; in fact, the private religious schools show an increase. In the University of Montevideo, there were enroled 1,185 ii^ the faculties, and 1,230 in the boys' and girls' liceos connected with the university. The condition in Paraguay is not so encouraging. Statistics are difficult to obtain, but in 191 3 its university enroled 120, and in its chief cities were five colegios.
' E. A. Ross, "South of Panama," 259.
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 147
Most of these statistics indicate at least that there are unoccupied fields for those who wish to enter Latin America with educational institutions. It must also be remembered that the lack of provision for the girls is greater than for the boys. According to a table recently prepared, which shows the relative number of schools for boys and for girls in Ecuador, Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina, the proportion is six thousand nine hundred and eight to four thousand two hundred and seventeen.
5. THE EVANGELIC.\L SCHOOLS
The evangelical mission Boards that have schools in Latin America were reported by Dr. W. E. Browning, at the Conference on Missions in Latin America, 1913, to have one hundred and ninety-three Escuelas Popu- lares, and forty-two schools of secondary grade. In the former they had 15.300 boys and girls of primary age, and usually of the laboring class, and in the latter 3,610. He said also that these secondary mission schools gener- ally have primary departments, and that the larger part of the pupils are there enroled.
a. The Schools of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
When we examine more specifically the education of Latin-American girls, the Methodist Espiscopal Church is seen to have done pioneer work. Its Wom.an's Board was reported to the above-mentioned Conference on Missions as carrying four boarding and a number of day-schools in Mexico. The strongest of these is at Puebla ; it includes all grades from kindergarten to normal, and in 1916 its matriculation reached almost six hundred. Another school is in an excellent residen- tial section of Mexico City, and has established its con- nection with the well-to-do classes, in 1916 enroling fifty boarders and two hundred day pupils. Of the other two, one is at Pachuca, with an enrolment of 513, and the other at Guanajuato, with an enrolment of 284. This Board maintains also an industrial school for poor
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girls in Mexico City, which, under normal conditions, is filled to its utmost capacity.
In South America this Woman's Board has a school at Montevideo, Uruguay, of about one hundred day pu- pils ; another in a well-equipped new building at Rosario in the Argentine, with' about one hundred and twenty- five boarding and day pupils ; another at Flores, a suburb of Buenos Aires, with about twenty pupils; another at Lima, Peru, which is now in process of moving and re- organization.
Other schools for girls are maintained by the Metho- dist Church at Iquique, Santiago, and Concepcion, Chile. The best known of these is at Santiago ; Dr. Browning calls it ''the best known school for girls in South Amer- ica." It begins with kindergarten, and carries the work through primary and secondary grades, with some addi- tional courses. It ofiPers also an eight-years' course in music and a four-years' course in fine arts.
b. Those of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
The Southern Methodist Church limits its work in South America to Brazil. Granbery College, as has been already mentioned, is open to women. The Wo- man's Council of this church has a school at Petropolis, the Colegio Americano, with about twenty-eight board- ing and sixty day pupils ; another at Bello Horizonte, the Colegio de Isabella Hendrix, with ten boarding and about one hundred and twenty day pupils ; another at Ribeira Preto, the Collegio Methodista, with about twen- ty-five boarding and one hundred and twenty-five day pupils ; another at Piracicabo, the Piracicabano Colegio, with about thirty boarding and one hundred and twenty- five day pupils ; another at Porto Alegre, the Colegio Americano, with about ten boarders and ninety-five day pupils ; another at Rio de Janeiro, where they are about to buy a valuable new site. These schools include from the primary to the seventh grades, except the one at Piracicabo, which gives work through the tenth grade, and offers also some normal training.
This Board maintains in Brazil four coeducational
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day schools, with an enrolment of about five hundred and fifty pupils. It maintains also several schools for girls in Cuba. Its work for girls in Mexico is notable at Chihuahua, Durango, Mexico City, San Luis Potosi, Laredo, Guadalajara, Saltillo, Monterey, and also in the border schools established on the United States side, and filled with Mexican children.
c. Congregational Schools.
The Congregationalists have established schools for girls in Mexico at Chihuahua, at Parral, and Guadala- jara. The Colegio Chihuahuense, a boarding school, be- gins with the kindergarten, runs through nine grades, and offers an additional three years' normal course. The Escuela El Progresso at Parral is coeducational, and of- fers kindergarten and work through six grades. The Institute Corona at Guadalajara, a boarding and day- school, begins with the kindergarten and offers work through nine grades.
d. The Presbyterian Contribution to Education.
The Presbyterian contribution to the education of Latin-American girls is, in Chile, through the coeduca- tional Escuelas Populares of Valparaiso and Concep- cion. There is but one in Concepcion, but there are seven branches in Valparaiso, with an enrolment of three hundred and twenty-five. There is also a board- ing department for twenty girls maintained in the cen- tral building. These schools reach the classes from which evangelical Christians are drawn.
In Brazil their oldest work for girls is in Sao Paulo, where the Eschola Americana was organized in 1870. Out of it developed Mackenzie College, of which it is now a coeducational preparatory school. It gives an eight-years' course, which is followed by four in the college. Few, however, go to college. For a number of years neither boys nor girls have finished there the course in liberal arts. They choose, rather, the profes- sional, or technical work. Altogether there are about
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three hundred girls enroled, but only some thirty boarders in the Eschola Americana.
In the school at Curityba, in the province of Parana, there is a small boarding department, but a large day- school to which small boys are also admitted.
The Presbyterians have a boarding school at Guate- mala, which with the school also maintained there by the Friends, is apparently the extent of evangelical provision for the education of girls in Central America.
In Colombia they have boarding schools at Bogota and Barranquilla ; and in Mexico, at Aguas Calientes is the Colegio Morelos, and at Saltillo is a Girls' Normal School.
e. The Southern Presbyterian Schools.
The Southern Presbyterian Board maintains a school for girls in Pernambuco, Brazil, where small boys at- tend as day pupils ; it has a boarding school at Lavras, which enrols about forty boarders and thirty-one day pupils. It gives a six-years' primary training, and a four-years' normal course, of which only the last two years are of a professional character.
Another school for girls is being opened by the South- ern Presbyterians at Bom Successo, and there is another at Garanhuns. In Cuba, at Placetas, Caibarien, Cama- mani, Segua, and Cardenas; in Mexico, at Matamoras, Montemorelos, Victoria, Linares, and Tula, are schools which are attended by girls.
/. Those of the Baptists.
The American Baptist Missionary Societies have maintained some educational work in Mexico, but their outstanding work for Latin-American girls is at El Cristo, Cuba. It is of secondary and normal grade, is fed by a primary school, and is overflowing with pupils.
The Southern Baptists maintain schools in Brazil, at Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, and Sao Paulo, in which girls are educated, and they plan to cooperate with the Northern Baptists in a girls' high school at Saltillo, Mexico.
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g. Anglican Schools.
The Anglican Church works chiefly among the abori- gines, but it has also a boarding school for girls in Te- muco, Chile, with some sixty boarders. This church carries education to Indian girls at Cholchol, and Ma- quehue, and other points in Chile, and into the Gran Chaco of Paraguay.
h. Other Evangelical Schools.
It has not been possible to give a complete account of evangelical schools for girls in Latin America, because up-to-date information from all sections and from all bodies concerned, has not been obtainable. In Mexico, the unsettled revolutionary conditions have disorganized evangelical schools, and in some instances closed them. However, this period of apparent inactivity promises to be one of the most fruitful in their existence, because of the careful re-survey of the territory by the mission- aries and the Boards working there, and the determina- tion of most of them to cooperate in their educational efforts. This will bring, in the near future, a merging of schools in some places, and an opening of new edu- cational centers — a great strengthening of the work through intelligent concentration and expansion.
There are also many small day schools over Latin America, usually coeducational, under the fostering care of some individual congregation. While they are fre- quently shifting in location and only temporary experi- ments, their influence is not of a negligible character.
i. The Problems of Teacher Training,
It is the desire to provide teachers for these schools, as well as to provide evangelical teachers for the gov- ernment schools, that is largely responsible for the ten- dency to emphasize normal training in the evangelical educational plans. It should be realized, however, that in the most progressive of the Latin-American repub- lics, the greatest advance the state has made in woman's education has also been in the direction of normal train- ing. The equipment and standards of the state normal
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schools are setting a pace for the evangelical efforts which must be recognized.
The evangelical school graduates prefer to teach in the state schools where larger salaries are usually paid than in the evangelical schools. They are, however, find- ing it increasingly difficult in the Argentine and in Chile to obtain government employment. It is for them a much simpler matter to enter the state normal school in the beginning, and thus be ready upon graduation, without further examination, for appointment to a po- sition in a state elementary school.
It seems obvious that whenever the evangelical normal training is given, it must be brought to the point of rec- ognition by the state, or the most alert and capable Latin-American students will refuse to take it. Further, if the teachers employed in the elementary evangelical schools are not recognized by the state, we must expect it to close the schools out as fast as it can itself cope with the educational needs. In fact, this seems to be the policy already of the Argentine government.
y. The Secondary Schools.
The problem of the evangelical secondary school — colegio or liceo — is not exactly that of the elementary school, but it is similar. It has on one hand, a standard set for it by the government — state, provincial, or muni- cipal— and on the other, by the convent, or other private school of like rank. In general, liceo students are drawn from a higher social class than those of the elementary schools, although the free government liceos tend to blur the social lines somewhat, as does also the policy of entering scholarship-pupils in the evangelical schools.
6. DIFFERENT TYPES OF LATIN-AMERICAN SCHOOLS
a. Three Influential Schools.
(i) Liceo Numero dos de Ninas in Santiago. — This is a government school distinctly for upper class girls. One has but to visit the attractive building and note the refinement of environment, the conformity to modern hygienic and pedagogical ideas, the emphasis in
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the training upon domestic economy and the understand- ing of children, and upon a strong physical development, to see that he is facing a consistently growing ideal for women's education. It may not conform to the North American ideal, but it is certainly well for educators in Chile to become acquainted with it.
There are two courses offered here, one for general culture, and one for those intending to enter the Uni- versity of Chile. It is the first of these that appeals to the pupils.
(2) The Convent of the hmnaculate Conception, San- tiago.— For the setting in which the Roman Church places the education of girls of the upper class in San- tiago, the Convent of the Immaculate Conception fur- nishes a good example. It occupies a large tract on the edge of the city, in which are orchards of varied fruits, great vegetable and flower gardens, vineyards, shaded walks and ample playgrounds. It raises its own chickens, and keeps them and its pigs, cows, and other farm animals under scientific conditions. It furnishes from its own place an abundance of milk, butter, fruit, vegetables, eggs, etc., for its handsome, strong looking girl boarders. Its buildings, although twenty years old, are in modern, sanitary condition, its classrooms well equipped, its dormitories spotless and airy, its baths abundant, its kitchens of the most modern type.
(3) The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Lima. — In Lima, Peru, there is another type of institution, the Co- legio de San Pedro, in charge of the Sisters of the Sa- cred Heart, which has perhaps suggestions for evan- gelical educators. It is, in reality, three institutions in one. It definitely recognizes the social distinctions which divide its patrons, and develops its work accord- ingly. It may be well for us to consider whether the democratic North American teacher who feels impelled to disregard caste, can do so except at the expense of her work.
In order to keep its three schools separate, the con- vent is located in spacious quarters. It is built about a series of quadrangles, made beautiful with flowering
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plants and shrubs and climbing vines. Although these quadrangles open into one another, the classrooms, play-grounds, assembly and reception rooms, are entirely distinct, and the children of the most aristocratic citi- zens of Lima are on one side, and the children of those unable to pay tuition are on the other. Both of these are day-schools, and to the poor a substantial mid-day breakfast is served free.
In the school for the upper classes the children are taken from an excellently equipped kindergarten, through an equally well equipped primary grade to the ninth. All are obliged to study English. The work seems to be somewhat akin to that of schools which cater to the same social class in North America, although the training in languages is better than in most of these.
The school for the poor children conforms exactly to the government requirements, and offers five years of primary instruction. It is the "School of Application," or practice school for the normal students, who constitute the third part of this big institution.
The normal students must have had five years' pri- mary instruction, and be at least seventeen years old in order to enter. They come from all over Peru, one hundred and thirty-five of them in 191 5, and form the boarding department of the institution. Their dormi- tory arrangements are as nearly perfect as sanitation, ventilation, abundant bathing facilities in tub, shower, and pool, can make them. The kitchen is up to the last date, and all plumbing, water filtration, etc., of the most approved type ; in short, the furnishing and equipment for health and comfort are an example of modern com- pleteness.
The course of study is that laid down by the govern- ment. The first year is an extension of their prepara- tory courses, and in the third year they begin teaching in the practice school. They are given two examina- tions a year by government inspectors, and their final examination consists in conducting classes in the pres- ence of the inspectors.
The work of this school is much stronger in some di-
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 155
rections than in others. Naturally, it emphasizes those phases of education which to Peruvians seem most im- portant, and these may not coincide with what North American judgment would emphasize. For example, it is strong in its social training — in a knowledge of the forms and courtesies which give to the Latin-American woman that admirably unconscious graciousness which characterizes her. Perhaps this type of instruction should play a more important part in first-class evan- gelical schools than at first thought might be given to it, and if so, the selection of teachers who can give it becomes also a consideration.
The Sacred Heart is strong in languages, m composi- tion and style, and in handwork. This handwork is not to be dismissed from our minds as a superficial ac- complishment. It continues throughout the entire course, and advances from the simplest forms, progres- sively, through the years, and the results show a re- markably artistic aptitude and development in the pupils. Both in variety of work and in the progressive arrange- ment of subjects it would seem to offer many sugges- tions to those interested in evangelical schools, especial- ly in Peru.
It is also suggestive that this institution keeps up its line of communication with its graduates, and that their requests for advice, and for kindergarten and primary and industrial school supplies for use in out-of-the-way places are responded to generously.
h. Their Complete and Beautiful Equipment.
It may seem that undue emphasis is being laid in this chapter upon the physical side — upon the material equipment and environment of the school — but these things are being purposely emphasized. For it has not been possible for the evangelical schools, with the means at their command, to stress them as they should, in •:on- formity with the ideas of the beauty-loving Latin-Amer- ican people. And in addition to the artistic require- ments, it should be understood that there Is now to be met the requirement of proper dormitories, laboratories,
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domestic science equipment, and the dawning require- ment of libraries.
It is unquestionably true that the early evangelical schools stimulated the activities of other educational forces ; but it is equally unquestionable that at the pres- ent time, no large returns can justly be expected from unstandardized, poorly equipped and housed evangelical schools.
c. Types of Curricula.
As illustrating more specifically different types of cur- ricula, the programs of science, domestic arts and music of the Liceo Nacional de Sefioritas, in Buenos Aires, and of the Liceo for Women in connection with the Uni- versity at Montevideo, furnish good examples.
(i) That of the Liceo Nacional de Senoritas, Buenos Aires. — In the liceo at Buenos Aires, the first year is given to a scientific study of housing problems — air, water, light, plumbing, furnishing, etc. ; the second year to foods — their values, conservation, their chemis- try and the chemistry of digestion, alcoholism, etc. — and to infections and personal hygiene; the third >ear to the physical care of children — nursing, artificial foods, cooking for them, teeth, clothing, bath, etc. ; to their in- tellectual and moral education — an elementary study of kindergarten, of the pedagogical ideas of Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Spencer, and of the ideals and tenden- cies of modern schools ; to a study of fatigue and of de- generacy. Parallel to these courses runs a five-years' training in sewing, from the simplest forms to designing of the highest type. One year is given to sewing, cut- ting, and designing everything that a child wears. The parallel course in music runs through four years.
It is evident that in this school the government makes clear a conviction that at least some women need 1:0 learn scientifically the technique of home-making.
(2) That of the Woman's University, Montevideo. — In the liceo in Montevideo the course is that laid down for secondary schools, and covers four years. Throughout each year physical exercises are required,
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and the gymnasium is well equipped and directed by a man from the United States of North America. In- struction in drawing also runs through the four years. In addition, in the first year the course includes: Span- ish grammar, French, arithmetic, descriptive geography, zoology, and botany ; in the second year — Spanish grammar and readings from Spanish and American authors, French, English, algebra, physical geography, physiology, chemistry; in the third year — Spanish lan- guage and literature and Spanish-American literature, French, English, German, geometry, mineralogy, geol- ogy, physics, chemistry, general history; in the fourth year — French, English, German, general history, philos- ophy, literature (including the Bible and illustrating types of epic, drama, lyric, etc.) cosmography, civics.
In the third year stenography and typewriting also are offered, and in the fourth, in addition to these, com- mercial bookkeeping.
The laboratories are adequately fitted out for individ- ual experimentation, and the library is well started and organized.
The practical tendency in Latin-American education shows itself clearly here in the method of teaching lan- guages. The study of French, for example, has funda- mentally in view the conversational use of the language. It begins with easy oral translations into the Spanish, and simple conversations concerning the body, clothing, food, houses, cities, domestic animals, means of trans- portation, divisions of time, the family relationships, and enlarges its scope, while pursuing the same plan throughout the four years, teaching not only the special vocabulary surrounding different subjects, but inciden- tally giving a good deal of commercial, scientific, liter- ary, or historical instruction at the same time.
7. CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN
a. Latm America Is Developing Her Own Educational System. It should be apparent, even from these very limited observations, that Latin America is developing her own
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educational plans. She is to offer additional examples, experimenting with the Montessori method, and estab- lishing public playgrounds, and open-air schools and the- atres for children ; she is, in fact, trying out for herself most of the modern ideas of education, and is adapting them to her uses where she finds them adaptable. Vv^hat- ever efforts towards education may be made for her from outside, must offer an actual, recognizable con- tribution, if they are to be welcome and respected.
b. Few Women Take Advantage of Collegiate or Uni-
versity Education.
As has been indicated, the tendency of her training of women is not towards the woman's college of the North American type. In the universities, the Faculties are open to her, and she receives recognition for excel- lent attainment, as in the case of Doctora Leopoldina Gavifio, who took her degree at San Marcos in Natural History, 191 1, and lectured on her subject in the Uni- versity almost to her untimely death in 1913.
There are few, however, who have entered the uni- versities except for pedagogical, or other professional training. This means that, in general they are prepar- ing to earn a livelihood.
c. The Liceo Type Appeals to Upper Class Women. On the other hand, the upper class woman has so far
been placed chiefly in a convent school, had tutors at home, or has been sent abroad, and her education has not gone beyond the liceo grade. But neither has it done so in any large measure in North America.
It would seem to be the liceo type of school through which evangelical churches could best appeal to this class, but they must be liceos on which much more money has been expended than hitherto, and will probably de- mand a larger expenditure than any one denomination is prepared to make. Yet it is important to reach the upper class woman, for hers is the ruling class, and she is one of the most influential factors in creating senti-
EDUCATION OF WOMEN 159
ment against wrong conditions, and in bringing about measures of reform.
d. The Nonnal Schools Are Attracting and Developing
Able Women. It is especially in the normal schools that one notices the development of a distinct middle class. This is to be a very influential class, and certainly evangelical Christianity should exercise an influence upon it. The question is, what is the best way? The emphasis which the state is laying upon normal training, its great re- sources in funds, equipment, and command of positions for teachers, impels one to devise some plan by which these resources can be utilized, and at the same time stu- dents can be brought into contact with Christianity. The women in these schools have no dormitories, and whether the providing of hostels nearby, or the devel- opment of lodging houses under the control of the Young Women's Christian Association, in both of which the women might live under Christian influence, would be a solution of the problem, deserves to be considered.
e. The Elementary Schools Must Be Maintained. The evangelical primary schools are still unquestion- ably filling an educational need, and are receiving rec- ognition and encouragement wherever they have been peculiarly successful in contributing to the public better- ment. They should, under no circumstances, fall below the government standard for such schools.
f. The Great Religious Problem of To-day.
The foundations of religious faith are being shaken among Latin-American women as well as men. This is particularly true of those in the university and higher normal classes. If evangelical churches would help them, they must approach along the paths of modern thought. The problem is not to bring back to their old beliefs those who have advanced to the so-called ''free thinking" stage, of which one hears so much ; it is to lead them further, and to bring them to see that new
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facts and new points of view are to arise with the ris- ing generations ; that disbelief, as well as belief, may become crystallized and static; that evangelical Christian beliefs are not of this character, but are, instead, living and growing organisms.
In order to do this we must realize it ourselves, and the men and women who go out to influence the stu- dents in these schools must realize it. Otherwise their labor will count for little.
CHAPTER V
THE SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG THE WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA
I. THE WORLD-WIDE RANGE OF THE WOMAN MOVEMENT
That the woman movement has reached world propor- tions was shown in the biennial convention of the Gen- eral Federation of Women's Clubs, which met in Chicago in 19 14. This assembly represented one million women. Delegates from India, Australia, China, the Philippines, Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Great Britain, Canada and Cuba expressed their cordial co- operation in the aims and ideals of the organization. Possibly, the most thrilling message was that sent by Countess Okuma, wife of the Prime Minister of Japan. After expressing her sympathy and interest in the work the Federation was doing, not only in the United States, but for the women of all lands, she said : 'Tt is therefore a great pleasure for me to send to you, O women of America, a heartfelt greeting at this time. May East and West join more and more in the great work for the advance of all women, and of society the world over!"
While this movement has reached world proportions, its routes of travel have not always been along wa5^s that we should have anticipated. It does not seem strange that women have secured full suffrage, for instance, in eleven states and one territory in the LTnited States, and in Aus- tralia and New Zealand, Iceland, Norway, Finland and Denmark, but we were hardly prepared to see the
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i62 WOMEN'S WORK
woman's movement make such advances in Oriental lands.
A striking article by Agnes de Selincourt on "The Place of Woman in the Modern National Movements in the East," says: "In India . . . the woman's ques- tion grows steadily in importance. In a district in East- ern Bengal . . . where, six years ago, there were four girls' schools, to-day there are 300. . . . Not only in the quickly increasing percentage of girls attend- ing school do we find traces of the new spirit, but in every department of social life. Clubs are being started, women's periodicals launched, philanthropic activi- ties undertaken, all carried on by Indian women.
. . . Times of transition are always difficult, and the changes which we see taking place in the thoughts and ideals and opportunities of Eastern women are such as cannot but give food for serious re- flection. And yet the dangers of advance can only be met by still further advance, and surely there are none who care for the progress of humanity, whose hearts do not throb in sympathy with these women, struggling, sometimes crudely, often mistakenly and yet passionately and sincerely, for light and knowledge and liberty. Who would not respond to the appeal lately voiced by a Hindu lady before a Western audience : Tt is clear that our ad- vance as Indian women must be based on our national literature, our national history, our national ideals.' "^
The women of India have been fortunate in having such leaders as Pandita Ramabai, in her community work for women and children, the lamented Lilavati Singh, president of the Woman's College at Lucknow, who made such a profound impression at the New York Ecumenical Missionary Conference in 1900, and others who cannot be mentioned here.
In no eastern country is the new woman more in evi- dence than in China ; one of the unexpected results of the revolution there was the rising of Chinese women to de- mand greater liberty and wider opportunities. To the
^International Review of Missions, Jan., 1912.
THE SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS 163
first provincial parliament of the Kwangtung Province, held in its capital, Canton, ten Chinese women were elect- ed as members. The first three things considered by this assembly were foot-binding, the opium traffic, and the sale of young girls for immoral purposes.
2. WHAT IT MEANS IN LATIN AMERICA
A gentleman of South American birth wrote the Com- mission : *'The new woman's movement has in many ways, happily enough, not touched the women of South America." The woman movement, howeter, is deeply touching Latin America, a fact which is evidenced by the invariable accompaniments of the changing status of wo- men— their entrance into industrial life, and the new education that is being accorded to them. And there are not wanting the leaders and forerunners in the good work, who are necessary to guide and guard these new conditions, though, as yet, our information concerning them is far from adequate. Elizabeth Fitzhugh, in her article, "South American Women," mentions several of these pioneers who are opening a path in which others can follow : ''The Seiiorita Enriquita Compte was sent to Germany to study kindergartening in its home, and was installed at the head of a school of practice for kinder- gartners in Montevideo; that was the beginning of the greatest of all reforms in South American education. Seiiora de Pando, an earnest South American, is known for her advanced ideas on the uplift of women. The movement for equal rights, and an open door to all pro- fessions and callings is not so strong In South America as in the United States of North America, but it is com- ing, and the dignified and courageous Sefiora de Pando is the leader in the movement.
a. Women in the Professions.
"In the professions, there are three Argentine women who were pioneers in the medical profession, two having added to their preparation by study in Europe. Doctora Cecilia Grierson, who established a large practice In Buenos Aires, took up the work of training male and
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female nurses and aided the propaganda for organizing a 'Society for First Aid.' Her efforts were strengthened by the cooperation of the Seiiorita Gracia Lagas, and Senora Delores L. de Lavalle, the latter a member of an old historic family. She was for a long time president of the woman's branch of the Red Cross Society, and was prominent in other works of beneficence. Senorita Adela Zamedo is one of the most distinguished female poets in South America and also a fine artist."
A missionary, who has served for years in Mexico, writes of the changing outlook for women there : "The influence of Mexican women has always been great, whenever they have been interested enough to exert it. Until recently their interest centered in the home, and their religious influence there has kept Mexico a Roman Catholic country, in spite of the fact that a large part of the thinking men no longer accept the teachings of the Church of Rome. The influence of these women now extends beyond the home, and is continually broadening. They are interested in public sanitation, and serve as committees to inspect conditions in public schools, and to do service of like nature. Outside the regular church activities, women now attend meetings of missionary societies, temperance unions, working women's clubs, and mothers' clubs — all of which are helpful and tend to de- velopment of character." Another worker in Mexico tells of a number of successful women doctors in that country.
An experienced missionary in Brazil writes of condi- tions there: "In Brazil, the traditions that surround her unfit woman for leadership in the destinies of her country. Few of the professions are open to her; but her position to-day is not the position she will occupy to-morrow. She is reading, studying, thinking — and with her new- found knowledge she will aid her country in securing more perfect freedom; and with redemption from sin in her individual life, she will seek to leaven the whole lump by her influence and work. But even here the new move- ment is gaining headway. There are several women in the professions, who without any ostentatious display of advanced views are quietly making their way to the front
THE SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS 165
rank. Sao Paulo has a successful woman physician, and there are two who have good practices in Rio de Janeiro. In the law, there are women attorneys who enjoy an as- sured standing among the best. There are also women students of pharmacy and architecture."
Other correspondents tell us that the organization of women is also developing in many parts of Latin America. A correspondent from Mexico says : "I believe that there is a great field, not only in Mexico, but also all through Latin America, for some new organizations properly conducted which may do more effective work. As necessary steps to develop such organizations, I rec- ommend a careful study of social conditions in each field, so as to find out the greatest needs and the special con- ditions and preferences of the people. Then must come the framing of good plans to organize the required so- cieties, and the furnishing of good literature for definite and practical programs to secure the required ends."
b. Women's Clubs and Societies.
A missionary writes : "The field of the club seems to be as large in Latin-American countries as in any others, and there is no reason why it may not be de- veloped to an indefinite extent, bringing about the same results as those to be obtained in any other part of the world. It may be regarded as a legitimate part of mission activity, to be developed in connection with church and school work, with the expectation that the results will be so telling that the 'club idea' will grow more and more among all classes of society. There have recently been organized women's clubs in the interests of woman suffrage. There has been for some time in our field a native Woman's Christian Temperance Union. This has done splendid work in bringing forth leaders among our Christian women of various denominations in the much needed temperance work. This society, besides carrying on its meetings, visits the different native hos- pitals, especially the one for prostitute women and girls, giving talks on morality, purity, honesty, temperance, and on all related lines of social uplift. There can be no
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doubt that such organizations as the ones just mentioned have a vast field before them. Other organizations look- ing toward the benefit of the people, the encouragement of unselfishness, and the raising up of leaders among the Christian women, should be encouraged.'*
A correspondent from Lima writes : ''The organi- zations of women in Peru seem to be mainly for the pur- pose of promoting better education. Recently, outside of the church, a number of organizations have sprung into being which have for their purpose social betterment and broader educational facilities for women. The oldest of these was formed many years ago by a group of ladies of the upper class, with religious, educational and indus- trial purposes. Gradually the original founders have dropped out, the religious purpose has been lost sight of, and all that remains of 'El Centro Social' is a commercial school. This school has an appropriation from the gov- ernment which helps to support it, and for a nominal sum teaches stenography, telegraphy, typewriting and bookkeeping. One cannot say that these girls go out very well prepared, but the school helps to prepare the public mind to receive them, and they get their most valu- able training in the offices they enter, where the most apt and intelligent often rise to positions of considerable responsibility. Occasionally married women take one or two of the courses, in order to be able to help their hus- bands in business.
"A society called 'Evolucion Femenina' was founded in March, 19 14, to encourage the formation of public high schools (colegios) for women, the dissemination of prac- tical knowledge about the care of children, domestic sci- ence and industrial work suitable for women, the develop- ment of the idea that all honest labor is dignified and honorable, and to secure civil equality before the law for women, and the right to manage their personal fortunes and property, even though married. This society has established a school for the little girls who work all week in commercial establishments, or who sell papers or lot- tery tickets on the streets, to be held on Sundays. At the inauguration exercises, held July 18, 191 5, sixty girls presented themselves as pupils.
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"On May 10, 191 5, the women's section of the 'Liga Agraria' opened a woman's exchange, which receives articles made by women of any nationality, from any part of Peru. Its aim is to help the woman who has to work in her home, and to do away with the exploitation of woman's work. Hints are sent out, explaining how to make the articles sent in more artistic and salable. As soon as it is well established, classes will be formed to teach new trades and arts for women.
'There is no work in Peru such as is carried on by the Young Women's Christian Association in the United States, but in time it should be established. The women respond to attempts to help them, but while the great hold the Roman Catholic Church has over them exists the most successful general work done among them must be done through schools and agencies, absolutely non- sectarian in character. There is room for all the or- ganizations of the individual evangelical missions, but the work which will effect a general uplift among the women of Peru must be such that any Roman Catholic, as well as any evangelical, would feel free to avail herself of the opportunities offered."
"The Senora Juana Alarco de Dammert has organized in Lima a 'Society for the Protection of Children,' which is composed entirely of Peruvians. They have founded a Children's Hospital, and are recognized as an authority on child problems in Peru."
Women's organizations seem to be more numerous and advanced in Argentina than in the other South American republics, and the following are a few ex- amples of them.
The National Council of Women, with sixty-four affili- ated societies, have headquarters in Buenos Aires. Their building is a center of hospitality, of instruction and of practical assistance. Their library is open to girls and women for reading and research. It has a department of traveling libraries, sending out books to each of the sixteen night schools in Buenos Aires, and to many needy places in the provinces. They have an employ- ment bureau, an information bureau, and conduct a wo- man's exchange. The scope of the Council's work is
i68 WOMEN'S WORK
shown by its departments of Education, Emigration and Employment, Legislation, Civil Rights for Women, Public Hygiene, Peace and Arbitration and Public Mo- rality.
As an illustration of the philanthropic work of Argen- tine women, the ''Society of Beneficence," founded in 1823, might be cited. It has in its charge some of the largest charitable institutions in Buenos Aires, and dis- penses state appropriations for orphan children, hospi- tals, an insane asylum, and the great Rivadavia Hospi- tal. In 1913, there were 18,560 persons assisted, and one thousand children were born in the maternity ward of the hospital. Its budget for that year, in Argentine currency, was $4,936,856.22 — of that, $3,872,416.23 was given by the government, and all of this great sum was dispensed by these women.
There is also in Buenos Aires a ''Society for Child Welfare," in which men and women work together, and this too is handsomely subsidized by the government. Its object is to help the needy classes of children, and it has schools, industrial work, kindergartens, day nur- series and asylums for them.
This year of 1916 is the Centenary of Argentine in- dependence, and one of the celebrations of that event will be a Congress on Child Welfare, held at Tucuman in July. The President of the Society is a woman, Doc- tora Julieta Lanteri de Renshaw, and the program will be conducted under the following departments, all con- sidered in their relation to the child : — laws, industrial legislation, hygiene, education, psychology and sociology. Some of the topics for discussion are : —
Domestic and Social Causes for Infant Mortality.
Child Play.
Types of Education Before Adolescence.
Tuberculosis.
Insufficiency of Legislation.
In both Argentina and Uruguay, there are organiza- tions of women for various lines of social uplift. Ef- fective work is being done for the censorship of moving picture shows. The antituberculosis leagues are con-
THE SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS 169
ducting campaigns of education, and taking practical steps for helping those who have contracted the disease. The growing appreciation of the evils of alcoholism is finding expression in temperance organizations in both countries. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Uruguay, founded in 1892, conducts a vigorous prop- aganda by both the written and the spoken word, and reaches clubs, schools and Sunday Schools. In 19 15 a National League Against Alcoholism was formed, in w^hich men and women work together. Its constitution was approved by the Minister of the Interior, and by the Minister of Public Instruction before being adopted by the League. It numbers among its members cabinet ministers, national deputies, directors of the public schools, physicians, and ladies prominent in social life. The women members have largely assumed the practical administration of the society.
c. The International Woman's Congress.
The International Congress of Women held a notable meeting in Buenos Aires in 1910, at which representa- tives from most of the South American countries were present. The program was divided into sections on so- ciology, law, education, science, letters, arts and indus- tries. Some of the topics discussed were: —
Character as the Supreme End of Education.
Professional and Industrial Schools for Women.
Physical Education of Women.
Schools of Horticulture and Gardening for Women.
Esthetic Culture in Education.
The Education of Immigrant Children.
Teaching Sub-normal Children.
Compulsory Education.
Woman as an Economic Factor.
Union Labor as Affecting Women.
Delinquent Women.
The Political Rights of Women.
Universal Suffrage for Men and Women.
The Legal Status of Women.
Legal Position of Women in Countries Represented in the Congress.
A missionary to Argentina says of Buenos Aires: "There are women's clubs in the city, but I am not fa-
170 WOMEN'S WORK
miliar with them. I know there is one especially, counting among its members many families of high rank. Philan- thropic work is the strong point. I do not know whether this question excludes the Young Women's Christian Association or not. I believe we have the only one on the continent not connected with a church or school. This Dne has a large Argentine department, and holds a regu- lar religious service once a month. It also gives classes and social opportunities.
"I should say there was a larger field for women's clubs here than at home. If they could be led, not to les- sen their charitable work, but to take up regular study, and to interest themselves in civic reform, it would be an inestimable gain. I believe some such work has been at- tempted, but not enough to count."
d. The Young Women's Christian Association.
Buenos Aires, says in its annual report upon its very interesting work for 1914: '*The first and only city in South America in Vv^hich work was undertaken by secre- taries from the United States is Buenos Aires. It now has two secretaries on its staff from the United States, also one Mexican and one Uruguayan, besides other members. Since the arrival of the first secretary, the Association has become a powerful influence in the social life of the community. Physicians, clergymen, ship cap- tains, consuls, merchants and officials are constantly re- ferring young women to the care of the Association. Every day women of several nationalities find their way to our rooms for advice, for companionship, and for home influence. The board of management is interna- tional in its personnel, and the membership includes women of twenty-three nations." It will be seen from this, that one of the main lines of activity of this Asso- ciation is to deal with the large number of young women who are going to the New World in search of oppor- tunities denied them in the crowded conditions and con- ventional surroundings of Europe. When request is made, steamships and trains are met, and travelers are assisted. The Association often furnishes in its building a home for girls from a distance who may be unprotected or un-
THE SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS 171
provided with a lodging. It has an employment bureau, which carefully places as many young women as it can assist. It has a savings' bank, to promote thrift among them. In many instances young working girls have no home worthy of the name, and face a dangerous existence in a single room, or in a cheap boarding house, with no one to w^hom they are responsible, and no healthful outlet to their craving for a happy social life. The Association attempts to meet this natural want; their building is a place where girls can go with their friends to spend their evenings, under the inspiration of the secretaries, who are experienced women of the world, in the true and good sense of the word.
As their work under modern industrial conditions throws these girls constantly with men, evenings are ar- ranged to which they can bring their men friends ; with the ideals of gracious and self-respecting womanhood held up by the Association, a new basis of congenial companionship between the sexes is created — that they may work and play together as human beings, with equal standards of purity for men and women, which will result in a fuller and more perfect life for both.
Not only in Latin countries, but in all lands, the great- est liberty that has come to woman, industrially, socially, educationally, has brought a brood of new enemies, espe- cially to young womanhood, that cannot be ignored. Those who have reached their fifth or sixth decade have never been exposed to the dangers that assail younger women, especially in city life. Their daily work in public places, the new social liberty that has come to them, brings them into contact with all sorts and condi- tions of people, and often hideous wrongs are perpetrated on them, because they are not safeguarded from without, as well as forewarned and forearmed from within.
Such organizations as the Young Women's Christian Association, whose scope embraces "the young woman- hood of the world," and others of like noble aims, are indispensable agencies for social service in the times of transition in which we live. The object of the Associa- tion is: "To bring young women to such a knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior as shall make for
172 WOMEN'S WORK
fulness of life and development of character, and to make the organization an effective agency for the exten- sion of the kingdom of God among the yomig woman- hood of the world." To accomplish these ideals, the spiritual life of the Association is full and rich. At its Sunday afternoon meetings and daily Bible readings, clear and constant witness is borne to Jesus Christ and His salvation as the only foundation on which character can be built and service can be rendered.
The radical changes in social life that modern eco- nomic conditions have brought about have forced women, in a greater degree than ever before, to leave the sheltered home life, and to work as a member of the community; this altered position, with its new social relationships, has been followed by new duties, and by higher claims on the intelligence than ever before.
To meet these thronging needs, the Commission not only recommends cooperation with the Young Women's Christian Association with its broad Christian social pro- gram, but believes that the missionary enterprise would lose none of its depth and spiritual power by working for definite purposes with women's organizations, whether these be religious in name or not, which are striving for the growth of righteousness.
e. Their Common Social Interests.
While these organizations are so numerous, yet a study of them shows that they all have the altruistic note in common, and though they may seem to be following widely different lines of endeavor, yet in the deep, un- derlying motive of every one of them is the desire and purpose for social service. Sometimes the watchword is temperance, yet we all know how the Woman's Chris- tian Temperance Union has widened its lines of effort, until it embraces every kind of beneficent work for the betterment of society.
The Women's Club movement, while it began with culture for its dominant note, now ranges in its national committees along all the main lines of social service — education, civics, industrial and child labor, social hygiene,
THE SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS 173
pure tood, household economics, libraries, forestry, good roads, civil service reform, art and literature.
The persuasive note in the woman suffrage organ'za- tions to-day is not so much the right of woman as a hu- man being, with a mind and soul, to have her share in the state with which her interests are so closely interwoven, but, by the use of the ballot, to help not only the weak, but also the erring and criminal among women and chil- dren, who have fallen by the wayside in these days of change and transition.
One of the needs of to-day is a vision which looks be- yond the superficial and extraneous, and sees the secret springs that are moving the women in their united ef- forts to do their part in the betterment of the land and of all mankind. What we need most is a mutual recog- nition of the nobility and similarity of our aims, and a resulting cooperation for the removal of the age-long evils that have afflicted our whole social structure.
With the great tasks before us — tasks which need the united voice and influence of the womanhood of all the world for their accomplishment — should we not culti- vate a fuller appreciation of our common aims, and seek a closer cooperation and fellowship than ever before in the history of women's organizations?
The Commission believes that one of the main func- tions of the movement is to give expression to the collect- ive voice of the womanhood of the world. What you think or what I think may be of small importance, but when your thought or mine is lined with that of hun- dreds of women in our community, when our club's thought is shared by thousands of organizations all over the land — then our thinking becomes a collective in- fluence, and a tremendous factor in shaping that subtle thing we call public opinion.
Through this organized influence a new point of view is being brought to bear on age-long evils, like that of the differing moral standard for men and for women, the atrocities of war from the viewpoint of the mothers of the whole of the human race, a demand for the per- sistent repression and ultimate abolition of the social evil
174 WOMEN'S WORK
and its inevitable social diseases, and other things that closely affect the welfare of society.
Believing that these multiplied organizations of women are the modern expression of their efforts for the better- ment and uplift of society, the Commission can, in all good conscience, recommend them to the women of Latin America as an effective agency for Christian social service.
CHAPTER VI
THE WORK OF WOMEN'S MISSION BOARDS IN LATIN AMERICA
In the splendid growth and development of mission work, women's Boards are no longer limited to the one line of ministries to women and children. In the closely correlated life of to-day, the interests of the woman and the child are inevitably and inextricably linked with those of the state, and of society at large. How can we sep- arate the interests of men from those of the mothers of men? So, in the general movements toward cooperation to-day, the trend seems to be that on the mission field women should be associated with men in the administra- tion of the general problems of men's work, and that men should be associated with women in the administra- tion of the general problems of women's work. For the purposes of this report, however, which is limited to the work of women's Boards for the women of Latin America, we limit ourselves to the question of the women and children of Latin America.
I. THEIR SPECIAL INTEREST IN EDUCATIONAL SERVICE
Education has always been a key word in the work of women's missionary organizations in all lands. In the marching orders of missions, the command was to teach as well as to preach ; the two are inseparable — what Christ hath joined together, let not man, or woman
175
176 WOMEN'S WORK
either, put asunder. Nothing shows more plamly the blessing of the Heavenly P'ather on the work of women in missions and His guidance than the fact that they have been granted this vision of the mind of the Master.
One reason that makes them know so well the value of educational work is that childhood is the sacred charge of womanhood; during the child's school life, and through it, the mother knows intimately, and prizes high- ly, the functions of the school. Again, woman does not despise the day of small things ; the greater part of her life is devoted to patient, quiet ministries, and the mis- sion school in its beginnings is almost always a small thing; it deals with children, and results with them are things of the future. She is content to toil without large returns for the present, that she may reap a harvest of transfigured lives in the future.
It is especially gratifying that the missionaries have been so sympathetic with the efforts of the republics in South America to establish public school systems for the training of their future citizens, and a number of these missionaries have made valuable contributions to this end. "When General Sarmiento was elected president of Ar- gentina, one of his first official acts was to give Dr. William Goodfellow, an American missionary returning to the United States, a commission to send out a num- ber of educated women to establish normal schools in Argentina. In Ecuador, the Rev. Thomas Wood, also an American missionary, gave the president of that republic a plan of public instruction, which was adopted by the president and his cabinet. Congress also passed a bill adopting it, and giving one hundred thousand dollars to carry it into active operation."
That these systems have not yet attained efficiency is not surprising; this leaves a large field of educational effort, especially for schools for women and children, to the mission Boards. The very heart of the study of Latin-American womanhood in this report is the need for distinctive Christian education, from kindergarten upward, that shall not only make for culture, but for character and for service for Christ.
MISSION BOARDS i77
2. TYPES OF THIS SERVICE
a. The Kindergarten.
Miss Phoebe Thomas, a self-supporting missionary, opened in 1882 the first kindergarten in Brazil, if not in all South America. This was in successful operation for a number of years, and several Brazilian girls were here trained to be kindergartners. Its far-reaching value is shown by the fact that a family of high social posi- tion was converted to Protestantism through their chil- dren, who attended the school. Miss Marcia Brown, after several years of fine work in teacher training in the Eschola Americana, was appointed to a position in the state normal school, and began the work of training kin- dergartners there. It is to be regretted that of late the mission schools have all but discontinued the use of kin- dergartens ; the competition of free government kinder- gartens, the lack of funds and of space have all doubt- less contributed to this unfortunate policy. The kinder- garten should stand at the threshold of the elementary school; by simple plays and songs it teaches the value of work, the ideals of purity, unselfishness, morality and truth — in a w^ord, the very elements of Christian char- acter.
An experienced missionary strongly urges the need of the kindergarten in Mexico: 'Tor the improvement of the education of the children, American kindergarten methods are greatly in demand. As a people the Mexi- cans are musical, and the children respond readily to the songs and games; the admirable devotion of the people to their children makes them appreciate such opportuni- ties when aflforded by the missions. Possibly there is no^ better way of breaking down prejudice than through the kindergarten under mission auspices." What is true of Mexico, seems to be true of Latin America generally.
b. The Day Nurseries.
In localities where the pupils, whether of kindergartens or of graded schools, are largely the children of working people, day nurseries for the little ones would be a valu- able annex. The little children of the poor, almost as
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soon as they can walk, care for the baby brothers and sisters that follow so fast after them. One missionary writes : "I have seen children so small carrying babies on their backs that the little ones had to be tied across them diagonally, so that their feet would not trail on the ground." Day nurseries would relieve these little burden bearers of their charges, so that they would be free to go to school; such nurseries would take a load from the minds of the mothers as they toil for their daily bread ; they would be blessings to the health, the happi- ness and the character of the babies themselves — for who can tell how soon the seeds of truth, of purity, and of love of God can be sown in the little minds and hearts !
c. Provision for the Needs of Children.
The high rate of illegitimacy, which robs so many of these little "children of shame" of the normal ties of orderly family life, and the deplorable rate of infant mortality, should make an incomparable appeal to the mother heart of other lands, as it is increasingly making it to the hearts of the womanhood of Latin America. When Jesus set that little child in the midst as an ideal of character for His selfish, ambitious disciples. He an- nounced the Bill of Rights of childhood: "It is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish!' And now that we are following His example and setting the child of our day in the midst, we are realizing that it has its inalienable rights in the social structure, as well as the man and woman — ^the right to be happy, the right to its wonder world of play, that world wherein lies the beginning of knowl- edge ; the right to grow unburdened, unhindered ; the right to an education, which shall equip it adequately for the coming duties of citizenship; the right to be shielded from the soiling touch of sin, which will rob it of its divine inheritance of innocence. May it be our happy task in these days of child study to minister to the children of Latin America, in the spirit of Him who
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lifted the childhood of all the race when He took the little ones of long ago up in His arms and blessed them I
d. Secondary Schools.
But not only must mission Boards minister to the child in the day nursery, in the kindergarten, and in the prim- ary grades, they must have adequate secondary schools for the formative and critical period of adolescence. And these should be planned to reach the young women of the high-born and influential class, as well as the daughters of the poor and of the middle class. The woman's Boards have established a few such schools in the past, and have thus reached families that would not enter an evangelical church. The graduates of these institutions are carrying into their homes the high ideals and Christian principles gained from the instruction and example of consecrated teachers. As the Bible is taught in every grade in most of these mission schools, the Word has been hid in the heart of the student, and has often in later life fulfilled the promise of God, by bring- ing forth the fruits of Christian character and service.
While the public school systems of Latin America have not attained full efficiency, yet they have set new and high standards for education. Christian missions, in order to keep abreast of these growing demands, must greatly expand their educational work, especially in the development of liceos. These should be established on a scale and with an equipment that has not been reached hitherto, involving large expenditures of money, both for an adequate plant and for a faculty, that will be beyond the capacity of any single Board to accomplish alone. The higher the grade of education, the more need is there for union ; equipment is m.ore costly, and an efficient faculty more difficult to secure ; and moreover, the insti- tutions must stand comparison with others which are backed by the unlimited resources of the government. Wom.en's union Christian colleges should be planted in large centers of population, where there are already primary and secondary schools of sufficient size to fur- nish a constituency for them. The Ginling College for
i8o WOMEN'S WORK
Women at Nanking, China, which is owned, controlled and maintained by the woman's missionary Boards of five different Churches, is an illustration of what can be done by Christian cooperation. Such colleges would not only furnish higher education for women on a scale hitherto impossible on the mission field, but would be an object lesson in Christian union.
2. THE SIMILAR NEED FOR EVANGELISM
a. Following up the Elementary School.
While the great preponderance of educational work- done by woman's Boards in Latin America, and indeed in all lands, is such as to fill our hearts with gratitude, yet we feel that these splendid achievements should be supplemented by equally vigorous evangelistic efforts. A missionary in Valparaiso, Chile, makes this effective plea for women evangelists, to follow up the work of the schools: "Every school opened in Latin America means an entrance at once into scores of homes. The teachers cannot do this work — it is not fair to expect that they should. All mission schools are undermanned, in both educational and domestic departments. Most teachers have extra classes or social work for evenings and Sat- urdays. It is physically impossible for them to follow up the avenues of influence opened to them through the school. Take, for example, the Escuela Popular in Val- paraiso, with 300 children in the central school, and 200 more in the five neighborhood schools, scattered over a radius of ten miles. The principal of that school teaches half of the day, and visits and teaches English in each of the neighborhood schools every week; she is without help in the oversight and management of the boarding department, and she holds a weekly normal class for her teachers, a mid-week evangelistic service, and a Sunday school of 100 children on Sabbath morning. Can she work also among the families of the school children? And yet at least one-half of the effectiveness of the Escuela Popular, as a missionary agency, is entirely lost, simply because there has never been a young woman who could give her entire time to following it up.
MISSION BOARDS i8i
The Escuela Popular draws children from the upper middle class who can be reached by the gospel in no other way. Many of them are socially superior to our humble chapel services. Some, having become dis- illusioned in regard to the professions of the dominant Church, have drifted to the extreme of open indifference and godlessness. In the school, each child has his Testament and hymn-book. He takes them home. Who shall open them up, and explain their message to the mothers? The child has advantages which his mother has not, superstition loses its hold upon his opening mind; too often this reacts upon his home and parental authority — he . . . rebels against parental restraint and discipline. The fault is not with the child — it is the misfortune of the mother.
**How often one hears it said, *0 let us work for the children — the old folks are hopeless !' My heart goes out to those hundreds of thousands of women, ignorant and superstitious if you will, but many of them toiling on day after day, faithful to the light they have, uncomplaining, never dreaming of overturning existing social conditions by revolt, sacrificing themselves, that their boys and girls may have advantages they never dreamed of. Shall nothing be done for them?"
b. Home Visitation.
But while the work of following up the students of the mission schools is so urgent and important, yet the task of the woman evangelist is greater than that. One of the Continuation Committee Conferences, held in Asia, 1912- 19 1 3, recommended to woman's Boards working there the organization of groups of women to do evangelistic work under the direction of the missionary Boards, giv- ing especial attention to former students of Christian schools, to the visitation of their homes, and to the ex- tension of work into unoccupied fields.
Home visitation is but another form of evangelistic work, and the Commission's correspondents from the mission field are unanimous in recommending that more
i82 WOMEN'S WORK
of it should be done. In this way, many women can be reached who would never enter an evangelical church. One of the most experienced missionaries says : ''Visiting in the home is one of the very best methods of Christian work. The sick and afflicted in our congrega- tions need to be visited, and the parents of all children in the day schools and in the Sunday school. New families should be followed up and wider relations sought. In many cases the way is open for instruction in the care of children, home hygiene, temperance, in placing good books, and in unnumbered lines of influence. The great aim should be, as in every phase of missionary work, to bring all into personal relation with Jesus Christ as their Savior and friend, and to help to give true ideals of life and work, showing how to make the most of what is in the possession of each family. No kind of work gives better results in bringing people into the church and in stimulating the Christian life of those who are already members. It brings the missionary or Bible woman into closer relations with the people, helping her to enter into their joys and sorrows, and thus to gain a helpful in- fluence over their hearts and lives."
A correspondent writes : *T firmly believe that home visitation is almost the only way to get at the older and aged Mexican women. We reach them in their homes to a certain extent through their daughters when we have their daughters in our schools, but that is only indirectly, and not as forceful as getting at them first hand. The daughter is at home only in vacations, or she teaches or marries and sets up her own home. I should think a visitor's aim would be to make clean, orderly. Christian homes and I believe the results would be aston- ishing if we could have more than one visitor for every sixteen thousand homes, which is about the proportion of ordained missionaries we have to every sixteen thou- sand Mexicans. If we might have one visitor at every mission station, one who knew how to show Mexican women how to be visitors, it might be worth while to ex- periment. Have one trained woman who could give all her time to the work and then with missionary wives and
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native women as assistants, we could create quite a little revolution in the land."
Our large number of Chilean correspondents give this form of work strong emphasis, and speak of the warm welcome they receive in the home. A missionary says : "In all the years I have visited in Chile, I have never been rudely received in a single home, though I have gone to many where the gospel is bitterly opposed."
c. The Use of National Workers.
The use of Latin-American women for this delicate and important work of home visitation is undoubtedly desirable. They know their own people as an Anglo- Saxon can not, and they can often reach them and meet their needs in a way impossible to one of a different race.
An example of efficiency among Latin-American women workers was given by Mrs. F. S. Hamilton, until her recent death, agent of the American Bible Society for Mexico : "Another energetic Bible worker in the capital city is the blind colporteur, Guadalupe Rosillo, who goes fearlessly about offering her Testaments on the streets, in the stores, and houses. When she enters one of the typical tenement houses, consisting of rooms built around a large open court, the children, of whom there are always many, gather around and escort her from door to door, listening to her explanations of the little books she of- fers, and calling others to come and listen to the story. Her great anxiety is that whoever purchases her book should recognize it as a very precious treasure to be studied and heeded and used as a guide to a better life; so when she offers a Testament she at once begins, in her wonderfully musical voice, to describe its contents, telling some of the stories and getting her hearers deeply interested. She has sold 511 books during the year, and that means hard, exhausting work, where money has been so scarce, and poverty so bitter."^
A missionary correspondent in Mexico writes : "There have been some really talented native Bible women, vis- itors and workers. A few have received their training in
* American Bible Society, "Annual Report for 1914," 241.
i84 WOMEN'S WORK
the United States, but the majority of them have learned all they know in the mission school. A number who have proved excellent, Spirit-filled workers, have gained much from association with, and from being tutored by, the American missionaries."
That Latin-American women should be trained for this intimate, personal work seems a most reasonable ser- vice. A Bible woman's training school, opened in some of the great cities, seems a desirable and needed branch of church activity.
In fact, it should be our policy to give these women workers positions of increasing responsibility, and an ef- fort should be made to give those of marked mental and spiritual qualifications an equal rank with that of the foreign missionary ; for it is true of Latin America, as of all the great mission fields of the world, that its ultimate redemption must be wrought out by its own people. The missionaries must feel that they have no right on any mission field, except the right to help in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; their aim should be to make them- selves unnecessary as soon as possible, and their atti- tude toward the work they have toiled so hard to estab- lish should be that of John the Baptist to Jesus of Naza- reth, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
d. Visiting Nurses.
The use of visiting nurses in mission work in Latin America is a new branch of service, but seems to meet with general favor. Mrs. Arthur Yeager, wife of the governor of Porto Rico, writes of the successful begin- ning of this work in that island : "Visiting nurses from the Presbyterian Hospital are doing a peculiar, effectual work here, in and around San Juan. One young woman has made during three months of 191 5 (January, Febru- ary and March), 1131 visits in the homes, treating 130 different patients. She works in the diet kitchen of the hospital in the mornings, and spends three hours every afternoon in outside nursing. A visiting nurse in San Juan has made during these three months 1,118 visits to the sick. She is a graduate nurse, and the Porto Ri-
MISSION BOARDS 185
can doctors find her work very acceptable. She has given out 1,138 quarts of milk and five dozen eggs to the poor children and sick adults. After the terrible fire she dis- tributed clothing to sixty children, and aided the mothers in finding employment. There is a wide field in the island for many visiting nurses."
One woman, for twenty years in missionary work in Peru and Chile, writes : "In Chile, there are no visit- ing nurses. In Peru there are a few in Arequipa and Cuzco, and they have done excellent work in winning the trust and confidence of the people. This line of work is invaluable as a missionary adjunct, and further de- velopment would meet a great need in both countries." A number of Mexican correspondents strongly endorse this branch of service, and urge that district nurses be added to the mission forces there.
In addition to ministries to the sick, especially in the homes of the poor, the visiting nurses could teach moth- ers how to care for infants and children, and give instruc- tion in sanitation and the general laws of health. The visiting nurse is now considered an essential part of an up-to-date municipal equipment; she is surely as neces- sary in the mission station as in the modern city. When day nurseries are established in connection with a kinder- garten or school, the visiting nurse could have them un- der her supervision.
e. Evangelism Through Literature.
Possibly the lack of good literature is one of the greatest weaknesses in missionary work for Latin-Ameri- can women; the whole range of wholesome fiction for young people and stories for children are wanting. There comes from Peru a plea for a woman's maga- zine, voiced by a correspondent : "A Roman Cath- olic priest has said that his Church has full control of Peru because it has the women entirely in its power. If we wish to Vv^in Peru for Christ we must reach the women. The same is true even in a stronger sense of Bolivia, and no doubt applies to all Latin America. While many women here cannot read, those who have been
i86 WOMEN'S WORK
educated enough for that eagerly read all the books and papers they can find. Their intellectual life is starved, and their whole life is very narrow. To relieve this, not only should more books be translated into Spanish and Portuguese, but a real woman's magazine is needed, published for Latin-American women. It should do the work for these women which the great magazines in the United States do for the women of that country, dealing with the problems of the home life especially, and having departments of fiction, hygiene, sanitation, cooking, home decoration, clothing the family, care and training of children, religion, woman's duty toward the public, etc. It should provide wholesome fiction to re- place the bad variety of Spanish novels and stories now extant. While not a church paper, its tone should be decidedly religious, even evangelistic, and it should eventually serve to propagate our religion.
"Hygiene and sanitation as we understand them, are almost unknown among the poorer classes, especially in the interior. Children are very poorly cared for, so that the death rate among them is very high ; this is due to the ignorance of their mothers. They are also poorly trained. Houses here are decorated with furniture and other articles which are neither useful, comfortable, sanitary nor ornamental. These women need to be in- fluenced toward independent thinking; their religion dic- tates to them just what they shall believe and much of what they shall do ; the laws of the country give them very little recognition, and among themselves they have little to talk of except gossip, which makes them afraid to do anything not strictly conventional. They also need good common sense articles treating of many sub- jects to broaden their view and do away with their su- perstitions.
*'The magazine should be a good one, printed on good paper, well illustrated, such as would command the re- spect of all ; if not, it would be likely to fall into dis- favor at the start with the higher class of women, and then it would have difficulty in winning its way. It should be of such a high class and so very practical that
MISSION BOARDS 187
it will be read in spite of its religious department. If well conducted it would soon become very popular, judg- ing from the experience of other publications, so that with subscriptions and advertising it would soon pay for itself. At first all articles would have to be submitted free of charge, but if missionaries and friends at home would take enough interest in the enterprise to send enough for the first numbers, and permission could be secured to make translations from other periodicals, there would be little diiificulty in starting it.
"A competent woman editor, one who is a real mis- sionary with the interest of the work at heart, and who knows the Spanish language and people, a secretary, a business manager, and a board of managers would be necessary. Lima would be a good place for the publishing of the magazine on account of its central location ; also the work of publication should be done right here to arouse the women and draw their attention to our work. Evangelical work has no distinctive enterprise in Peru.
"There is no magazine especially for women in Latin America, so far as I know. All the secular magazines of any kind in Peru and Bolivia are sensational, sensu- ous and often vicious, but they never lack readers."
How helpful would be a series of well written bi- ographies of women, who have been pioneers and leaders in new lines of social service in our day. Who can tell what inspiration to higher thinking and fuller liv- ing might come from well-written biographies of Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth Fry, Frances Willard, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Jane Addams, and o^ other noble women of our times?
CHAPTER VII THE CONCLUSIONS OF THE COMMISSION
I. THREE GENERAL CONVICTIONS
The Commission, after studying the conditions of wo- men and children in Latin America as given in the lit- erature and in the correspondence from many mission- aries and other v^^orkers, have come to the conviction: (i) that the Christian forces now at work in these fields are wholly inadequate, for as yet large areas are un- touched; (2) that a closer relationship of the two Amer- icas should be the earnest desire of all Christians ; (3) that now is the opportune time for advance, for the woman's movement, Christian at the core, of which our missionary work is an integral part, has begun its leav- ening power in Latin fields.
This is a testing time for the womanhood of the Church. Will their work keep pace with the new com- mercial life, with the growth of educational opportuni- ties, with the advance of civic movements opening up to the women of Latin America? If so, the forces must be increased in number and efficiency, and must be backed by greater loyalty, more real sacrifice, and more intelligent prayer on the part of the women in the home church. The responsibility, the privilege, the ability are ours, the victory also may be ours in His name.
188
CONCLUSIONS 189
2. SPECIFIC FINDINGS
a. The Women Commissioned for Service in Latin America should he Gifted, Cultured and Specifi- cally Prepared. In view of the position and influence of Latin-Ameri- can women, and the new opportunities and responsibil- ities opening out before them, we think it imperative that the missionaries sent to those countries should be women of courage, faith, adaptability, special gifts, thorough training and marked spirituality, who will help to de- velop the wealth of material in the women of Latin lands. They should be women of tact, with the ability to be all things to all women, whether the burden bearers of the poorer class, or the women of finished social graces of the upper classes. In a word, we crave the finest and highest type of North American womanhood to go to this great and promising field. They should be women of culture and refinement with the ability to enter into the life of the beauty-loving artistic, impressible Latin women. They should be broad-minded, and should seek a sympathetic approach to those whom they would help. Their methods should be to present the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and let it do its work, rather than to attack the Roman Catholic faith.
The Commission thinks, in addition to a broad and thorough college course, that a study of the history of the Roman Catholic Church, of the Latin-American coun- tries, of the Romance languages, especially the Spanish or the Portuguese language, before going to the field, would also increase efficiency. Some should have train- ing in journalism, because there are many opportunities for the presentation of the work in the .press, and be- cause there is a growing need for the development of Christian literature.
h. Their Number Should Be Increased.
The work must be developed with reference to all phases of social service, education and evangelization. To that end, the number of missionaries and teachers
190 WOMEN'S WORK
must be increased, and the plants now in operation must be enlarged and more fully equipped.
c. Provision Should Be Made for Varied Types of
Educational Service.
The Commission finds the educational work of the woman's Boards so splendid in its results that it would emphasize the need of enlargement, and of better equip- ment, that adequate provision may be made for all ages, from the child of tender years to the woman in the uni- versity. Provision should be made for kindergarten, primary, secondary, vocational, and college training, not forgetting that many must be trained as teachers and many more as social and evangelistic workers.
The opinions of our correspondents vary a good deal in regard to coeducation. Some of the missionaries who believe in it theoretically, doubt the wisdom of using it in Latin America at present ; we have, therefore, no definite recommendation to make, but would trust our teachers on the field to adopt it or not, as the condi- tions surrounding the schools may warrant.
d. Inter-Board Cooperation Is Desirable.
The women of Latin America, in the great tasks be- fore them, should have the best preparation that the Christian nations can give. Since no one Board is able to furnish the facilities and equipment for higher edu- cation that conditions to-day demand, it is recommended that in large centers of population, where there are suf- ficient primary and secondary schools to provide a con- stituency, that the various woman's missionary Boards cooperate to establish woman's union institutions to af- ford the desired higher education.
There should be not only cooperation between women's missionary Societies working in Latin America, but the fullest coordination of the work of men and women in Christian education, with an equitable representation of women in counsel and administration.
e. The Work of Evangelisation Shoidd Be Pressed. Conditions that have been found in the homes of the
children who attend our schools make it evident that
CONCLUSIONS 191
some steps should be taken to increase the evangelistic work done by the women. It should include not only the old lines of Bible-women's work, but also visitation in homes, and following up the students of our mission schools on a scale never before attempted. Every church, chapel and school represents an increasing number of open doors, and every one of them should be entered, and the claims of Him who stands at the door and knocks should be presented.
Not only should there be the personal approach through home visitation and district nursing, but wherever the way is opened, women evangelists should seek to save the women and children, both by teaching and preach- ing. Latin-American women should be trained in larger numbers than ever before to carry Christ's message of love, not only to those in our missions, but to the great unoccupied fields of Latin America.
/. Literature Should Be Freely Utilised.
The ministry of the printed word should be used on a scale never before attempted. This should embrace the issuing of translations of the best books available, and the establishment, as soon as possible, of well edited magazines for women and children.
g. Latin-American Workers Should Be Used in a Greater Degree, Because of the temperamental differences of the races, and the difficulty in acquiring a ready use of the lan- guages, as far as possible Latin-American women should be employed in the social, evangelistic, and educational work of the missions. Lack of training has partly ac- counted for the few that have been used. At many more stations, training schools and conferences should be con- ducted for the native workers and for the wives of the native pastors. It is universally conceded that if the women of Latin America are to be reached and helped in any large way, it must be mainly done by their own countrywomen.
192 WOMEN'S WORK
h. Organized Christian Social Service Should Be Pro- moted.
As an effective means of helping the women of Latin America to a larger outlook and greater efficiency, we recommend active cooperation and participation in the following lines of organized Christian social service :
(i) A cordial cooperation of all woman's missionary agencies with the formation and activities of Young Women's Christian Associations, and of the woman's temperance societies.
(2) The formation of parent-teachers' associations in the Christian schools, where the mothers and teachers can meet at regular times for the study and discussion of problems relating to the child, the family and the home. If possible, in connection with such associations visitors should be employed who are well equipped to enter the homes and there teach the high ideals for which we are striving.
(3) The formation of alumnae associations in the schools that are sufficiently advanced to grant diplomas or degrees. This should be done that the educational and cultural advantages of these more fortunate women may be put into active use for the broadening of the edu- cational ideals, for community betterment and for na- tional advancement.
(4) Since few of the higher class women who are the logical leaders in their communities have been reached by evangelical forces, there should be more definite cooperation in the employment of women of suf- ficient social graces to reach the leading class and to engage their increasing interest in the world move- ments amono- women. Whatever form these societies may take, they should stimulate in the women a social conscience that will impel them to study the new perils to young women, brought about by the education and industrialism of to-day. This study should bring a sense of responsibilitv for the safeguarding of the wo- manhood of the nation. In every instance Latin women should be made the leaders in these movements for they must come to realize that the liberty they enjoy as cit-
CONCLUSIONS 193
izens of republics places heavy responsibilities on them for the solution of the difficult problems in the life of the women of the nation. No greater achievement can be hoped for than that the growing womanhood of Latin America shall find the expression of its larger life in service to her sisters.
i. Cooperation Is Essential.
The great note of unity in service should run through all our work — social, educational and evangelistic, for this is a day of conservation. The urgency of the task should permit of no waste. The Latin people are already familiar with the outward and visible unity of the Ro- man Communion, and no less with the weakness result- ing from the division in that Church in the past. Over- stressing denominationalism will bring a similar weak- ness in our work.
The great task of bringing evangelical Christianity to Latin America cannot be accomplished with divided ranks. It demands the combined forces of Christianity to develop a statesmanlike policy for the accomplishment of the task.
As we push forward to make Jesus Christ King and Saviour of our western hemisphere, we should remember that it can be done only in answer to His prayer — "That they may all be one . . . that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me."
APPENDIX A
CORRESPONDENTS OF THE COMMISSION
ARGENTINA
Mrs. Harry E. Ewing, Buenos Aires.
Miss Carrie A. Hilts (Methodist Episcopal Church), Buenos
Aires. Mrs. B. A, Shuman, Buenos Aires. Mrs. S. H. Strachan (Evangelical Union of South America),
Tandil.
BRAZIL
Mrs. D. G. Armstrong, Bom Successo.
Miss Layona Glenn (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), Rio
de Janeiro. Miss Eliza Perkinson (Methodist Episcopal Church, South),
Petropolis. Dr. Marie Rennotte, Sao Paulo. Mrs. A. C. Salley (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Flori-
anapolis. Miss Ida Schaffer (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), Pira-
cicaba. Miss Sophia Schalch (Methodist Episcopal Church, South),
Piracicaba. Miss L. A. Stradley (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), Pira- cicaba. Notes by a Brazilian Man, also Notes by a Brazilian Woman —
Translated by Miss Glenn.
CHILE
Miss Elizabeth Cronin (Methodist Episcopal Church), Santiago. Mrs. W. A. Shelley (Methodist Episcopal College for Girls),
Santiago. Mrs. C. M. Spining (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.),
Valparaiso.
m
APPENDIX A 195
Mrs. A. R. Stark (British and Foreign Bible Society), Valpa- raiso.
Mrs. A. E. Turner (Paper on Mexico), Valparaiso.
(Twenty-one names listed on paper, sent by Miss Smith. Three contributors not listed.)
COLOMBIA
Miss Martha Bell Hunter (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Barranquilla.
CUBA
Miss Anna M, Barkley (Woman's American Baptist Home Mis- sion Society), Santiago.
Miss Beulah B. Hume (Woman's American Baptist Home Mis- sion Society), Victoria de las Tunas.
Miss Belle Markey, Matanzas.
Miss Frances B. Moling (Directora, Colegio Eliza Bowman), Cienfuegos.
Miss Mabel V. Young (Woman's American Baptist Home Mis- sion Society), El Cristo.
MEXICO
Miss Ellen After (Woman's Missionary Council, Methodist Epis- copal Church, South), San Luis Potosi.
Miss Blanche B. Bonine (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Mexico City.
Miss Jessie L. P. Brown (Christian Woman's Board of Mis- sions), Piedras Negras.
Miss Esther Case (Woman's Missionary Council, Methodist Epis- copal Church, South), Mexico City.
Mrs. C. E. Conwell (American Baptist Home Mission Society), Mexico City.
Miss Effa M. Dunmore (Methodist Episcopal Church), Guana- juato.
Mrs. William Wallace (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Coyoacan.
Miss Jennie Wheeler (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Saltillo.
Miss Victoria Wikman (Woman's American Baptist Home Mis- sion Society), Puebla.
One unknown contributor.
PERU
Mrs. J. A. MacKnight, Lima.
The Rev. W. T. T. Millham (Evangelical Union of South
America), Lima. Mrs. H. A. Nordahl (Methodist Episcopal Church), Callao.
PORTO RICO
Mr. Marshall C. AUaben (Woman's Board of Home Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), New York City.
196 WOMEN'S WORK
Miss Bertha Lacock (Christian Woman's Board of Missions), Bayamon.
Miss Mary O. Lake (Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society), Ponce.
Miss Adell N. Martin (Woman's American Baptist Home Mis- sion Society), Caguas.
Miss Nora E. Siler (Christian Woman's Board of Missions), Bayamon.
URUGUAY
One unknown contributor.
OTHERS
Miss E. Jean Batty (formerly of Buenos Aires Young Women's Christian Association), Providence, R. I.
Miss Clementina Butler (formerly missionary in Mexico), Prov- idence, R. I,
Miss Florence Nichols, Lynn, Mass.
Miss Martha Nutt, New Orleans, La.
Miss Mary L. Thomas, Ft. Smith, Ark.
Miss Lois Joy Hartung (Methodist Episcopal Church), Puebla.
Miss Elma Irelan (Christian Woman's Board of Missions), Piedras Negras.
Miss Fannie Malone (Christian Woman's Board of Missions), Piedras Negras.
Dr. Andres Osuna (Director of Public Instruction, Federal Dis- trict), Mexico City.
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUS- SION OF THE REPORT
At the Meeting of the Congress on Wednesday, February 16, 1916
AGENDA FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE REPORT
I. In view of the changing social customs and industrial conditions as they affect the life of women, what should the Christian agencies do to safeguard the welfare of the com- munity? Chap. V, page 29.
II. How may Christian ideals and the Christian spirit most profoundly and extensively influence home life? Chap. Ill, page 12.
III. What can be done to correlate the work so that men and women may together face the task of reaching all classes of people and bring all the work to the highest state of effi- ciency? Chap. VI, paragraph 1, page 35.
IV. In what ways can the present methods of education of women in Latin America, as conducted under the auspices of missionary agencies, be improved so as to make them contribute more effectively (1) to the home and community life, (2) to the national aspirations and ideals, (3) to the new industrial condi- tions and requirements, (4) to the developing church. Chap. IV, page 35.
Considerations of space have made it necessary to abbreviate the addresses and remarks made in the course of the presenta- tion and discussion of this Report. In doing this the attempt has been made to preserve everything that throws light upon the subjects considered in the Report. It has not been found possible in many cases to submit the report of the addresses to those who delivered them for their revision.
198
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT ON WOMEN'S WORK.
Miss Belle H. Bennett of Richmond, Kentucky, Secretary for Women's Work of the Methodist Church, South, introduced the report as follows : I shall take but a brief time to outline the report which is in your hands. Let me express the obligation of the Commission to Dr. Ida Harrison and to Dr. Irene Meyers for their important shares in producing it, as well as to many others.
The introduction declares that it is the first report of the kind which has been attempted at any great missionary conference. The Commission had no precedents and little literature on which to rely. During the past year there have probably been pub- lished more and abler books on South America than in any previous five, or perhaps ten years. But most of these books had nothing to say with regard to woman. She has been prac- tically a negligible quantity and quality in the scientific litera- ture of the world until this Congress was held.
The Report begins with the pioneers of Latin-American Mis- sions, considering only a few out of the many. I was in Brazil three years ago and heard men, now acknowledged leaders of South America in politics, education and literature, who spoke with the greatest reverence of Miss Watts, who was their honored teacher. We next dwell upon the education of womanhood in Latin America, despite all that has been so well stated in the report on education. Dr. Meyers brings out many details we need to know better with regard to educational work in Latin America. No educational system, however well it looks on paper, makes an educational spirit nor does it guarantee an educated nation or community. While in South America re- cently, I passed magnificent school plants, with a student body that was scarcely worth while. I also went into many institu- tions where the faculty was unworthy of the fine plant which
199
200 WOMEN'S WORK
had been entrusted to them. In too many institutions through- out Latin America reports are made for the reader. They are truly "scraps of paper." The chapter discusses coeducation in the government schools. In Latin America, as in t"he United States of North America, the school room has been the first professional opportunity open to women. All over that land, as in our own land, women are entering the school room, but many of them are not prepared for their work. One of Latin America's greatest needs is an abundance of thoroughly cultured and well trained teachers. Notice what the report has to say about normal schools in Argentina and in the other republics. A great effort is being made for education. Now these normal schools are often crowded with women. In one, in the very heart of Rio de Janeiro, I spent a quiet day, and of the more than a thousand students only forty were young men. The others were all young women. In the graduating class there were five young women and three of them were from one of the mission schools. In that land, as in our own, women are making an effort to become teachers that they may be able to support them- selves and their families. Others, especially in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, are establishing commercial and industrial schools. I found a very fine school of this type in the city of Rio de Janeiro. At its head was a woman of refinement and culture, belonging to one of the best Portuguese families of Rio. Her social standing brought into the school some young women who otherwise would not have gone. Economic independence is a live issue all over the world. Some have said here that woman is the real key to the evangelization of Latin America. If we can utilize as leaders in education and in social service these high- bred, cultured women of Latin America we can solve the prob- lem of reaching the people effectually.
The girl in Latin America is in the hands of her mother almost exclusively until she is ten or twelve years of age. The mother has the right to control her education, invariably con- trols her religious and social life and according to many wit- nesses has the right to determine her marriage. The girl in North A.merica has much more independence, perhaps too much, but in Latin America the clinging together of the child and mother makes it absolutely imperative that, if we would win South America to the Lord Jesus Christ, we must win the motherhood of that great land. Of the education of the upper classes let me say just a word. What we need in South America, if we would reach the leading people, are splendid school plants that will attract attention. They are accustomed to beautiful homes and to magnificent buildings. Our insignificant little school plants do not seem to them well equipped. Greater attention to ex- ternals will be a really profitable investment. Some have said that many women, especially in Chile, are to be found in the state universities. I do not believe that there is any great num- ber of them that enter the universities except for professional
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 201
courses. At least I could not find them. I pass now to social service. It was the desire of this Commission from the very beginning to indicate a way whereby the North American wor men might enable their Southern sisters to join in this great movement for uplift. This must be done by reaching their natural leaders. A class system controls Latin America as per- haps no other region, unless it be in the Orient. Along with many high-bred, cultured ladies there are great masses of wo- men who have had no education but appeal to us by their great needs, which demand womanly hearts and consciences. But their appeal is not alone to the women of more favored lands. As the great apostle Paul acknowledged that he was indebted to Greek, Hebrew and barbarian, is it not true that we all, men and women ahke, are debtors to motherhood and womanhood and bound to make them reach fullest fruition?
Rev. Juan Orts Gonzalez (Presbyterian Church in Cuba, Sagua la Grande) : I would like to mention two good reasons for the work of women for women. The first is the power of the confessional in Spanish-speaking homes. Through it the priest rules quietly and secretly and gets at every section of society. No Protestant clergyman can possibly duplicate this sort of influence. Again, Latin Americans have a very exalted idea of personal honor. They will put up with almost anything else, but they cannot forgive anything that implies a lack of honor. In family life in the best society this means an unwill- ingness to allow outsiders to have any private conversation with the women. It would be considered something that could not be done. Thus it is that men cannot do the work that must be done for women. Women must do it. I know well the mass of women, high and low, in Spanish-speaking countries. There is much sweetness and fineness about them, and yet a firmness in maintaining standards that cannot be matched in any way. What- ever we plan on this behalf must be done by women if it is to succeed.
Srta. Elisa Cortes (The Y. W, C. A., Buenos Aires, Argen- tina) : Probably every one has read of the white slave traffic we must constantly fight in Buenos Aires. It is a never-ending menace to those who come to Argentina as strangers. Our main resource in meeting this danger is the travelers' aid department in our Young Women's Christian Association. Through it we keep the girls from Europe who for economic reasons or because they wish to see the world or are attracted by tales about Argen- tina come to Buenos Aires. They start without a knowledge of Spanish or of the country. Many a girl has reached the city with perhaps a single pound in her purse. We have a secretary who gives part of her time to meeting such travelers. She wel- comes this girl, makes her feel that she has a friend in the city, and brings her to the Young Women's Christian Association Building, where we try to make her feel at home. We never talk about our boarders there, but say "transients" and "our
202 WOMEN'S WORK
family." She becomes really a part of our family. Our employ- ment secretary studies her abilities and helps her to find a posi- tion which will give her economic freedom, A similar service is being rendered to the young women of Argentina. When one writes to us that she thinks of coming to Buenos Aires, whether she is looking for work cv is a teacher who comes to take final examinations, we make her a part of our family. So in case of students who are taking professional courses at the University, they too may become a part of our family. When these '^irls come they are taken around, so that they may know both the attractions and the dangers of the city. They are made to feel entirely at home, and yet are quickly given their share of re- sponsibility, as in a real family, for the good fellowship and benefit of all. Our lunch room likewise meets a great need. We make it possible for young women to come to our lunch room at the building instead of going to a milk shop. We have a comfortable rest room and serve an attractive lunch for 45 cents, Argentine. There is a piano and a reading room as well as a safe guardianship from the dangers to which any unprotected young woman is exposed. These advantages few can realize who do not live in Latin America.
Mrs. Theodore S. Pond (Presbyterian Church in U. S, A,, Caracas, Venezuela) : It was said here, a day or two ago, that mission work in Colombia and Venezuela has had meagre results, considering the long occupancy of these fields. Knowing the hardness and difficulties and the inadequate way in which they have been occupied, I do not consider the results gained meagre. Much has been accomplished ; and far from being disheartened and discouraged, I see a bright and hopeful outlook. In visiting Barranquilla, on the way to this Congress, I was impressed by what had been accomplished there in twenty-one years, particu- larly in the work of the schools. It only needs following up in the homes. The Presbyterian mission in Venezuela had, up to three years ago, only one missionary family and now has but two. No great sweeping success can be chronicled, but much prejudice has been broken down, and the doors are wide open. The opportunities for woman's work in Caracas are very great. We need a boarding school there badly. In our two day schools the Bible is taught. They are really Sunday schools, open every morning every day of the week. The children from both Roman Catholic and Protestant families are taught the Bible. They are taught to pray to God in the name of Jesus. Some of them come to our home, where they are taught Old Testament his- tory, the life of Christ and the way of salvation. No child leaves our school without a saving knowledge of the truth, and many of them are effective, though unappointed missionaries. House to house visiting is systematically carried on, not only by the missionaries but by the native Christian women, who go by twos. Wherever possible they read a passage from the Bible, interpret it and offer prayer. Then they distribute tracts or
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 203
Christian literature, both in the homes and on the streets. We have developed some industrial work among the poor women, hoping to keep them through economic independence from lives of sin and shame. If we could dispose of the finished work satisfactorily, we could help to-day a hundred women instead of twenty or thirty. While they are thus working, the opportunity is seized for presenting the Bible and many other important lessons to them. There is great need for visiting nurses, for hospitals, for dispensaries, and work of this kind. We have good doctors in Caracas, but no nurses, and the sick are always with us. The physicians tell us that one-half of the children born in Caracas die before they are five years old. A quarter of that number die not because of the climate, but because of the ignorance of the mothers. \^'e need greatly a teacher who could train these ignorant young women.
Miss Clarissa H. Spencer (World's Committee, Young Wo- men's Christian Association. New York City) : If any one at any time knows of Latin American young women or girls who are coming to the United States to live or to study, who would like to have the Young ^Yomen's Christian Association take an interest in helping them, send their names and the date of their arrival or their addresses at home or in North America to the National Board, 600 Lexington Ave., New York City. It is our business and very great pleasure to be of any service to them. I have unfortunately never visited Latin America, but wish to say a word of our experience as an Association movement in Latin Europe, where we have studied the problems involved in the care of young women. The section of the Report relating to Christian social service (pages 163 to 174) in Latin America sug- gests one remark. In many of the problems which agitate our Anglo-Saxon world of women, the strong Christian women of Latin Europe take little interest at present, but just as soon as we placed emphasis upon social service, these, ladies were aflame with interest. Some of the finest contributions at our World Conference were made by leaders from Latin Europe whose hearts were very tender toward the social problem, social injustice against women, and the special wrongs of the working girl. In France they recognize that a girl should be prepared not only for her life as a business woman or as a working woman, but also for her life in a home as wife and mother. They also have a wonderful plan for training them in saving and in keeping money. In many ways these French ladies set a fine standard.
The Association found just a few years ago, that it had to face this woman's movement, for it was really a movement of women who were trying to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, and had been brought about in many countries by Christian teach- ing, prayer and service, so that as Christian women, v/e could not stand apart from it, if we were really to be true to our re- sponsibilities to women. We find that our members in Latin Europe are very alive to the responsibilities of Christian women.
204 WOMEN'S WORK
If the Christian social gospel set forth in this report is put before the union of Latin America, I for one feel sure that there will be a response. It will uncover leadership ; it will make new friends for all Christian enterprises and will help to promote a new order of things.
Miss Annie Coope (Missionary to the San Bias Indians, Re- public of Panama) : The San Bias Indians are located on a small island off the coast of the Republic of Panama about one hundred miles from Colon. Six years ago I went there at the request of an Indian chief, who was willing that I should teach the Bible and English. The priest in control there heard about my presence and sent two Indians with rifles to order me to get off the island. He said to me that he was there to reach the people and to help them, and that I had no right to be there at all. I replied I had a perfect right there, because I was sent of God to preach the everlasting Gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ which had saved me and would save the Indians. He forced me to leave the island, but as I went away, I told him : "You have done your best to put me off the island, but by the grace of God I will be back here again and you will be out of it." All that has come true. He is now out and I am in. I have a little church with a wooden frame which was built by the priest who was there, but I occupy it and he is elsewhere. The island is very small with a population of about six hundred. I do a great deal of work with the children, hav- ing two schools on the main island, and a small one on another island a little way off, where there are about fifty scholars. In all I have about one hundred and seventy boys and seventy girls. There is one Christian man there now who has given his heart to Jesus. He can speak and read and write English. He was taken by the captain of a vessel when a boy and given a little education. There are many Indians in the mountains who are coming down occasionally to visit the island. I do not know how many Indians there are in that region, because no white man is allowed to go among them. President Poras of Panama told me when I was going out there that I would better not go because the Indians would kill me. T said: "Well, sir, I am Roing in the name of Jesus with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God." When about a year ago. His Excellency risked his neck among the Indians and knocked at my door, he found me all right. Some day I hope to get up amons: the Indians in the mountains to preach the Gospel to them. Perhaps one of the boys with me will become their messenger. I am so glad that I have had the privilege of living with those dear people. They are eager to learn. They come to my school in the morn- ing as soon as the sun rises and r^ay sometimes until eleven or twelve o'clock at night. For the first two months I was there I taught school three times a day, and had some private scholars besides. As soon as one group of children went out, another group came in. They seemed to think that I could live without
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 205
eating. I almost live by teaching, for I have never been sick. Let me tell you something of the results of this work. Therfe are results in sanitation and morals just as well as other results. When I went to that village the houses were so close together that you could hardly walk in a straight line, but now we have broad streets and fences. There were ten saloons on the island, but now there is not one, I teach the Bible a great deal to these people, and they like it more than anything else. We call our school a Bible School. If I ask the people "Which book will you have?" They say, "I like the Bible. I like to read about Jesus." The women at first did not want the girls to come, but after talking to the chief, he said to the people, "You want your boys to be educated. Then you want your boys to be married. They will want wives that can read and write just like themselves." Now I have twelve married women that come sometimes and they are doing very well. My experience shows- what plain straight- forward teaching and preaching can accom- plish.
Rev. a. B. Howell (American Baptist Home IMission Society, Oriente, Cuba) : I feel especially qualified to speak on the work of women for women, because in the first place the two per- sons who have had the largest influence on my life were wo- men, a Roman Catholic mother, and a Sunday-school teacher. The opportunities which are oflFered the teacher and missionary in making known the truth of the Gospel in Latin America are magnified in importance, if we believe that Romanism con- siders the women its true champion and defender. As long as Romanism can keep its hold on the women it has no fear of losing its power upon the men. The thing to do is to get the Gospel into the home. The way to the heart of any parent is through the child. The teacher in the school wins the love and confidence of the child and the child brings the teacher into its home under conditions of honor, esteem and confidence, which she could never control as a missionary alone. There is another approach to every woman by the way of sisterly comfort in sorrow and affliction. What comfort has a Roman Catholic mother in the sad hour of bereavement? Her only hope for that dead one is the hopeless and distressing thought of purga- tory! Is it any wonder that a broken-hearted mother will give all that she has. even pawn her clothes, in order to have the means of mitigating the punishment of her loved ones in purga- tory? There is no better opportunity than the hours of bereave- ment to show the real teaching of Jesus Christ about the future life and that of the Church of Rome.
The Extension of Christian Ideals
Mrs. Wm. B. Allison (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A.,
Guatemala City) : When I went to Guatemala City I had no
way of knowing how to go and buy things and had to depend
upon servants. I soon found out there was a servant prjDblem
2o6 WOMEN'S WORK
even in Guatemala. But I also made up my mind that through it there was a point of contact for me with these people; while these people were in my home as servants I tried to get Christ into their lives so that they would live Christ before the women who employed them. Well, these servants went out from our home into prominent homes in Guatemala. It was not very long before I began to hear of their influence. One would have thought, as the applications came in, that I was running an employment bureau. I was often asked if I knew where more servants could be found like those. It proved to be a very good way of making the lower and upper classes get together. You can tell a home in Guatemala, where one of our faithful Chris- tian servants has gone, because they preach Christ through their service just as well as a pastor. We have a prayer meeting in connection with my Bible Class. A Christian servant went into the home of a sister of the ambassador of Guatemala to the United States. He at one time was very much opposed to the priesthood. This servant went into her home and was set to work. At first she made the beds very well, and then be- came careless. One day the ambassador became very angry about his poorly made bed. He called up the servant to scold her. She denied making it that morning. As she went on with her work she felt very badly because she had told that lie. She confessed it to me and finally went to the ambassador himself and told him that she had told him a lie. He was surprised at her coming to tell him, and asked her why she did it, and she said : "Because I am not going to our Bible meeting with a sin-scarred conscience and a bad heart, so I felt I ought to come and tell you." Is it strange that that man afterwards respected Christianity? The mother of that home came and wanted to have prayer, and brought the girl with her, kneeling down and praying together with the servant girl.
We can do a very important work by getting at the children through the nurses. In Guatemala the nurses have a great deal to do with the children, so that there is a peculiar opportunity to spread the gospel in that way. Women of this class do not work as common servants in a home, so we have organized a nurses' training school with a small hospital in connection. There we have five girls ; three will soon form our first graduating class. In our girl's school we have also many girls who are being trained to go out and live as Christians in their own homes.
Miss Mary Irene Orvis (Christian Woman's Board of Mis- sions, San Antonio, Texas) : It is undeniable that it is harder to reach the Latin-American women than the Latin-American men. While the man goes abroad with his mind open for things that are new, she stays at the entrance of her home guarding its traditions and its religion from foreign encroachment. The key that will open that door to the gospel message is what we must find. One approach which has been scarcely mentioned in
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 207
this Congress, is the free clinic with its station for the free distribution of milk and ice for children. We have tried this in El Instituto Mexicano. In that country only eighteen out of every hundred children born live to reach the age of six years. There are many causes for this. One of the principal causes is the ignorance of the mother and her lack of proper food for the child. In our free clinics we open our door to all. We have doctors who come in from the outside to examine these people and prescribe for them. We have a resident nurse to prepare the modified milk as each child needs it. While the people are at the station, waiting their turn to see the doctor and the resident nurse, the other young woman of the institu- tion walks about among them, speaking to this one and that, inquiring after their homes or their children or about the parents, telling them what they should do, and pointing out what they ought not to do. We have received at our doors women bearing in their arms their very sick children and saying, "Sehorita, I am a Catholic, but my neighbor said that did not make any difference here. My child is very sick and I do not know wh^t to do. May I come in?" Later, we have seen that same woman leave our doors with joy in her heart, bearing medicine and food needed for her child, and calling down upon us the blessings of all her saints. In all my experience in this work I have never known a home of any of the people who came to the clinic to be closed to our workers. We have been trusted and honored guests in their homes, whenever we had time to go there. An- other effective approach to the hearts and homes of the people is their growing interest in societies and clubs. One of the most effective has been the Charity Club. Charity is no new thing in Latin America and the grace with which the Latin-American woman dispenses charity is one of her most lovely characteristics. So we have brought together women of different creeds and nationalities to join in preparing clothing and food for the poor. In these societies we have been able to discuss at first all the problems that affect the home. The wise leader has a mosr marvelous opportunity. I appeal to the mission Boards repre- sented here to send us first-rate leaders for Latin America. We do not want the women who cannot be used anywhere else, but only those who can give their sisters some idea of their heritage as daughters of the great king.
Miss Elm a Irelan (Christian Woman's Board of Missions, Piedras Negras, Mexico) : Much has been said about finding a contact with people we wish to reach. There is another method which is quite readily utilized in Latin America. I refer to the care of orphaned and deserted children. All Latins deeply ap- preciate Christian charity. Rich Mexicans give bazaars and balls for the sake of charity. Even little children often go without some sweetmeat in order to spend the equivalent for some worthy cause. Not only is there the sweetest kind of hospitality in the homes of Latin women, but often their doors are open
2o8 WOMEN'S WORK
to whole families of relatives or other poor people who may need them. This sheltering hospitality is given sometimes, when Anglo-Saxons can see only useless indulgence. But sometimes this hospitality seems to disappear and the children, especially girls, become the servitors of their supposed benefactors; girls who should have no greater responsibilities than those of the class-room are made to serve in hot kitchens or to act as nurses for those who have learned to treat them as inferiors. One contribution to the solution of the problem of the care of such waifs is the establishment of Christian orphanages. It is my honor to be the superintendent of one such home, now only two years old. From the beginning of our work it has found favor with all classes of people in the community in which we live. One woman said she did not know that Protestants did this charity work. We have been helped by government officials, and by each of the three political parties which have controlled Piedras Negras since the beginning of this work. Only one has imposed duties on the articles of food and clothing brought across the Rio Grande, and then some concession was made because of the character of our work. We have been asked to look after individual girls from time to time. We have saved some of them from immoral conditions and others from filth, all of them from some form of suffering. Six lost their fathers because of the war; seven were taken from immoral surround- ings ; four were being raised as little servants in homes that were not their own ; one was saved out of the streets ; two others were children of very poor widows; three out of the twenty- two have been taken away because official objection was made to our keeping them. Three beautiful little girls were saved only by the fact that we had signed a contract that they should be left with us until they had completed their education. We found it was not best to send our girls to public schools or to private schools, so we started our own school last year, with but one teacher. Now we have five teachers and over a hundred chil- dren are in attendance at this school. Ten out of the twenty-two girls have, at their own request, given themselves to the Savior, no persuasion having been used on them. It shows the oppor- tunity.
Miss Mabel Head (The Committee on Cooperation in Latin America, Nashville, Tenn.) : All who honestly face the situation on the foreign field must admit that there is much wastage, that our work has not been planned to secure the highest efficiency. This is in part due to the lack of a definite policy, in part a lack of support or of sufficient well-trained workers, but there is also too much overlapping of the Christian forces in the face of great unreached areas. I do not speak of the results that come from a lack of correlation and unity of effort among denomina- tions, but of a sadder waste that comes from the failure of different agencies in a single denomination to work together. Dr. Cook spoke the other day of the unbalanced situation with
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 209
reference to boys' and girls' schools. Let me illustrate from an- other phase of work. In a certain town the Board I represent has a large and flourishing girls' school. In the same town there is, in its poorest part, a small church served by a good man who has had few advantages. That church cannot properly serve the religious interests of the school. Not far distant is a smaller town where there has recently been built a good church, served by a strong, vigorous, earnest young man, who has a small, struggling congregation of rather illiterate people. The last men- tioned church and pastor could cultivate the interests of the girls' school successfully, and the church and pastor first mentioned would do well the work in the smaller town. The results at present are not attained as they should be. The woman's Board that planted the school and the general Board responsible for the church did not have any united policy. They never sat down together to study the whole field and plan the work, so that it would fit together each part strengthening every other part. I would to God that our Board was the only one open to this criticism, but we have plenty of company. The Boards at home are really responsible, not the missionaries. Too many decisions are made and policies fixed in sheer ignorance of the real situations. Men are needed on women's Boards to give the man's viewpoint, just as women are needed on men's Boards to give the woman's view-point. There is often in women's Boards a lack of due consideration of those things that men would see and bring to the fore, and there is just as surely in Boards made up of men a lack of attention to those things that women would see and bring to the fore, call it good house- keeping or what you will. Just here let me say that there is evidently some misunderstanding abroad about women's Boards, for I have heard it said that there are no such Boards. But there are several independent Boards wholly responsible for the conduct of the work. Some send out both men and women. Others only nominally supervise the missionaries at work and still are merely auxiliary to the Board made up of men. If women need to take up the education of boys in a larger way, and some are ready to do it, then they must send out men for such work. Our own woman's Board, when it was an indepen- dent Board had boys in the schools up to the age of twelve, but there was an understanding that we should not do any work for older boys. The time has surely passed when women and their Societies are only collecting agencies for Boards made up of men. One woman now at this Congress, the officer of a large Woman's organization in a church where the mission Board is made up of men, said to me that she has been asked to repre- sent her Board in one of the regional conferences. She said, "How can I represent the Board? I am not a part of it. I only know the meagre published reports and a little that some of the good men think to tell me." Strangely enough a man who is a member of that same mission Board said in speaking of one of
210 WOMEN'S WORK
those unbalanced parts of the work in a certain field, "This school has been overdeveloped. This would not have been done had some women been consulted." I suggested that they appoint women on that Mission Board, but he replied that it would be a very radical step. Many a splendid advance movement on the part of general Boards, and on the part of women's Boards, has failed of its largest fruition because not planned coopera- tively. Many strong women seek fields of labor, such as clubs and charities, where they have a chance for administration. Their power should be used, especially in planning the location and development of girls' schools. A Board of men and women has been constituted to control and conduct the union educational enterprises in Nanking, China, consisting of a university, a woman's full-grade college, a medical school and a theological school. This seems wise and right in the face of our great enterprises which demand the best in all of us. I renew a plea for a laying aside of all prejudice and for a reorganization that will enable all of us of both sexes to do all of which we are capable in the full administration of foreign missions.
Miss Margaret E. Hodge (Board of Foreign Missions, Pres- byterian Church, U. S. A., Philadelphia) : I am in much sym- pathy with the remark of the Report about the need of whole- some reading for women, girls and children. Some one re- marked that the mission presses have only printed books of a religious character for girls. It is wrong for us to suppose that they do not want or need anything else. Farther along in the report a plea is made for a magazine for women. I was trying to picture what that would mean to the young people of Latin America. I know how my early reading influenced me. I read almost everything that came my way, except the purely religious reading of the preposterous sort that was current in those days. Now many Latin-American girls go through the schools with- out having anything but religious literature. Their minds are awakening, but we have no real, varied mental food for them, A fine example of cooperation in the United States is found in the federation of women's Boards. A committee has been ap- pointed by it to study this whole matter of literature for chil- dren. They are planning to cooperate on a magazine in China. They have announced that it has been financed for the first year and that already there is a subscription list of over two thousand. They are also successfully meeting the problem of translation and now are already on the way to getting original work. Miss Laura White of China has solved that problem to a degree. When she was asked to edit the magazine for girls, she discovered that it would be more than she could do by herself. So she said, "I cannot do it but I will make my girls help me." She, therefore, introduced a course in which the girls were to study carefully some of the good stories in English, then to translate them, and finally to reproduce them idiomatically in Chinese. And in this same magazine she is planning to get the girls to put their
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 211
literary acquisitions into form suitable for Chinese children. Think of the value of this work. When we mention the Youth's Companion, what a picture it raises ! Grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, the sons and the daughters all seated together around the table reading! This is the ideal Christian home, and we need literature that will fit into it.
The Nationalizing Value of Mission Schools. Dean Irene T. Myers, Ph.D. (Christian Woman's Board of Missions, Transylvania University, Lexington. Ky.) : In what has come to us here from those who speak out of their experi- ence with regard to Latin America. I have been most impressed by the revelation of the likeness of the men of Latin America to the men of North America. Whether we are fundamentally Latin,^ or Teuton, or Indian in race, we are all American ; the consciousness of our likeness must strengthen the consciousness of our brotherhood. This continent is ours, and the responsi- bility for it is ours. May it be that we see it in the large ! That we lose not the vision of the whole under the heavy pressure of the parts ! On this continent we have wrought into our govern- ments ideals that are akin. We all aspire to freedom in the expression of ourselves, whether politically, or intellectually, or religiously; and although we of the North may work towards it in one way, and you of the Latin race in another, and in yet another, the ideal is the same. We are republics. Our political tendency is democratic. Our religious tendency is, or will be democratic, for the spirit of a nation will harmonize the char- acter of its institutions. We are not only alike in these large ideals, but in many of our experiences. The great Latin-Ameri- can problem of illiterate Indians calls up the lesser but similar problem among the blacks of the southern portion of North America and among the neglected whites of the Appalachian Mountains. These likenesses bring us together to discuss the ways of mutual helpfulness. As regards the schools in Latin lands, we should remember that our great ideals are the same, and that poor or inadequate results may be due to methods which are out of harmony with the spirit of the country. High national ideals and aspirations must germinate and grow in strong men and women. Only such can mature them. Nature has decreed that the early development of the body, the first pointing of the mind, the first molding of the spirit, shall lie ih the woman's hand. How can she form and fashion these in finest fashion unless she is taught? Unless she has the most enlightened aspiration, how can she kindle it in her son? Un- less she be brought to the level of the best, how can the nation go forward? I covet for woman the power to lead the child up through his youth, by these various ways, into the presence of God. That our mission schools in Latin America shall fit the future mothers there to discharge, ifi a measure, this obliga- tion is our ideal. To teach people to think, to demand that they
212 WOMEN'S WORK
think, is to start them on the way. When women are stirred to thought, there should stand before them intelligent leaders to show them God. Perhaps this seems afar from the subject, but if our mission schools can energize their teaching with such aspirations, and can develop women who have those ideals, the nation will be the beneficiary. Only through women may these ideals be estabhshed.
Miss Laura Temple (Methodist Episcopal Church, Mexico City) : About ten years ago our work in Mexico City moved from quarters it had outgrown and we were able to have a large modern building for our work. Attracted by these con- ditions, children were brought to us from many higher families, from people whom we had not before been able to reach. We were glad for this wider opportunity that came to us. At the recommendation of the District Superintendent, we enlarged our course of study which before had included primary, superior and five-year normal ;-ourses. We included a four-year college course, and we launched out upon this broader way. But we realized that our work was incomplete, that there was a great mass of young women and girls in Mexico we were not reach- ing, the children of the laboring classes. Many of these people were not prepared to send their children to school, and those who could send them for a time could not permit them to re- main there more than two or three years. These girls left school unprepared to meet the demands of life. You who have lived in Mexico know something of the homes of the laboring classes, and realize how few the opportunities of the children are. We felt, therefore, that we must meet their needs. We were fortu- nate in securing about seven acres of land in the suburbs of Mexico City, where we began an industrial work for children of the poorer classes in Mexico. We erected a building with a capacity for sixty boarding pupils and brought down from Phila- delphia a director trained at Drexel Institute. Before long our capacity was crowded to the limit. Children came to us who had never slept upon a bed or sat at a table or known anything of modern labor devices. They were delighted to receive the instruction that we were able to give them. We knew that when they went back, they would revolutionize their homes. We also started a training class to prepare teachers to go out Into other schools and give this training. We have some young women from the best social circles in Mexico, who walk out two miles to take this training. In the afternoon students from the gov- ernment normal school of Mexico come to take this work. The school meets a great and obvious need ; training these young women and young men of an abundant but neglected class, so that they will be prepared to take their real place in life.
Organization and Cooperation in Woman's Work. Mrs. Charles L. Thompson (Woman's Board of Home Mis- sions. Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., Orange, N. J.) : We,
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 213
assembled here, are trying to think for and with one another and to think constructively. Whenever women have Deen organ- ized, they have aimed to do. I do not forget that band of mili- tants of which we have heard. However, I have heard no objec- tion raised to the part that the women have had in manufactur- ing bombs for use in this destructive war, organized and carried on by the men. The fact of the organization of women in other lands for constructive work has made me wonder v/hether it might not be possible in the Latin lands of which we are think- ing, to get hold of the women. Several speakers have said that the women of the upper classes in South x^merica are very will- ing to do organized work for general social welfare. Would it not be possible to induce some of them to organize for higher ends, as the women in North America organize? In North America women have by their organizations learned to do things in a way that would not have been possible had they not been organized. It might be a good plan if the women's Boards could take more account than they do of such women. The Society I represent, in its work among the Spanish-speaking people of the southwestern part of the United States has worked out cer- tain ideas in Porto Rico, and some Spanish women are helping in our work. Their help is indirect, and still they are organized and are taking considerable interest in the work in Porto Rico. Possibly we should make the women of Latin America feel a certain share of interest and responsibility in the work done for their countries, thereby bringing unto our counsels some of the natural leaders.
The Closing Words. Mrs Ida W. Harrison, LL.D. (Lexington, Ky.) : My closing words are necessarily a supplement to what has gone before and are therefore necessarily impromptu. The one time when we are told that Jesus was deeply moved in his spirit was when His critics came to Him and asked of Him a sign from heaven. They were already familiar with the signs from heaven that were daily unrolled before them. What they lacked was the open heart and diligent mind to read the meaning of the wonderful times in which they lived, and his comment was "Ye hypocrites, you can already read these signs from Heaven, but you cannot discern the signs of the times." This reproach of Jesus to these people of old might be uttered afresh to every generation since. It is always easier to accept the lore of the fathers and the traditions of the past than to understand and interpret the signs of our ovv^n times. Our God is a God of things as they are, and there is no place in His work for easy acceptance of things of the past and for blindness to the condi- tions of the days in which we live. No generation since the days when Our Lord was on the earth has witnessed swifter changes and greater needs for adjustment to new conditions than the difficult and complex times in which we live. The
214 WOMEN'S WORK
Commission on Women's Work has attempted to pitch its report in the key of our own days, to do its work and thinking in twentieth-century terms. The meeting last night emphasized the home as the citadel of Latin life. We must not forget that women and children are thrust out of the home under modern conditions. The public schools and state universities are taking the place of education in the home and of the select private school. From six years of age to twenty or more, the child passes from kindergarten to university, from one highly special- ized teacher to another. The old question, "What manner of child shall this be?" must be answered by the State, as well as by the parents of the child to-day. How important, then, that women should be in touch with those who control education !
Women are thrust out of the home by modern industrial con- ditions. Oliver Schreiner says, "Fully three-fourths of the an- cient and honorable occupations of women have shrunk away forever and the remaining one-fourth still tends to shrink." These modern changes have brought perils especially to young women. The Commission advises cooperation with the many large women's organizations in order to develop a social con- science that will impel women to study conditions brought about by the education and industrialism of to-day, and to create in them a sense of responsibility for safeguarding the womanhood and childhood of the nation. Allusion has been made to the necessity of literature for women and children. Biographies of women who have been the incarnation of the types of modern endeavor are recommended, such as Florence Nightingale, the patron saint of the noble army of nurses ; Elizabeth Fry, a pioneer in prison reform ; Frances Willard, in temperance ; Clara Barton, pioneer and founder of Red Cross work; Susan B. An- thony, advocate of women's suffrage; Jane Addams, in settle- ment work; and many other noble women of our day.
Emphasis has been laid upon the qualification and preparation of missionaries. We need women of faith, courage, adaptabil- ity, social gifts, thorough training and marked spirituality. We crave the finest and highest type of American womanhood to go to this great and promising field. Their method should be to teach the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, and let it do its work, rather than to attack the Roman Catholic Church. The words of Melinda Rankin should be an example to us. She said: "It has been a fixed principle with me not to attack the Roman Catholic Church, but to present the truth and let that do its work. If you wish to enlighten a room, you carry a light and set it down in it, and the darkness will disperse of itself." A definite educational policy is recommended, which will make adequate provision for all ages, from the girl of tender years to the woman in the university — for kindergarten, primary, sec- ondary, vocational and college training — not forgetting special training for Latin women as teachers, social and evangelistic workers. The necessity for higher Christian education for Latin
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 215
women has been emphasized by much that has been said at this Congress. No one Board is able to furnish the facilities and equipment for such education. It is recommended, then, that in large centers of population, where there are sufficient primary and secondary schools to provide a constituency the various mission boards cooperate to establish women's union colleges. Evangelistic work should include the old lines of Bible women's work, district nursing, visitation in the homes, the following up of students of mission schools, and other methods of personal approach. In addition to this, wherever the way is open, women evangelists should seek to reach the women and children by teaching and preaching, and to carry the gospel message, not only to our missions but to the great unevangelized fields of Latin America. What Miss Coope has said this morning in re- gard to her work among the Indians on the Isthmus is an ex- ample of what women can do in this line. As far as possible, Latin-American women should be employed in the social, evan- gelistic, and educational work of the mission. If the women of this great domain are to be reached and helped in any large way, it must be mainly done by their own country women. In view of all that has been said and many things yet unsaid, we feel that there must be large increase in all the lines of social service, education, and evangelization. The numbers of missionaries and teachers must be increased. The plants now in operation must be enlarged and more fully equipped and the great unoccupied fields in this continent of opportunity must be entered and evangelized.
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION VI
ON
THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
Presented to the Congress on Friday, February 18, 1916
THE CONTENTS OF THE REPORT OF COMMISSION VI
The List of Members of the Commission 223
The Report of the Commission 225
Chapter I — The Organized, Indigenous Church 225
1. Its Definition and Significance 225
2. Its Genuine Strength and Influence 226
3. Its Aggressive Possibilities 227
Chapter II — Its jMembership and Organization 229
1. The Racial Composition of the Church 229
2. Its Moral and Spiritual Ancestry 230
a. Unfamiliarity With the Scriptures 230
b. Inadequate Conceptions of Sin 231
c. Laxity as Regards Marriage 232
3. Its Present Organization 233
a. Still Denominational 233
b. The National Share in the xA.dministration of
Funds 233
c. Experiments in Independence 236
d. Conditions of Membership 237
e. The Need of Enlisting the Educated Classes . . 238 Chapter III — The Spiritual Life of the Church 240
1. The Standards of Judgment 240
2. The Tests of Genuineness 241
a. An Ethical Sensitiveness 241
b. Conformity to Christian Standards 242
c. The Endurance of Persecution 242
d. Attendance on Public Worship 243
e. The Habitual Use of Prayer 243
f. Activity in the Study of the Bible 244
g. An Increased Evangelistic Activity _ 244
3. Hndrances and Helps to Growth in Spirituality 246
219
220 CONTENTS
Chapter IV — Practice and Development 248
1. The Latin Churches No Mere Imitators 248
2. Their Use of Agencies for Evangelism 249
a. Bible Study 249
b. "Protracted Meetings" 249
c. Evangelistic Campaigns 250
d. The Support of Aggressive Evangelization 250
e. Personal Work 251
3. Their Attitude Toward Sunday Observance and
Temperance 252
4. The Development of Sunday Schools 253
5. The Growth of Societies for Young People 255
6. The Standards of Church Discipline 256
a. The Danger of Laxity 256
b. The Three Great Problems 257
7. The Enrichment of Public Worship 259
Chapter V — The Problem of Self-Support 261
1. The Importance of Self-Support 261
2. Its Problems Not Merely Financial 262
3. Home Base Standards Inapplicable 262
4. Contributions of Service the True Key to Self-
Support 263
5. Lessons from World Experience 264
a. In Africa 264
b. In the Philippines 265
c. In China 266
6. The Attitude of the National Churches Favorable.. 268
7. Methods and Obligations of Stewardship 272
Chapter VI — The Securing of Leadership 274
1. Indispensable Qualifications for Leadership 274
2. National Leadership Essential 276
3. The Element of Time Involved 278
4. The Two Great Sources of Leaders 280
5. Three Methods of Securing Them 280
a. Reaching the Students in the National Schools 280
b. Sending Students to North America and
Europe ^ 282
c. Training on the Field 283
(1) Conditions Involved in Selecting Capable
Men 283
(2) Plans for Developing Them 285
6. The Importance of Lay Leadership 286
Chapter VII— Relations With Governments 288
1. Early Struggles for Religious Freedom 288
2 Some Achievements 290
3. Laws Which Still Need Betterment 292
a. The Laws Relating to Civil Marriage 293
b. Those Relating to Divorce 293
CONTENTS 221
c. Those Regulating Religions Instruction 293
d. Those Regulating the Alanagement of Public
Benevolent Institutions 294
e. Laws Regarding Burial 294
4. The Attitude of Public Officials 294
5. The Separation of Church and State 297
a. Liberty of Worship General 297
b. The Legal Rights of Evangelical Bodies In-
creasingly Recognized 297
c. Entire Equality of Evangelical and Catholic
Churches Unsecured 298
d. The Missionary's Attitude With Respect to
Reforms 299
6. The Identification of Missionary and Governmental
Interests 300
Cpiapter VIII — General Conclusions 303
1. The Difficulties Faced by the Aggressive Church... 303
2. The Conclusions Reached Concerning Its Proper
Policy 304
(1) The Evangelical Movement Has Received
Divine Sanction 304
(2) The Task is Complex 304
(3) It Calls for Home Base Support 305
(4) Its Field is Relatively Homogeneous 305
(5) It Suffers from Denominationalism 305
(6) It is Rapidly Assuming Responsibility 305
(7) It Maintains Acceptable Standards of Church
Life 306
(8) It Produces Faithful Disciples 306
(9) It Needs to Emphasize Means for Deepening
Spiritual Life 306
(10) It Should More Definitely Aim to Reach the
Cultured Classes 306
(11) Its Public Worship is Simple 307
(12) Evangelistic Campaigns Are Needed 307
(13) It Stands for Sunday Observance 308
(14) Its Auxiliary Organizations Are Well De-
veloped 308
(15) It is Advancing Toward Self-Support 308
(16) Its Two-Fold Leadership 309
(17) It Needs Four Sorts of Legislative Recog-
nition 310
Appendix A: The List of the Correspondents of the
Commission 312
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report... 315
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
The Rev. Homer C. Stuntz^ D.D., Methodist Episcopal Bishop in South America, Buenos Aires.
VICE-CHAIRMEN
The Rev. Arthur J. Brown, D.D., Secretary Board of
Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.,
New York City. The Rt. Rev. E. R. Hasse, Bishop of the Moravian
Church, London. The Rev. Walter R. Lambuth, D.D., M.D., Bishop of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Oakdale,
Cal.
secretary The Rev. Gerhard J. Schilling, D.D., Methodist
Episcopal Church, Buenos Aires.
executive committee
The Rev. George H. Brewer, Superintendent Ameri- can Baptist Home Mission Society, Mexico.
Mr. J. H. Warner, Secretary Young Men's Christian Association, Recife, Brazil.
The Rev. W. B. Allison, Presbyterian Church in the
U. S. A., Guatemala City. The Rev. P. Arillano, Presbyterian Church in the U.
S. A., Mexico City.
223
224 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
Sr. J. Luiz Fernandes Braga, Jr., Chairman National
Committee, Young Men's Christian Association of
Brazil, Rio de Janeiro. The Rev. C. S. Detweiler, Superintendent American
Baptist Home Mission Society, Ponce, Port Rico. The Rev. Robert F. Elder, Argentine Secretary,
Evangelical Union of South America, Tres Arroyos,
Argentina. The Rev. J. Fanstone, Director Evangelical Union of
South America, London. The Rev. J. Milton -Greene, D.D., Superintendent
Cuban Mission, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.,
Havana, Cuba. The Rev. Raymond S. Holding, American Friends'
Board of Foreign Missions, Banes, Cuba. The Rev. N. E. Joyner, Director Instituto Laurens,
Monterey, Mexico. The Rev. W. H. Lester, D.D., Pastor Union Church,
Santiago, Chile. The Rev. M. N. McCall, Superintendent Cuban Mission,
Southern Baptist Convention, Havana, Cuba. The Rev. John G. Meem, Protestant Episcopal Church
in the U. S. A., Rio de Janeiro. The Rev. Arthur H. Mellen^ Protestant Episcopal ' Archdeacon of Mexico, Tampico, Mexico. Professor Eduardo Monteverde, Secretary Young
Men's Christian Association, Montevideo. The Rev. Tolbert F. Reavis, Christian Woman's Board
of Missions, Buenos Aires. The Rev. Alvaro Reis, Pastor Presbyterian Evangelical
Church, Rio de Janeiro. The Rev. Eucario M. Sein, Board of Home Missions,
Methodist Episcopal Church, Los Angeles, Cal. The Rev. C. L. Smith, Methodist Episcopal Church,
South, Porto Alegre, Brazil. The Rev. S. M. Sowell, Southern Baptist Convention.
Buenos Aires, The Rev. Thomas B. Wood, D.D., retired Missionary.
Methodist Episcopal Church, Tacoma, Wash.
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION VI ON THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
CHAPTER I
THE ORGANIZED INDIGENOUS CHURCH
I. ITS DEFINITION AND SIGNIFICANCE
By "Church" as used in this Commission Report we mean the indigenous bodies of Christian believers of the evangelical faith and practice growing up in the field under consideration.
We rejoice that there is such a Church in this great field. The fact of its existence has made this gather- ing of Christian workers possible and necessary. The welfare of this Church and plans for its better establish- ment, for its more rapid growth, and for the deepening of the springs of its spiritual life, must form the basis of the larger part of our discussions. So far as it is possible for statistics to give an adequate impression of the strength of this Church, such impression will be gained by the study of the summary showing member- ship, property, native preachers, Sunday schools, insti- tutions, and much other information prepared with great labor by Commission I, on "Survey and Occupation." The entire exhibit is fully set forth in the third volume of the Congress Report.
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226 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
2. ITS GENUINE STRENGTH AND INFLUENCE
Readers of such statements regarding the growth of the Church in the field should remember that those who are reported as members are far from representing the entire strength of the churches. Back of these tens of thousands stand double or triple their total of friends, sympathizers and adherents. These are convinced of the truth of our message. Many of them have been convinced for years. They worship with us, their chil- dren are in our Sabbath schools, and many of these will come into the Church in the future. The reasons that hinder the consummation of membership are such as usually operate in new fields. Many of the members are from the poorer and less cultured classes of society, where steady ecclesiastical, political and social pressure is brought to bear against them. In such circumstances it is natural that our membership should be less in num- bers than the actual body of those who not only be- lieve our doctrines and accept our principles of life, but also support them and assist in a greater or less degree in propagating them. From this large body of more or less loosely attached adherents a part of our increase naturally comes, and each year witnesses the addition of new friends and sympathizers from whom, in turn, recruits are gained as the years go on.
It must be kept in mind in any fair appraisal of the strength of the Church in Latin America that, as a so- cial force, it is influential out of all proportion to the number of its membership. This is true because "the kingdom of God is as leaven," and it is of the nature of leaven — though small in bulk in comparison to the meal in which it is hidden away — to permeate steadily the remainder of the whole mass and to bring it into conformity with its own nature. Ideas are powerful, and the evangelical Churches in Latin America possess these germinal ideas of truth regarding sin and its cure, the ethics of the daily life, and the life to come, which have won their way in every country against all obstacles confronting them. This minority will yet leaven the whole lump.
THE ORGANIZED CHURCH 227
The Commission presenting this report wishes to call attention to the great difference which exists between it and the report presented by the parallel Commission at the World Missionary Conference. There the religious divisions called for treatises which, although still incom- plete, filled hundreds of printed pages. In this report we are dealing with three great divisions of beliefs : the first is represented by the pagan tribes of the abori- gines; the second is represented by those whose his- torical development is the result of a special t_ype_ of Christianity; the third is the evangelical, the institu- tional growth of which in the midst of the other two types is the occasion for our study. Our problem is a very great one, yet much more simple than the one pre- sented at Edinburgh in 1910.
3. ITS AGGRESSIVE POSSIBILITIES
The evangelical Church in the field is practically a new force. It did not exist when the first missionaries landed and began their work. The visible agency was then the foreign missionary and such aids in the way of literature and helpers as he could bring with him. But now, early in the twentieth century, we find ourselves in possession of a new agency, the organized Church. This force is so new that it is not yet fully understood, and not being understood it falls far short of being efiiciently utilized. The planting and development of this Church is the true object of wise foreign missionary endeavor. We cannot hope to render the service that we owe to Latin America exclusively by means of foreign agencies. The task is beyond us. The aim has been, and must continue to be, to raise up an indigenous Church, all the time saying in our hearts : "This must increase, but we must decrease." The leaders must make a fresh estimate of this new agency, must understand its difficulties, see its opportunities, and aid as best they may in marking out the different ways along which it may go forward toward the accomplishment of the larger purposes of God. Grateful as we are for the evident blessing of God upon the efforts put forth in Latin America up to the present time, there may be some stand-
228 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
ing here in this Congress who shall not taste of death until this infant evangelical Church of 257,000 members has grown to at least a million, and until strong, self-sup- porting churches in all parts of these lands are not only raising up their own sons and daughters for the ministry and lay membership for their local societies, but are in turn furnishing workers for the campaigns of Christ amonp- the pagan Indian populations about them.
CHAPTER II ITS MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION
I. THE RACIAL COMPOSITION OF THE CHURCH
The membership of the Church in the field falls into several racial groups. In Mexico, Central America and South America, the population has been gathered from two principal sources : first, there are the inhabitants of Indian origin who are native to the several republics, and secondly, the immigrants, these being chiefly Spanish and Portuguese, who form the largest part of the popu- lation, having immigrated several centuries ago, with the more recent addition of the Italians, Dutch, British and Germans, who have come during the last hundred years and form about five percent, of the population. In Brazil, the West Indies, Central America and other parts, a negro element is prominent. Throughout the entire field little impression has been made upon the Indian population, principally because little has been been done to master their languages and to utilize siege methods through schools, printing-presses and hos- pitals, as well as through churches. From a social view- point, church membership comes largely from what would be called the lower classes and former Romanists.
There is a far greater degree of homogeneity in this membership than might be expected on first considera- tion. First, with the exception of some immigrational additions of later years, it is racially Latin and Indian,
229
230 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
the West Indies, Central America and Brazil adding a variant of African blood but little encountered in other countries. In Mexico, Central America and the Spanish republics of South America, members come into the evangelical churches vv^ith either Spanish or Indian blood predominating. In some communities the one predomi- nates, and in communities often not far removed, the other. It comes as a matter of surprise to many v^orkers in those fields to learn that the element from which they draw their members is more Indian than Spanish. The extent to which the Indians of the Andean plateau, of the Brazilian coast and uplands, and of Central and Southern Chile, as well as of Colombia, Ecuador, Para- guay and Mexico have contributed of their blood to the composite peoples among whom this work is carried for- ward, would form a fascinating subject for the ethnolo- gist and for the student of social phenomena in general. In lands outside Brazil, and, to some extent, even in that country, m^uch that is commonly understood to be Latin is Moorish. The strong bent given to the Span- ish mind during the centuries of Moorish rule registers itself in many ways in the daily life of those who are accounted Castilians. Their architecture takes on Moorish types. Politeness and courtesy, in the extreme forms sometimes met vv^ith, strongly suggest the same origin. This influence over the membership of the evan- gelical churches is one that should not be disregarded by educators or evangelists and particularly by administra- tors of Christian work. It demands both comprehen- sion and great patience. When understood, it furnishes a ready explanation for some temperamental, domestic, social and even religious phenomena otherwise most baf- fling to our minds.
2. ITS MORAL AND SPIRITUAL ANCESTRY
a. Un familiarity with the Scriptures.
The membership of the Latin-American evangelical Churches is not characterized by those religious ideals which are the common property of the majority of con- verts who unite with evangelical Churches in Anglo-
MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION 231
Saxon lands. The Latin Americans are not acquainted with the Scriptures. The pagan ancestry of this mem- bership had no sacred or other book of any kind, and their Roman Cathohc teachers have laid little stress upon Biblical instruction. The preacher constantly finds him- self unable to use familiar Scriptural illustrations. These are not understood. The Sunday-school teacher cannot safely take it for granted that one child out of twenty knows about Samson, David or Daniel or about the leaders of the New Testament.
b. Inadequate Conceptions of Sin.
With the current of Indian blood in the membership have come no just ideas of sin, no deep hatred of its de- filement, and no idea that it is ever possible to live free from its contamination. It would seem that little has been done by their later spiritual guides to remedy the defect. One's heart overflows with a great pity as he thinks of the blight which has come to the intellect, to the conscience, to the domestic relationships, and to life as a whole through the idolatries and fetishism of the millions of Indians with whom we are trying to deal. It should curb our impatience and teach us to hold a loving and Christlike attitude toward those in whose mental and spiritual lives there is no helpful contribution from the past, whose tendencies are against the high objects which we seek.
When we turn to those who have received their early training chiefly from the Roman Catholic Church, one correspondent declares that the prime obstacle in mis- sionary work among that section of Latin America is a wholly inadequate conception of sin and a lack of any horror of it. There is little popular support in dealing with moral issues and reforms. Dissimulation is the law of life. Everything is excused on the plea of temperament, precedent, or custom. The masses know- nothing of an independent and inflexible moral stand- ard. With such an environment it goes without saying that many church members will retain certain linea- ments of their former selves and will need instruction
^Z^ THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
and correction along many lines. The same corres- pondent later speaks of "the emotionalism, responsive- ness and demonstrativeness of the Latin temperament," and every experienced worker will be ready to confirm these views.
c. Laxity as Regards Marriage.
Another condition affecting the work of the evangeli- cal Churches is the practice with respect to marriage which prevails among large elements of the population in many of the lands. The systems of contract marriage and of open concubinage have become appallingly prev- alent. In one city in the Argentine Republic, sixty-two percent, of the births in a five-year period under report were illegitimate, although the rate in Buenos Aires is not much more than thirteen percent. In Santiago, Chile, the percentage in 191 1 was fifty-five; in Con- cepcion, fifty-seven. It is said of a certain town in Co- lombia that ''half the children are returned as illegiti- mate, and the editor of the leading paper insisted the proportion is near three-fifths." ' The same authority goes on to say, "At Lima, through a series of years, the pro- portion of 'natural' children has been fifty-one percent. The Peruvian statistician, Fuentes, writes of the 'sad pic- ture' Lima presents and adds, 'a shocking proportion of the people avoid marriage and live in a complete liber- tinage, which increases as one descends the social scale.' " One missionary says : "In Peru marriage is considered a luxury for the rich. Even civil marriage is costly. The poor regard each as unobtainable." In speaking of Bo- livia, Professor Ross quotes an American long resident there as saying, "Among the cholas here there is very little marriage. ... In the relation between man and woman there is very little steadfastness or loyalty, while in the community there is no crystallized moral sentiment regulating the conduct of the individual. So- cial standards do not exist, so each does about as he likes." He further says, "In Colombia and Ecuador it is frequently declared that many loyal couples live
* E. A. Ross, "South of Panama," 225, ff.
MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION 233
unmarried owing to the high cost of the church mar- riage. Eight dollars, the minimum fee, is a serious charge for a peon earning a few cents a day. . . Yet, after such allowances are made, the marriage institution appears to be weaker on the west coast of South Amer- ica than in any other Christian land, in the Mussulman countries or in the societies of India, China and Japan."
3. ITS PRESENT ORGANIZATION
a. Still Denominational.
In organization, this membership falls somewhat nat- urally into the denominational groups whose leaders brought them their first knowledge of evangelical truth. Thus we have the same types of church organization which prevail in North America and Great Britain — Presbyterian, Baptist, Congregational, Methodist, Epis- copal and others — with which all students are already familiar.
b. The National Share in the Administration of Funds. Until within the last decade there has been little rec- ognition of the duty of missionary leaders and adminis- trators to admit members of the native churches to the various boards and committees through which the admin- istration of foreign missionary money and church dis- cipline is carried on, and it is needless to say that even among the missionary body may be found those who are rather conservative with respect to devolving such large responsibilities on an immature Church, yet noth- ing has been made more clear by the scores of communi- cations which have reached the Commission than that the Church in the field should be given a larger share in the initiation and prosecution of the common task than has been accorded it hitherto.
A valued correspondent who has had large experience on the mission field in China urges this important step, as follows:
"No more marked indication of the new day in mis- sionary organization has manifested itself than through the new methods of missionary administration on the for-
234 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
eign field. In a not very distant past the control of the field was vested in the foreign missionary. It is with a great deal of gratitude that the leaders of the modern movement see that old day passing. The Episcopal and Congregational forms of government continue to find their varied expressions on the mission field. Until most recent times, it was really an unheard-of thing, except in very rare instances, to have other than the foreign missionary or the foreign bishop in control. If the wis- dom of the present generation had been put into prac- tice at an earlier time, many of the independent move- ments of the foreign field would have been avoided. It is still maintained by some administrators that the mis- sions on the foreign field are to be controlled by the missionaries rather than mutually guided. But an im- possible condition arises when any foreign missionary takes the position that he must control the native Church. From that moment divisioji or utter dependence is en- gendered or cultivated. The new method of control is welcomed by every sane leader of the native Church. The native leader knows instinctively that the missionary has back of him superiority of training and of experi- ence. It should never come into the mind of the missionary leader that he is more than a counselor and a friend. The native people are essentially reason- able, if they feel that there is a real friendship on the part of the leader, but if they think that he is trying to exercise authority, they follow the usual inclination of human nature and go to any length in resenting it. The changes that native leadership has wrought are mar- velous. Some years ago a small mission in China was having a serious struggle over the question of whether the native Church should have a representative on the committee on administration. One of the chief objec- tions made had reference to the control of the finances. It was felt that any native leader would become a spe- cial pleader for larger salaries for his own people, and would be unreasonable when it came to the question of financial regulations for those of his own nationality. It was a genuine surprise to the advocates of the plan when,
MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION 235
after election, he became the most conservative member of the committee regarding the advancement of salaries, and the severest man on discipline on the committee. He brought an interpretation of his own people to the inti- mate meetings of the committee that no other individual could bring. It was indeed a revelation even to the old- est and most experienced. This isolated incident is typi- cal of the condition that exists to-day in the foreign field. Autocratic management of the native Church has passed forever. The lack of independence in many missionary fields can be traced almost entirely to this cause. The most important problem that faces a missionary execu- tive, be he foreign or native, is to develop the native Church. Some one has well stated that the world has become a neighborhood and it remains for the Church to make it a brotherhood.
"There are three things that we must do with the native Church : Trust it ; put responsibility upon it, and enlarge its sphere of activity.
*'i. The native Church has been greatly hindered be- cause it has not always been trusted in the past. We have looked with suspicion upon it because its members were weak and because their abilities were limited. I trust that the day has passed forever when there will be other than the greatest confidence in the native Church, even though the members are not as strong as we feel they should be.
"2. Responsibility should be put upon it. The church members should not be treated as children, but as men. They may fail in many respects, but growth can come only by actual service. By the doing of the task they will become strong.
"3. We must enlarge its sphere of activity. The na- tive Church in many cases is in real danger of losing all missionary fervor, because of the fact that its local task is emphasized. Broad vision must be given it, and though its own work is tremendous and trying, it must be taken out of itself by giving it other tasks."
What has been so well said out of the experience of the missionary in China would be echoed by many a
236 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
missionary in Latin America. It must not be forgotten that a young Church or group of Churches must first develop educated, clear-thinking, responsible, considerate leaders before the assumption of entire freedom can be safe and salutary.
c. Experiments in Independence.
Several Communions find that it has proved advantage- ous to advance Latin-American leaders to the same min- isterial standing as that enjoyed by the ministers v^^ho come from foreign countries, when these Latin Ameri- cans meet the prescribed tests. In a number of instances the Latin-American clergy have been appointed on committees charged with the making of appointments to pastorates and with the distribution of funds granted by the Boards, a policy which has worked remarkably well. This is in accord with the policy long ago adopted on many other foreign fields.
The question of the establishment of Churches made up wholly of national members and ministers and entirely cut off from support, direction or guidance in any form by the Boards and Churches which brought them into be- ing has not, in any serious fashion become a mooted topic throughout Latin America. There are two Presby- terian groups of Churches in Brazil, each of which offers an interesting example of progress. One of them, while maintaining ecclesiastical fellowship with the mother Assembly in the United States, is now practically inde- pendent of the supporting Board in New York, which largely limits its responsibility to the supplying of a cer- tain amount of money each year to be appropriated for the weaker churches on the usual home missionary plan, ten percent, of the grant being cut off each year. Mis- sionaries cooperate with the Brazilian Presbyterian Church by developing new fields which are turned over to the Church. In every otlier respect the Church has full control of its own activilies, the missionaries, in the main, having no official connection with it. The other Church in Brazil is Independent both financially and ad- ministratively.
MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION 237
d. Conditions of Membership.
The conditions of membership are more nearly uni- form than might at first be supposed. Evangelical work- ers from every part of the field report that some form of testing is indispensable before the enrolment of con- verts as full communicants. It is wise to enrol them as catachumens for a preliminary period of instruction. Of course, the demand is everywhere made for faith in Jesus Christ as personal Savior and Lord, and for evi- dences of conversion. There are two dangers to guard against with reference to the conditions demanded before members are received. The one is an extreme of cau- tion which chills and repels the timid but earnest seeker after truth, and the other is an overeagerness for numer- ical results which prevents that careful scrutiny of mo- tive and life which alone can protect the infant Church from being filled up with men and women who at the best are "stony ground" hearers, and at the worst are designing enemies. A zealous evangelist once baptized within one month two hundred people who had never previously heard the gospel message. Six months later not one of these remained and all would seem to have been worse off than before. In Latin America practi- cally all applicants for membership in evangelical Churches except those from Indian tribes have been reared under the same general religious, social and politi- cal conditions, and require for their sound religious train- ing similar methods.
Conditions of membership are embarrassed by some special circumstances. Ideas regarding Sunday observ- ance, gambling, the marriage relation and temperance have led to standards that are quite different from those which are current in other Christian lands. Many offer to connect themselves with the Church, counting them- selves already Protestants merely because of an antag- onism which they have conceived against Roman Catholi- cism. They do not even pretend to have broken away from their sins, or to have entered into any kind of Christian experience. Such, however, are not given rec- ognition by most evangelical Churches. The meeting of
238 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
all these varying needs requires the loving spirit of Jesus Christ rather than a rigid set of rules, and the fixed determination to take every means to keep the Church free from the evils against which it must continually bear its witness.
e. The Need of Enlisting the Educated Classes,
There is a growing conviction that the Church in not giving more attention to the needs of the cultured class generally and of students in particular is neglecting those whose need is unquestionable, whose desire for the truth has been demonstrated and whose influence for good or evil is out of all proportion to their numbers. The feel- ing is increasing also that whatever may be the risk of producing class distinctions in the churches through specialized effort, the hazard is still greater if men of high social standing and influence are not won to the open confession of Christ. They need the gospel quite as much as do the humble and poor. Apparently past experience has shown conclusively that the cultured class is not readily reached through the general methods of approach hitherto used. On the other hand, the httle specialized work conducted for this class, scattering and utterly inadequate as it has been, is so encouraging in its early aspects that it has had the endorsement of all who have been acquainted with it. The educated classes make quick response to appeals and considerations in which they are naturally interested. These and other considerations are leading thoughtful laborers, both Latin-American and foreign, to seek the way to some form or forms of specialized effort in the interest of the cultured class. Exactly what form this specialized work should take is not at present apparent. That such work should be thoroughly in harmony with the general spirit of the work of the evangelical Church goes without saying; that it must be, in its incipience at least, un- conventional in its type seems demanded by the vary- ing legal and social conditions which it would have to meet to be successful. That it should be under the guid- ance of the wisest and most sympathetic leadership at
MEMBERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION 239
the command of the Church is conceded. One of the greatest hindrances, hitherto, has been the lack of amply educated native Christian teachers and leaders, able to meet cultured men on their own ground.
CHAPTER in THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE CHURCH
I. THE STANDARDS OF JUDGMENT
Much variation of opinion regarding the present status of spiritual life in the Churches throughout Latin Amer- ica is manifest in the contributions received by the Com- mission. It is difficult to make clear the total impres- sion received from these. Some correspondents write in a pessimistic vein. Others speak with almost glow- ing hopefulness of the present spiritual attainments of the membership of the Churches and express the con- fident belief that they are but the beginning of what will be a great spiritual forward movement. Any estimate must take into account two distinguishing facts which must affect the judgment of those who attempt to inter- pret the spiritual conditions throughout this field. First and foremost is the possibility of raising expectations too high. It is easy to underestimate the discouraging con- ditions from which members come into the evangelical Churches, and the low moral standards and lack of spir- itual ideals prevailing about them. It is easy to contrast the meagre spiritual attainments of converts who have no background of Scriptural knowledge and no advan- tage derived from generations of evolution in spiritual and ethical affairs, with the attainments in grace and the elevation of moral standards which obtain in the best church life in older evangelical communities. It has been
240
SPIRITUAL LIFE 241
well said that the true test of spiritual attainment is not made by measuring the distance of the individual from the goal toward which he is being urged, but rather the distance which he has travelled. We should compare the spiritual state of members throughout Latin America with their former state rather than with the condition of those who have been more fortunate in regard to spiritual opportunity. The second danger lies in an easy optimism which overemphasizes all signs of grace in the newly recruited member. All who have read the mis- sionary literature produced in the form of reports, ac- counts of individual conversions, etc., in the earlier days of missionary effort, will understand what is here meant. The impression was made upon the minds of those who heard or read these reports that the new converts had attained a high state of Christian experience at a bound, quite shaming the slower progress of older Christian communities. Later it often became necessary to bear testimony to the ephemeral character of this experience. The only fair and final test of Christian progress is that which our Lord imposed, "By their fruits ye shall know them." All other tests fail to appraise or recognize and distinguish spiritual growth.
2. THE TESTS OF GENUINENESS
a. An Ethical Sensitiveness.
A great battle must be waged before the membership of the Christian Church at large is likely to gain what Dr. Speer calls "a certain hard veracity" in the contacts of daily life or a sensitive conscience in matters affecting personal purity and the sacredness of the family relation- ship. These Christians in the forming are surrounded by an atmosphere of moral indifference. Converts to whom the Apostle Paul addressed his letters were hindered by the habits and tendencies of the life from which they had come into the primitive Church and by the example of those still living in sin all about them. So true was this that Paul found it necessary to write to the church in Ephesus, exhorting them "to put away lying, and speak every man truthfully to his neighbor," while the darker
242 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
sins which had stained their past were plainly and lov- ingly rebuked. It must be admitted with shame that these sins are still prevalent and in other places than Ephesus. There is much to be said for the helpfulness of an ethical environment in the processes of character building, and converts whose lot is cast where a vigorous ethical tone characterizes the churches of their choice have a decided advantage, whatever be their nation or name.
b. Conformity to Christian Standards.
It is encouraging and inspiring to record the achieve- ments which have been attained in spite of obstacles, either inevitable in all character building or interposed by a hostile ecclesiasticism. Scores of men have given up lucrative businesses of various kinds because they would not work on the Lord's Day, or because the giving or receiving of bribes was demanded by those who em- ployed them or by inescapable conditions in the business itself. Others have restored money unlawfully taken. Some have banished liquor from their stores, thereby losing many of their most profitable customers, while every worker of experience could give particular in- stances where unlawful family relations have been end- ed by a marriage which was in itself a public confession of former wrong-doing, not easy for those who made it.
c. The Endurance of Persecution.
To those whose experience in actual work is meas- ured in decades rather than years, one of the most satis- factory evidences of inner spiritual transformations is furnished by the readiness of disciples to endure perse- cution and to suffer loss for Christ's sake. While this is not to be regarded as in any sense an ultimate test, it would take much hardihood to deny that those who a year or two ago could not be induced even to attend a service or to be seen visiting the home of a missionary, much less to take any public stand or to participate in any way in a public service, have under- gone a true spiritual change affecting fundamentally their whole life, when they now do all these things freely.
SPIRITUAL LIFE 243
eagerly, and with evident joy that they are counted worthy to bear the cross. Entire volumes could be writ- ten showing persecutions ranging all the way from malicious Hbel and the petty social slights and business boycotts which are the commonplace experiences of new members, up to imprisonment in public jails for months at a time. This kind of warfare is met by the member- ship of the Church in the field in the spirit of good soldiership. Those who have once identified themselves openly with the Church are rarely known to have per- mitted persecution to swerve them from their loyalty to Christ.
d. Attendance on Public Worship.
If attendance upon the stated public worship of the several churches can be taken as a barometer of spir- itual life, even here the members of the Church in the field do not suifer by contrast with the membership in other lands. When one considers that this matter of regular attendance upon public services consisting usually of extemporaneous prayer and preaching has not been expected of the membership in the past, it is truly gratifying to have so many evidences reach us from widely separated points that the attendance upon these services is for the most part encouraqinp- to the workers. In many of the churches a considerable pro- portion of the membership is found at every preach- ing service and at prayer-meeting and other public func- tions of the church, attending in all five or six services a w^eek.
e. The Habitual Use of Prayer.
The prayer life of the growing Church should reveal to us more clearly the advancement in spiritual things than any test thus far mentioned. If the prayer-meet- ing is a spiritual barometer of the Church, then it must be admitted that the spirituality of the Church in the field is perhaps deeper than at home, for the attendance is greater and the praying more spontaneous in the former than in the latter. If one should judge by this
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alone, he would be forced to concede the deeper spiritu- ality to the mission field. However, many factors be- sides spirituality or the lack of it determine one's pres- ence in the prayer-meeting. The greatest difficulty is not in getting people to pray, but in getting them to realize the true significance of prayer, as the attitude that brings the soul into the presence of its Creator, where it is filled and strengthened by His power. One of the first impressions gained by an acquaintance with evangelical Christianity in Latin lands is the large number of church members who lead in public prayer, but on closer ac- quaintance the observer may begin to feel that prayer with many of them is rather perfunctory. Some per- sons converted late in life find it hard to free themselves entirely from earlier influences. They no longer cling to the idea that there is merit in mere repetition, but their spiritual vision is clouded to such an extent that they are unable to realize the close union that exists between the Father and His child or to enter into that sweet fellowship which makes the union complete.
f. Activity in the Study of the Bible.
An additional proof of the genuine spiritual life among many Latin-American Christians is seen from their cus- toms of reading and studying the Bible. Many new con- verts put older Christians to shame by the assiduous way in which they drink at the living springs of revelation. Many of them who are relatively unlettered experience a freshness and novelty in the Scriptures seldom en- countered in members of older Christian congregations. In the Church at large, however, there is the same lack of personal Bible study which is encountered every- where.
g. An Increased Evangelistic Activity.
It is not so easy to arrive at just conclusions as to the spiritual status of the membership by the evangelis- tic activities in which they appear willing to participate. The larger number of those who are ready to take an active part in aggressive evangelization are far more
SPIRITUAL LIFE 245
ready to denounce evil ways than to instil righteous purposes. There is, however, a steady increase of true evangelistic zeal. It is taking the place of what in an earlier day, and in some parts of the field until the pres- ent time, has been the more negative method of oppos- ing the religious beliefs of those among whom the work is carried on. Here, as in every department of such life, leadership decides the outcome. A member of the Com- mission writes from Brazil: "A deeply spiritual pastor tends to make a deeply spiritual church, and a spiritual church, if properly led, inevitably becomes an intensely aggressive church. The ability of an army to win vic- tories on the field is determined more perhaps by the ability of its officers than by the men in the ranks. There are churches composed of promising material which have become effective in the work of evangeliza- tton through sheer force of leadership. On the other hand, here as elsewhere in the world, there are churches composed of promising material but which are most in- efficient for lack of leadership. Our greatest need in Latin America is for competent, aggressive, Spirit-filled leadership. Our people are willing to follow where such leadership is found taking part in personal evangelism, in tract distribution, in the holding of cottage prayer- meetings, and in the manifold activities of church up- building. The discovery and training of such leaders brings us to the very heart of the problem of the truly spiritual Church, through which alone the evangelization of this field will become possible. In every age and in every nation, since the day of Pentecost, true spirituality in the churches has been secured when those who were called of God to be spiritual leaders were filled with the Holy Spirit, and whose word came to the people not "in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." A ministry commended from on high, with lips touched with a burning coal from off the altar of God, is the divinely chosen means for bring- ing about a spiritual Church.
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3. HINDRANCES AND HELPS TO GROWTH IN SPIRITUALITY
There is a serious lack of suitable devotional literature in the Spanish and Portuguese languages. One corre- spondent writes : "Notwithstanding an extremely limited number of special books, we have been able to accom- plish much by placing in the hands of our people such as existed. The avidity with which our people devoured what literature we were able to supply shows what a vast influence good reading would exert not only in the intellectual and moral development of the people, but in deepening their spiritual life as well." Another writer urges the preparation of brief spiritual booklets on de- votion and recommends their publication in a form which can be easily carried in the hand or pocket.
Many of the members of the Churches have little or no sense of personal responsibility in the performance of their ordinary church duties. They have been brought up to feel that the Church will go on, whether those that compose it actively cooperate or not. Many evan- gelical converts accept official positions in their church, as deacons, Sunday-school teachers or officers, and yet attend to their duties only when they have an inclina- tion to do so. Their children attend the Sunday school as often as they please and no oftener, and they do this without being rebuked by their equally negligent parents. This unfortunate lack of personal responsibility is a serious hindrance in true spiritual growth.
Leaders should have a deepening confidence in the power of the Holy Spirit to produce a perfect New Testa- ment Church whose members live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit and show in their lives the necessary fruits of the Spirit. No pastor or leader can hope to raise his people to a higher spiritual level than that on which he himself walks. Lack of faith here is fatal. It is even more necessary that the entire membership should be definitely enlisted in some form of aggressive work for Christ. The principal aim of every intelligent pastor should be to set every member to work. Every member who is not interested in some branch of Christian work will very likely soon be lost to the Church. By the em-
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ployment of these varied methods, the problem of self- propagation will have been solved, and the spiritual life and missionary spirit of the Church will have been aroused to its highest pitch through the spiritual life and activity of each member coming fully to realize what is his duty to God and to the dying world round about him.
CHAPTER IV PRACTICE AND DEVELOPMENT
I. THE LATIN CHURCHES NO MERE IMITATORS
So vast is the area over which the Church in the field is developing and so fundamentally do the social and political conditions surrounding the several groups of evangelical communities differ that a helpful summary of the activities of the churches is very difficult. Many of the usages of public worship which have been found wise and beneficial in the United States and Europe are not practical in Latin America. Many of the converts are not sufficiently well trained to participate in any form of elaborate ritual, however desirable. In some places the opposition of outsiders has been so intense and unyielding that song could not be largely used in stated worship. Again and again, those who have visited humble churches in the interior of South America have heard the statement made, with what it may be hoped was pardonable pride, that the church was prospering and gaining a large influence among those who were formerly its enemies. Not infrequently the statement would be made, "We now sing hymns in the services and nobody molests us." A majority of the churches seem to have a marked preference for simple yet dignified services of public worship.
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2. THEIR USE OF AGENCIES FOR EVANGELISM
a. Bible Study.
In several republics of Central and South America groups of believers were formed long before the coming of missionaries, simply through the distribution of the Scriptures. Wherever the Bible has gone it has pro- duced results in the hearts of men and women. All missionaries recognize that the printed word of God is the most efifective means of gaining an entrance to any field. All through Latin America copies of the Bible have been found, and in many homes the early mission- aries found this book was cherished as a precious heir- loom for generations before the coming of evangelical workers. How these Bibles found their way to these lands would make interesting reading were all the facts made known. Scores of evangelical churches can point to this silent agency as the beginning of their existence.
b. ''Protracted Meetings/'
The use of "protracted meetings" as a means for pro- moting evangelism is not unknown in Latin America. Such meetings are reported from Yucatan with grati- fying results. They involve house to house visitation, public services and daily conferences with the native preachers. In May, 191 5, in the midst of Mexican revo- lutionary activities, Mr. John Murray, representing the International Committee of Young Men's Christian As- sociations, held a series of meetings in Chihuahua in which the three denominations represented there united. There was a large attendance and many conversions. He held similar meetings in other cities. In Mexico City it has been the custom for years past that the workers come together for several days each year for united prayer, sometimes led by an evangelist and more often by the pastors of the several churches in the city. This plan has given excellent results. Meetings of this char- acter have also been held in Callao, La Paz, Santiago, Concepcion, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Montevideo and else- where during 1914 and in the early part of 191 5.
The attendance at these interdenominational gather-
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ings was most gratifying at all of the places named, and the results in conversions, in the awakening of Chris- tians, and in new additions to the churches was suffi- cient proof that this form of evangelism is worthy of careful study and where practicable the plan should be tried throughout the field.
c. Evangelistic Campaigns.
When such campaigns as those of Mr. Sherwood Eddy in China are called to mind, it would be well to consider whether or not the time has arrived for trying out the evangelical possibilities of concerted interdenomi- national evangelistic services extended over weeks, or at least, over several days, in the stronger centers, under the leadership of men having a fine sense of local situa- tions and able to speak to the people in their own tongue. It might be well to have in every region an evangelist at the service of the churches, trained also to organize the converts he has made.
d. The Support of Aggressive Evangelization.
One of the surest signs that the Church in the field is moved by the Apostolic spirit is the way it is seeking to contribute its fair share to the great cause of world missions. Not only do many churches send an annual contribution to the Board which has assisted them, but in several instances they have taken the initiative in work on behalf of other peoples. Five years ago a group of Christians of one communion organized a Board of Missions, raised among the churches a fund of $i,ooo a year, appointed two of their number and sent them in true apostolic fashion to three of the Indian tribes of central Mexico. They have administered their own funds, and have supervised their own work with credit- able skill. This organization has also sent an annual contribution for the last seven years to help sustain an independent work in the republic of Chile. In Brazil a group of churches commissioned one of their best-trained native pastors to carry the message of salvation back to the mother country.
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e. Personal Work.
The winning of new converts is effected in many in- stances not by public preaching or by ordained minis- ters, but by the fervent testimony of souls who have be- come conscious of their own salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. A missionary in Central America, in emphasiz- ing the importance of personal work, writes: "We are not permitted to hold open air meetings. In nearly all the other mission lands of the world this privilege is en- joyed. Even where, as in Guatemala, the govern- ment is willing to approve a local desire for such meetings, permission is not often given. There is wide-spread prejudice against attending our meetings. The threat of excommunication is over the heads of people in case they should come to our services. This keeps away a large number of those who are inter- ested in the discovery of the truth. Such false state- ments are made about us that many do not want to come. Great tact must be used in talking with these people, but also plainness and courage are needed to show many that the ideas in their minds are without foundation, and also to win their friendship and good opinion. People are afraid of becoming 'queered' by attending evangelical meetings. The greater part of these people will never be reached if we wait to get them into formal services. The people who have not heart interest in evangelical teachings and practices are afraid of being ostracized. Even Protestant business men are afraid of business boy- cott. They know that it means financial ruin, so a great many men who were formerly honest lose their strength of character and play into the hands of our opponents. The greater part of evangelical business men, and even diplomats, are wary about allying themselves with Prot- estantism for fear criticism will come upon them. By personal tact, by grace of manner and by an un- shrinking persistence, the very persons who are thus made the unwilling victims of such treatment may be won from their prejudice and error. To neglect the God- given opportunity of doing personal work with the thou- sands with whom we meet day by day, is to run the
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risk of showing ourselves unprofitable and unworthy servants."
3. THEIR ATTITUDE TOWARD SUNDAY OBSERVANCE AND TEMPERANCE
The practice of the Church in the field regarding matters of moral reform has been in harmony with the position taken by the supporting constituencies, and can be said already to have exerted a great influence upon conditions as these were at first encountered. The Church has thrown its influence solidly in favor of a more Scriptural use of Sunday than that which prevails all too widely throughout Latin America. It has borne its testimony against Sunday sports, Sunday buying, Sunday excursions for pleasure only, and against elec- tions and other public functions upon this day, and un- doubtedly is wielding an influence to help swing the cur- rent of public opinion in the direction of a cleaner and more devout day of rest. Some of these influences have already crystallized into statutes. Argentina, for ex- ample, has passed a Sunday-closing law which has been in force nearly ten years. It is a boon to the working- men who formerly had no statutory claim to any fixed day of rest in the week. In many cities it is as well enforced as in North America. One member of the Com- mission about two years ago visited a city of 95,000 people and on Sunday could find but one small place of business open in a walk of several blocks up and down the business streets of the city. Other countries have initiated legislation having the same object in view. When it is considered how openly the day is profaned in the United States and Great Britain it should be a matter of gratitude that the republics in Latin America are beginning to practice the same loyalty to the com-> mand to rest one day out of seven, which has given us all that is good in Sunday observance elsewhere.
A missionary in Rio de Janeiro pleads for the essen- tial in Sunday observance : "Even in North America the church members, as a whole, to-day observe Sunday in a way very different from that of the same class of
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people fifty years ago. The real 'Sunday problem' be- fore the mission churches to-day is to find out reverently and prayerfully what is essential with respect to Sunday in the light of God's word, and what is only traditional. The Saturday or Wednesday half-holiday is almost un- known in Latin America. Sunday is the only available day for healthy games or for out-door exercise. The evangelical forces must come to some conviction as to the ideals of Sunday observance which they will seek to bring to bear on the life habits of their converts. There must also be an attempt by constructive processes to bring about a more wholesome use of the Sunday holiday by the social groups which live apart from the disciplinary and cultural processes of the evangelical Churches. The very best experience of Christian leaders in all parts of the world should be drawn upon to this end.''
Throughout Latin America the European view- point as to the use of intoxicants is held rather than that which growingly prevails north of the Rio Grande. Native wines, imported liquors, alcohol made in the great sugar areas in Peru, i\gentina and Brazil — these are sold in almost every kind of commercial house, and are accessible in every restaurant, dining car and hotel. The practice of the evangelical Church in this wide field is practically unanimous in its condemnation of this evil. Temperance societies are now being formed by Latin Americans in the different countries. Scientific temper- ance instruction has been introduced into the public schools of Peru, and with less completeness into those of Uruguay. Whatever there is of teaching through- out these lands as to total abstinence from alcoholic liquors is due in its inception to evangelical sentiment.
4. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS
The Sunday school deserves a large place in the plans for a vigorous church life. The impression exists that it is futile to expect the conversion of adults and that the hope for the development of a true church life centers
^54 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
in the Sunday school which deals with those who are still in the formative period of life. While the power of the gospel to reach and to save the most hardened adult must never be doubted, nevertheless, it remains true in Latin America, as elsewhere, that the Sunday school is one of the chief fields of Christian activity. It is a mat- ter of interest that the m.an who gathered together the first Sunday school for Spanish-speaking people in the River Plate area, the Rev. John F. Thomson, D.D., and the leader in whose house the first Sunday school met, Senora Fermina de Aldeber, are both living, the latter now being 102 years of age. They have seen the work grow from the small beginning in the Boca of Buenos Aires until in all eastern South America children and youth are enroled in Sunday schools. In many congre- gations those who are now leaders are the fruitage of early and thorough teaching of the Word of God in the Sunday school. How greatly this work is esteemed both in the field and at home base, and how much is hoped for from its future development, is shown by the recent visit of Mr. Frank L. Brown, general secretary of the World's Sunday School Association, who with a selected com- pany of Simday-school workers, visited various parts of South America to lay plans for the development and ex- tension of this work. In Valparaiso, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, and in other centers, influential groups listened with deepest interest to the plan as outlined by Mr. Brown and others ; every- where expectation is rife regarding the good likely to accrue from the appointment of the Rev. George P. Howard of Montevideo as Sunday-school secretary for South America. A suitable literature in the way of helps for teachers, teacher training manuals, lesson commen- taries, etc., is to be jointly prepared, and the workers are to be visited and stimulated to more earnest and effective service in winning the children and in bringing to them a knowledge of the Word of God. The great problem of the Sunday school is the discovery and training of worthy teachers intellectually and spiritually prepared for their tasks.
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5. THE GROWTH OF SOCIETIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Young people's societies, such as the Christian En- deavor, the Epworth League, the Baptist Young People's Union and others, have been transplanted into this field by the representatives of the several Churches. Methods of organization, weakness of programs, and meagreness of visible results have been the subjects of critical com- ment in our correspondence, but nearly always there has been also frank and hearty recognition of the large place held in the church life by the activities of these organ- izations. A missionary writing from Brazil, says : '*In my own work I have found the young people's society a most fruitful field for developing workers. Older peo- ple converted late in life cannot free themselves entirely from their earlier conceptions and habits. This is not the case with young people. They can be trained into the highest form and expression of the Christian life. It has been my experience that, on the whole, young people in Latin lands are more inclined to take an active part in public worship and in church work generally than are young people in the United States. This, however, I do not attribute to a deeper spirituality but to the fact that people in Latin lands have a greater facility for speaking in public. The wise pastor w^ill make every possible use of this willingness on the part of the young people by filling them with exalted ideas of Christian service and by leading them to the deepest consecration of their lives to the great work of saving others."
Where the work of the young people's societies is lovingly watched over and guided by the pastor, they become agencies of first-rate importance in training and developing leaders. A correspondent writes regarding them : "The societies should not only hold weekly re- Hgious services. They must provide many other methods of expressing their inner selves. All young people re- quire an outlet for their physical and social energies which will rival the dance, the cock-pit, the bull-fight or the race-track. The evangelical Church of Latin America is doomed to inevitable defeat unless there can be devised and carried out for the youth a plan of social exhaust
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that is lively, harmless and entertaining. Baseball, bas- ketball and kindred games are good for the boys. Simi- lar recreation could be planned for the girls. Literary clubs and entertainments of every legitimate kind should be provided. Any general provision for the growth of the evangelical Churches in Latin America must include these social forces. This is vital to the life of the Church and of the young people. If the Church does not offer safe and sane recreation to its youth, the world will offer some other kind."
Referring to the organization of these societies, a missionary in Cuba states an important principle: 'Tn an organization of young people of this kind, it is desirable that it be subordinate to the church in order that the re- ligious life may be strongly maintained. It is difficult to maintain a healthy religious life when any other end than genuine Christianity is aimed at. So it should be the aim to cultivate the spiritual rather than the athletic, musical, social or literary life of its members. The basis of any sort of an organization for young people should be profoundly religious. An adequate plan will recog- nize, however, that related to this basic religious inter- est there must always be something in the way of whole- some recreation. V\^e must avoid the extreme to which the Church of earlier days went, that gave no place what- soever to the culture of the social nature. Even the Bible school was not universally welcomed until a com- paratively recent date. What would the Church do to- day without its auxiliaries? We should be willing to welcome any sort of an organization that will draw the young people away from the evil associations and lead them into a life of service for Christ and the Church."
6. THE STANDARDS OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE
a. The Danger of Laxity.
The practice of the Churches in matters of church discipline is introduced in a communication from Cuba which says : "Bearing in mind the emotionalism, respon- siveness, and demonstrativeness of the Latin tempera- ment, we should expect just what we find in experience.
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The stony ground hearers are largely represented in our churches. Great care is needed in the reception of mem- bers. From instinctive politeness they love to please, and an appeal for decision after a soul-stirring sermon is seldom made in vain. It is thus indispensable to fix a cer- tain period of probation for all who seek admission as members to our churches. Some of the problems which confront us here in the matter of church discipline are truly perplexing to consciences educated under the full, clear light of the gospel. These problems can be solved only by taking intelligently into account the antecedent lives and estabhshed customs of our candidates. We must distinguish carefully between the essentially and unchangeably right, the essentially and unchangeably wrong, and the indifferent, becoming right or wrong ac- cording to circumstances.
The evangelical Churches should always and every- where guard against falling into lax ways in the matter of discipline. Church membership should ever be held to be incompatible with lying, stealing, adultery, dishon- est practices, and in fact with any expression of a low standard of morals.
b. The Three Great Problems.
Three classes of problems emerge into prominence. First comes the observance of Sunday. For centuries it has been the custom of Latin Americans to employ God's day for purposes of travel, for amusement, for in- dustrial, social or political gatherings and for all forms of gambling. Faithful Roman Catholics confine their re- ligious observance of the day to attendance upon the mass. The most attractive excursions, the best theatrical functions, business meetings of clubs, commercial houses and political parties, are all held on Sunday. No other day of the week compares with it for balls, cock-fights and general dissipation. When, therefore, members join the evangelical churches, many of them are so interrelated socially, industrially, and by ties of kinship with those about them who are lacking in a sense of the sacredness of the Lord's day, and so handicapped by long established
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custom, that to expect an immediate sensitiveness to the question of Sunday observance is unreasonable. Many churches keep members on probation until satisfied of their spirit of obedience and the supreme desire to follow Christ in all things. Then the Sabbath-keeping spirit finds expression more and more in their actual life and procedure.
The second question is the attitude to be taken in re- gard to unfaithfulness in marriage. This is forced upon the evangelical Churches by the absence in many coun- tries of a law of divorce. Growing out of wide-spread concubinage and of Latin ideas of courtship, matrimonial unfaithfulness is met with on every hand. It happens that a husband whose piety sometimes cannot be doubted presents himself, desiring to confess Christ. His wife has proved unfaithful to him, and associates with an- other, bearing him children. The husband, unable to secure a divorce, has chosen another companion, with whom he lives faithfully. He would be married were it possible. Such cases, in the judgment of the missionaries, must be dealt with without compromise of the highest standards, even though the action taken seems to bring real hardship on the persons involved.
The third problem is that of gambling. All church members are brought face to face with the lottery and its accompaniments in the form of raffles and other schemes of chance. To persons of trained and sen- sitive conscience it seems a sin to buy a lottery ticket and we think it strange that any one should differ from us. But when we speak of it to our converts, we find that for the great majority of them it appears to be perfectly legitimate to purchase lottery tickets, for this is sanctioned by the government ; further, those v^^ho fail to draw premiums consent to this on purchasing tickets and are prepared for it ; and, indeed, the selling of lottery tickets gives employment to very many needy persons, especially to the maimed and crippled. We thus find that it is no easy thing to convince these impulsive people of the evil of the lottery. To do so may require many years of courageous exposition of ethical principles and of pa-
PRACTICE AND DEVELOPMENT 259
tient dealing with numerous departures from the stand- ards which may be set by the developing Church.
These three features of life as found among this peo- ple suggest the difficulty of maintaining high ethical standards and yet dealing wisely and patiently with prac- tical considerations and with difficult situations whose be- ginnings antedated the evangelical approach to the per- sons concerned.
7. THE ENRICHMENT OF PUBLIC WORSHIP
No discussion of the practice and development of the Church in Latin America is approximately complete which does not recognize the large place accorded to music in the church life. The leaders of evangelical church life throughout Latin America have made large use of song as an expression of gratitude, as a vehicle for the loftiest aspirations, and as a means of convincing and winning unbelievers. One phase of church life throughout all this area which is new, popular and ef- fective, is the introduction of congregational singing in the language of all the people. For centuries they have been accustomed to music. Bands play in all their parks. Music is a part of their daily life. Dignified music united to noble, spiritual hymns makes a great appeal to the mind and heart of the Latin American. In the Church with which they have been familiar, singing is done by the clergy and accompanying choirs, and in an unknown tongue. Congregations, as such, do not sing. But when- ever the truth makes men free, they feel impelled to give thanks to God by the use of psalms and hymns and spir- itual songs. Nearly all the evangelical churches have organs and choirs ; some of them have orchestras. Many church members carry copies of the word edition of the hymn-book with them daily. Some of the humbler mem- bers take a small Testament and hymn-book with their midday luncheons to their daily toil, and they are found sitting on the curbstone or on heaps of lumber or brick or hay, where they are employed, getting a glance at their Testament, or committing a verse from the hymn- book while they are eating. A laborer in one of the
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great saltpeter fields in Chile discovered other evan- gelical Christians from the hymns they sang v^hile at their daily tasks. Many of these hymns are translations from English. The translation is often rather clumsy, and rhyme and rhythm do not always please the ear, but their value as a means of propagation and of impress- ing the mind with evangelical doctrine is very great. Doctrinal truth which would be rejected when stated in tract or sermon, takes possession of many minds when borne to them on tides of holy song, and many w^ho would hesitate to rely entirely upon a personal Savior through living faith, because urged to do so by preacher or teacher, will come into this experience as they sing:
Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee.
It is a matter for great rejoicing that a new evan- gelical hymn-book in the Spanish tongue, in both music and word editions, has recently been published by the American Tract Society, the demand for which has al- ready exhausted several editions. A similar hymnal is needed for Portuguese-speaking congregations.
CHAPTER V THE PROBLEM OF SELF-SUPPORT
I. THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-SUPPORT
At no point in the discussion committed to Commission VI are we more nearly at the heart of the problem of evangelical advance in Latin America than when we con- front the question of self-support. Many missionaries have recently declared that if they were to begin their work again, they would have as one principal aim the establishment of the native Church on a self-supporting basis. Self-support, self-government and self-propaga- tion are inseparably joined, and upon the proper solu- tion of the one first named depends, to a large degree, any right solution of the other two.
Of necessity much will be said with regard to self- support measured in terms of money or its equivalent. This is inevitable and wholly proper. Money does play and should play a large part in any discussion of the means by which churches can support and carry on the spiritual tasks entrusted to them. They have financial needs. These needs are large. They constantly recur, even as the appetite for food and drink in the human organism. Land m.ust be boug-ht for churches, schools and other institutions. Buildings must be erected for worship, for education, for works of charity. Men and women must give their entire time to ministry, prayer and pastoral service, and such laborers are worthy of their
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hire. To discuss methods of the effective raising and administration of funds is pertinent.
2. ITS PROBLEMS NOT MERELY FINANCIAL
Having- made this admission, it seems appropriate to call attention to the fact that matters of money have been overemphasized in past discussions of self-support, whether at home or abroad. Self-support, in its most important aspects, should not be considered as primarily a matter of financial contributions either great or small. The problem is much deeper than that of money. A careful study of the Acts of the Apostles, and of the rec- ords of the primitive Church immediately at th% close of the Apostolic era is very illuminating when this subject is under consideration. One rises from a fresh reading of the Acts of the Apostles with a feeling that at no time and in no way was the question of raising money an administrative problem of a serious sort in connection with the founding and spread of the Church throughout Asia Minor and Europe. Doubtless some funds were needed. Some one must have paid Paul's passage on his missionary journeys. Some contributor or contributors must have provided the means for Timothy and Luke and others to pass from city to city; but the marked absence of any money-raising^ effort in one of the most creative periods of Christian history should give us pause in the midst of our debates which take for granted at every step that this, that, or the other plan cannot be carried through because we have not the money.
3. HOME BASE STANDARDS INAPPLICABLE
It is a deepening conviction in the minds of hundreds of missionary leaders that we are at fault in the attempt to transplant our peculiar ideas of church life when we go to distant lands to set up new Christian Churches. In North America and Europe the evangelical Church has Gfrown for centuries. Its constituency is prosperous, and in many places wealthy. It provides for itself spacious and ornate houses of worship, decorated banqueting rooms and parlors, and ample quarters for all the com-
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plex activities of modern church life in long established Christian communities. For such an equipment official Boards must devise ways to raise large sums of money. Too many go to foreign fields having this ideal of the material equipment needed for normal church life so fixed in their minds that they cannot conceive of a church without it, and, consequently, when they begin to con- sider the cost of a house of worship and its maintenance, including the support of its pastor and other paid agents, they find the expense quite out of proportion to the meagre resources of members, often gathered out of great poverty and seldom possessed of a considerable amount of this world's goods. Further, they cannot conceive of an organized church without a pastor who gives his en- tire time to the pulpit and pastoral demands of the con- gregation and again they are at their wits' end to devise ways and means to meet the expenses involved in sup- porting such an official.
4. CONTRtBIPTIONS OF SERVICE THE TRUE KEY TO SELF- SUPPORT
It is all the more strange that we should fall into this error when we find in the Scriptures twenty-eight chap- ters of inspired church history covering the first period of missionary effort, a record, specially inspired of the Holy Spirit "for our learning," which shows strong churches founded without the help of outside funds, and supporting themselves and pushing out into unevangel- ized regions without a single contribution by anyone out- side of their own circle. When John Wesley sent Fran- cis Asbury to take charge of the ''societies in North America," Asbury found churches which were almost entirely self-sustaining, Methodism practically was self- supporting and was propagating itself with a rapidity which has never been excelled. If Mr. Wesley had sent a large sum of money, and had paid all these foreign and colonial preachers and lay helpers, Methodism would probably have spent its force before it reached the Ohio River. Because it had to find its own support, and had to carry on its own work of self-propagation or die, it
264 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
kept its organization simply and democratic, and appealed to a very large constituency as a worthy object of Chris- tian giving, because of the multitudes whom it was turn- ing from sin unto righteousness. A large subsidy from Mr. Wesley might have been a distinct injury to the growing Church. Asbury and others went far afield and attained self-support for the church organizations which sprang up whither they went hy voluntary contributions of consecrated service rather thorn, hy gifts of money. Here is the key to true Scriptural self-support. By con- tributions of unremunerated service the Apostolic Church spread from home to home and from city to city as quicksilver runs over a floor. Had the Apostles waited to open work in Antioch, Thessalonica and Rome until they had raised from the poor churches already estab- hshed sufficient funds to send and maintain qualified workers who should be provided with roomy and ornate buildings for work and worship, there never would have been any Christian Church.
It is only fair to say that the independent Brazilian Presbyterian Churches furnish a clear illustration of the good results of the policy of urging self-support from the first. They maintain public worship, are developing a strong native ministry and pay for everything which is done by Brazilians.
5. LESSONS FROM WORLD EXPERIENCE
a. In Africa.
Certain large lessons can be learned from experiments in self-support in different parts of the foreign field. The great self-supporting work under Bishop Tucker, in East Central Africa, where more than 100,000 Africans have been gathered into corporate church life, churches built, schools estabHshed, and all the machinery of a well or- ganized mission brought into smooth and effective oper- ation without the use of a penny of foreign money for the support of an African pastor or teacher, or the ex- penditure of such money for the erection or equipment of churches or other buildings needed for the work, is one of the most notable examples. Apparently God's
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peculiar favor has rested upon this work from its incep- tion. There has been a degree of spontaneous cooper- ation on the part of converts and a spirit of sacrifice at times reaching the heroic, which have reacted blessedly upon the spiritual life and growth of the immature be- lievers who thus denied themselves for Christ's sake.
b. In the Philippines.
In a lesser way the same experiment was tried out by one of the Churches which began work in the Philippine Islands, after the close of the Spanish-American War. Those who were charged with the direction of the work on the field, finding their number limited and their funds circumscribed, and believing fully in the method of self- support which has just been emphasized, passed rapidly from city to city, presented the gospel plainly and lov- ingly, and organized into churches such believers as ac- cepted the message. At first the organization was one of great simplicity. They took out from among the con- verts men of good report and of the best training to be found and charged these wuth the duty of maintaining at least one public service each Sunday, the reading of Scrip- ture, prayer and Christian testimony, under the leadership of some one who seemed to the missionary to possess the most natural gifts and graces. One evening service each week was also to be held, and such literature was to be distributed from hand to hand among these new believers as could be sent from time to time by the super- intendent of the mission. The believers were fully in- structed that when they came together they were to fol- low the apostolic injunction and "despise not prophesy- ing." If anyone had a psalm or a teaching or an interpre- tation he was to speak briefly. The missionary made the rounds of these centers once in two or three months, stay- ing from two to five days at each place, and ''putting things in order," as Timothy was instructed to do in Crete. Then for another two to three months the little group was left to itself and to such ministrations as its mem- bers were able to give at these two weekly gatherings. Such blessings attended the work that within seven years
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over 20,000 had been gathered into the church fellow- ship of this Communion alone, more than one hundred selected exhorters and local preachers were preaching from one to three times each week without salary and without so much as the thought of receiving salary. Three or four of the stronger churches had undertaken the entire support of national pastors, who gave their en- tire time to one or another group or circuit. During this time practically no foreign money was paid for the salary or travelling expenses of the Filipino preachers. Local churches were taught to subsist and grow when they had only the voluntary labor of the more gifted members of their own body. When they were able to give a pastor a few rooms in one of their houses, and find him enough rice and fish to eat, and when some of the faithful women were willing to make up a few garments for himself and family, then they had their desire for a pastor gratified. Here again the peculiar blessing of God rested upon the plan. The sacrificial spirit was manifest among the mem- bership. The sum total of voluntary activity in telling neighbors and friends of the saving power of the gospel was impressively great, and many converts were gathered by the converts of that Church in the Philippine Islands at an annual expenditure at no time exceeding $25,000.
c. In China.
Dr. William Ashmore, of China, published a most il- luminating contribution on this subject in the Chinese Recorder for January, 1899. Speaking of the founding of churches on the foreign field, he said: "All these young churches need to be fed with the word of truth, and that means a demand for pastors and teachers, or for some equivalent therefor in the interim, until more elaborately qualified pastors and teachers can be had. But support is needed; we might say money is needed, but we prefer the word support, as conveying a more dignified, a more just, and a more scriptural conception, free from tlie suggestion of mercenariness.
"But who is to furnish that support, or its equivalent in money, as others will call it? Hitherto the home
SELF-SUPPORT 2(^']
churches have done it — at least mainly. A little band of disciples would be gathered, and perhaps the missionary himself would be willing to be elected their pastor. It was a mistake, a profound mistake. Support a missionary as pastor they could not. They would never dream of such a thing. And so they started off with the idea that the support of a pastor was no concern of theirs. But the more common method was for the missionary to send a native preacher to reside among and to preach to them from Sunday to Sunday. Of course he paid the native pastor, for such he was, with mission money. There again a mistake was made. Responsibility of their own the mem.bers had not. We know of places where this system of supporting their pastor for them has been kept up for fifteen or twenty years. A miser- able, enervating and pauperizing system it has been. . . . A trouble with us is this. In all our movements on this question we are following home conceptions, and insist on introducing home methods. We are not constructing after the pattern shown in the mount; but after certain Anglo-American designs. . . . As against all this we appeal to the Word of God. Great and essential truths are there taught which we have lost sight of, or, if we have not lost sight of them entirely, we have lost sight of the full signifi- cance of them."
Dr. Ashmore closed his paper urging that the 14th chapter of First Corinthians be recalled to our atten- tion, where the primitive mode of carrying on church services is set forth with great fullness of detail, and says : "We are old-fashioned enough to believe that this was a model intended for all time in such kind of work as we missionaries are engaged in. Indeed, we are con- strained to think that our old matured churches at home, even if they have pastors, would have their efficiency increased immensely, if they would but take a leaf out of Paul's book and utilize vastly more than they do the undeveloped gifts and graces of their tal- ented membership. . . . But when it comes to lit- tle rising and struggling interests, whether at home
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or abroad, which have no money, but do have among them men and women who know how to do some things, and could easily be taujs^ht how to do many more, we have no shadow of doubt on this subject. To us, daylight is in this direction. . . . Are there lost arts in the propagation of Christianity, in the planting of churches, and in the evangelization of nations?''
6. THE ATTITUDE OF THE NATIONAL CHURCHES FAVORABLE
Turning now to the question of self-support in Latin America, as that term is generally understood in the discussions of missionary Boards and mission- ary leaders, let us first note that the correspondence reaching us sounds a hopeful note. Progress is being made, an increasing number of local congregations have become entirely self-sustaining, and not only that, but in turn have become contributors to the funds needed for pushing the campaigns beyond their bor- ders, and for the relief of the worthy poor and for other benevolent purposes.
A missionary correspondent writes from Buenos Aires: "I am beginning to feel that it is a mistake to go into a city and put up a building of a given sort and say to the people, in effect, 'Come and be our members, that is all you have to do, as we pay all expenses for building and for running the church. All you have to do is to be good Christians and just mem- bers.' I think it is a mistake to let the people feel that it is the Board's house, organ and seats, that this is the Board's man that we have for pastor, and that nothing is ours. Would it not be better for a m.an to take the Board's money, and with the Board behind him as far as he personally is concerned, go into a community, beginning a group life in the best way practicable, and then with each one feeling as if the enterprise were de- pendent on himself for victory, to appoint a building committee and say to them, T will give from the Board so much for all you will raise'? Thus the people would
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become a real factor of the enterprise, while maintaining their personal church liberty and autonomy."
A man whose field is in Mexico, writes : "If we continue the present plan, we shall not establish self- sustaining churches in Mexico in one hundred years. If the people recognize the pastor's financial depend- ence upon them they will rally to his support, not only financially, but otherwise ; they will attend his meet- ings more regularly and aid him in the work which is one betw^een him and them, and not between him and some Board. If the pastor receives from his Board all the money needed to make missionary trips, and to do his pastoral work, the danger is that his members may ask pay for doing such personal work even among their own kindred and acquaintances." Mr. Chastain urges the importance of applying this prin- ciple to schools established in the field, and declares that industrial departments should be introduced, even in the theological schools. He says : "Some of our own Mexican preachers have been taken up in pov- erty, sent to school with all their bills paid without thought or eflFort on their part, and as a result they have lost the training which comes from personal effort, and have been put out of touch with the com- mon people. Povertv may be a hard master for young people, but it is a most valuable one, teaching economy and thrift." He agrees strongh^ with the statement quoted just above, with regard to con- gregations, and points out that the only greater mis- take is for the Board of Missions to go on paying nearly or quite all the running expenses, such as those for lights, janitor service, Simday-school supplies, etc., and ndds: "It is an actual injury to people to give them everything. If what they use comes as the result of their own toil they will get along with less, but it will be more appreciated, and will do them more srood. Except in very rare cases, I never give away Bibles and Testaments. This same principle is observed also in our medical work. A small fee is collected from every patient, enough, it may be, to pay for the medicines.
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Because of a too free use of mission money, we have had a hard time to collect the subscription price of our religious weeklies, but even here there is improvement." He goes on to point out that whereas the converts have long been accustomed to the idea of paying for the support of a church, it should be easy to induce them to support evangelical activities, and says that where they do not do so it seems to him the result of lack of training for which the missionary is ultimately re- sponsible. He has further pointed out that uo instance has come within his knowledge of a gradual lessening of grants from a Board. He goes on to argue that some plan of this kind must be adopted, if self-sustaining and self -propagating churches are to be established.
A missionary from Manzanillo, Cuba, says : "It seems to be a great error to try to Americanize our w^ork in these foreign countries. Many missionaries appear to think that if the Christian work in these Latin lands is not modelled exactly after the work in North America, then the work can result in no lasting good. I differ altogether from this view, l^elieving it to be erroneous. Many missionaries seem to see noth- ing good in the country where they are laboring, and do nothing but deprecate and underrate everything that is Cuban, Argentinian, Chilean, or Brazilian. They find virtues only in America and in everything Amer- ican. I am fully persuaded that so long as we proceed in this manner, we can never hope to win our way into the hearts of the Latin races." This correspondent was discussing primarily the best methods of so relat- ing the missionary to the national membership as most speedily to attain self-support and self-pro]:)agation. Both he and several other missionaries urge the organization of active members of the church into small bands under leaders for aggressive evangelism, ]Vlan- ning" their work and keeping them inspired for its per- formance. Utilize the latent love, enthusiasm and energy of the membership in each place as the i)rime evangelistic force for that town and for commimities nearby. This missionary also urges the organization of a woman's missionary society in every local church,
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urging members to find their first field at their own doors, and to throw themselves heartily into the work of evangelization.
One correspondent feels that some native workers do not wish the churches under their charge to become self- supporting for the reason that their pride does not take kindly to being paid by a local congregation and thus be- coming its servant ; also they are afraid of being accused of making a bid for independence, and of a desire to form a national independent Church. According to this correspondent, the first reason is very common in his field, the second less so.
A correspondent from Ecuador writes in a some- what pessimistic vein. He says : ''1 believe in the de- velopment of a self -propagating native Church. To accomplish this there should not be much foreign sup- port. The members should first be taught to labor while supporting themselves in their customary occu- pations. It should be one of our first tasks to teach the native Church to give of its means, and in time to assume the support of the m.ost valuable workers in order that these may give their whole time to the work of the gospel. Unless we can make progress by some such plan as this our labor is in vain. Success de- pends largely upon the character and example of the missionary."
Writing as to the difference between the temporal conditions of the missionaries and those of the con- verts, the same man says: "Missionaries have generally been an example to the poor people in the economic use of money. If we are modest in our expenses, dress, and house-furnishings, I do not think that the difference between us and our brethren will cause com- ment. Coming down to their level has not increased a brotherly feeling, as I hoped it would." Mr. Reed cites an instance similar to many which have been brought to our attention : "There is a village near at hand where a Jamaican (negro) mechanic took a Bible and night after night read it to the family where he was employed. A work of grace began, and the members of
2^2 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
this and several other families became believers and propagators of the gospel. Missionaries have visited them from time to time and bring back reports of a true work of God. There had been erected in this place the only building that exists in Ecuador dedicated exclusive- ly to gospel service." It has been remarked by some of the missionaries that such results have come to pass where they themselves had not gone. This may be sug- gestive of a method of spreading the gospel through men taught by missionaries, the men so taught afterwards preaching in connection with their ordinary activities.
7. METHODS AND OBLIGATIONS OF STEWARDSHIP
A correspondent in Cuba writes: "There can be no real church independence till the churches are self- sustaining, and it is necessary that both pastors and people be constantly reminded of these facts. The method employed by our own mission is the 'Every Member Canvass.' This gives some result, though we find that the people are often quick to promise rela- tively large sums which they afterward cannot pay. We have as a special objective a gradual lessening of the grant from the Board for each individual church, but seek to have this self-imposed and not required by the Board." He points out that there is need of a more uniform basis of fixing the salaries of Cuban ministers, and says : ''These salaries range from $40 to $75 per month, according to conditions of living and size of family, taking into account also the merits of the worker and his standard of living. We should seek to supply the shortage of preachers by training lay personal workers who will render service without salary, working in their spare time. Since more has not been done for self-support, it is more due perhaps to the poverty of the churches than to a lack of will- ingness to give."
There is a great unanimity among our correspond- ents regarding the necessity of more definite Scrip- tural teaching regarding the obligations of Christian stewardship. It is pointed out that this subject should
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be carefully studied by all pastors, editors, writers of tracts and booklets, Sunday-school workers and teach- ers in our schools, and that by example as well as precept, with line upon line, our young converts should be shown the duty which God has laid upon them, giving of their substance unto Him as a part of sym- metrical worship acceptable to His sight. Members of the Commission desire to emphasize this detail of the Report and to urge that all workers throughout the field study this subject anew, and bring its lessons to bear far and wide in all our borders. Where this has not been done, it should precede and accompany the introduction of "methods" of raising money, no matter how wise. A recognition of the obligations of stewardship of life and property lies back of all truly consecrated giving of money toward Christian causes.
CHAPTER VI THE SECURING OF LEADERSHIP
I. INDISPENSABLE QUALIFICATIONS FOR LEADERSHIP
Those who are to be the leaders of the church life of Latin America need to be richly qualified. In the first place, they need a soundness of character based upon a definite personal experience of the living God and a clear vision of their relation to God's plan for humanity. Of all the mission fields of the world, the Latin field is pre- eminently the one into which the untried should not ven- ture. The Latin world presents to-day, as does no other part of the world, the spectacle of a cultured class de- liberately rejecting Christianity, either because they feel it has failed, or because they themselves fail to distinguish between a spiritual religion and an ecclesiastical system. At any rate, they turn to atheism. Others, to whom God is still conceivable, grope in a world where he has never been revealed or turn to the crudities of Spiritism.
The attitude is more than the expression of a mere philosophy. The moral standards of Christianity are be- ing put to the test. Those who question them also ques- tion the authority of Christ in the realm of morals and ethics. The cultured Latin who may have a sense of high moral obligation sometimes brings the charge of immor- ality against Christianity as he has known it. The worker among Latins finds that much of the appeal to intuitive
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faith and axiomatic morality is ineffective. Unless he is able to adapt his methods to the conditions which con- front him, his work will be unfruitful and will react upon his own religious life, quenching the vigor of his faith.
A second indispensable characteristic of the worker among Latin peoples is a keen sense of the brotherhood of the human race. There is no place in Latin America for one who believes in the special election and calling of the Anglo-Saxon or any other race and its predestined supremacy in the world. The Anglo-Saxon or Teutonic missionary to the Latins needs to bear in mind that Giris- tianity was Latin before it was either Anglo-Saxon or Teuton, and that the very missionary zeal of which he is so proud, was Latin v/hen Christianity was brought to the lands of his forefathers.
A third essential for the one who is to lead is sure and tactful sympathy. The social evil, illiteracy, mendicancy, intemperance, political corruption, hatred and a host of other evils can no more be eradicated by cynical criticism in Latin America than they can in any other land. The evils which Christianity has to eradicate in Latin America are not Latin evils, but the common evils of humanity. The gospel is catholic. He who would serve any people must be willing to be as considerate, as friendly and as loving as his Master.
A fourth characteristic essential to leadership in this work is broad culture. There is no danger of putting too much emphasis upon the intellectual preparation of those who are to work among the western representatives of as brilliantly intellectual a race as the world has known. Nowhere is the obstacle which bars the access of the gos- pel to the hearts of men so preeminently an intellectual one. When all this has been said, however, it remains true that sin is doing its deadening and destructive work on life and character just as truly in Latin America as elsewhere, and, as elsewhere doubtless, the intellectual difficulties, the atrophied spiritual sense, the dulled appe- tite for anything partaking of ethical idealism, on the part of many grow out of the corrosive effect of known sin on the life.
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2. NATIONAL LEADERSHIP ESSENTIAL
The future greatness or failure of the Latin republics lies in the hands of their educated leaders. If that which constitutes the heart and soul of civilization ever becomes the ruling factor in the lives of these peoples, it will be through these molders of the national thought and these controllers of national policies. The man of culture in Latin America is not opposed to altruistic idealism or morality ; but he is set and firm against dog- matism and hollow ecclesiasticism. The one who suc- ceeds in winning his attention and directing his mind toward the predominant issues of individual and national life will be the one who is able to approach him on an in- tellectual and moral basis. On this basis no insincerity will be permitted. Christianity has no need to conceal anything; but it is easy to make men feel that there is truth which Christianity seeks to conceal. Some such consciousness as this has done much to alienate the cul- tured Latin from the Christian Church. The first step toward winning his attention again to the things of the Spirit w^ill be the destruction of the barrier which exists between the so-called secular and the so-called sacred in education. It is impossible to think of philosophical or scientific preparation which is too thorough for those to whom this important task is entrusted. Christianity will fail in Latin America, as she ought to fail anywhere, if she does not deal fearlessly and fairly with the philo- sophical and scientific problems v^hich vex men's minds and undermine their faith. While an occasion for the charge of obscurantism already brought by the intellect- uals against the Roman Catholic leaders must not be per- mitted to arise by the evangelicals as against our schools or churches, yet the convincing apologetic for these peo- ple will be transformed lives and self-denying social ser- vice adapted to the felt needs of particular communities. Moral and spiritual uplift incarnated in regenerated lives constitutes an argument which will grip consciences where the free discussion of philosophic and scientific questions w^ould be futile.
The leaders w^ho are primarily in mind in this chapter
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are those who have been born and bred in Latin America. The important problem before the evangelical church is their discovery and development. This problem is moral as well as cultural. The acceptance of double standards of personal purity, the low ideals of political and business life, the failure to emphasize character building as a chief element in education, are indications of this.
This matter of raising up a national leadership is like- wise affected by intellectual conditions. Dr. Speer in "South American Problems" has treated this subject with great candor. With an illiteracy ranging from sixty to eighty percent, in the different countries, it is easy to see that the task is one of great difficulty. We get additional light on the problem as we reahze how the cultured class has reacted against religion. Argymiro Galvao, formerly professor of philosophy in the Law School of Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a lecture on "The Conception of God," states quite clearly the attitude of this class : "We are in the realm of realism : the reason meditates not on theological principles, but on facts furnished by experience. God is a myth; He has no reality; He is not an object of science."
Another element to take into consideration in the search for strong, wise leadership is the self-consciousness of the dominant classes in these virile young republics. They are proud of their history and of their heritage and are slow to follow foreign influence. Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that throughout Christian history many of the ablest leaders have come from very humble homes. Our hope lies largely in the guiding and training of the children of our church membership.
The fact must never be lost sight of that this search for leadership is as old as humanity. Israel rose in pow- er or waned in influence according to the emergence of leadership ; under the guidance of a Moses or a Joshua victories were achieved, order established, and the purpose of God for His chosen people approximated. Christ gave the best strength of His three short years of earthly ministry to the selection and training of twelve men, all but one of whom rendered notable service in
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founding and extending the Kingdom. In Christian his- tory, the discovery of leadership has been the solution of most troubles in church and state. The younger Pitt, the Wesleys and Whitfield, Bushnell and Finney, Washington and Lincoln, are names which bring this lesson home.
3. THE ELEMENT OF TIME INVOLVED
If the Church is to succeed in Latin America, strong leaders must be developed for the varied forms of activity required and they must come from the rank and file of the membership. Ultimately the leaders of the evangeli- cal forces in Latin America must be Latin Americans. This problem pertains not only to the Church but also lies at the very heart of the national life. The discovery of strong leadership has been the solution throughout all history of most of humanity's troubles.
The past should instruct the present as to the time within which it may reasonably be expected that na- tional leadership can be discovered, developed and se- cured. Someone has well said that one of the weaknesses of foreign missionary efifort has been the expectation of results without allowing for the lapse of time necessary to produce them. This too often leads to "hot-house" methods, with the premature ripeness and quick decay which attend their use whether in nature or grace. Look- ing particularly at the great epochs of Church history, it may be clearly seen that the leaders in any given genera- tion were not generally the product of the generation in which they served. They were the children of a former generation, nurtured from infancy, trained through ado- lescence, and matured for their tasks in early manhood and womanhood under the influences of the Church to which their services were devoted. Here and there it may reasonably be expected that a convert will be largely used to reach the generation to which he belongs at the time of his conversion, but if the lessons of the past are duly pondered, little encouragement will be found there for the expectation that this class of leaders will be numerous. Some of those who have sent communications to the
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Commission seem to rest under the impression that the leadership for the Church in the decades immediately ahead of us we are to find already grown to manhood and enroled, it may be, as students in this or that uni- versity, or practising a profession already acquired, in this or that city. Not so was it in the Apostolic Church. Timothy, who from a child had known the Holy Scrip- tures, was taken into private tutelage by the great apostle himself. But the early Church made its broad appeal to the great uncultivated mass which formed what the Ro- mans considered as their lower, if not the lowest social stratum. Among the adults so led to Christ, relatively few developed as prominent reliable or trusted leaders. It was their children and their children's children, reared in Christian homes, sung to sleep by Christian mothers us- ing the hymns of the new faith, and breathing from their infancy a spiritual atmosphere unknown to the peo- ple Hving about them, who led the way to a larger life. Thus it was in planting the great aggressive Churches in North America, as the pioneers pushed westward. Their rugged frontier preachers gained their first hear- ing among the common people, and the leaders in those Churches to-day are the sons, grandsons and great-grand- sons of relatively humble ancestors, developed in Chris- tian homes, graduated from Christian colleges and sem- inaries, and called to positions of leadership in the great matters of the Kingdom. This process will doubtless be repeated in the evangelization of Latin America. The securing of leaders for a great Christian enterprise is analogous to the securing of a crop of grain from the spring sowings. Each kind of corn has a law written in its heart, and according to that law ripeness will come in two, three, or four months, and not sooner. No process known to scientific agriculture can shorten the time necessary to the ripening of a field of wheat or corn. By long and careful study of seed-breeding, a variety may be discovered which ripens a few days ear- lier than older varieties, but even so, the law remains the same. The human mind and heart demand the element of time in coming to that rich maturity demanded of
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leaders in so holy an enterprise, and no wise master- builder in Christ's employ should complain that the oaken fibre of the character which can bear a great strain is not such as matures in a day or a year, or even a decade. It is needful that we cleanse our minds of impatience, and stagger not at the promises of God because they seem delayed in their fulfillment.
4. THE TWO GREAT SOURCES OF LEADERS
Time alone will not give us leadership. Time alone will not bring harvests. Constant labor between planting and approaching maturity is demanded. Our fathers in all the past have unweariedly striven to provide for the youth of each generation those facilities for worthy men- tal discipline which have been the chief human elements in securing leadership in all the past. Those who are responsible for the on-goings of evangelical activity in Latin America will secure their leaders in no other way. To those leaders in the next generation or the one next following that, will be entrusted the holy enterprise which we are now discussing. How fundamentally im- portant, then, that vigilance, broad planning and sacri- ficial service should be given to the Christian nurture and mental training of those who have already cast in their lot with us, and to that of all their children. Qualifica- tions of the foreign worker as set forth above must meet in the national leader. But if such training is provided, it must be on a scale hitherto not contemplated by any or all of the agencies at present engaged. Two sources are available: first, the young men who are being trained in the excellent state and national colleges and univer- sities throughout Latin America ; second, young men and women who get their training wholly or in part from missionary and church institutions.
5. THREE METHODS OF SECURING THEM
a. Reaching the Students in the National Schools.
The young men in state and national institutions are important. No plan for the moral uplift of the Latin peo- ples should fail to take these into account. As go these
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students, so are likely to go the nations which they repre- sent. These students will constitute a formidable barrier to the success of any plan which does not win their al- legiance. If this allegiance is won, however, it will be the greatest single conceivable victory of the campaign. No one who has witnessed the transformation in student life in North America within a quarter of a century and has seen the effect of the impact of this transformed life upon social and religious conditions can doubt for a moment that the key to the storehouse of power is in the hands of him who shall arouse the student class to an enthusiasm for unselfish service, heroic leadership and sound character. The difficulty is not one of inaccessibil- ity. If the students of Latin America are arrayed against Christian ideals to-day, it is because they have had but little opportunity as a class to place themselves in any other position. The educational systems of Latin America had their origin in the European systems at a time when science and philosophy occupied a very doubt- ful place in the pious mind. Viewed from the standpoint of the Church of that day, such subjects were the work of the devil, and he who engaged in them endangered great- ly his standing in the Church, if not his life. From the standpoint of the world, science and philosophy were man's nearest approaches to the truth. To engage in them was to cast aside the irrational Christian position for a rational though atheistical attitude. As time went on and education became more and more secularized, the gulf between the ''sacred" and the "secular" has widened. The Church, as the Latin knows it, has given herself with increasing exclusiveness to theological training, while the secular schools increasingly felt that their field is dis- tinct from all that is Christian ; so that to-day in Latin America to be scientific is to be atheistical, skeptical, or indififerent to religious truth. This intellectual attitude is buttressed and augmented by moral and personal con- sideration, so that the great mass of young men who might be leaders are indififerent to religious appeals.
How then can an efifective appeal be made to the stu- dent class? There must be in this class the same respect
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for truth that characterizes the student class in other countries. We shall win them to faith in Jesus Christ and a dedication of themselves to His service, only as we treat human problems, both intellectual and moral, with unflinching honesty; as we put ourselves in sym- pathetic touch with the best in their national aspirations ; as we believe that the Latin American will have his own contribution to make the great composite which will one day be the religion of the race.
b. Sending Students to North America and Europe.
When men and women have been led to dedicate their lives to Christ, there is still remaining to be considered the problem of special preparation. Shall the future leader be sent out of his country for adequate training or shall the Church provide the means of preparation on the field ? There is still on the part of many a conviction that the ideal preparation is that which is obtained by those who leave their home land and go for their prepara- tion to the colleges and training schools of the United States and Europe. Unquestionably this is advantageous in some cases, but the teaching of experience is that the advantage is in the exceptional case. There are real reasons for this. One who is trained outside of his na- tive land is in some danger of losing his sympathy with his own people and finds it almost as difficult to adapt him- self to his people and their ways as does a foreigner. In fact he often desires to be rated as a missionary. Again, those who are prepared away from home are prepared in an alien atmosphere. However the school in Great Britain and North America may attempt to adapt itself to the needs of its students from other lands, it is always conditioned by the peculiar influences of its own environ- ment. The study of social and economic problems and situations is becoming increasingly important to the pros- pective Christian worker as the Church grows in the realization of its responsibility in all the relations of life. This preparation, if acquired abroad, must be either theoretical in nature, or, if practical, must be in relation to conditions and problems quite at variance from those
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to be met with in the actual application of this prepara- tion in the home environment. The outstanding advan- tages of a foreign training are the superiority in teaching methods and educational equipment, the opportunity to acquire an outlook and an insight which in after years may be brought to bear on Latin-American problems, and the promotion of international and interracial brother- hood. Admitting the force of arguments in favor of the foreign school, admitting also that in all probability there will always be a need for such schools, and that some of the future leaders in Latin America, as in all other fields, should be prepared abroad, there still remains the fact that no satisfactory system has yet been devised for the education abroad of very many of the necessary workers. The Church must still provide for the training of the large majority of her leaders in their home environment.
c. Training on the Field.
( I ) Conditions Involved in Selecting Capable Men. — The question that really concerns the Church in the field is how to provide adequately for the training of the men and women who must be trained at home. Here again we must keep in mind the nature of the task before the Church, which is to win the nation, not a single class, to Christ. The Church can hope to succeed in such a task only as are won the earnest cooperation of the best minds of the nation. This cooperation cannot be limited to the relatively small number of men who are enlisted as pas- tors, teachers, and other official leaders ; the Church must win also the cooperation of the best minds among the laymen of each nation. While the winning of this lay cooperation depends upon many conditions which do not belong to this discussion, the question most vitally in- volved in it is that of leadership. The Christian enter- prise requires as its leaders, the leaders of the people. How can the Church attract such leaders to her standard?
The first condition is that of excellence. The Church will win the best when a standard is set and lived up to — a standard which is high enough spiritually, morally and intellectually to attract the best. This is in no sense
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a criticism of the present standards. But the Church in Latin America is called to face a new situation. Hands are beckoning into new fields. She is beholding to-day vast territories which were formerly hidden from her gaze. Important classes appear accessible to-day which yesterday were viewed largely as hindrances to the spread of the gospel. Nothing less than the consecrated in- fluence, character and intelligence of the best that each nation affords is worthy to be the instrument in God's hands for accomplishing the task which confronts the obedient Church. She has no pecuniary advantages to offer men, and makes little appeal to their ambition. On the contrary, persecution, privation, opposition and humil- iation are among the rewards of her ministry. It can be counted as certain, therefore, that the Church will not at- tract to her leadership any class which, in accepting the same, regards itself as dwarfed in character, stultified in intelligence and limited in opportunity. She will win to her ministry the best of the race, when she can show that the accomplishment of her task gives opportunity for the fullest expression of the personality of those who serve her.
This means that the Church will require as a funda- mental prerequisite of the ministry broad and careful in- tellectual preparation. Certainly the minister must be able to think as deeply and as accurately as the lawyer, the scientist, and the technical man. What human inter- est can be foreign to him? What faculty of the mind dare he leave untrained? What depth and breadth of sympathy does he not need ? What intellectual resources can he not employ? The least requirement that the Church in Latin America can make of her future minis- ters is the fullest possible development of their intellec- tual powers. To those who will interpret Christianity to this highly intellectual race, theological and technical training must come as the capstone of a liberal education. This is no plea that the Church shall limit itself to service of the cultured class. It does not require argument to show that each need of any class is better met by a min- istry which is prepared to meet the needs of every class.
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There is probably no evangelical body in Latin America which would dissent from this. The difficulty is simply that such an ideal calls for educational facilities which are inaccessible to the great majority of the people. If the Church is to meet this need, the best college training together with the best theological and technical training must be made accessible to the people.
(2) Plans for Developing Them. — What can be done in practical ways immediately to meet the insistent de- mands of the present and of the pressing future? First, let each foreign worker and each national leader of gifts and experience associate with himself one or two of the most promising young men of his circuit or station. Let him direct their reading, stimulate them in their religious life, keep them in his society as much as possible, deepen and instruct them in the fundamentals of Christian teaching. Let him fill their minds and hearts with the struggles by which Christ's kingdom has gone forward from age to age, giving them background against which to set the self-denials needed in their own day. Let them go out to hold cottage meetings, to preach in new and unevangelized towns, and if they prove to be promising candidates for special Christian service, let them be sent where they will receive an adequate training.
Second, let summer schools or summer institutes be organized to last two or three weeks at the most favor- able period of each year. Let each young minister be encouraged to attend each entire session and to take a prescribed course of study year after year, followed up by supplemental reading. This plan will greatly benefit those who have not had the advantages of a seminary course. It has been found very helpful wherever it has been faithfully put into operation.
Third, let interdenominational Bible training schools be established at three or four central points, staffing them with the best minds which have developed in actual field conditions. Money thus spent is likely to bring large results.
Fourth, provide the means for foreign study to a very limited number of specially gifted men. This number should be kept at a minimum for reasons set forth above.
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The concrete solution of this problem belongs to the Commission on Education. But we do well to remind ourselves here that the ideal which we have set before us is utterly unattainable except through the united prayer and effort of all of God's people in Latin America. It may be too early to think of organic unity of the Church, but surely close cooperation is possible in education, even in that of the ministry. If the evangelical Church is so confused and divided about the fundamentals of the Chris- tian religion that it is impossible to educate all of the ministers of a given district in the same institution, she can be sure that the Latin peoples will accept neither her interpretation of Christianity nor any leadership which attempts to fasten upon them a divided Church.
6. THE IMPORTANCE OF LAY LEADERSHIP
The leaders we have been considering are those which the ministry furnishes, but are leaders of this kind the only ones needed ? May not the agriculturalist, the busi- ness man, and the government official be as certainly in line with the will of God, serving the state, and pushing forward the wholesome activities of the world as the men of the ordained ministry? Certainly the tendency of the development of conviction on the part of many earnest Christians of to-day is in this direction. Protestantism should be the last to support the idea that the work of evangelism is solely the work of the clergy. God must raise up in Latin America laymen like the late William E. Dodge or Lord Kinnaird who are capable of successfully directing great enterprises, and who will lend their trained business judgment and energy to help carry out far-reaching plans for the salvation of their fellow- men. Leaders must be found who do not limit their horizon by the range of their own denominational and local obligations and activities, but who can recognize the good there is in any individual or organization that is working for the good of men and for the glory of Jesus Christ, while remaining loyal to the particular tasks com- mitted to their care.
Why have so few men of this desirable type been found
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or produced in the countries where the evangelical Church has been laboring more than half a century? It may be well to confess at once that one chief reason is that there have been so few foreign representatives who have had the gifts, the training, and the sound judgment which commended them to the directing minds of the Latin society amidst which they have carried on their work. Some of these representatives of foreign Boards have approached national leaders in government, society, or education in a spirit of superiority, or have held the whole people of the land up to ridicule because of their adherence to the only faith they ever knew. Such an at- titude has wrought far-reaching harm in more cases than one.
CHAPTER VII RELATIONS WITH GOVERNMENTS
I. THE EARLY STRUGGLES FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The relation with governments experienced by those who were founding evangelical Churches in Latin Amer- ica was almost necessarily unsympathetic. Many gov- ernments had imbedded religious intolerance in their con- stitutions. When members began to be secured, services were forbidden, police were vigila.nt to suppress evangel- istic efforts, and to scatter, if not to imprison the mem- bers of the congregations. Bibles were publicly burned, and both foreign and national pastors were thrown into jail. The Rev. Francisco Penzotti, with nearly forty years' experience in South and Central America, has been in jail many times for the crime of preaching or distrib- uting the Bible, the most noted instance being his im- prisonment during eight months in the filthy, common jail of Callao in Peru. Very naturally, one of the first and strongest efforts of pioneer workers was directed toward securing the repeal of laws enforcing intolerance in all religious matters. Volumes would be required to make an adequate showing of the long drawn-out strug- gle in nearly all parts of this field to obtain from the sev- eral governments constitutional or statutory liberty of conscience and of worship. Such leaders as Dr. David Trumbull of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Thomas B. Wood of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Rev. Paul
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Besson of the Baptist Church, and others who might be mentioned, have been greatly used of God in influencing the law-making and administrative departments of these various republics toward a more modern and reasonable official attitude toward the Bible and the evangelical Churches.
The laws relating to religious freedom enacted by the nascent South American republics a hundred years ago could scarcely have been other than intolerant of all religion but the papal. The release from the yoke of Spain and from the terrors of the Inquisition was undoubtedly marked by a strong reaction in favor of liberty. The Rev. James Thomson sold his entire stock of 1,000 copies of the Scriptures in two days, in 1822, within a stone's throw of the Inquisition building in Lima, and while the Spanish army was still in Peru. This reaction was pronounced and universal among the leaders of the Rev- olution. San Martin decreed religious toleration in Peru soon after he entered Lima, the decree being pubHshed in the Gaceta, October 17, 1821. Bolivar had already in 1819 spoken against governmental religious intol- erance before the Venezuelan Congress. Even the clergy were affected at first by this reaction. Mr. Thomson was ably supported by priests in each of the republics, as well as by the governments which sustained him in his work on behalf of popular instruction and of the diffusion of the Scriptures. In the constituent assembly which drafted the first constitution of Peru, a priest, Protestant Bible in hand, is said to have proposed that the pertinent article read : "The religion of the state is the religion of Jesus Christ."
But the incubus of centuries of superstition lay upon the Latin-American mind. Heresy still remained the first and greatest crime. Offences against the established reli- gion were the first to be dealt with in the penal code of Peru. Moreover, it never occurred to anyone at that time that a native would ever desire to follow any religion than that of Rome. If religious freedom was asked for or proposed, it was only to throw the doors more widely open to European immigration. The universality of this mental
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attitude made it appear a discreet concession which mat- tered little when the liberal leaders of the Revolution al- lowed the most extreme religious intolerance to be placed upon the statute book. Moreover, these leaders had been persistently accused by the Spaniards of designing to de- stroy religion and to enthrone irreligion and immorality. In one of the early copies of the Gaceta, in Lima, a forged correspondence circulated by the Spaniards is published and denounced by San Martin and his supposed correspondent, the whole purpose of which was to create and feed distrust of the great liberal leader in this mat- ter of religion. This same accusation had also been made against the leaders in Argentina and other repub- lics. Their prudent course, therefore, was not to hinder the legislation which disproved the accusation, confident as they were that the rapid spread of education which they then hoped for and the influence of industrious and well-to-do immigrants would, in due course of time, efface the blot.
Thus every South American state not only legislated against religious freedom but against the toleration of public worship. The decree of San Martin was over- turned by the republican constitution. The reactionary group was allowed to dictate the laws relating to religion in worship and education, birth, burial and marriage. Every high official was obliged on oath to maintain the papal system. The liberal elements among the clergy were dealt with by their superiors, and either brought into line with the policy of the Vatican or excommuni- cated.
2. SOME ACHIEVEMENTS
The Revolution was followed by a long period of civil strife in which the statesmen of Latin America, with few exceptions, were too fully occupied with grasping after and retaining power and with learning the principles of civil government, to give much serious attention to cul- ture, morals and religions. The fond hopes of the great leaders for the rapid and wide spread of education among classes and masses were blighted. The European immi- gration to most of the republics has been scant and
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meagre, and where most numerous it has been very largely from the lands of southern Europe. During all this period the vast power of the Roman Catholic Church has deterred weak governments from touching its privileges, lest the priestly influence should be thrown on the side of a revolution. Those republics in most immediate touch with Europe and the United States emerged first from their civil chaos, faced their cultural problems, and among these dealt with the question of religious toleration. Colombia, then under a liberal and progressive administration, and known as Nezv Granada, decreed religious toleration. Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, and much more recently (1906) Bo- livia, conceded in one way or another religious toleration. In Ecuador the change came almost suddenly (in 1896) with one of the popular uprisings in the course of the alternations of party domination.
To-day religious toleration is the law of every Latin- American State, although in all except Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba and Panama, the Roman Catholic Church is actually the established state religion. It has been repeatedly affirmed that in Peru full practical liberty was attained by the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Senor Penzotti. This is not exact. The decision in Penzotti's case was obtained under diplo- matic pressure, and did not recognize his right to con- duct public worship. The truth was that the meetings were so far from being public that on one occasion a padlock had been placed on the outside of the door. In Lima and certain other large cities, meetings have been held constantly, and an open-air meeting has been some- times conducted in Callao with singing, but without prayer. These meetings were practically free from moles- tation. But this has not been so in the provinces, and these constitute, of course, the great bulk of the country. A reactionary government could close down all work in the provinces, if it did not expel every evangelical worker from the country. The Constitution (Art. iv.) has stated that the nation professed the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion; the state protected it, and did not permit the
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public exercise of any other. The penal code states (Art. 99) that the attempt to abolish or vary the Roman Catholic religion in Peru shall be punished with expul- sion from the country for three years; (Art. 100) that whoever celebrates any public act of worship other than Roman Catholic shall be punished with one year's im- prisonment and with expulsion from the country for three years for any repetition of the offence. Fortunately, these laws have not been put in practice, and a project to reform Art. iv. of the Constitution by deleting the final prohibitory clause was voted through both Chambers of Congress by sweeping majorities in 191 3; but such a reform, to take effect, had to be ratified in both Chambers in the succeeding legislature, and while this was accom- plished in the Senate in 1914, the Chamber of Deputies, under the immense social pressure brought to bear by the Roman Catholic Church, despite the known large ma- jority in favor, allowed the measure to be side-tracked. Leading politicians affirmed that they could and would ratify the reform in the legislature of 191 5, and this ac- tually came to pass in November, 191 5, and by an over- whelming majority.
Yet while this primary right of toleration has been at- tained in some form, in but few of the republics, except Brazil, is there a true and honest liberty of worship. The priest, generally through the petty authorities, can at times harass the Christian worker and interfere with his work. An appeal to the central authority usually suffices to put down the trouble for the time, but such annoyance is common, hard to stop, and impossible to get punished no matter how serious it is, when practised against native workers. It has to be met by tact and patience. The better the worker is known, the more friendliness he experiences and the more support he receives.
3. LAWS WHICH STILL NEED BETTERMENT
The further ramifications of the law as touching re- ligion are no more satisfactory.
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a. The Laws Relating to Civil Marriage.
Civil marriage has been obtained in all the republics, always in spite of strenuous opposition. It is constantly denounced by the priests as in no respect better than concubinage, and in the process of a few years it must generate some serious conflicts because of the decree Ne Temere of the late Pope. The precarious situation of converts married under the provisions of the civil mar- riage lav/s, in the event of the state permitting the ap- plication of this papal decree, deserves the most serious attention of those interested in public morality and the progress of Christianity. Even apart from the decree, under the provisions of the Concordat with Rome, a civil marriage in Colombia simply ceases to be legal, if one of the parties chooses to contract canonical marriage with another partner. In Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Guatemala, civil marriage is the only marriage recognized by the law, and must take precedence of any religious ceremony. In Peru, the civil mar- riage law was obtained only after some years of heated debate, in spite of ecclesiastical intrigue and executive opposition. The resultant law satisfied none of the in- terested parties. Roman Catholics cannot be married un- der its provisions, and the contracting parties must estab- lish before the judge their condition as non-Roman Cath- olics. The procedure at present requires the intervention of a lawyer, and as a result it is far too costly.
h. Those Relating to Divorce.
In the midst of wide-spread moral laxity a divorce law is most urgently required. Such legislation has been projected and debated in several republics, but only in a few of them has it become a law. The ecclesiastical tribunal may give a separation order, and in the Peru- vian civil marriage law this same power is bestowed upon the civil judge, but no such order can give liberty for another valid marriage.
c. Those Regulating Religious Instruction.
Religious instruction in all of the national schools is generally tolerant or neutral, but in Colombia national
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education is entirely controlled by the Roman Catholic Church, and in Peru an executive decree of April, 1913, made papal religious instruction obligatory in all the national schools. No provision, as in Argentina, was made or conceded for those whose parents wish for ex-. emption or for evangelical instruction. In this case, more- over, the letter of the law is very commonly exceeded. The children are obliged to go to church, to the confes- sional and to mass and communion. A child who is not allowed by his parents to accompany his class in these exercises is liable to expulsion from the school. As the Normal School for Women in Lima is largely under ecclesiastical control, and is managed by nuns, the great bulk of the school-mistresses who get good schools are entirely under the control of the priests.
d. Those Regulating the Management of Public Benev-
olent Institutions. These institutions are generally conducted by nuns throughout Latin America, and discrimination against the non-Roman Catholic is common. The first clause in the regulation posted up in the public hospitals of Lima is a prohibition of anything contrary to the reli- gion of the institution. In practice, this includes pro- hibition of the reading of the New Testament.
e. Lazvs Regarding Burial.
Burial regulations is another matter in which legis- lation is defective in spite of solemn treaties. In Argen- tina, Brazil and Chile the cemeteries have all been secu- larized. In Peru and Bolivia there are lay cemeteries for only the larger cities, and these, away from the capital, all too often resemble a rubbish yard rather than the last sacred resting place of the remains of fellow- citizens. The beautiful cemetery of the foreign colony between Lima and Callao in Peru was enclosed by the British government in 1830.
4. THE ATTITUDE OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS
The attitude of government officials and other public men and movements toward the evangelical cause is anything but uniform. Generally speaking, though with
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many outstanding exceptions both for and against, their attitude is non-committal. In the more progressive re- pubHcs there are many prominent public men who have sympathetically helped the evangelical Churches. The well-deserved support accorded to the work of the Rev. W. C. Morris of the South American Missionary So- ciety and also to the social work of the Salvation Army in Buenos Aires, is well known. The present President of Bolivia and his Minister of Public Instruction have recently expressed themselves most heartily, the latter committing himself to writing, in support of the work of the Bolivian Indian Mission, and they have accorded very valuable help to the evangelical schools in the re- public. Again, the help and support granted by public men in Uruguay to the work of the Young Men's Christian Association has been notable, as was also the reception accorded its travelling secretary by the govern- ment and University of Chile in April, 191 3. It should, however, be noted that even in these cases the support is accorded rather to some beneficent social activity of the evangelical body than to the movement itself. From Peru northward, however, public men, when not hostile, are mostly concerned not to commit themselves; among the men who serve in the cabinets of Peru there are some who are notoriously opposed to the evangelical Churches. On the other hand, there are many prominent public men who really wish well to the evangelical cause, but gen- erally accomplish little for the cause they sympathize with because they will not commit themselves to any action. The situation is best understood in the light of the broad fact that many public and intellectual men are wholly indifferent to Christian worship. It is to them but a relic of bygone days, in which the women are to be humored, but which does not really matter, and hence is not worth getting into trouble for. Officials, generally speaking, are not unsympathetic, but may allow them- selves to be too easily led into measures of opposition..
It is not reasonable to expect the same degree of spontaneous interest by public men in a program of evangelical activity which we naturally look for in
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North America or in Great Britain. Government officials in the United States and in the British Empire have cen- turies of hberalizing influence behind them. Thousands of them have come up through Sunday schools and churches and are regular attendants upon the stated ser- vices in evangelical churches. Throughout Latin Amer- ica a large number of government officers, journalists and other leaders have not only never enjoyed any such opportunities, but are either frankly atheistic or agnostic, or are more or less closely linked up with the Roman Catholic Church. A growing friendliness, however, is distinctly noticeable. One member of this Commission, whose duties call him to travel throughout South Amer- ica, passing from one to another of several republics each year, finds his reception by the officials, by editors of their larger papers and by other men in public life in- creasingly cordial. Some governments have manifested a decided preference for graduates of missionary normal schools as teachers in institutions under state or munici- pal control. In Bolivia the government has granted funds for free scholarships in two schools for boys and young men, and the president and chief educational offi- cial visit the school in La Paz from time to time, passing from class to class, and usually attending an athletic exhibition of some kind at the close of the period spent in investigating the work of the several teachers. The relation between those charged with the direction of these institutions and all government officials is intimate and is characterized by an increasing degree of mutual re- spect. Several of the leading evangelical workers in Chile are in close touch with government officials, and in every honorable way are influential in securing the passage of laws having social values for those whose economic opportunity and educational outlook have been circumscribed by existing conditions. In a general way, many of the responsible leaders of the Argentine Gov- ernment, like the responsible leaders of Mexico before the revolution of 1910, are glad to receive the cooperation of missionary workers. At this writing leaders in the constitutional movement of Mexico are soliciting this
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cooperation, especially in educational work. It is to be hoped that the Boards are always mindful of the large possibilities of usefulness to the whole popula- tion of the countries whither their representatives are sent. These should always be men with the natural gifts and the acquired training which will enable them easily to approach and favorably to impress the men who shape the destinies of the millions among whom they must labor.
5. THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
a. Liberty of Worship General.
Since the reform laws, separating church and state, were adopted in Mexico in 1856, evangelical Christians have enjoyed theoretical, and for the most part practical, liberty in carrying on their work. Only in out-of-the- way places have serious attacks been made on those en- gaged in public worship. After one such attack by a mob infuriated by the parish priest, when the Mexican preacher was killed. President Diaz addressed the mis- sionaries as follows : "You are greatly depressed and dis- couraged over what has happened, and I do not wonder ; but if you knew this country as I know it, with every- thing in the line of freedom and toleration to learn, you would feel differently. We are not yet all we ought to be. But we are rising, and hope to rise still higher. My advice is to keep on preaching your gospel in its own spirit, and, believe me, in twenty years religious murders will bave ceased, and our people will rejoice in the peace and toleration which our constitution guarantees to all."
b. The Legal Rights of Evangelical Bodies Increasingly
Recognized. The question of the personeria juridica of the evan- gelical bodies and their right to hold property has been favorably resolved in several republics. In Argentina the missions can be incorporated by Act of Congress, and in Chile a charter was granted to the Presbyterian Mis- sion in 1888, so formulated as to give the evangelical Churches a legal standing in the republic. This property question has been much debated with legal authorities in
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Peru, but no satisfactory conclusion reached. Property in Peru owned by mission Boards is at present held by direct title and indirect title in the name of the mission, but the principal properties are in the name of limited companies constituted for the purpose. The weight of legal opinion is to the effect that property can be registered but cannot be defended before the courts by evangelical bodies. Something remains to be done in nearly all of the governments where we are at work, but in many places wise men differ as to the best steps to be taken, and it is perhaps enough to say that the work is not suf- fering to any notable extent because of difficulties at this point which seriously hampered pioneer workers.
c. Entire Equality of Evangelical and Catholic Churches Unsecured. It is generally recognized that reform legislation is urgently needed in several of the Latin-American repub- lics. Strong efforts are now being directed toward that end by powerful groups and organizations. The ques- tion of the absolute separation of church and state tran- scends all others. Just how or when this is to take place cannot at this time be stated, but if the present trend of events continues, it will not be long before there is not only liberty of worship, but also all religious Com- munions will be placed on an equal footing so far as the governments are concerned. At the present time, however, in a number of the republics liberty of wor- ship exists more in name than in fact. Children attend- ing the national schools are taught the catechism, are compelled to go to confession and to attend mass on cer- tain days of the year. This is not only distasteful, but it is also a direct contravention of the religious principles of many intelligent Latin Americans. The older and more advanced countries of the world have long since thrown off church domination in the affairs of state and the progressive Latin-American republics of the west- ern hemisphere will not tarry long in following their ex- ample.
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d. The Missionary's Attitude with Respect to Reforms. The attitude which missionaries and national workers should adopt toward government abuses and reform movements is important. It should surely be an atti- tude of extreme wariness. The worker ought to remem- ber that any action of his may involve for years the reputation of the evangelical Churches. ''Government abuses" unfortunately cover a wide range of interests in Latin America. With the great mass of them the missionary has nothing to do, while the church mem- ber must uphold his responsibilities as a Christian citi- zen, just as good men do everywhere. Two classes of abuses, however, may demand some sort of interven- tion, those which cripple the evangelical activities and those which attempt to destroy the liberties or which threaten the existence of defenceless tribes or races. Concerning these latter, if the demands of Christianity require the action of the missionary, he should obtain the adhesion of the bulk of the Christian forces in the coun- try before taking action, then appeal to the national authorities to right the wrong, and only after exhaust- ing in vain the national resources of justice should he assume the responsibility of publishing the particulars in foreign lands. Pride of race is nowhere keener than in Latin America, and to hold one of its peoples up as a gazing-stock to the nations of the earth is an unpar- donable sin, no matter how just the cause. In the case of abuses against evangelical work, workers or inter- ests, private appeal to the higher authority ought to be the first step, if redress must be sought. But only in extreme cases should diplomatic intervention ever be resorted to. It pleases the national official that you recognize his authority; it offends the whole government when outside pressure is brought to bear upon it in do- mestic affairs. Of course, this does not refer to the personal, private interests of the foreign missionary as a citizen of another power. In these things he should be guided by the instructions of the diplomatic representa- tive of his nation. There are times, however, when abuses go far beyond mere hindrance and annoyance to
300 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
the worker, when, for instance, mission property has been injured. The question of indemnity arises, and great tact is necessary in order to avoid offence.
Again, there are two classes of reform movements which appeal to the interests of the missionary — those which make for the social uplift of the masses and those which remove disabilities from evangelical Christianity. Yet even here the missionary must be discreetly wise. His intervention may prejudice the very cause he desires to advance ; his being a foreigner may make his inter- vention odious, and the statesmen of any nation resent foreign interference with domestic affairs, and those of Latin America are no exception to the rule. On the other hand, many needed reforms will not be conceded so long as they are not demanded, and the opposition to every religious reform movement is highly organized and vigorously conducted, hence the necessity for the mis- sionary throwing himself into the direction of move- ments for religious reform.
In those countries where the laws are intolerant, the missionary should be very cautious and not expose him- self to the charge of being a violator of the law. He should respect the powers in control and bear in mind that he is a foreigner and sojourner in the land. In every such country there is an atmosphere of legitimate opposition to such laws among the thinking classes, and the missionary will do well to aHgn himself on the side of healthy propaganda against intolerant laws, never go- ing to the extreme of openly defying them by flagrant violations.
6. THE IDENTIFICATION OF MISSIONARY AND GOVERNMENTAL INTERESTS
There should be identification of interests between missionary representatives and the governments. Both groups are working for the same great fundamental ob- jectives, the spread of education, the suppression of dis- ease and crime, the er*adication of the causes of moral corruption and of the breakdown of character; also the safeguarding of the rights of the people to the peaceful pursuit of industry and happiness.
RELATIONS WITH GOVERNMENTS 301
No effort should be spared to explain clearly and thor- oughly to responsible government leaders that the evan- gelical Churches are not invading Latin America on a mission of destruction and proselytism, but rather are they offering sympathetic cooperation in disseminating the knowledge of the program of Jesus Christ and in bringing about universal obedience to His will. To this end, advantage should be taken of the open columns of the press; friendly calls should be made and unhurried conversations held with the most alert and influential government representatives. These should be invited to inspect schools, hospitals and Christian Association build- ings and should be given full opportunity to become familiar with the methods employed. Cordial invitations should be extended to them to attend social and religious exercises in the churches. In short, everything possible should be done to demonstrate the desire of missionary representatives to cooperate heartily with governments in bettering the condition of the people. Grateful recog- nition is here made to several of the Latin-American gov- ernments for the cordial expression of interest and the substantial support given to the educational, medical and philanthropic efforts of the various Churches.
It is a matter for profound thanksgiving that God has used scoree of evangelical leaders, in the different coun- tries covered by this survey, to modify and alter legisla- tion so that the lot of the downtrodden has been ame- liorated, and the bonds of religious intolerance have been loosened, and penal systems have been made in some de- gree to approximate New Testament standards of mercy as well as of justice. They have also secured improved legislation regulating sanitary matters, and, as in the Argentine Republic, Ecuador and Brazil, have aided in putting into effect modern systems of public education through which millions are now being slowly lifted out of illiteracy and are coming to be regarded as intel- ligent, self-respecting citizens. It may be confidently ex- pected that, in the decades which lie before us. men of similar consecration and power of achievement will so relate themselves to movements for the betterment of the lot of those among whom they toil that in their rela-
302 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
tionship with the governments they may be used of God to help bring in that Kingdom which is first righteous- ness and then peace, and only then joy in the Holy Spirit. And their reward and ours will be found in the reflection that in just so far as righteousness has come to any na- tion or any people, to that degree the Kingdom of God has come.
CHAPTER VIII GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
I. THE DIFFICULTIES FOUND BY THE AGGRESSIVE CHURCH
With reference to the general purpose of evangelical work as carried on by foreign missionaries in Latin America, it can not too often be remembered that the missionary comes in the spirit of brotherly sympathy, not to impose but to help; not to destroy but to con- struct; not to dogmatize but to demonstrate; not pri- marily even to teach but to facilitate access to the Spirit of God who "shall guide into all the truth."
We need to keep in mind also the peculiar difficulty which besets this attempt to minister to the urgent and recognized need in these countries. The evangelical Churches have not a definitely marked territory to which they can go, assuming that their work is that of in- discriminate Christianization ; but scattered over vast areas, sometimes in dense, sometimes in sparse popula- tions, are millions of God's needy children, some of whom have hardly heard His name, multitudes of whom have never seen or heard of His Book, while others who have once professed His name have rejected Him. These mil- lions, with the exception of a relatively small number of untouched pagan Indians, are interspersed with a popula- tion of professing Christians, and all are found in coun- tries which are traditionally Christian. To reach these needy ones scattered among multitudes of professing
303
304 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
Christians who, while unable for various reasons to meet the need, do not recognize the right of the evan- gelical Churches to undertake their ministry, calls for the exercise of every Christian grace, and of godly wisdom. We can well rejoice also that the means of their ministration have been established. Churches exist in most sections of this territory and have demonstrated an ability to serve the needy and to care for the un- shepherded. We meet because of that fact and because of our hope that these churches may be strengthened and increased in effectiveness for accomplishing a task which is so evidently God-given.
2. THE CONCLUSIONS REACHED CONCERNING ITS PROPER
POLICY
It is with these limitations in mind and in the face of this hope that we attempt to present a summary of judgments based not on our opinions but on the united testimony of the best minds accessible to us, both on the field and at the home base.
(i) The Evangelical Movement Has Received Di- vine Sanction. — We recognize the leading of the Spirit in this work in the same manner as Peter did in the home of Cornelius, for we have unquestionable evidence of His sanction upon the work in hundreds of transformed lives, in organizations made effective for the service of humanity and for wide doors of opportunity constantly open before the steady advance of God's ministers.
(2) The Task is Complex. — We recognize that the task before us is not only far from simple, but indeed is beset with problems. The local church on the field must often work with a constituency which is neither homogeneous nor centralized. The evangelical Churches have worked for years in cooperation with sympathetic adherents whom they could scarcely hope to win as com- municants. They must find the way to minister to many who are prevented from entering their church buildings with the movement. They win their communicants constantly at the risk of being under the charge of pros- elytism.
CONCLUSIONS 305
(3) It Calls for Home Base Support. — We recognize the large and increasing influence of the evangelical Churches and believe that this influence constitutes a call to the missionary forces of Europe and America to mul- tiply points of contact with this important force for good in the young republics of the Latin world, and to in- crease means for lending it aid and encouragement.
(4) Its Field Is Relatively Homogeneous. — In com- parison with other parts of the world we find a remark- able homogeneity. Throughout the territory covered by this work, the background of almost every national group is a more or less numerous pagan population which is gradually being assimilated into the larger mass whose most important constituent is a Latin people, either Spanish or Portuguese. The most important ra- cial variant is the African, found in numbers, however, only in certain areas. As to ecclesiastical, intellectual and moral problems each national group presents much the same combination of elements. In each there is the same struggle toward a better civilization hampered by ignorance among the people, by distorted ideas of piety and religion and by the demoralizing effect of pagan practices and beliefs.
(5) It Suffers From Denominationalism. — The Church in the field follows the practices of the Churches with which the individual missionaries are familiar in their home lands, with the result that there is the same loss through avoidable friction, through duplication of organization, through the impression upon people whom it is desired to help that there is no unity in the Chris- tian faith and that brotherhood is an unattainable ideal.
(6) It Is Rapidly Assuming Responsibility. — We note a growing tendency to put responsibility upon the members of the native Church and to rely upon the guidance of native leaders in local affairs. We believe that this is in accord with the best principles and espe- cially with the general principle that the work of evan- gelization of the field belongs, and should eventually be
left, to the members of the native Church.
3o6 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
(7) It Maintains Acceptable Standards of Church Life. — We find a fair uniformity in the desire to main- tain high standards of purity of the Church and the in- tegrity and holiness of life of its members. Workers from all parts of the field report that some form of test- ing is necessary for those who are to come into the Church. Emphasis is placed upon patient, sympathetic instruction for the catechumens.
(8) It Produces Faithful Disciples. — The Christians in Latin America are truly producing the fruits of the Spirit. This is revealed in the faithfulness of the mem- bers to public worship, in the prayer life, in zeal for the spread of the gospel, in the endurance of persecu- tion and in the support of God's house.
(9) It Needs to Emphasize Means for Deepening Spiritual Life. — It is generally agreed that if a Latin- American lives a true Christian life, he must run counter to deeply ingrained low ideals of personal purity, of the married relation and of honesty. He frequently has to readjust his thinking as to intemperance, Sabbath ob- servance and the whole purpose of religion. We believe that the Church should recognize these conditions, not to condone sin in any form, but to put itself in the way more effectively to provide for the deepening of the spir- itual life of its membership and of the people in general. For this there is lamentable lack of suitable devo- tional and instructive literature and of facilities for pe- riods of special training, such as conferences, retreats, etc.
(10) It Should More Definitely Aim to Reach the Cultured Classes. — There is a growing conviction among workers that the Church, in not giving more attention to the needs of the cultured class generally, and of students in particular, is neglecting those whose need is unques- tioned, whose desire for the truth has been demonstrated and whose influence for good or evil is much out of pro- portion to its members. The feeling is increasing also that whatever may be the risk of producing a class dis- tinction in the Church through specialized eflfort, the hazard is still greater if these talented and influential
CONCLUSIONS 307
men be left to harden into open opposition to all that bears the name of Christian, to become spiritually atrophied, or to fritter away their talents and their lives by habits of vice. Even half a century of missionary effort in Latin America has shown how ineffective, so far as the cultured class is concerned, is a work con- ducted without a definitely directed approach. Again, the little specialized w^ork conducted for this class, though scattering and utterly inadequate, has been so en- couraging in its early aspects that it has had the en- dorsement of all who have been acquainted with it. Finally, there is as little excuse for treating in a meet- ing for the uneducated, questions and topics of burn- ing importance to the student class, as there is reason to expect this class to be interested in and edified by Christian topics as these are set forth to illiterates. Such considerations lead thoughtful workers, both native and foreign, to seek the way of some form or forms of spe- cialized effort in the interest of the cultured class. Ex- actly what form this specialized work should take is not at present apparent. That such a work should be thor- oughly in harmony with the general spirit of the work of the evangelical Churches goes without saying. That it must be adapted to particular conditions is evident. That it should be under the guidance of the wisest and most sympathetic leadership at the command of the Church is conceded. In view of the need and of the sympathetic attitude of this class toward any liberal movement that promises a solution of their moral prob- lems, the evangelical Churches are undoubtedly justified in taking definite steps in the only direction in which the goal seems to be attainable.
(11) Its Public Worship Is Simple. — As might be expected, among these still young and struggling Churches public worship is maintained on simple lines. Music plays an important part in the expression of the spiritual feeling of the people, both in the public w^or- ship and in the home, the w^ork shop or the street.
(12) Evangelistic Campaigns Are Needed. — No- where is sufficient emphasis placed upon the use of
3o8 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
evangelistic campaigns. We raise the question whether the time has not arrived in the life of the Church v^hen this means of introducing the gospel and of leading the thoughtful to decision may be profitably employed.
(13) It Stands for Sunday Observance and for Temperance. — The voice of the Church has been heard and heeded, especially when united with the voices of other organizations, on the question of Sunday obser- vance. The sentiment in favor of one day of rest in seven is growing in most of the countries. It is to be regretted that no way has yet been found to a settlement of the Sunday problem for the Christian. The Church has also done effective work, at least among its membership, with respect to the use of alcoholic drinks.
(14) Its Auxiliary Organizations Are Well Devel- oped.— Effective use has been made by the Church of auxiliary organizations. The Sunday school is rapidly developing and has proved a most fruitful method of evangelization. Young people's societies, such as the Christian Endeavor, the Ep worth League and the Baptist Young People's Union have already found their place and are playing a praiseworthy part in developing the young for responsible participation in the work of the Church. The emphasis of these organizations upon per- sonal work makes them important agencies for work among the classes which are for various reasons not permitted to attend church or to identify themselves in a public way with evangelical work. These societies can also render a great service by promoting playground ac- tivities and by carrying on other forms of social service.
(15) It Is Advancing Tozvard Self -Support. — Real progress seems to have been made with regard to self- support. For many missions the report is hopeful, and enough instances of self-sustaining churches are known to give reasonable assurance that eventually the goal of a self-sustaining, self-promoting Church will be attained. We believe this process will be hastened by the obser- vance of the following principles:
CONCLUSIONS 309
(a) Indigenous leadership should be given the best training available which will encourage a true spirit of service.
(b) Such leaders should, as rapidly as possible, be given real responsibility.
(c) As far as possible, the responsibiUty for the maintenance of local organizations should be placed upon the organizations themselves.
(d) Outside funds should be devoted to the erection of buildings and to other purposes in such manner as to stimulate giving on the field and not to strangle the true spirit of independence. Mission funds should go towards the support of missionaries and for such other expenditures as will tend to stimulate the benevolent im- pulses of the local churches.
(16) Its Two-Fold Leadership. — We recognize in this work two groups of leaders, foreign and indigenous.
(a) As to the missionaries, we believe that the very highest qualifications required of workers in any part of the mission field are not too much to expect of those who shall have the ministry in Latin America. Certainly the foreign missionary to the Latin peoples must be of unquestioned soundness of character, fervency of faith and zeal for the gospel, he must have a keen sense of the brotherhood of the race and must be deep in his sympathy and broad in his culture and intellectual at- tainments.
(b) As to the indigenous leadership, the difficulty of their selection and the importance of their careful training will be realized, as we contemplate the intricate moral, educational, intellectual, political and adminis- trative problems which will confront them. The success of the Church depends upon them in a very large way. Unless an indigenous leadership can be developed, there is little hope that the enterprise started by the missionary can accomplish its end. We recognize that the leader- ship that is required is of two kinds, the official, con- stituted by pastors and other officers of the church and the unofficial, embracing the various classes of men and women in lay capacities who are ready to use their in- fluence on behalf of movements of moral and spiritual
3IO THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
uplift. There are two legitimate sources of this leader- ship, if it is to be of the high order required by circum- stances : first, the students of the secular colleges and universities; second, young men and women trained in missionary schools. Both of these are accessible, but as yet no adequate approach has been made to them. We believe that the Church does right to place large and immediate emphasis upon this important problem. Three steps commend themselves: first, the putting in practice of special plans for reaching students in secular schools and confronting them with their opportunity and re- sponsibility; second, the giving of more attention to the preparation of special courses for Latin students in Eu- rope and America and to means for reaching those who are attending universities outside their own countries ; third, the development of a system of education for the Church in Latin America which shall be adequate to the needs here contemplated.
(17) It Needs Four Sorts of Legislative Recogni- tion.— (a) Proper divorce laws. There is wide recogni- tion of the need for the enacting of divorce laws which shall free the innocent party, where the marriage relation has been grossly violated. This will tend to relieve many an intolerable situation and will also be a step towards establishing a single standard of morality for both men and women.
(b) Entire freedom of religious function. With the recent action of the Government of Peru, religious free- dom at least nominally is recognized throughout Latin America. It remains to insist with tactfulness but with definite persistence on the free exercise everywhere of all purely religious functions.
(c) The complete separation of Church and State. The Latin-American republics to a considerable extent have separated the sphere of the Churches and that of the State. We recognize the many evils which flow from a violation of this cardinal principle of true free- dom, but would emphasize the desirability of a cordial relationship of great sympathy between the active gov- ernments and the evangelical Churches. These Churches
CONCLUSIONS 311
should be foremost in real loyalty, in the promotion of social welfare and in establishing that contentment and happiness which give strength to the state. The ideals which should characterize the Churches are the very ideals on which good government rests. It is to be hoped that the process of complete separation of Church and State, already so favorably entered upon in some coun- tries, may speedily become effective everywhere.
(d) A free citizenship. It is inexpedient for mission- aries, who are citizens of foreign countries for the most part, to become political propagandists in reference to the legal disabilities of evangelical converts in such mat- ters, e. g., as religious instruction in the national schools. Yet the missionaries may in friendly ways help to create public sentiment on even the most delicate of such ques- tions through an appeal to fair play. The evangelical nationals, however, should not be discouraged in any worthy attempt to secure for themselves as citizens full privileges of all kinds which belong to them by legal or moral right. Nor should they be compelled to place their children under Roman Catholic religious tutelage in or- der that those children may enjoy the types of instruc- tion other than religious which are essential to intellectual growth and progress. The same principle of a per- sistent effort towards a citizenship free and unharassed in all respects of its expression pertains in respect to other similar questions which may arise.
APPENDIX A
THE CORRESPONDENTS OF THE COMMISSION
ARGENTINA
The Rev. Robert M. Logan (Southern Baptist Convention), Buenos Aires.
BRAZIL
The Rev. R. E. Pettigrew (Southern Baptist Convention), Curi- tyba.
The Rev. Lorin M. Reno (Southern Baptist Convention), Vic- toria.
CHILE
The Rev. W. E. Browning, Ph.D., D.D. (Principal Institute Ingles; Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Santiago.
The Rev. Jesse S. Smith (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Copiapo.
The Rev. C. M. Spining (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Valparaiso.
CUBA
The Rev. Juan McCarthy (American Baptist Home Mission So- ciety), Manzanillo. The Rev. Andres Or j ales Rodriques, Havana.
ECUADOR
The Rev. W. E. Reed (Ecuador Coast Mission), Guayaquil.
GUATEMALA
The Rev. E. M. Haymaker (Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
A.), Guatemala City. Mr. Caspar Wistar (Independent Missionary), Guatemala City.
PARAGUAY
Mr. Andrew Pride (South American Missionary Society), Villa Concepcion.
312
APPENDIX A 313
PERU
The Rev. John Ritchie (Evangelical Union of South America), Lima.
PORTO RICO
The Rev. Manuel Andujar (Methodist Episcopal Church), San
Juan. The Rev. J. W. Harris (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.),
San German.
OTHERS
The Rev. A. E. Cory, D.D. (Foreign Christian Missionary So- ciety), Cincinnati, Ohio.
The Rev. Robert McLean, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., Los Angeles, Cal.
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUS SIGN OF THE REPORT
At the Meeting of the Congress on Friday, February 18, 1916
AGENDA FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE REPORT
1. The importance of the establishment of living churches seeking to secure the open acceptance of Christ as personal Lord and Savior as the primary objective of our work,
2. How to develop evangelistic initiative and activity.
3.^ What is meant by a self-supporting church? How may an increase of self-support be secured, Should there be a cam- paign in favor of Christian stewardship?
4. To what extent should Boards supply funds for the erec- tion of church buildings on the field?
5. How early and to what extent should the churches in the field aid the various auxiliary organizations which have grown up in long established churches?
6. The spiritual life of the churches in the Field, and what can be done to deepen it.
7. How can the Sunday-schools and Young People's Societies be made more effective as evangelizing agencies?
8. How to secure a sufficient number of competent leaders on the field.
Considerations of space have made it necessary to abbreviate the addresses and remarks made in the course of the presenta- tion and discussion of this Report. In doing this the attempt has been made to preserve everything that throws light upon the subjects considered in the Report. It has not been found pos- sible in many cases to submit the Report of the addresses to those who delivered them for their revision.
316
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT ON THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD.
The Chairman, Dr. Robert E. Speer, reminded the Congress that it was the three hundred and seventieth anniversary of the birth- day of Martin Luther, "one who sought faithfully to know God and the truth and fearlessly to do his will, through whom came to us a recovery of obscured aspects of the Apostolic gospel, the reaffirmation of the great principles of human responsibility and human freedom, the release of mighty tides of influence which in their expansion have reformed human history and made the modern world and, finally, a shining example of yield- ing without withholding to the love and the supreme service of our divine Lord." After the singing of "Ein' Feste Burg," the Congress was led in special prayer by the Rev. James I. Vance, D.D., and by the Rt. Rev. Lucien L. Kinsolving, D.D., Bishop of Brazil. After some discussion relating to the reconstruction of the Committee on Cooperation, the Report of Commission Six on The Church in the Field was presented by the Chairman of the Commission, Rev. Bishop Homer C. Stuntz, D.D., of Buenos Aires, Argentina:
Let me express the very deep sense of obligation of the Com- mission to all correspondents and to those who have assisted us with advice. Without their aid this report could not now be in your hands in the shape which it has taken. Perhaps I should particularly mention Dr. Arthur J. Brown; Mr. J. H. Warner of Brazil; Mr. John Ritchie of Peru; Rev. G. H. Brewer of Mexico; Mr. Schilling of Argentine and Dr. Milton Greene of Cuba.
You will notice that the report begins with a brief definition of the use of the word "Church" as something indigenous to the field. When we begin to consider the establishment of liv- ing churches in these fields, here we are on holy ground. Such churches of believers in Jesus Christ as the immediate personal Savior and mediator holding up the torch of truth and lighten-
317
3i8 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
ing the darkness, is the ultimate objective of all our work, in our schools, in the training of leaders or in the solution of questions of cooperation. With this theme we are reaching the very heart of the matter. To these little companies of believers, as they take upon therriselves increasingly the responsibilities of evangelizing the people among whom they are planted, to these companies which are increasing with a rapidity which we have not begun to appreciate, we missionaries m.ust look to take up the task of bringing Christ to the people of these lands, putting into the very fabric of society, into the very foundations of each republic the principles of pure living and of righteous adminis- tration which come legitimately from the teaching of Scripture as we understand it. For we must remember that the Church is the Kingdom; it is instrumental to the Kingdom. It is one of the greatest agencies that God is using to bring in the Kingdom. God has given us three divine agencies, the family, the church and the state. Each has its place, the Church of God standing midway between the other two to hallow and guide them both. When once a company of believers is multiplied in membership and becomes self-propagating and self-directing, it becomes_ a mighty agency preparing for the Kingdom through the restraint of the liquor traffic, through the overthrow of oppression and tyranny, through the saving of family life, through everything promotive of righteousness. When we study the moral and spiritual ancestry of these churches, we discover a deplorable re- ligious situation. Its members have had no scriptural training. The Bible has been a forbidden book. No valuable knowledge of the Scriptures can be safely postulated on the part of those whom we teach in the Sunday schools or to whom we preach on Sunday. They have no just idea of prayer. Prayer to them is the repetition of words, often in a language not understood. They have no real faith but rather credulity, faith in relics, faith in signs, faith in many things which offer no justification. Most lamentable of all is their lack of a true idea of sin or of a proper horror and loathing of it. When men and women come into our membership who are spiritually lame and blind we should not criticise them, but in a tender and helpful spirit lead them into light and freedom.
On page 233 attention is called to the fact that vvhen these churches in Latin America were organized, denominational lines were followed almost exclusively. We have not thought it wise to initiate a discussion of the best method of organization for the Christian Church of Latin America, whether under the Con- gregational polity or the Episcopalian or some other. I do not believe that the time has come for any radical change. We must wait for God's method of evolution, not only in other matters, but in ecclesiatistical organization as well. Our familiar ecclesi- astical forms are the results of thought and prayer for cen- turies. I think that in perfect appreciation of our brethren in the Lord we should organize our own people according to the
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 319
method which we understand. When the right time comes, the Church on the field will adopt the best features of more than one polity, and honor Christ in its own way. Meanwhile, no one will regret that these churches began in the likeness of the great bodies that brought them into being. The matter of estab- lishing organized and supervised churches is a present-day neces- sity, whatever may come tomorrow. In fact, when Bishop Lambuth organized some Presbyterian people in China into a Methodist church, it was because it was the only church he knew how to organize. He showed perfectly good sense, be- cause had he tried to do anything else he would surely have daubed with untempered mortar. I hope to see the day when there will be no more Methodists, just as Dr. Speer once de- clared that he hoped the day would come when there would be no more Presbyterians. I hope to see the time when we will all get big enough to take down all fences.
As regards the conditions of membership in the evangelical churches, the universal opinion seems 'to be that some test is necessary. In receiving members there are three dangers, the danger of being overcautious and the danger of pessimism, as well as the danger that some may desire to pad the rolls with names for statistical effects. Bishop McDowell says : "As be- tween learning and piety, I will choose both." So I would say, be both cautious and straightforward. When the apostles came back to Jerusalem and asked about the conditions of mem- bership in the rising Gentile churches, the four conditions im- posed were to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from forni- cation, from things strangled, and from blood. They laid down what they regarded as essentials. I do not beheve that we should lower any of the conditions of membership which we regard as essential in the home lands.
Passing now to the measure of the spiritual life in the church. We do not care to measure this by the distance between the churches and their perfect goal of spirituality, but by the dis- tance they have travelled away from their old state. It is the progress they have made from this beginning and the direction they are taking nqw that is significant, as well as the attain- ments registered. Many a pastor who deplores with a sort of sinking at his heart that his membership is not more spiritual, would be justly encouraged, if he would reflect upon the real advance that it has made.
On page 256, the importance of insisting that auxiliary societies shall be subordinated to the church is discussed. There are cases where an auxiliary society actually outgrows the church. This is particularly true of a Woman's Christian Temperance Union or other organization which performs community service but has been grafted on to a little church before the infant has begun to walk. Care must be exercised with reference to such matters.
In the matter of self-support we are deplorably weak. I firm-
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ly believe that this question should be taken seriously and prayerfully to heart by this entire Congress, and that we ought to set aside any preconceived ideas with reference to the matter and go forth ready to make any sacrifice and to suffer any in- convenience to get our churches on a better self-supporting basis. The Commission calls attention to the fact that money is over-emphasized in this question. Unless our older churches can come rapidly to self-support, our converts become increas- ingly like prisoners of war who must be housed and fed, rather than fresh recruits who will go forth and fight. The more converts we take into our churches, the greater becomes our handicap for the ultimate conquest of the Kingdom. ' Every organized church requires a pastor supported from the home base, and that eats into the available sum-total so that it be- comes out of the question to open work in the interest of the next town or the next state. Unless we lay the axe at the root of the tree in many of our preconceptions on this matter, we are going to be indefinitely delayed in development. Nothing has been ground into me more in twenty-seven y^ars with for- eign missions than that we are unduly emphasizing money. We think that a church consists of some pews with nice cushions, a pipe organ, a preacher, his assistant, a janitor and all the rest of it, that we cannot have a church without all that machinery. I oDpose that Idea absolutely. There can be a liv- ing church of Jesus Christ without even a house or a pastor. We must learn to use the services of holy laymen whose hearts are aflame with the love of Christ and to extend the church through the evangelistic activities of believers as they are gath- ered In, or we shall never take this Latin-American field. It can be done. Think of the Scriptural method. Remember the disclple.s sitting In Jerusalem at Pentacost. Suppose they had waited for a church building; or for this, that, or the other features of our church life which we think so important. Well, there would have been no Christian Church so far as we can foresee. Take the case of John Wesley, or the Lutheran move- ment. All along In past centuries, converted men and women have carried the gospel forward. I would to God that we might .go from this gathering determined to return to our field to re- consecrate the activities and abilities of our membership In a de- gree that we have never dreamed of heretofore. Better than money for the evangelization of our field would be a wonder- ful organization of the volunteer agencies in our converted membership.
Aid for Church Development Rev. G. W. Muckley (Disciples of Christ, Kansas City, Mo.) : Coming out of one of ^e most beautiful cantons of Switzer- land, and just before you get to the border of France, the driver of the diligence will ask you to look at a church building In a village. When you examine the doorway closely, you will notice
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an inscription there composed by Voltaire. Voltaire did not believe in the divinity of Jesus. He had gone to that quiet spot to write a book against Christ's claims to lordship. But on the Lord's Day morning he saw a vast concourse of people passing along the village street and followed them. He soon found that they were going to worship and entered the church. The preacher took his text from the first chapter of the Gospel of John and urged upon them the thought that every man and woman who acknowledges the name of Christ must be a word of God made flesh dwelling in his own community, and that thus he would answer every argument against Christ or the church. Voltaire, wondering to what extent these people would really live as the preacher told them to live, went out to study them, not only in the village, but on the farms and in the tiny villages, and wherever he went he found that they were trying to live as the preacher told them to live. After spending three months there, he was convinced that both preacher and people were deeply in earnest and sincere in their belief in the living Christ, their Savior and Lord. Finally he asked the com- munity to let him build the church for them and to put that inscription upon the marble slab by the doorway. Now, what- ever else we need in Latin America we certainly need a trained ministry who can give their people such stirring spiritual leader- ship as this. To develop them we must furnish proper equip- ment and helpful support. The steady and prosperous develop- ment of the evangelical churches in each republic is a task which demands a far more thorough-going, business-like attention than it has received. But the real essential of a good church is its membership. When one of our medical missionaries came home from Africa for his first furlough, a friend asked him "How is it possible to build up a church of Jesus Christ out there?" "With poor loving disciples among the blacks of Africa," was his quick and apt reply. If loving disciples are at hand, the church organization is least important. They will make Christ the center of their interests and plans, and will see that his gospel is preached far and wide.
Rev. William Wallace, D.D (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Coyoacan, Mexico) : The establishment of living churches which have for their supreme aim the preaching of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the hearts of the native people and the reproduction of His spirit in their lives, is the supreme object of mission work. We are told that history is philosophy teaching by examples. Concrete cases will best illustrate our theories concerning methods and systems in the mission field. Take the Republic of Mexico. At the Cincinnati Conference a geographical redistribution of the different missions to pro- mote a better administration of interests was proposed and adopted by a majority of the denominations at work there. Some of our nationals have felt that this geographical redistribution would accentuate rather than lessen denominational distinctions
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and differences, but with that opinion I cannot agree. When several denominations are working in the same community, there is a natural rivalry among them which cannot be avoided. But when the great Presbyterian Church, for example, begins its work with the four million inhabitants of the eight southern states of Mexico, it will have an unbroken opportunity to estab- lish a truly evangelical Church which, although Presbyterian in its origin and traditions and spirit, shall be thoroughly adapted to the needs of that country. Presbyterian work in Mexico began in the early seventies. By the dawn of the new century we had four presbyteries, four normal schools for girls and one college and seminary. The year 1900 seemed a fitting time for the founding of a national Presbvterian church. The Gen- eral Assembly in that year approved this plan. Out of all the brands of Presbyterianism down there, a fev/ have not been willing to unite in this movement, because the constituency at home is unwilling to give up its definite work on the field. In that work for the future we ought to try to get away from our old traditions and while holding to the inherited spirit and some of the distinctive principles of Presbyterianism, develop a church so broad that any evangelical Christian can be a member and office-holder of that church without violating his own con- science. The congregations should have large local responsi- bility while fitting in.o a real Presbyterian administrative system.
How TO Found Churches
Rev. Juan Rodriguez Cepero (Amer. Baptist Church of Porto Rico, Ponce) : In the short time that the Protestant work has been established in Porto Rico, already one hundred and fifty churches are organized with more than twelve thousand mem- bers. There has been some trouble on account of the Roman Catholic Church, but the rapid growth of the evangelical churches has given a new lease of life to Catholicism because of the competition. In order to have progress in any church there must be real life there, hence there must have been real conversions among the people before they were admitted as full members to the church.
Rev. C. S. Detweiller (Amer., Baptist Home Mission Society, Santurce, Porto Rico) : No lesson is written larger in the Old Testament than this, that no matter how great its pretensions, nor how glorious its past history, God will not recognize a re- ligious system that has become morally corrupt. It is an in- veterate tendency of the human heart to take a false position morally and then to try to cover it with Divine protection. Rightly or wrongly the world will judge Christianity by the character of the organized body of believers who bear its name. When as a result of our labors in a given town, a church is formed, that body, in a sense in which it can be said of no in- dividual believer, represents the cause of Christ before men. It stands not only for certain beliefs, but for a certain course of
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conduct and for a certain type of life. As long as we are do- ing the work of pioneers in a new field, and ministering only to scattered believers, we escape a certain responsibility before the world, and our work is subject to less criticism. As soonas we found churches, we institutionalize our religion and provide for its perpetuation, inviting honest criticism.
In Porto Rico, were we beginning our work afresh, we would avoid the mistake of organizing churches too soon. Many_ of the early converts came to us with mdstaken ideas of evangelical Christianity, and we did not often discover this in time. There are a few places where it would be better for_ the gospel had we no evangelical church and were able to begin over again. In the public mind the cause of Christ has become identified with a few families who do not worthily represent Him. As long as they give tone and character to that church, the people hold aloof. In Porto Rico aside from the two or three large cen- ters, the territory has been so partitioned among the different denominations that there is but one Protestant Church in each town. This makes it all the more necessary that that one church should stand out as a clear beacon of truth in the life. An- other reason for founding live churches is that through these churches God will spread the gospel and extend the influence of his truth. But this will call for the influence of strong personalities. The report speaks of the lack of an adequate conception of sin or of an independent and inflexible moral standard. We need in our churches men and women of strict principles and of strong, unyielding convictions. Only churches that have members of this character will have any power in the community for the redemption of society. Ten resolute men who will suffer loss of property or position rather than com- promise their conscience will eventually give the law to two hundred men who oppose them but without personal sacrifice. Truly the first, second and third requisite of a good missionary is patience in awaiting the development of these "new creations in Christ." One must set one's self firmly against the tempta- tion to produce great reports for the delectation of our sup- porters. We have heard the protest against sham, shoddy work in mission schools. Let us also sound the note of reality in the organization and development of our churches.
Rev. Robert F. Lenington (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Curityba, Brazil) : One result of this Congress both in Latin America and North America will be a change of view-point. The statistics for the churches in Brazil reported in Com- mission I are correct from the home standpoint, but inadequate from the standpoint of the field. W^hy do we continue to study Latin America from New York instead of from Latin America? We have heard a great deal of criticism not unmixed with pessimism about the work in Latin America. Missionaries haye narrow vision, are untrained, uneducated, lacking in judicial
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mind, not masters of their adopted language, ignorant of the history of the countries where they are at work, out of touch with the people. We have also heard that the native ministry is untrained and uneducated; and that the literature consists of translations like the hymns, and that our equipment is on the whole rather poor. In spite of all that, let me ciU your attention to one of the greatest evangelical churches that there is in the world today resulting from missionary effort. It is in the United States of Brazil. Seven different denominations or churches at work in Brazil have the following membership: the South American Evangelical Union, 500; the Congregational Union, over 2,000; the Protestant Episcopal Churches, 1,350; the Methodists, 6,975; the Baptists^ 12,516; the Presbyterian North Churches, 22,000; and the Seventh Day Adventists, l,838~in all about 150,000 church members in about five hundred organized evangelical churches. There are two hundred and eighty-four church edifices, a very small proportion built with money from abroad. In these church buildings are two hundred and six national ministers who may safely be compared with those of any country. The annual unaided gifts of these Brazilian churches amounts to $226,906 in gold. Three of these Churches, the Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist groups, admitted on confession of faith 3723 members this last year. The Presby- terian Church in Brazil is alone doing more to-day in the way of gifts of money and of the direct salvation of souls than any organization from the United States or Europe at work in South America has been doing. It is one of the real tri- umphs of our evangelical work. These churches are hopeful and determined. The Presbyterian General Assembly three or four years ago passed a unanimous resolution that they would carry the gospel of Jesus Christ as rapidly as possible into the last township of the great Republic of Brazil.
Rev. C. J. Ryder, D.D. (The American Missionary Associa- tion, New York City) : My work for Latin America has been largely its presentation to the churches in the North. As I have been in attendance at this Congress I have been wonder- ing what to take back to those churches which are not pre- pared as we are, to understand the great movement in which we are engaged. We must take to them our conception of its management. First of all we should take with us a platform, upon which debate shall be welcomed, which does not rest simply on an attack upon the Church which has so long been in possession. When I went down to Porto Rico I went there to study conditions. You recall Dr. Thompson's reference yes- terday to that remarkable prayer-meeting at his office in New York where nine different organizations were represented. We knelt around the map which he had laid upon ':he table and prayed that God might help us to enter Porto Rico in such a way that there might never be any missionary hostility of any kind in that island. I went down there to find what oblig-llons
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the Congregationalists had in carrying on work in the part assigned to them. We laid out our work in the eastern part of the Island taking our share in full recognition of the other denominations. Such a method ensures success.
The Development of Initiative and Activity Mr. Joseph Ernest McAfee (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., New York City): Christianity is in the world to save com- munities and nations as well as individuals. It anticipates the day when the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. It is idle to say that the saving of the individuals of a nation will save the nation. That is not true. The Christian propaganda should aim consciously and conscientiously to redeem the community and national soul. No formal program of Christian propaganda can, in consistency with this principle, be universally applied. Certain elemental Christian principles are vital for every community. These are capable of universal application, but the program by which they are applied must not rudely violate the community genius_ nor do aught but purify and make more distinct worthy national ideals. Christianity is essentially a democratizing force. Its ultimate effect must be to antagonize and destroy despotism in human governments. All of our American governments, north and south, are already in theory democratic, and all need in full measure the liberalizing work of the Christian religion among their people, so that the democratic throng may be made effectual. But each nation which has a right to exist at all has a right to its distinct ideals and to the preservation and finest development of its national genius. No propaganda from with- out, whether it go under the Christian name or under any other name, may properly invade the sovereignty of the several na- tional ideals. Any nation would be justified in resenting such intrusion, if any were attempted. By the same token the Chris- tian pronaganda is in justice estopped from seeking arbitrarily to fasten upon the life of any nation alien forms of religious in- stitutions. Any people, when they comprehend the motive, will welcome sincere attempts to propagate the Christian spirit, but the institutions in which that spirit is embodied can properly be produced only by people conscious of their national genius and mission.
All this contains a two-fold lesson for Christian propagan- dists from outside of Latin America. In the first place, the attempt to import bodily any alien institution is hazardous be- cause only by chance will it prove suited to express the clarified Christian consciousness of the people of the nation to which the mission is carried ; and, in the second place, even when the imported institution proves acceptable the very fact of its im- portation is likely to rob the awakened Christian consciousness of the vitality to be gained only by constructing its own institu- tions. Here is a commerce where the importation of the finished
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article must surely weaken initiative and resourcefulness and thus prove a qualified blessing; people can attain the full rich- ness of the spiritual life only by fabricating institutions for themselves. How essential is it therefore, from this point of view as from every other, that the Christian prcoaganda from without should dissolve its own differences and confusions ! To impose ready-made religious institutions upon these Latin American peoples is to rob them of their fundamental spiritual right to form their own. The benevolent intentions by which the effort is prompted cannot wholly excuse the offence. The diffusion of the Christian spirit and the dissemination of es- sential Christian truth is the universal duty of Christians, but to exalt the form to an essential place is to vitiate the Chris- tian spirit and to commit the very offense which the evangelical faith repudiates in current and historic Romanism, To substi- tute one dogmatic system for another in Latin America will certainly not work that work of grace which evangelical Chris- tianity aims to achieve. Some of us may be pleased to believe that North American or North European formalism is better than Roman formalism, but it is not certain that the fully en- lightened Latin American will agree with us. At any rate he has a right to an enlightened choice of the forms in which his Christian life shall be cast. True religion respects the souls of men. A proper respect for the national and community souls of the Latin-American republics requires that the universal Christian spirit shall work its beneficent work hampered in no unnecessary measure by imported forms.
Rev. Jose Coffin (The Presbyterian Church in Mexico, Paraiso, Mexico) : I speak in the name of the workers of Mexico who have stayed with their congregations as long as there were souls to minister to, in the midst of poverty and hunger and epidemics of disease, who have gone to the battle- fields under the banner of the Red Cross to bring back precious lives, not only of soldiers but also of innocent women and children, who have converted their churches into hospitals and their colleges into orphan asjdums. They are Christian heroes with a great work before them. There are in Mexico two sets of people, who, in virtue of the new conditions and ten- dencies of life, are being differentiated more and more — the urban population and the rural population. The first I need not enlarge upon, because on them attention has been concentrated for many years. The hour, it seems to me, has arrived for the redemption of the country people. These mystic sons of the mountains who cultivate the soil have furnished the great governors and educators who have carried forward our great revolutions, political, social, industrial and scientific, so critical just now for civilization and humanity. They need most urgently preachers, educators and travelling physicians, men and women who are earnest, patient and honorable, who understand the educated and the illiterate alike, who can feed souls with
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helpful teaching, illuminate minds, and, in the spirit of the good Samaritan, minister to disease. Thus will their tears be stopped and their power released. We have a tri-colored ban- ner; on each color should be written for the country people these words : "The gospel, education, sanitation."
Rev. Antonio Mazzorana (The Presbyterian Church in Havana, Cuba) : We ought to go b .ck to the upper room in Jerusalem where the disciples were gathered together with their Lord one day, when they received the great commission to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. At first they were dismayed. It seemed an impossible task. They could do noth- ing until Pentecost came, when they were filled with the power of the Holy Ghost. We must keep in close touch with divine power, if we are to do anything. Otherwise our life will be entirely useless. If we fail in this work, we will feel as Peter felt when his Lord looked at him after his denials. But God is with us, and we can be of good cheer.
Rev. C. G. Hardwick (Wesleyan Methodist Missionary So- ciety, Ancon) : A residence of nearly thirty years in this part of the world entitles me to say something on at least one phase of this imnortant subject of the church in the field. It takes all that time to acquire a real knowledge of conditions. I hope soon to visit New York City. I have never been there before. What would be thought of me if, after having been there a few days, I spent my time while crossing the Atlantic in writ- ing an interpretation of the genius and needs of that great city? We all must be careful lest we find amongst the membership of our churches those whose strength is all expended in singing hymns or praying in prayer meeting. We must enter into their lives, go into their homes and find out whether they are really living the Christian life.
Rev. William H. Rainey (British and Foreign Bible Society, Callao, Peru) : I have lived in intimate contact with the Latin Americans, so that today my most intimate friends in Latin America are Latin Americans and not Anglo-Saxons. I have tried to look at this great problem of self-support from the point of view of a Latin American, I think now of three churches which are typical. I asked the pastor of the first one if he had reached self-support. He said he had not and did not wish to do so, adding : "H my congregation supports me en- tirely, each member will feel he is a sort of owner. My position supported by the foreign Board is more dignified than it would be in that case." I said to the pastor of the second church, which had a very good congregation : "I think if I were here I could make this church self-supporting." He promptly replied : "Yes, so could I." "Well, why don't you do it?" "Because if I make an active propaganda for self-support, my superintendents will think that I am trying to make this church independent and they will remove me elsewhere." The suspicion of that superintend- ent was hindering the cause which he had at heart. A third
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congregation was collecting about a hundred and fifty paper dollars a month toward self-support. Unfortunately they had a disagreement with the Board supporting them and separated from it. Within one month their contributions rose from one hundred and fifty paper dollars a month to four hundred and fifty, while their evangelical zeal increased one hundredfold. I have never seen anything else like that in South America, but when Latin Americans feel that their church is their own, and that responsibility rests upon them, they will be far more liberal. I think that we should place the native pastor more to the front. He should head his congregation. I have seen mis- sionaries who treated their native pastors much like office boys. If any congregation sees that the missionary does not respect the native pastor, they will also fail in their respect. I agree with Bishop Stuntz that we should make more use of our laity. ^ I know many churches where there ere just as good men in the pews as in the pulpit, but they have no opportunity of self-expression except, perhaps, through a class in the Sun- day-school. Yet the surrounding r'istrict is unevangelized. The pastor should take some of these men with him when he itinerates and use them freely.
Auxiliary Organizations
Miss Hardynia K. Norville (World's W.C.T.U. in South America, Buenos Aires, Argentina) : Two years ago I went to South America representing the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, feeling that it was a new field and that I must make a careful approach. Having studied in institutional churches in New York City for three years, and having found that many of them use clubs and organizations in order to reach the for- eigners who are fast flocking thither, I wondered whether such methods would not apply to the people of South America.
In South America we wish to make the Union useful. The people and the government welcome me because I am trying to render them an acceptable service. When I approached the Minister of the Interior of Uruguay, as well as the Minister of Foreign Relations and the Minister of Public Inptruction and told them of my mission, they expressed a ready welcome. The inspector of public schools put himself at my disposal. He gave me letters which opened for me the doors of the public schools and of the prisons. I began visiting the teachers who proved to be willing to cooperate with me. Our first organization started in the Methodist Church, where the young people had never given themselves to any service of this sort. We formed a club to study scientifically certain things and soon had two hundred, including a number of teachers from outside the church. They went with me to the jails and prisons and began to appreciate the joys of service. Through the daughters who talked about the work that was done, I met some very dis- tinguished women. Today our organization has in it the daugh-
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ters of the ex-President of the Republic, and one of the most distinguished women of the Republic as its president. We are to have a national organization. The Minister of the Interior has given us the use of an educational building, and the Minister of Instruction has written a letter urging the teachersto help. In some schools they have adopted a scientific manual which we publish. In addition to this, the President of the Republic has consented to become an honorary member. So it is clear that organizations that help will be welcomed.
Rev. Ira Landrith, LL.D. (United Society of Christian En- deavor, Boston, Mass.) : Missionaries should know best when a Young People's movement ought to be organized in foreign mission fields. When separate denominational Young People's Societies are not to be organized, the Christian Endeavor So- ciety probably best meets the conditions and the needs of the field. The United Society of Christian Endeavor, the world organization, stands ready to do all in its power to cooperate. It would gladly send organizers to aid the work in accordance with the judgment of the missionaries on the field. The United Society, as everybody knows, is international and inte 'denomina- tional and interracial. It does not represent any particular na- tional idea and certainly no particular denominational idea. Christian Endeavor stands always for interdenominational fel- lowship and good-will.
Miss Mabel Head (The Methodist Church, South, Nashville, Tenn.) : There is a splendid gospel society in Korea made up of a faithful group of women who have given themselves to Bible study and Bible work. They have sent out during this past year and a half seven missionaries whom they support. They are every one of them pledged to tithe, to study the Bible, to do personal work. They go out two by two into the cities and the country and have brought many into a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ; organizing many into Bible classes. In Japan too there is a strong lay movement. Recall the^ splendid work done by the women of China. The church in South America and China and Korea, as well as in North America, must be a missionary church if it is to fulfill its proper pur- pose in the world. When little groups of women can come to- gether once in while for Bible study and prayer, to find oppor- tunities for personal service and to practice systematic giving, recognizing their stewardship and doing what they can to send the gospel to other women and children of neglected areas, thfs seems a very vital share of the program of building up the native church in the field. If it meant anything when, years ago, a little group of women met up there in the northeastern part of the United States in 1861 in a blinding snow-storm to unite for hours and days in prayer that they might know God's way of making them more efficient for spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, if that experience has meant anything to the spiritual development of the church or to the development of
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the missionary spirit, then surely some such organization will help our women on the field. The great need of the church is to give the laity a chance to serve.
Rev. Frederick A. Barroetavena (The Methodist Episcopal Church in Argentina, Rosario) : I am not going to speak of something occurring in a foreign country, but only of what I have seen and felt at home. There are two great plagues, Romanism and illiteracy. In Argentina at least fifty percent, of the population cannot read or write. In the larger cities the percentage may be smaller, but in any of the great country districts not less than eighty percent, are illiterate. The great needs of the Argentine, and of other countries of Latin America, are the school and the Bible. Latin America needs Christian mis- sionary school teachers by the thousand, men and women who will establish schools and lift our people out of this darkness of illiteracy into the light of Christian education.
A Magazine for Women Miss Clementina Butler (Methodist Episcopal Church, Providence, R. I.) : The Commission on Women's Work re- quested me to speak on the need of a magazine for women in Latin America, which shall be genuinely Christian. Since then I have received copies of a magazine already founded by wo- men. It is called "The White Page," and is devoted to the interests of temperance, of work for prisoners and of similar charities. It is well edited and well printed, but the difficulty is that it is local and limited in its range and lacking in a Chris- tian foundation. But it indicates what the women of our Chris- tian churches may do in the way of Christian literature if we put ourselves back of them in some such way as to assist in securing the right kind of material.
Self- Support
Bishop A. T. Howard, D.D. (United Brethren in Christ, Day- ton, Ohio) : I wonder whether we are sufficiently grateful to God for the strong native Christian churches He is fostering. The Chinese Church of Christ met for the first time in General Assembly last year. The Congregational Church of Japan has been for years a strong organization. The Japanese Church of Christ representing the Reformed Presbyterian Churches is a strong and very self-sufficient organization. During the past three years three Methodist Churches have united their adher- ents into one strong national Church. I was pleased by the tribute paid this morning to the Church of Brazil. God is call- ing men in these lands who are going to have a great part in evangelizing their own people. I wish especially to speak of the importance of the Every-Member Canvass, as it affects self- support. Just as Japan or Latin America desires the best litera- ture and the best music, so they should crave the best methods.
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The^ United Brethren Board has had work on the west coast of Africa for sixtj'-one years. It did not come to self-support very rapidly. Two years ago the "Every-Member Canvass" was used there and within one year the principal church came very near being self-supporting; and the next year although financial conditions were very hard the church was more than self-sup- porting. I might take another illustration from the other side of the globe, down in South China. It has not been easy to develop self-support in the churches down in South China, but in Canton, where we had a struggling organization for a num- ber of years the Every-Member Canvass was tried out and the church became self-supporting. The largest single gift any one made was forty cents gold a week, and there were many gifts of a half cent a week. It not only paid the pastor's salary and rent, but they were able to open two missions. The plan works well, the world over.
Funds for Church Buildings Rev. S. H. Chester, D.D. (Presbyterian Church In U. S. A., Nashville, Tenn.) : It has been suggested that in any work for the educated classes it would be well to build for them, to be- gin with, such a Church as they would like to worship in, and to send down to preach to them missionaries who could meet them on their own ground and discuss their agnosticism and skepticism with them. I believe that building up the Church of God is like building a house. The proper place to begin to build is at the bottom. That is what our Savior meant when He said as a mark of His Messiahship, "The poor have the gospel preached unto them." He also preached the gospel to the well- to-do and educated, but His emphasis was on preaching the gospel to the poor. It, perhaps, will always be impossible to prevent some class distinctions from arising in the Christian Church, but I deprecate our doing anything to emphasize or encourage class distinctions, and I hope, for my part, that the day will be long distant when there will be churches built in Latin America, in which only the man with the gold ring and the woman with the Parisian gown will feel at home. The argu- ment that is going to convert them from their agnosticism and skepticism will not be delivered by learned scholars from pulpits in well-appointed churches, but it will be the argument of trans- formed lives, homes and communities, which they will behold as a result of a free gospel and an open Bible.
Sunday Schools as Evangelizing Agencies Mr. Sylvester Jones (American Friends' Board of Foreign Missions, Gibria, Cuba) : I quite agree with Bishop Stuntz as regards the danger of multiplying organizations to the detri- ment of the organized Church itself, but feel that the Sunday-
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school and the Young People's Societies meet, in a simple way, what is a fundamental need of the Church, and that we can ill afford to do without them. It is possible that we may com- bine the two agencies into one, by organizing the Sunday school and adult Bible classes along lines similar to those of the Young People's Societies. About fifty percent, of the candi- dates received during the past three years into the Church have come directly through the work of the Sunday school. Of all those who have had the religious experience and knowledge necessary to enter into full relationship with the church, ninety- five percent, are from the Sunday school. In other words, using the terms of the parable, ninety-five percent, of the seed sown on good ground has been sown through the Sunday school. To accomplish this work the Sunday school must be made a distinct evangelical agency. Every teacher in the Sun- day school should be urged to make it the fundamental aim and purpose of the Sunday school to lead the scholar into a per- sonal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Prof. Eduardo Monteverde (Y. M. C. A. in Uruguay, Monte- video, Uruguay) : I have been in constant attendance on the Sunday school for thirty years, and I have formed some ideas of my own as to the usefulness of this form of Christian work. The Sunday school ought to be the most usual way of propa- gating the gospel in Latin America, but some of the methods now in use ought to be changed, so as to broaden the present scope of the Sunday school, and include the children of the entire community, whether they be Christians or unbelievers. Other suggestions which I would offer are: (1) The adop- tion of some better form of lessons than those in the Interna- tional lesson scheme. (2) Scholarships ought to be offered from North America to stimulate attendance on the Sunday school. (3) The teachers ought to have some degree or certificate that shows they are capable of teaching, conferred by the local theo- logical seminary or some such institution. (4) Due recogni- tion in prizes should be given for attendance on the Sunday school and for the study of the lessons assigned. The Sunday school ought to attract children, not only from the church but from the entire community. The Minister of Foreign Affairs in Uruguay, an unbeliever himself, sent his boys to an evangel- ical Sunday school because he valued the moral influence of the teacher and he wanted his sons to have the best.
Mr. Genaro G. Ruiz (American Friends Board of Foreign Missions,_ Matamoras, Mexico) : The real issue before us is how to increase our spiritual life. Unless we solve this, our time at this Congress will be lost. The school is a great fac- tor, but_ we must have Christian teachers. Our pastors must work with them more. Many teachers are teaching Csesar or Napoleon, not Christ. They have been well taught in state schools, but they have not had an experience which enables them to be witnesses.
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 333
Training Schools for Women Mrs. R. W. MacDonell (Woman's Missionary Council, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tenn.) : Some- thing like thirty years ago, it was my privilege to go to Durango, Alexico, where I met an old lady who said, "For twenty years I have been praying for you to come. For twenty years I have studied the Bible, going up and down this community trying to teach it, but I have not known it well myself." Then I asked her, "How much do ycu understand?" and she said, "Only that which I can memorize. I understand that." Well, that saint of God had been going through that town repeating and ex- plaining the portions of Scripture that she had committed to memory. I recall another, a brighter j^oung wom.an, who told me of the struggles she had with the Bible. It had been put into her hands, but she had had no instruction. She hap- pened to open it at some passage of the Old Testament which seemed inferior to our own twentieth century standard of morality, so she promptly closed the book and said, "Of a truth it is a vile book." It is not sufficient for a woman just to be a good woman in order to understand God's truth. She must be instructed. If our women are going out to tell of God's truth, they have got to know the historical setting of the Bible, because they are met by questions that only can be answered in that way. So I am here this afternoon to plead for a training school for women workers, the lay women who must do this work in Latin America. By way of contrast I recall the remarkable work which a student at the Scarritt Training School has done near her home in Mexico. Sunday- school teachers must be prepared. They cannot go to the United States, all of them. The solution is to train them in Mexico itself. For the institutional work that we have been talking about, there must be scientifically trained women, women who know how to handle people and charitable organizations. I plead therefore for a joint Bible Training School for women in every land of Latin America.
Church Discipline and Standards Rev. John Ritchie (The Evangelical Union of South America, Lima, Peru) : I wish to consider the question of dealing with unfaithfulness in marriage discussed in the report on page 258. We who are face to face with this difficult problem ought to get together on some uniform plan for dealing with it. I would also like to emphasize the whole section headed "Church Dis- cipline." It seems to me we must not admit men and women to communion who are living in adultery. This is a big problem lying at the very foundation of our work, but it is a problem with which we should be dealing together.
Rev. Leandro Garza Mora (The Presbyterian Church in Mexico, Monterey, Mexico) : I desire to express myself in English in order to economize time. I am reminded of an
334 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
old German farmer in Texas, who thought he could speak good Spanish. He was out on the prairie looking for a horse, and he met a poor, ignorant Mexican and asked him, in what he thought was Spanish, "Have you seen a horse in the road?" and the poor man said, "I no understand American," and the farmer said, "Poor people, they don't understand their own language." Well, I hope that won't be the case with you this afternoon.
We have endured great persecution in Mexico. There have been sixty-four martyrs in our Church. They show the material of which our Church is mxade.
The Spiritual Life of the Churches Rev. John Howland, D.D. (American Board of Commission- ers for Foreign Missions, Chihuahua, Mexico) : At the close of this Congress, we are beginning to look backward with the greatest of satisfaction as well as forward. We have surveyed the far-flung battle line, unfurled again our banner, and sounded our war-cry. We have made a new alignment of our forces in the field, have jVanned for ammunition and reinforcements, and have tried to get together so thoroughly that there can be no sects in the Church we have been anticipating on the field. I am sure we find much for encouragement. Such a wealth of suggestion we have received in these days ! There has been an absence of complaint and of harsh criticism ; there has been, throughout it all, a note of real earnestness. In these devo- tional hours, we gain a fresh glimpse of all that leads us to forget the sacrifices of life. How that beautiful word has been abused ! We call a thing "sacrifice" when it calls us to take cur very heart and lay it, still palpitating and bleeding, on the altar as an offering to God. Yet, the word means just the re- verse. It means "making sacred/' taking the heart and making it in its every vibration responsible to the touch of the Divine love and Divine companionship. That is the sacrifice to which the missionary is called, not one of tears, but of rejoicing.
This great opportunity of coming together where so clearly the Spirit of God is being manifested should thrill us, not with the joy of the passing moment but with a confidence that there has entered into the very fibre of our being new life, new vision, and new purposes. If we can carry these into our work there will surely open before the Church new prospects and new triumphs.
Rev. Toberto Elphick (Methodist Episcopal Church, Val- paraiso, Chile) : I know you all agree on this great question of the spiritualizing of our Churches everywhere in the mission field. There is much danger of lowering their spiritual level, surrounded as they are by so many opposing influences. A slow or dead or lifeless Church will have no influence at all on the people around them, and to raise its moral standard we need in the first place, to call the preachers, the workers, the
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 335
missionaries, to unite with others in seeking to be filled with power from God. Could not the different missions agree to come together for the annual meetings, presbyteries or con- ferences, at the same place and time, in order to have a great meeting after the order of Northfield or Keswick, at which all the pastors and missionaries and workers may receive inspiration from men of God, who can be brought there to give us new enthusiasm and energy? We ought to discuss in every meeting, conference or presbytery how to receive more power and more of the spirit of love, so that we may go forward, not only with the truth but with the true life. And then I would suggest that the preachers, who have attended such a meeting as I have described, go to their churches and call their boards and mem- bers to prayer and consecration. We need revivals everywhere in our native chur-hes. Many of the churches are not pro- gressing. We could do a great deal toward arousing them, if we would. No great advance is at hand in our churches to-day because they are not prepared to receive the people who might come in. We must try to put our churches on such a spiritual level that the power and the love of God will be manifest in them. Religious literature will help this process. It should be sent broadcast among the churches and pastors. Behind all this effort there should be on behalf of the churches in each republic a great volume of intercessory prayer from our friends in North America.
Rev. Robert F. Lenington (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Curityba, Brazil) : Some one this morning called this spot a mount of vision. Who can go out from this place without feel- ing that indeed God has given us a very wonderful privilege, and wishing to live a nobler life, after having had this new vision of the conditions and the needs of these Latin-American lands, and of the triumphs of the gospel?^ There is not one who can go back to his work without feeling the need of the mighty power of God and saying, just as we sang here this afternoon,
"My only shame, my sinful self, My glory all the Cross."
Let us go back to work for the children in our churches, so that it may not be said that only one in four of the children is being brought into the church. I plead too for the young people that they may be ready to make a life investment of their abilities and energies in this glorious task. I plead also for the women of Latin America. I do not believe anyone here can be insensible to this call from their homes. I have asked many women, "How did you become interested in the gospel? Why did you come to the church?" "Because I have a home today; because of the change in my husband, because he, today, is true to me." How glorious is the true love that prevails in a Christian home, particularly to those who never before knew a
ZZ6 THE CHURCH IN THE FIELD
real home. We plead for the women who go through bitter ways alone, and walk in the dark without any knowledge of Christ.
In Conclusion
Bishop Homer C. Stuntz, D.D. (Chairman, Commission VI) : It must have been apparent to all, as this discussion has gone forward, that we are agreed upon two things, and that every- thing else more or less is incidental. We are agreed in the first place, that the founding of Christian churches, which have the true spirit of Jesus Christ, is our main business in these Latin- American lands. Secondly we are convinced that this can be done only by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. We have discussed self-support, have sounded the note of the necessity of Church discipline. No man who has worked In Latin America can doubt for a moment that a standardization of discipline is needed. We should keep our churches, so far as we may, free from those who would disgrace the name of Christ. We would all agree that, in promoting self-support, the "Every-Member canvass" is valuable. Along with that we would agree about the Importance of teaching Christian stewardship from the first day our converts come into membership, until they are fully grown_ to the stature of men and women In Christ. We have erred in not pushing this. We have to deal with a membership that comes from a church which has the fee system. For what- ever they get, they have been accustomed to pay. If they get out of purgatory they pay for it. If they get service of any sort, they pay for It. The Idea of Christian stewardship will seem natural to them and Is fundamental to self-support. We have not heard much about the raising up of Christian leaders. Per- haps that was sufficiently discussed In connection with the other reports. I would like to say about that just a word In closing.
When our Lord considered this problem, what did he tell us to do? Pray! We may found colleges; we may found theo- logical seminaries ; we may do all this and more, but Jesus Christ told us the thing, without the doing of which all this effort will fail to bring us laborers. Let us never forget that prayer lies across the doorway and prayer should accompany us every step of the way in raising up leadership for the churches In Latin America. We have been hearing a great deal of talk about reaching the cultured class. I do not know that we have overdone that, but I have not quite liked it. I do not hear Jesus Christ, In all my listening to his ministry in the New Testament, speaking about that. I am afraid there Is something of the wisdom of the world liable to creep into our philosophy of Christian service. Let us preach our message, and let Him bring our leaders, whether from the university or from the coal pit. Let us pray God to raise uo our leaders, and let Him choose whom He will, and send all whom He will send. Then we shall have men who have heard the Master's voice, and who will go out to do the things that need to be done.
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION VII
ON THE HOME BASE
Presented to the Congress on Saturday, February 19, 1916
THE CONTENTS OF THE REPORT OF COMMISSION VII
The List of Members of the Commission 343
The Report of the Commission 347
Chapter I — The Scope and Importance of the Report.. 347
1. Limitations in the Treatment 347
2. Its Timeliness 348
3. Factors \\'hich Facilitate Cooperation Between the
Field and the Home Base 348
Chapter II — The Present Attitude of the Home Base
Toward Christian Work in Latin America 350
1. The Present Attitude One of Indifference v. 350
2. The Causes of This Indifference 351
3. Factors Making for a Better Understanding 352
a. Political Movements in Latin America 353
b. The Commercial Advance 353
c. The Visits of Diplomats and Church Leaders. 354
d. Latin-American Student Emigration 354
e. The Growth of Literature in Latin America... 354
4. The Need for a Constructive Program of Educa-
tion 355
a. There is a Real Need 356
b. These Conditions Cannot be Isolated 356
c. The Educative Value of Latin-American Facts 357
d. The Inspirational Value of the Evangelical
Movement 357
e. The Refluent Influences of Missionary En-
deavor 357
f. The World-Wide Inclusiveness of the Mis-
sionary Imperative ; • • : • ^^^
5. The Comparative Investment of Religious Bodies in
Latin America 358
Chapter III — Present Activities in Latin-American
Countries 360
339
340 CONTENTS
1. The Missionary Agencies at Work in Latin America
a. The Countries Represented 361
b. The Countries Occupied 362
2. Their Expenditures for a Quarter Century 363
3. Support by Individuals 365
4. The Great Interdenominational Agencies 367
a. The Bible Societies 367
b. The World's Sunday School Association 367
c. The Committee on the Religious Needs of
Anglo-American Communities 369
d. The American Seaman's Friend Society 370
5. Agencies Promoting the Welfare of Latin-American
Students in the United States 370
6. Methods Employed to Promote Prayer for Latin-
American Missions 373
Chapter IV — Methods and Means Now Employed in
Developing an Interest in Latin America 377
1. In the Regular Activities of Local Congregations.. 377
a. Sermons and Addresses on Latin America 377
b. The Use of Literature and Church Papers 378
c. In Meetings for Conference and Prayer 379
d. In Mission Study Classes 380
e. In Sunday Schools and Young People's So-
cieties 380
f. In the Women'o Missionary Societies 381
2. In Denominational Conferences and Conventions... 382
3. The Laymen's Missionary Movem^ent 384
4. The Missionary Education Movement 384
a. Its Seven Missionary Summer Conferences... 384
b. Its Publications 385
c. Its Ideal of a Systematic Missionary Propa-
ganda 385
d. A United Program of Missionary Education
for 1916-17 on "The Two Americas" 386
(1) Forces Uniting 386
(2) Purpose of the Program 386
(3) The Text-books Available 387
(4) Special Denominational Literature 387
(5) Publicity Methods 388
5. The Central Committee on United Study of Foreign
Missions 388
6. The Council of Women for Home Mission3 388
7. The Student Volunteer Movement and the Student
Young Men's and Young W^omen's Christian
Association s 389
a. The Quadrennial International Conventions... 389
b. The Promotion of Mission Study Among
Students 389
c. The Summer Conferences 390
CONTENTS 341
d. Articles in the Student Religious Press 391
e. The Volunteers Who Went to Latin America.. 391
f. The Conferences of Volunteer Unions 391
g. College Student Missionary Meetings 392
h. The Work of Travelling Secretaries 392
8. The Bible Societies 392
9. The General Young Men's Christian Association... 393
a. Presentations in Conventions and Conferences 393
b. Presentation in Local Associations 394
c. Presentation Through Publications and Photo-
graphs 394
10. The Influence of Travellers and Publicists 396
11. The Woman's Missionary Societies 398
a. Their Use of Literature 398
b. The Mission Study Class Movement 398
c. Special Programs on Latin America 399
d. Presentation at Conferences and Conventions. 399
e. An Organized Schc- .e of Addresses and Lec-
tures 399
f . Stereopticon Lectures 400
g. Pageants and Dramatic Presentations of Latin-
American Subjects 400
h. Miscellaneous Methods 400
Chapter V — Measures Required to Secure Adequate
Support of Christian Work in Latin America 401
1. Unceasing Intercessory Prayer for Latin America. . 402
a. Dedicated to Specific Needs 403
b. At Regular and Special Gatherings 403
c. In Response to Calls to Prayer 403
d. In Response to Training in Prayer 403
e. The Use of a Prayer Calendar for Latin
America 404
f . Special Days for Prayer 404
2. The Portrayal of the Spiritual Needs of Latin-
American Peoples 404
3. The Development of Fraternal Relations With Latin
Americans 406
a. Through the Definite Attitude of Individual
Churches 406
b. Through the Free Interchange of Thought 407
c. Through Mutual Introductions and Information 407
d. The Organized Promotion of Friendly Rela-
tions 408
e. Personal Calls on Latin Americans Away from
Home ^ _ 408
f. Addresses by Latin- American Students 408
g. Encouragement of the Study of National Prob-
lems 409
342 CONTENTS
h. The Promotion of Personal Work 409
i. Giving of Our Best 409
4. The Multiplication of Literature for General Use.. 410
5. The Larger Use of Missionary Magazines and Re-
ligious Periodicals 411
6. The Use of Photography 412
7. The Use of Speakers and Lecturers 413
8. Deputations to Latin America 415
9. The Enlightening of Tourists 416
10. Organized Publicity 416
11. Systematic Missionary Education 417
a. Its Proper Range 417
b. A Comprehensive Plan of Procedure 418
12. The Enlistment of Volunteers 420
13. The Extension of Work in Latin America 421
Appendix A — The Correspondents of the Commission 423
Appendix B — Appropriations by Five-Year Periods of
Eighteen North American Societies 427
Appendix C — Table Showing Appropriations of Thirty- seven North American Societies to Work in Latin America and Among Latin Americans Within Continental United
States 428
Appendix D — An Adequate Program for Promoting True Friendship Among Latin-American Students Tempo- rarily Residents in Europe, Great Britain and North
America 431
The Presentation and Discussion of the Report 433
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION
CHAIRMAN
Mr. Harry Wade Hicks, General Secretary Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada, New York City.
VICE-CHAIRMAN
The Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, D.D., Westminster Chapel, London.
SECRETARY
The Rev. William P. Schell, Assistant Secretary Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., New York City.
executive committee
The Rev. T. B. Ray, D.D., Secretary Foreign Mission Board, Southern Baptist Convention, Richmond, Va.
Mr. F. P. Turner, General Secretary Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, New York City.
The Rev. Charles L. White, D.D., Corresponding Sec- retary American Baptist Home Mission Society, New York City.
The Rev. Charles M. Boswell, D.D., Corresponding
Secretary Board of Home Missions and Church Ex- tension of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadel- phia, Pa.
343
344 THE HOME BASE
Mr. Frank L. Brown, General Secretary World's Sun- day School Association, New York City.
Miss Carrie J. Carnahan, Woman's Foreign Mission- ary Society, Methodist Episcopal Church, Pitts- burgh, Pa.
The Rev. A. E. Cory, D.D., Men and Millions Move- ment of the Cooperating Societies and Colleges of the Disciples of Christ, Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mr. B. A. Glanvill, Treasurer Evangelical Union of South America, London.
Miss Mabel Head, Foreign Departm.ent of the Board of Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nash- ville, Tenn.
The Rev. Hubert C. Herring, D.D., General Secretary National Council of Congregational Churches, Boston, Mass.
The Rev. C. J. Klesel, Moravian Missionary Society, London.
Bishop W. R. Lambuth, D.D., Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Oakdale, Cal.
Mr. Marion Lawrance, General Secretary International Sunday School Association, Chicago, 111.
Mr. J. E. McAfee, Secretary Board of Home Missions of the Presb)^erian Church in the U. S. A., New York City.
Miss Kathleen Mallory, Corresponding Secretary Woman's Missionary Union of the Southern Baptist Convention, Baltimore, Md.
Mr. Delavan L. Pierson, Editor Missionary Reviezv of the World, New York City.
The Rev. C. J. Ryder, D.D., Secretary American Mis- sionary Association, New York City.
The Rev. Egbert W. Smith, D.D., Executive Secretary Executive Committee of Foreign Missions, Pres- byterian Church in the U. S., Nashville, Tenn.
Mrs. Josephine M. Stearns, Secretary Christian Wo- man's Board of Missions, Indianapolis, Ind.
S. Earl Taylor, LL.D., Secretary of the Board of For- eign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, New York City.
MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION 345
J. Campbell White, L.L.D., President Wooster Uni- versity, Wooster, Ohio.
Mr. John W. Wood, Secretary Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church, New York City.
THE REPORT OF COMMISSION VII ON THE HOME BASE
CHAPTER I
THE SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF THE REPORT
I. LIMITATIONS IN THE TREATMENT
The Commission has attempted to treat the subject of the home base only as related to Latin America. It has therefore avoided the attempt to cover the entire ground of home base conditions, problems and methods. For a more complete treatment of home base questions, readers are referred to Volume VI of the report of the World Missionary Conference, held at Edinburgh in 1910. Much of the material presented there applies directly or indirectly to the relation of the home churches to the problems of Christian work in Latin America. A fresh reading of that volume is commended in order to supplement the more limited scope of this Report.
The Commission would also state that the material gathered and incorporated in this Report came almost ex- clusively from correspondents in the United States and Canada, or from workers connected with missions sup- ported by North American Societies. The conclusions reached represent therefore the conditions prevailing in the churches of North America. The Commission re- grets that the limitations of time and other serious diffi- culties prevented a thorough discussion of the Report
347
348 THE HOME BASE
with representatives of British and Continental Societies, and that for the same reasons extensive international correspondence concerning the home base aspects of Christian v^ork in Latin America has been impracticable.
2. ITS TIMELINESS
Several general considerations illustrate the serious at- titude of the Commission members toward their work, and their belief that the home base problems of Christian work in Latin America require more thoughtful atten- tion than has hitherto been given. In North America twenty-one denominations supporting missions in Latin America include 137,789 churches or parishes. These Churches include a very large majority of the communi- cants of the evangelical Communions in the United States and Canada. It is of vital importance that the sympathy of these millions of Christians should be more profoundly aroused, and their active support of Christian work in Latin America more aggressively enlisted. The out- lining of a program with reference to the development of active interest in Latin-American countries, first by the evangelical forces within each of the home base lands, and second, by international understanding between the groups of evangelical Communions, Societies and Boards, is less advanced than is the case with reference to mis- sion activities in other great areas in which the missionary propaganda is in progress. The Commission believes that the Panama Congress and regional conferences fol- lowing will accomplish much in unifying and strength- ening the forces at work both in Latin America and at the home base.
3. FACTORS WHICH FACILITATE COOPERATION BETWEEN THE FIELD AND THE HOME BASE
Such representative conferences to facilitate inter- change of experience and to develop cooperative activity between workers in Latin America and at the home base are considered by the Commission as essential to rapid progress.
SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE 349
The Commission also believes that the enlistment of the churches in prayer for Latin America and for evangelical work throughout Latin-American countries is of first im- portance. The conviction that through intercessory prayer the difficulties surrounding the work are to be overcome has been deepened week by week as the investi- gations have progressed. Whatever other measures may be advanced for developing cooperation at the home base, the duty of praying for the missions and workers in Latin- American lands, for their adequate support, and for the peoples for whom they are laboring, is upheld by the Commission as the one indispensable condition of success.
CHAPTER II
THE PRESENT ATTITUDE OF THE HOME
BASE TOWARD CHRISTIAN WORK IN
LATIN AMERICA
What is the prevailing attitude of Christians in North America and Europe toward the spiritual conditions and problems of Latin America? Does an address or an appeal on this subject awaken instant interest and response or are they received with comparative coldness ? The answers to these questions must determine the char- acter of the program proposed by the Commission on the Home Base.
I. THE PRESENT ATTITUDE ONE OF INDIFFERENCE
Extensive correspondence and interviews with many leaders in close touch with the conditions in the home churches in North America have revealed the fact that, until recently at least, the prevailing attitude toward evangelical work in Latin America has been one of in- difference or of languid interest, if not of actual opposi- tion. Some report that not more than ten or fifteen per cent, of church members are even moderately interested and that some openly express disapproval of the work.
This positive or comparative lack of interest is revealed (i) in the infrequency of requests from churches and local church societies for addresses on the subject; (2) in the difficulty experienced in raising money for evan- gelical missionary effort in these lands ; (3) in the limited amount of travel southward compared with that to the east and west ; (4) in the small demand for mission study books on Central and South America; and (5) in the too
350
ATTITUDE TOWARD LATIN AMERICA 351
frequent omissions of these countries from their proper place in pra3xrs and on prayer calendars.
It is well to face these facts squarely in order that the causes and the remedy may be discovered.
2. THE CAUSES OF THIS INDIFFERENCE
Our correspondents emphasize two chief causes for the prevailing indifference in North America. The first is ignorance of the lands and people. The assertion has frequently been made that "the average Christian knows more about Africa or China than he does about the re- publics of Latin America." Mexico, being nearer to the North American churches, has received more attention than has the southern continent, but the chief references in the newspapers to the other Latin-American lands have related to poHtical revolutions, international complica- tions, and occasionally to growing commercial importance. Now and then a lecturer or returning traveller has spoken on South America or Mexico, but such addresses have re- lated chiefly to the great rivers, the lofty mountains, the immense forests, the rich material resources, the political history and the wonderful commercial prosperity. Too often much of the information given has been superficial and incomplete. The moral and spiritual conditions and problems have been slighted or overlooked altogether.
Another cause of the prevailing indifiference on the part of no small number of Christians has been that missions to these republics have been considered as possibly an impertinence. Many find it difficult to con- ceive of great material wealth and prosperity, such as are evident in the capitals of Brazil, Argentina and Chile, as coincident with real spiritual poverty. Some have thought also that since the Roman CathoHc Church, which has been dominant in Latin America for four hundred years, has so much of Christian truth and has accomplished so many good things, therefore this Church meets the total need and there is no call for outside religious interference or help.
There has been a hesitation on the part of some speak- ers and editors to make frank reference to moral and
352 THE HOME BASE
spiritual shortcomings in Latin America both for fear of offending by too plain a statement of facts and because Europe and North America also are not faultless in these respects. Correspondents complain that certain religious and secular papers and magazines, when they have ac- cepted an article on one of these lands, will so alter or suppress some of the statements as to give a wholly in- adequate idea of the moral and spiritual needs of the people. Few realize the slight hold that the Roman Catholic Church has on the multitudes, the growing in- fidelity among the educated classes, the hundreds of thousands of unevangelized Indians and the vast ex- tent of territory, in a land like Brazil, entirely untouched by any Christian effort — Roman Catholic or Protestant. Among other causes suggested for the general indiffer- ence are: (i) the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church in Europe and America to any evangelical enter- prise in the southern republics on the ground that by reason of the long established efforts and teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, Christian truth has been adequately given to the people; (2) the comparative lack of novelty, romance and picturesqueness as compared with the surroundings of similar work in India, China or Africa ; (3) the tendency of some to undervalue the char- acter, achievements and possibilities of Latin Americans ; (4) the opposition and difficulties connected with evan- gehcal effort in those lands; (5) the comparatively small and slow returns from missionary investment; (6) in- tolerant and narrow advocates; (7) the lack of sufficient number of strong speakers on Latin America for depu- tation work ; (8) the scarcity of interesting literature revealing the spiritual problems. No doubt the chief underlying causes of all such indifference to Christian ef- fort are a failure to appreciate spiritual needs and values and a lack of personal experience of the regenerating power of the gospel of Christ.
3. FACTORS MAKING FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING
In the last two decades there has been a constantly increasing flow of reliable information concerning Latin-
ATTITUDE TOWARD LATIN AMERICA 353
American lands and a consequent increase in interest. Mew avenues of communication have been opened; old channels have been enlarged, and bonds of sympathy have been strengthened. The political and commercial leaders were first aroused, and now the churches are awakening. Among the causes of this growing interest are the following:
a. Political Movements in Latin America.
The political developments in Mexico, in Central and South America, and in some of the islands of the West Indies, have brought them more clearly into notice. God has used even the wars and revolutions in some of these countries to force upon the attention of the churches the Latin-American peoples and problems, with their ele- ments of weakness and of strength. The conference be- tween Argentina, Brazil, Chile and the United States over the Mexican problem has revealed the importance of these nations and their influence in the western hemisphere.
b. The Commercial Advance.
In commercial ways, also, Latin America has been com- ing to the front. The markets furnished by these lands, many of which are developing rapidly, and the large and valuable exports of beef and raw materials, have brought about closer relations with North America and Europe. The building and opening of the Panama Canal have also had a wide influence and will naturally draw attention and trade more and more to the southern peoples of the western hemisphere. The great war in Europe has compelled a closer intercourse between North and South America. New trade relations have developed, branches have been opened in several South American cities by prominent banks and other business houses of the United States, and trade has taken a new life. The Pan Ameri- can Union, of which the Hon. John Barrett is director- general, and in which all the republics are represented and participate, has also accomplished much in the de- velopment of friendly intercourse between all North and South American peoples.
354 THE HOME BASE
c. The Visits of Diplomats and Church Leaders. Perhaps the most potent of the influences developing
mutual understanding between Latin Americans and Anglo-Saxons have been those set free by the visits of such well-known men as Viscount Bryce of England, the Hon. Elihu Root, the Hon. Wm. Jennings Bryan and Ex-President Roosevelt of the United States. There have been several important scientific expeditions led by men of world-wide influence, such as Professor Agassiz, whose work has profoundly strengthened international good- will. The spiritual bonds have been drawn closer by the missionary visits of such international religious leaders as Dr. John R. Mott, Dr. Robert E. Speer, Mr. Frank L. Brown of the World's Sunday School Association, Dr. Francis E. Clark of the World's Christian Endeavor Union and the late Dr. Henry Grattan Guinness of the Regions Beyond Missionary Union of Great Britain. The writings and addresses of these men and of returning leaders like Bishop Kinsolving and Bishop Stuntz have thrown a flood of light on the great resources, problems, needs and possibilities of these lands. These men have also given to Latin Americans a new understanding of the friendship and ideals of Christians in Great Britain and the United States.
d. Latin-American Student Emigration.
At the same time a similar stream, even far greater in volume, has been flowing northward. Hundreds of Latin- American students have left Cuba, Porto Rico, Mexico and South America to study in the European and North American universities. They have gone as delegates to student summer conferences, have been welcomed into fraternal associations in cities, and in other ways have come into a closer Christian fellowship, thereby increas- ing interest in Latin America at the home base.
e. The Growth of Literature on Latin America. Another very potent influence in the development of
this new interest is the growth of literature on Latin America. A few years ago a relatively small book-shelf would have held the available volumes. To-day the peri-
ATTITUDE TOWARD LATIN AMERICA 355
odicals are rich in articles dealing with Latin-American commerce, politics, travel, education, sociology and re- ligion. Volume after volume has appeared dealing with all the lands and phases of the situation. For a time in Great Britain, The Times of London carried monthly a large South American supplement. Such books as Viscount Bryce's "Observations and Impressions in South America," Robert E. Speer's "South American Prob- lems," Francis E. Clark's "The Continent of Oppor- tunity" and Edward A. Ross's "South of Panama," have commanded wide attention and have formed the basis of more intelligent discussion of the spiritual forces and needs of these countries. Mission study classes have also taken up the subject and special text-books have been published which have enlisted the interest of thousands of student volunteers, women and young people.
Thus it is that the home base constituencies have come into a larger knowledge of Latin America, a more sympathetic appreciation of her peoples, and a better understanding of their spiritual problems.
While knowledge of these republics is still very frag- mentary, interest is still too vacillating and active service in their behalf is often too desultory and unintelligent, it will be seen that there are many encouraging signs of earnest study and growing sympathy which augur well for the success of a constructive program of Chris- tian work in Latin America.
4. THE NEED FOR A CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAM OF EDUCATION
Thus far the interest in Latin America has been so spasmodic and scattered in the home churches that there is needed a campaign of education to enlist more thor- ough cooperation. The churches of Europe and of North America need to know the actual facts — among other things — concerning what the Roman Catholic Church has done and is doing for Latin America and what the Evangelical Churches have done and are doing.
There are many reasons for this campaign of instruc- tion which must precede any intelligent program of Chris- tian work:
356 THE HOME BASE
a. There is a Real Need.
There is a real, present need for the gospel of Christ in Latin America. There are vast territories unoccupied and great multitudes unreached by the evangelical mes- sage and forces. A detailed account of these needs of the Latin-American fields and the type of Christian message most needed is presented in the reports of the Commission on ''Survey and Occupation" and of that on "Message and Method," to which readers are referred for exact, complete and convincing proofs.
b. These Conditions Cannot be Isolated.
These acute conditions in Latin America have a reflex influence on other lands. The time has long since passed when any nation, race, or church can live an isolated life, for "no man liveth unto himself and no man dieth unto himself." The political and religious unrest in Latin- American lands affects not only the people of those re- publics but is certain to be felt in the United States, Great Britain and in other parts of the world. Social evils in Brazil will spread their plague in Paris and Berlin, and vice versa. Political turmoil in Mexico will not only bring financial loss in London and New York, but might also involve the United States in a world war- fare. Spiritual blindness and corruption among nominal Christians in Venezuela or in Central America produce infidelity and death that are spread also to other lands, just as ungodly North Americans and other foreigners react destructively upon the cause of religion in Latin America.
Far-sighted Christians will see that time and money spent in helping to solve the political, educational, social and religious problems of our neighbors will bring bless- ing at home. National peace and prosperity with intel- lectual and spiritual progress in Latin America cannot fail to bring blessing to the world. Even from the stand point of self-interest there are immense advantages to the Christians of North America and Europe in cultivat- ing among other peoples a spirit of international sym- pathy and good-will.
ATTITUDE TOWARD LATIN AMERICA 357
c. The Educative Value of Latin- American Facts. Moreover, any conscientious study of the history,
the achievements and the causes of failure and also of success of the Roman Catholic Church in Latin Amer- ica will teach some valuable lessons and will point out wholesome warnings against laxity of faith and conduct and excessive formalism.
d. The Inspirational Value of the Evangelical Move-
ment. There is much inspiration in the story of the really great work that has been done by the representatives of evangelical Churches in many of the Latin-American lands — the schools and churches established and the work among students. Much has been said concerning the needs and difficulties ; the Christians at home should also hear of the inspiring success and of the heroic lives of missionaries and of many Latin-American Christians. It must not be forgotten also that missions among In- dians and other unevangelized peoples make the same appeal that unoccupied fields in other lands have always made to the churches.
e. The Refluent Influences of Missionary Endeavor. The very effort to share freely with others the bless- ings we have received from Christ and the expression of love in real sacrifice and prayer for others will bring re- flex benefits at the home base. The church and the Christian most sensitive to the call of Christ in regions beyond are most alive to the calls near at hand.
/. The World-zvide Inchisiveness of the Missionary Imperative. Finally, it is well for everyone to remember — what some Christians seem to forget — that the last great com- mission of our Lord does not read : ''Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature — except those in Latin America." That commission has never been either fully carried out nor has it been withdrawn. It behooves the churches at home therefore to inquire faithfully if the peoples of Latin America have to any
358 THE HOME BASE
large degree a saving knowledge of the gospel of Christ. If they have not, and no adequate means of gaining that knowledge are within their reach, then Christians must, without self-conceit and without apology, make every effort to give them the gospel by word and by life. The great commission includes Latin America, as it includes North America, Europe, and every land and individual in the wide world who knows not the regenerating power of Christ for the life which now is and for that which is to come.
5. THE COMPARATIVE INVESTMENT OF RELIGIOUS BODIES IN LATIN AMERICA
In appraising the investment of men and money in Latin America in comparison with other fields, great care is necessary. A mere statement making a comparison of the proportion of missionaries to the population on the different fields may not be very enlightening. To be of real value, such a comparison must be made with the pe- culiar difficulties of the Latin-American work clearly in view. It may be pointed out, for instance, that in South America the proportion of missionaries to the popula- tion is the same as in some of the fields of the Orient. But in South America the population is scattered over vast stretches of territory, with inadequate means of com- munication, in striking contrast to the density and com- pactness of population in other parts of the world. A correspondent mentions the following pertinent facts: North Brazil, or the ten divisions lying north and west of the river Sao Francisco, is equal in territory to three- fourths of the United States. While Brazil as a whole shows a proportion of one missionary to 90,000 inhabit- ants. North Brazil shows a proportion of i to 200,000. North Brazil has a sparse population scattered over almost interminable stretches of plain, mountain and jungle. Much of the climate of this territory is un- equalled in its deadly character even by that of India. In this section of Brazil seven of the states, ranging in size from that of New Jersey to four times that of Texas, have not a single evangelical worker.
ATTITUDE TOWARD LATIN AMERICA 359
The same care in appraisal of Latin-American work is necessary when considering the amount of money in- vested for buildings or property. In a land where lum- ber, metals, w^indow-panes and all other materials for building, excepting stone and brick, are imported from North America or Europe, and where the very fuel for the making of the bricks is imported, the cost of building is extremely high. It should also be remembered that except in northern Brazil, both the climate and the aesthetic sense of the people demand substantial build- ings.
In order to compare investments of money in Latin- American fields on the part of various missionary agen- cies with the investments made in other fields in which mission work is maintained by these same agencies, statistics were tabulated of appropriations by nine of the foremost denominations together wth those of the Amer- ican Bible Society and the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciations. The figures are for the year 1913-14. The resulting table' follows :
Home Income of Foreign Mission Appropriated Denomination Boards for all to Latin
countries' America^
Baptist (Northern Convention) $1,114,420 $143,869
Baptist (Southern Convention) 587.458 188,746
Congregational 1,082,218 52,280
Disciples of Christ 513,919 41,168
Methodist Episcopal 2,319,752 229,710
Methodist Episcopal, South 874.787 234,161
Presbyterian in the U. S. A 2,113,977 362,944
Presbyterian in the U. S 560,908 89,074
Protestant Episcopal 823,370 135,207
American Bible Society 403,450 104,700
Young Men's Christian Association . . 445,000 73,151
^ The most desirable comparison would be between the ex- penditures on all foreign mission work exclusive of Latin America and the expenditures in Latin America. The figures are not available, however, and their compilation would be very complicated.
' From "Report of the Foreign Missions Conference, 1915." Includes administrative expenses as well as actual expenditures on the mission field.
• Obtained by correspondence.
CHAPTER III
PRESENT ACTIVITIES IN LATIN-AMERICAN COUNTRIES'
The report of Commission I on "Survey and Occupa- tion," and sections of the reports of other commissions, have indicated both directly and indirectly the character and scope of missionary endeavor conducted by Churches of other countries in Latin America. The purpose of Commission VII in this connection is simply to list the missionary agencies from all countries at work in Latin America ; to present in simple form a record of expendi- tures covering a period of twenty-five years, beginning with 1889 and ending with the latest figures available, that is, for 1913-14; to analyze the distribution of ex- penditures among tfie main missionary agencies or types of work; to record the services of interdenominational and undenominational agencies ; to call attention to the significance of Christian effort among Latin Americans in the countries from which support for missions is se- cured ; to indicate the extent to which young men and women have offered themselves for service in Latin America, and lastly, to inquire concerning the extent to which Christians are praying for the progress of the Kingdom in Latin-American countries.
^The investigations on which this section of the report are based relate to the work undertaken by the missionary Societies, Churches and other agencies of the United States and Canada. The directory, and the summaries based on it, include all countries.
360
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 361
I. THE MISSIONARY AGENCIES AT WORK IN LATIN AMERICA
a. The Countries Represented.
In order to furnish information as to the number of evangelical agencies at work in Latin America and the responsible constituencies they represent, a directory of Societies has been prepared by Commission VII, and printed as a general appendix in Volume III. The di- rectory is arranged by countries, showing Communions, their Societies, the fields occupied, and similar informa- tion concerning interdenominational and independent or non-denominational agencies.
Summarized briefly, the directory presents the follow- ing facts:
Countries whose Churches support Christian work in Latin America: Canada, the United States, New Zea- land, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Nether- lands.
In Canada six Societies support work in Latin America, of which three are general church Boards, two are auxiliary woman's Societies, and one is a denomina- tional collecting and cooperating society.
In the United States are seventy-one Societies, of which thirty-two are general church Boards, one is an indepen- dent women's Board, twenty-two are auxiliary women's Societies, twelve are sending Societies not denominational and four are cooperating Societies not denominational.
In New Zealand is one sending Society not denomina- tional.
In England are seventeen Societies, of which five are general denominational, five sending Societies not de- nominational, three denominational cooperating and col- lecting Societies, and four cooperating Societies not denominational.
In Ireland is one denominational cooperating Society.
In Scotland are three Societies, of which one is gen- eral denominational, one auxiliary woman's, one sending Society not denominational.
In Wales is one sending Society, not denominational.
In the Netherlands is one cooperating and collecting Society.
362 THE HOME BASE
Three international sending Societies.
In addition, nine Latin-American sending societies are listed, which, of course, do not fall within the scope of this report.
h. The Countries Occupied.
The number of supporting Societies of all kinds, ex- cluding auxiliary women's Societies, but including co- operating and collecting Societies, as well as those send- ing missionaries, in relation to the countries where the work is carried on, is stated below. This list should be clearly differentiated from that given in the report of Commission VHI, which includes only Societies appoint- ing and sending missionaries.
North America Mexico 19
Central America
British Honduras 4
Canal Zone 3
Costa Rica 4
Guatemala 7
Honduras 7
Nicaragua 4
Panama 6
Salvador 3
South America
Argentina 21
Bolivia 7
Brazil 17
British Guiana 14
Chile II
Colombia 3
Dutch Guiana 3
Equador 6
Paraguay 9
Peru 8
Uruguay 8
Venezuela 7
South America (countries not designated) . . 11
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 363
West Indies
Bahama Islands 6
Cuba 12
Haiti and Santo Domingo 8
Jamaica 13
Lesser Antilles 11
Porto Rico 17
West Indies (islands not designated) 6
Latin America (countries not designated) . . 4
2. THEIR EXPENDITURES FOR A QUARTER CENTURY
Fifty- four denominational and interdenominational agencies were addressed for information regarding ap- propriations made and other facts relating to missionary work among Latin-American peoples. Of this number forty-seven responded.
The statistics below include all of the larger organiza- tions and show the increasing interest in missionary work among Latin Americans in five-year periods.
1889-1894 $ 3,659,858.23
1894-1899 3,290,116.39
1899-1904 4,029,533.19
1904-1909 6,976,856.71
1909-1914 10,565,000.05
Only five Societies increased their appropriations each five-year period since 1889. All the other Societies have fluctuated in their gifts. The appropriations were larger in the period 1 889-1 894 than during the following period. The third period shows an advance over either of the two previous periods, which is due to the inauguration of work in Cuba and Porto Rico about 1900. During the last two periods there has been a striking advance, due to natural expansion and increasing interest.
Here follow some of the replies expressing the general tendency in making appropriations : "Appropriations in- crease with expansion of work." "Appropriations in- creased or decreased according to the amount of income; would double the appropriation if we had the money to
364 THE HOME BASE
do so." "The tendency is to recognize more adequately the obligation to evangelize these neighboring lands." In nearly all cases appropriations are based upon the reports of the needs of the field.
Evangelistic work is emphasized by nearly every So- ciety. Forty-seven organizations are also pressing edu- cational work vigorously. Literary, medical, and indus- trial work are receiving little attention.
In 1914 the expenditures of twenty-four of the North American Societies as having furnished satisfactorily analyzed reports, were as follows :
Salaries $ 541,277.68
Support of native work 475,586.26
Evangelistic work 247,996.34
Work among unevangelized Indians. . . 168,904.00 New property and school buildings. . . . 121,970.78
Special work 63,312.14
Medical work 53,175.00
Literary work 19,857.00
Industrial work 9,730.00
$1,701,809.20 Because of the manner in which funds are distributed in the fields, it is difficult for treasurers to provide reliable statistics on the more detailed expenditures on the field. While these statistics are far from accurate because they account for only a portion of the expenditures of North American Societies, yet they show the general ten- dency in distribution of funds among the major forms of missionary endeavor.
The Commission presents in Appendix B a table show- ing appropriations of thirty-seven North American Socie- ties for work in Latin America (including those of the nine foremost denominations, the American Bible So- ciety, and the Young Men's Christian Association) whose appropriations for 1913-14 are given in the preceding table in the last full year for which statistics were avail- able, this table including a relatively small amount for work among Latin Americans within continental United States. The total thus tabulated is $2,090,563.
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 365
3. SUPPORT BY INDIVIDUALS
Any study of supporting agencies in relation to any mission field with extensive missionary institutions would be incomplete without reference to the interest and prac- tical cooperation of individual men and women. Inquiry was made by the Commission to learn the initial causes of such individual participation, the relationships sus- tained by donors and friends of this character to estab- lished work of denominational or other missionary Societies, and the results of their devotion. The inquiry was made among a number of individuals who are well known for their interest in the support of Christian work in Latin-American lands. Some were reluctant to re- spond ; others answered in a general way as to their interest. A number of facts have been brought to light, however, touching upon the beginnings or causes of the interest of individuals in Latin-American lands. These facts seem to indicate that in a majority of cases the determining factor may be traced to a visit to some Latin- American field. The three cases used as illustrations harmonize fully in emphasizing the importance of enlist- ing the personal interest and the financial cooperation of individuals through established and responsible Societies in support of lines of missionary effort directly super- vised by regularly appointed missionaries, or by author- ized native Christian leaders of the people in association with the missionaries. Under such conditions, the Com- mission commends the wise plan followed by these donors and Societies, as worthy of general adoption as an agency supplementary to the giving by Christians in gen- eral through church offerings.
One donor who is devoting much timic and money to work in Central America dates the beginning of his in- terest in that particular field to a visit made by him, in company with one of the secretaries of the Board of his denomination, to Guatemala. The secretary had pre- viously outlined for him the possibilities of missionary effort in that country, and with him later made a journey for personal investigation. The result has been that this friend has himself become an authority upon all phases
366 THE HOME BASE
of Christian work in Guatemala, and because of this ac- tual knowledge of conditions has been able to arouse in the minds of others a hearty response in behalf of the mission and its activities.
Another who is contributing very largely to work in Colombia, writes that his interest in South America dates from fifteen years ago when, on a visit to Jamaica, he met a gentleman living there who was interested in busi- ness in Colombia. He writes : "As a result of this friend- ship I became associated with him in the business enter- prise. It was mutually agreed, however, that we did not wish to take upon ourselves the cares and responsi- bilities involved in entering into business in a country like Colombia, ignorant of the gospel, without carrying on missionary work in the locality where the business was located." He writes further that this experience has con- vinced him of the wisdom of the plan he has followed, for the people have responded and a most encouraging work is now being done.
A visit to Cuba on the part of a leading layman of one of the larger denominations in the year 1903, has led to a marked development of mission work there, as a result of his interest. He began by providing funds for five chapels and for the support of five Cuban workers. His aid has been applied through the home mission Society of his denomination. He has kept in touch with the work so supported through that Board, having him- self visited the field but once. He gives this personal testimony: "What led me to become interested was that I had often heard of this cut-off district east of the moun- tain range, with a population of about 25,000 and no Protestant force to help them. I promised to finance the whole undertaking for a year. I have never had a place to stop and have invested to date about $39,000 in the work in eastern Cuba." This friend of Latin America is also largely interested in missions in the Orient. It should be noted particularly that this donor adopted the only wise course in applying his gifts. That is, he en- trusted the administration of the work to the Society without limitation.
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 3^7
4. THE GREAT INTERDENOMINATIONAL AGENCIES
a. The Bible Societies.
The British and Foreign Bible Society took advan- tage very early in the nineteenth century of vessels sail- ing across the Atlantic to the South American countries and sent therein shipments of Scriptures to these lands. Mr. James Thomson later travelled extensively in Latin America, interesting the people in the circulation of the Scriptures. At Bogota, in 1825, a Colombian Bible So- ciety was formed at a meeting attended by the Roman Catholic clergy and laity. From that day to the present the British and Foreign Bible Society has had extensive interests throughout South America and in the West In- dies. Very early in its history, the American Bible Society utilized in a similar way the services of Chris- tian travellers and merchants in the introduction of the Scriptures into Latin America. But these sporadic at- tempts proved unsatisfactory, and both Societies during the nineteenth century established regular agencies with depots and staffs of workers to minister systematically to the needs of these countries. The British and Foreign Bible Society has at present four agencies in South America and the West Indies, and the American Bible Society has six agencies covering all the Latin-Amer- ican world.
h. The World's Sunday School Association.
The interdenominational promotion of Sunday-school work in Latin America has been undertaken by the American section of the World's Sunday School Asso- ciation. Its policies are adopted after conference with representatives of the mission Boards at the home base, and are put into effect in the fields occupied by its agents under the supervision of an interdenominational commit- tee representing the missions doing work within the field.
Beginning with February i, 1915, the World's Sunday School Association undertook the support of a secretary for South America, the Rev. George P. Howard of
368 THE HOME BASE
Montevideo, who is to devote one-half his time to this special form of service.
The countries of Mexico, Central America and the West Indies were similarly served by the International Sunday School Association, with headquarters in Chi- cago.
Historically, the development of Sunday-school work in Latin America on an interdenominational basis began with the appointment of a special committee of the In- ternational Sunday School Association for the West Indies and South America, in 1905. A commission vis- ited the West Indies and British Guiana in 1906. Later a secretary for these fields was appointed. In 191 1, a special representative of the World's Association inves- tigated Sunday-school conditions in Peru, Chile, Argen- tina and Brazil. In 1913, at the Zurich Convention a spe- cial Sunday-school commission on Latin America pre- sented a report covering the entire territory represented in the Panama Congress. In 1914, a Sunday-school sec- retary for Latin America was appointed to begin service in the field in 1916. In January, 1915, a deputation vis- ited eleven countries of South America to plan for future development of Sunday-school literature, organization and training.
The recorded Sunday-school membership for South America for the year 191 3, is as follows:
Argentina 6,685
Bolivia 455
Brazil 21,448
British Guiana 21,938
Chile 8,838
Colombia 413
Dutch Guiana 1,802
Ecuador 158
Paraguay 314
Peru 911
Uruguay 1,757
Venezuela 167
Total .64,886
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 3^9
c. The Committee on the Religious Needs of Anglo- American Communities.
In 1904, the twelfth Foreign Missions Conference of North America appointed a committee on the religious needs of Anglo-American communities in the mission fields. After submitting a report in 1905, a standing committee of the conference was organized, through which cooperation has been given to mission churches serving Anglo-Saxon residents in port cities. This cooperation has consisted of aid given in the selec- tion of ministers, appropriations made toward salaries and travelling expenses of pastors, and grants or loans for the provision of suitable places of worship. In 191 1 the committee recommended a pastor to the union church in Mexico City, and cooperated further by making grants toward travelling expenses, and to the church budget for a short period in 1914. The committee has assisted the Canal Zone Union Church in Panama by recommending an assistant pastor in 191 5. A directory called "Tourist Guide to Latin A_merica" was issued in the year 191 5, an edition of 10,000 copies having been distributed without charge to travellers in the lands of Latin America. It was placed on the principal passenger-carrying steam- ships and in leading religious centers in the cities of Latin America that are most commonly visited by tour- ists. The directory has been warmly welcomed and has proved very useful to hundreds of travellers. In addi- tion to listing the services in English and the principal missionary institutions in operation, it contains brief chapters on "Criticizing Missions," "Financing Mis- sions," "The Land," "The People," "The Need." The half-tone illustrations in the booklet were loaned by eight different missionary agencies, while the material was supplied by missionaries of all denominations through- out the territory covered.
The expenditures for Latin America of this committee to date have been as follows: Mexico City, 191 1, $500; 1914, $100; 191 5 (estimated), $600. Rio de Janeiro, 19 14, travelling expenses of pastor and wife, $513 ; sal- ary, $800; cable messages, $11.
370 TITE HOME BASE
In many of the port cities on both the east and the west coast of South America, as well as in Central America and the West Indies, the Church of England maintains chaplaincies to minister to the spiritual needs of English-speaking residents.
d. The American Seamen's Friend Society.
The grants of this Society to seamen's missions in Latin America, all for chaplains' salaries, from April i, 1890 to April I, 191 5, in five-year periods, have been as follows: 1890-1895, $9,550; 1895-1900, $10,000; 1900- 1905. $7,500; 1905-1910, $5,637; 1910-1915, $2,475.
No appropriations were made in the years 1913-1914 and 1914-15. The Society is now considering a proposal to reopen connection with the seamen's work at Rio de Janeiro. It is also considering an application for new work in the Panama Canal zone.
5. AGENCIES PROMOTING THE WELFARE OF LATIN-AMERI- CAN STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES
In 1915, well-informed friends of Latin America esti- mated that there were 2,000 students in the universities, colleges, professional schools and other educational in- stitutions of the United States and Canada from twenty Latin-American countries, including Mexico, the West Indies, Central and South America. These students were resident in at least sixty-four institutions. In common with students in the United States and Canada from other foreign lands, these ambi- tious and gifted men appreciate to the full genuine friendship of Christian people, and the fellowship of Christian homes and institutions. They seek an educa- tion for the sake of service in their respective lands, and when returning to their respective countries, interpret in daily conversation and life those experiences that have made deepest impression upon them. They come from the wealthy and influential families and return to become leaders in commerce and the professions, and captains of industry. The value of their establishing friendly rela- tions with those who represent the noblest standards
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 37i
in the educational, social and moral life of the countries in which they have temporary residences cannot be over- estimated. The opening days of their student careers are a period of special opportunity for true friends to give them thoughtful attention. To bring them into i;:ontact with vital Christianity when they first come will help them to form such habits as will enable them to stand firm against the special temptations to which they are exposed, when they return to their own countries. At present they must meet these without the help of a free Church and a living Christ. An efiicient Christian lead- ership, men of reality of vision and of large faitU:, needs to be recruited and prepared for Latin Amerfca. An unfavorable impression made upon the students will make it the more difficult to win them after they return home. Unsympathetic treatment is not forgotten. On the other hand, if they are treated with sympathy, they will return favorable to Christian work.
The coming of Latin-American students to the uni- versities of North America and Europe offers an oppor- tunity to the Christian leaders to help these students to realize that effective and practical work for the moral life of a people can be done only by m.en who live and pro- claim Christ. The students of North America and Eu- rope can never hope to become as effixient propagators of the gospel in Latin America as will the Latin Ameri- cans themselves.
Among the helpful agencies contributing to the wants and needs of Latin-American students in the United States are the Corda Fratres and Cosmopolitan Clubs; Chambers of Commerce and commercial clubs ; the Pan American Union ; the Pan-A.merican division of the American Association for International Conciliation; ''Uniones" ; ''Fraternidades" ; the World's Student Chris- tian Federation; the Student and Foreign Departments of the Young Men's Christian Association ; and the Com- mittee to Promote Friendly Relations among Foreign Students.
The Corda Fratres, an international society of students, and the Cosmopolitan Clubs, organizations of foreign stu-
372 THE HOME BASE
dents in North American universities and colleges, have probably done more than any other institutions to make Latin-American students better acquainted not only v^ith the North American students, but with students of all nations studying in the United States. These clubs send out catalogues and information about schools, provide students with facts about boarding-houses, establish con- tacts between the students and the faculty, keep lists of all foreign students, cultivate friendly relations among them and in other ways meet the needs and wants of the Latin Americans. The Pan-American division of the American Association for International Conciliation, with the cooperation of the Carnegie Peace Foundation, is working along lines of cultivating friendly relations among the students who come to the United States. The Pan American Union at Washington, D. C, under the directorship of the Hon. John Barrett and Sefior Fran- cisco J. Yanes, publishes and disseminates a great deal of information for the benefit of the Latin-American stu- dents and also does much' to educate the North Ameri- can students regarding these countries. Much of this literature is distributed free both in the United States and in Latin America. The Chambers of Commerce and commercial clubs in the United States have begun to facilitate investigations by Latin-American students.
The North American Student, the Cosmopolitan Stu- dent, the Student World, the Bidletin of the Pan Ameri- can Union, Las Americas, the South American, The Americas, the World Outlook, Foreign Mail, El Cardc- ter, Amiga da Mocidade do Brasil, and other general and denominational periodicals, publish from time to time helpful articles relating to Latin-American students. Such literature as "South American Problems," by Dr. Robert E. Speer, "Report of Committee on Preparation of Mis- sionaries to Latin America," "Christian Pan-American- ism," by P. A. Conard, "A Demonstration of World Brotherhood," by E. T. Colton, "Report of the World's Student Christian Federation Conference at Lake Mo- honk, 1913," Dr. Browning's pamphlet on Latin America, "Revista Homiletica," by Dr. Eric Lund; and "Impre-
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 373
siones de los Estados Unidos," by Dr. Abeledo, call for special attention.
The Student Department of the Young Men's Chris- tian Association and the Committee to Promote Friendly Relations among Foreign Students have been the most aggressive of all movements in Christian activities among Latin-American students in the United States. The friends of these and other agencies have sought by many lines of service and comradeship to help Latin-American students in hours of need, to introduce them to Christian homes and influence, to bring them together from many Latin-American lands for mutual acquaintance, and to guide them to the best in the national life. Wherever Latin-American students are found, Christian leaders are able, by similar activities, to show kindness and to win friends for the cause of future Christian work through- out Latin Am.erica.
6. METHODS EMPLOYED TO PROMOTE PRAYER FOR LATIN-AMERICAN MISSIONS
Investigations of the various methods employed to promote prayer for mnssions in Latin-American coun- tries revealed conditions not far different from those per- taining to other fields of missionary activity. The re- ports indicate that while general emphasis is laid on the need of prayer in missionary periodicals and regular mis- sionary publications, many Societies have not in the past provided specifically or adequately for the guidance of the churches in intercession for Latin-American peoples and for missions among them. Correspondence to this end has led, however, to a deeper interest in the matter, and in some cases to a declaration of purpose to make special effort to enlist Christian people in prayer for the Congress and more frequently and regularly thereafter for missionaries, for their Latin- American associates, and for their work in the Latin-American countries of North, Central and South America and the West Indies. The Commission believes that the example of the few So- cieties that have hitherto made special effort to enlist
374 THE HOME BASE
prayer for these fields should be followed by every So- ciety at work in any one of them.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions publishes annually a prayer calendar with ob- jects of prayer for each day of the year. Nine days are given to Mexico. Missionaries are mentioned by name, and attention is called to the general needs of missions in Mexico.
The Congregational Woman's Missionary Federation issues a prayer calendar in which two weeks are devoted to Porto Rico, and three and one-half weeks to Chris- tian schools for Latin Americans in New Mexico and Florida. Individual schools with their problems and needs are mentioned. Both of these Congregational calen- dars have fairly wide use. In addition, special appeals for prayer for Mexico, and less frequently for coun- tries in South America, have been made in the Missionary Herald and the Congregationalist. Both of these periodi- cals have a wide circulation among Congregationalists.
The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church issues leaflets on missions in Haiti, the Canal Zone, Cuba, Porto Rico, Brazil, Mex- ico and New Mexico, in which prayers appear. A book of general prayers for missions has wide use as also a litany for missions. The Church Prayer League issues a quarterly leaflet of intercessions and thanksgivings for missions, each containing sixteen pages. In each quar- terly leaflet there is material for each day of the week (seven sections in all), the arrangement for each day be- ing under the heads ''Consideration," 'Thanksgiving," "Prayer." The material for each day of the week bears upon one of the missionary districts of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The text is annotated with quotations from letters, addresses, periodicals and books. Each of the seven fields of work among Latin Americans has been assigned space in the quarterly leaflets of one day a week for three months. This Society plans soon to publish a small leaflet of prayers for each country.
The Central Committee of Presbyterian Women for Foreign Missions (U. S. A.), representing six woman's
PRESENT ACTIVITIES 375
Boards, issues annually a Year Book of Prayer for For- eign Missions in which the entire month of November is devoted to prayer for Latin America. The names of mis- sionaries of the Board of Foreign Missions and of the Women's Boards are mentioned. At the heading of both the South American and Mexican sections a map is given showing mission stations with strategic facts regarding work in the respective countries. This Year Book has an annual circulation of 17,000.
In like manner the Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) issues a prayer calendar annually. For 191 6 the month of May is de- voted to prayer for the work and workers in Cuba and Porto Rico, and the month of November to the Alexican work and workers in the United States. Maps of Cuba and Porto Rico illustrate the text.
The Presbyterian Department of Missionary Education connected with the same group of mission Boards has published a weekly prayer cycle on Mexico and another on South America. Copies of these are sent out for dis- tribution among mission study classes studying the re- spective countries, and an effort is made to promote united prayer through the members of these classes. On the back of the cycle for Mexico appears the map of that country with the mission stations indicated. A similar map for Mexico and Guatemala appears on the back of the cycle for these fields.
The Mission Board of the Christian Church has issued and distributed among thousands two leaflets for the pro- motion of prayer for missions, in which the work of that Communion in Latin fields is noted, with the names of missionaries and their native associates.
The Woman's Missionary Union of the Southern Bap- tist Convention has recently issued a calendar of monthly missionary topics for prayer and study, in which three topics weekly are on Latin America. The same agency has published a special prayer calendar in which the month of February of 1916 is reserved for prayer for Latin America in all the churches. Other Societies con- template similar publications.
if!i'^
374
THE HOME BASE
prayer for these fields should be followed by every So- ciety at work in any one of them.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions publishes annually a prayer calendar with ob- jects of prayer for each day of the year. Nine days are given to Mexico. Missionaries are mentioned by name, and attention is called to the general needs of missions in Mexico.
The Congregational Woman's Missionary Federation issues a prayer calendar in which two weeks are devoted to Porto Rico, and three and one-half weeks to Chris- tian schools for Latin Americans in New Mexico and Florida. Individual schools with their problems and needs are mentioned. Both of these Congregational calen- dars have fairly wide use. In addition, special appeals for prayer for Mexico, and less frequently for coun- tries in South America, have been made in the Missionary Herald and the C ongregationalist. Both of these periodi- cals have a wide circulation among Congregationalists.
The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church issues leaflets on missions in Haiti, the Canal Zone, Cuba, Porto Rico, Brazil, Mex- ico and New Mexico, in which prayers appear. A book of general prayers for missions has wide use as also a litany for missions. The Church Prayer League issues a quarterly leaflet of intercessions and thanksgivings for missions, each containing sixteen pages. In each quar- terly leaflet there is material for each day of the week (seven sections in all), the arrangement for each day be- ing under the heads ''Consideration," ''Thanksgiving," "Prayer." The material for each day of the week bears upon one of the missionary districts of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The text is annotated with quotations from letters, addresses, periodicals and books. Each of the seven fields of work among Latin Americans has been assigned space in the quarterly leaflets of one day a week for three months. This Society plans soon to publish a small leaflet of prayers for each country.
The Central Committee of Presbyterian Women for Foreign Missions (U. S. A.), representing six woman's
PRESENT ACTIVITIES
375
Boards, issues annually a Year Book of Prayer for For- eign Missions in which the entire month of November is devoted to prayer for Latin America. The names of mis- sionaries of the Board of Foreign Missions and of the Women's Boards are mentioned. At the heading of both the South American and Mexican sections a map is given showing mission stations with strategic facts regarding work in the respective countries. This Year Book has an annual circulation of 17,000.
In like manner the Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.) issues a prayer calendar annually. For 191 6 the month of May is de- voted to prayer for the work and workers in Cuba and Porto Rico, and the month of November to the Mexican work and workers in the United States. Maps of Cuba and Porto Rico illustrate the text.
The Presbyterian Department of Missionary Education connected with the same group of mission Boards has published a weekly prayer cycle on Mexico and another on South America. Copies of these are sent out for dis- tribution among mission study classes studying the re- spective countries, and an effort is made to promote united prayer through the members of these classes. On the back of the cycle for Mexico appears the map of that country with the mission stations indicated. A similar map for Mexico and Guatemala appears on the back of the cycle for these fields.
The Mission Board of the Christian Church has issued and distributed among thousands two leaflets for the pro- motion of prayer for missions, in which the work of that Communion in Latin fields is noted, with the names of missionaries and their native associates.
The Woman's Missionary Union of the Southern Bap- tist Convention has recently issued a calendar of monthly missionary topics for prayer and study, in which three topics weekly are on Latin America. The same agency has published a special prayer calendar in which the month of February of 1916 is reserved for prayer for Latin America in all the churches. Other Societies con- template similar publications.
376 THE HOME BASE
Three Societies report the existence of leagues of prayer for missions. These Societies communicate by letter or printed page from time to time calls to prayer in which specific needs and workers are mentioned. Such leagues are known to exist among Congregationalists under the auspices of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, the Northern Baptist Con- vention under the leadership of the Department of Mis- sionary Education, and the Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
CHAPTER IV
METHODS AND MEANS NOW EMPLOYED IN
DEVELOPING AN INTEREST IN
LATIN AMERICA
Since a correct estimate of measures required to ex- tend Christian work in Latin America must rest upon knowledge of methods now in use, the Commission has made extensive investigations of present home base ac- tivities, the results of which are here presented.
I. IN THE REGULAR ACTIVITIES OF LOCAL CONGREGATIONS
a. Sermons and Addresses on Latin America.
Little information has been available regarding the ex- tent to which the claims of Latin America are being pre- sented in sermons and addresses to the home constituency of any denomination. Correspondence with secretaries of Boards and with pastors, however, indicates that there has been a growing tendency to emphasize Latin Amer- ica from the pulpits, in platform addresses before large gatherings and conventions, and in conferences of various kinds through addresses of board secretaries and mission- aries. One secretary devoted a good part of a recent tour to addresses upon "The Claims of South American Work." Another secretary writes that this method is also being followed as a regular part of the work of the Board which he represents. Some pastors have given brief courses or sermons upon various phases of work in
Z77
378 THE HOME BASE
Latin America, devoting several Sundays to this presen- tation, and numerous addresses have been given in many parts of the country 1his year by missionaries who were compelled to return home from Mexico.
The general situation may be summed up correctly, if one may judge from the meagre reports received, in the following quotation from a man who has himself made a special study of Latin America and who is doing all in bis power to bring its claim to the attention of the North American churches : "There have been very few ad- dresses on Latin America by ministers and officers of Boards and by missionaries at home on furlough, in our Communion. A number of our missionaries in Mexico have done quite a little in starting up interest, but as to the continent of South America, not much work has been done. There is an expectant interest among some of our leaders regarding work in South America, but it has not become vital and active."
h. The Use of Literature and Church Papers.
The record of the use of literature dealing with the Latin- American situation is more hopeful. A secretary in charge of literature in one of the Boards writes : ''We send out news items each month to all of the religious papers of the country, including Sunday-school and mis- sionary papers. We also make a limited use of printed matter, in order to keep contributors advised of the prog- ress of the work in various fields."
A correspondent of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention writes : "In our literature we try to emphasize Latin America just as we do other fields. Literature on this subject is not adequate. We use our Foreign Mission Journal, our weekly church papers, speciah tracts, and the mission study text-books on Latin America. The special book on our work in Brazil has created quite a lively interest in our work in that country. I think, taking it as a whole, interest in Latin America is increasing very decidedly."
Several of the Boards report that although they have prepared a large amount of literature during the last few
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 379
years on the work in Latin America, very few requests have been received for this Hterature except during the last year. One Board has issued a new ''Envelope Series" pamphlet on Mexico that has had a good circu- lation. Another Board reports that some of its leaflets on Latin America have had the widest possible circu- lation.
Latin America has by no means received the presenta- tion it has deserved in church papers and in other re- ligious journals. One secretary writes: "There have been only occasional articles in our church papers," and an editor of one of the most widely read religious papers in North America makes this confession : 'T cannot re- call that we have printed recently a contributed article on South America. That is, however, not because we do not want to print anything on South America ; we have not had the chance to refuse a South American article." The editor of the Missionary Reviezv of the World re- ports that for some months he has been endeavoring to secure articles on missions in Latin America. He adds that he has written numerous letters to travellers, to missionaries and to South American Christians but has found it difficult to obtain the articles desired. A most effective presentation of mission needs and achievements in South America, contained in a recent issue of World Outlook, illustrated one type of treatment of Christian work in Latin America calculated to influence a reading constituency not familiar with the regular missionary magazines.
Many of the women's missionary magazines are devot- ing special articles to the different countries in Latin America, recommending their use as a basis for discus- sions in women's societies during the particular months when Latin-American lands are given special considera- tion.
c. In Meetings for Conference and Prayer.
Few churches reported. Some have had a course of study in prayer-meetings on "The Claims and Needs of Latin America." Others have taken up in successive
38o THE HOME BASE
weeks different parts of the Latin-American world, treat- ing the subject through special papers, brief addresses, discussions, etc. Many leading pastors have neglected the subject entirely in their prayer-meetings. Some pas- tors have spent much time and thought on the subject and have invited visitors and returned missionaries from Latin-American fields to give addresses at their prayer- meetings and to hold conferences with their members. This method, however, has not been widely used.
d. In Mission Study Classes.
Reports are variable. A secretary of one of the leading mission Boards writes : "We have never had a text-book on Mexico or on the Latin-American field as a whole. Probably general interest would not be great enough to make such a book a success. However, it is not at all unlikely that after the Panama Congress, mis- sion study classes on Mexico will be suggested and even pushed in some quarters."
Another denomination makes wide use of the text- books issued by the Missionary Education Movement, entitled "Advance in the Antilles," dealing with the work in the islands of Porto Rico and Cuba, and "Mexico To- day."
One of the leading Boards reports that although it has spent much time and thought in emphasizing the claims of Latin America through addresses, literature and con- ferences, Latin America has not been emphasized in any special way from the standpoint of Christian education.
The most hopeful report that can be made is that the Missionary Education Movement and the various mis- sion Boards are planning a united missionary educa- tional program for 1916-17 designed to bring to the North American churches a realization of their responsi- bility toward the whole problem of mission work in Latin America.
e. In Sunday Schools and Young People's Societies.
It has been quite difficult to arouse the Sunday schools to their responsibility toward Latin America. Here and there individuals who have had the matter on
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 381
their hearts have devoted themselves unceasingly and tirelessly to work among the Sunday schools of different denominations, to remedy the existing conditions. One woman has succeeded in enlisting the Sunday schools of an entire district in the support of work at Santiago, Chile, and through her own efforts has issued leaflets from time to time for distribution among the Sunday schools. Such schools have been slow to respond to ap- peals from Latin America, largely because it has been felt that Latin America was not a mission field in the same sense as is the Orient. During the past year, how- ever, many Sunday schools heretofore unmindful of the claims of Latin America have taken a new interest in this work.
The United Society of- Christian Endeavor has pro- vided in its list of topics special programs on Latin America, and many young peoples' societies have recently welcomed missionaries from South America and Mexico to their regular meetings.
In some of the denominations young peoples' societies in a given district are supporting missionaries at work in South America or in Mexico. Many of them are also contributing to various forms of work in which special interest has been aroused.
/. In the Women's Missionary Societies.
The women's Boards seem to have been more fully alive to the needs of Latin America, in many instances, than are many of the other agencies now at work among the Churches. This statement is borne out by the fol- lowing quotation from a letter received from one of the most active of the church Boards : "Two of our women's Boards have made a good deal of Mexico's work, far more than the general Board has. Consequently, the women of our local churches, apart from those branches that are called upon to support the women's educational work in Mexico, have for many years been cultivated by the women's Boards and have listened to missionary ad- dresses, on behalf of work in Latin America. In fact, I suppose that most of the interest in Mexico among our
382 THE HOME BASE
constituency up to the present time, has been generated by the women's Boards among the women's missionary societies within the local churches." This tribute to the work of the women can doubtless be corroborated in the experiences of many other denominations. The women's Boards, by means of specially prepared programs, dis- cussions, articles and leaflets, have kept the members of their societies relatively well informed as to Latin America.
2. IN DENOMINATIONAL CONFERENCES AND CONVENTIONS
The methods employed in denominational conferences and conventions for the development of interest in Latin America vary greatly, and interest in these countries varies considerably in degree.
One Board secretary says: "These interests have re- ceived some measure of consideration, although over- shadowed by work of a larger bulk." Another says, "The only method for the development of interest is an occasional address. The addresses are of a general nature and are not as thorough as they should be. In spite of this, however, I have found a growing interest in Latin America among our churches, and some of our laymen have recently made trips to that country. I be- lieve that if the Commission could suggest to the churches any worthy method it would be quite readily accepted."
Among the Boards having the most extensive work in Latin America (notably, the Southern Baptist, Metho- dist Episcopal and Presbyterian), the claims of Latin America receive more extensive consideration. In the general gatherings of these bodies, the missionaries from Latin-American lands are given the same opportunity to represent their fields as are the missionaries from other lands. Any apparent discrepancy in the presentation of the Latin- American fields is due to the fact that the num- ber of missionaries to these countries is smaller than to the pagan mission fields.
In the meetings of these Boards due and pro- portionate consideration is given to the budget, to the
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 383
reports from these fields and to representation on the part of returned missionaries. Many of the Boards have provision on the order of business ''for the presentation of missionaries/' and whenever one of the missionaries from Latin America is in this country on furlough, these Boards see to it that he has an opportunity of speaking at one of the sessions of the Board.
Nearly all the women's Boards report that they feel their work of public presentation in conventions and con- ferences of the interests of Latin-American countries is inadequate. Several of them say that they have not pre- sented the real problem of the Latin fields, nor have they given complete pictures of life in these lands as they have done for that in other fields. Curios and pictures and general literature have been harder to obtain. They all express eagerness for other literature, especially books for mission study and general reference dealing with Latin America.
The Commission has not discovered that general de- nominational conventions, aside from purely missionary gatherings under mission Board auspices, have been ex- tensively used for the presentation of Christian work in Latin America or of that in other mission fields. On the contrary, it seems true that the programs of ecclesiastical conventions and conferences, whether national, state or district, as a rule are taken up largely with discussions not contributing directly to the spread of missionary in- telligence, the promotion of intercession for missions, and other forms of devotion through gifts and personal ser- vice. There are many lines of Christian effort to be con- sidered in ecclesiastical gatherings, and many demands for recognition of speakers and causes. The Commis- sion holds, however, that the churches properly live not unto themselves, and that inasmuch as the Christian work in the countries of Latin America and other lands is not the possession of "Boards," but rather of the churches and their individual members, the repre- sentative meetings of the churches should more largely be used to develop and direct missionary intelligence,
384 THE HOME BASE
prayer, sacrificial giving and personal service among their members.
3. THE laymen's missionary MOVEMENT
It is the plan of this Movement in its conventions and conferences, to include one speaker on the subject of Christian work in Latin America. One of the well- known wall charts published for use by laymen in the churches, illustrating great unoccupied fields of the world, presents the needs of Latin America. Articles on Latin America also appear from time to time in Men and Missions, the interdenominational monthly missionary magazine published for use by Christian laymen.
4. THE MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT
In the effort to promote the missionary education of old and young alike, in the Churches of the United States and Canada, this Movement works in close co- operation with and through the denominational Societies.
a. Its Sei^en Missionary Summer Conferences.
These are held annually in the United States, and three in Canada, for the training of workers for mission- ary leadership in all departments of local church work. Mission study classes, addresses, exhibits of literature and personal conversation with missionaries, all dealing w4th Christian work in Latin America, are agencies that have been employed in these conferences to provide in- terest in Latin-American countries. Except in years when text-books have been issued on Christian work in Latin America, the programs of summer conferences have not included as many addresses and classes for training on Latin- American subjects, in proportion to the scope of the work in these fields, as on other coun- tries. This has been due in part to lack of demand by the Boards for treatment of this subject, and in part to the smaller number of speakers and teachers available who have been familiar with Christian work in these fields. In the years when text-books and other litera- ture dealing directly v/ith one or more Latin-American
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 385
countries have been made the chief books of study, the needs of these fields have been given chief prominence in classes and addresses. In each summer conference the needs of Latin America for missionary service are di- rectly presented to delegates in a position to dedicate their lives to missionary work, along with the presenta- tion of the needs of other fields.
b. Its Publications.
Text-books have been issued with great care for use by all mission Boards and Churches supporting Christian work in Latin America. The figures showing circula- tion include distribution up to November 15, 1915: In
1909, "South America" by Neely ; circulation, 32,700. In
1910, "Advance in the Antilles," by Grose; circulation, 48,302. In 1913, "Mexico To-day," by Winton ; circu- lation, 24,611. Reference libraries on South America of eight volumes, and on Cuba and Porto Rico of seven volumes have been issued, and 5,404 volumes circulated in this way. Wall maps of South America, of Mexico and of Cuba and Porto Rico have been published for use in churches and homes, for missionary meetings of all types, and for mission study classes.
c. Its Ideal of a Systematic Missionary Propaganda. The Missionary Education Movement expresses each
year in its educational program the desires of the home and foreign mission Boards for methods, subject mat- ter, and types of educational material. The denomina- tional groups that have m.ade chief use of these text- books on Latin America, and of all collateral material, were the following: the Methodist Episcopal, the Pres- byterian Church in the U. S. A., the Methodist Epis- copal, South, and the Northern Baptist Convention, in the order named.
The ideal of the Missionary Education Movement and of the educational departments of the mission Boards is to induce the churches generally to undertake a program of missionary instruction and training each year that will include study, prayer, giving and service on an ever-in- creasing scale. The ultimate goal of a graded curricu-
386 THE HOME BASE
lum for all ages and agencies, from youngest to adult life, and also a comprehensive subject matter is in view. The fact that as yet the average church, undertaking in any serious way the study of Christian missions, is con- tent to study but one subject explains in large measure the fluctuation from year to year in the use of literature on a specific country. While it is natural that in the year when a new book is introduced there should be a large demand for it relatively, the best interest of all the fields seems to justify holding to the ideal of presenting a variety of subjects each year in every parish where two or more groups can be associated in study. By the gen- eral observance of this principle, the subject of Latin America would be kept more constantly before the sup- porters of missions on whose gifts and prayers alike success depends.
d. A United Program of Missionary Education for 1916-17 on ''The Two Americas."
While the cooperation between the general and wo- men's Boards in educational plans is not as complete as in other recent years, the majority of the general Boards, and many of the Woman's Home Missionary Societies have already agreed to use the subject of "The Two Americas" in the year following the summer of 1916. The coming text-book of the Council of Women for Home Missions is entitled "Old Spain in New Amer- ica." The author is the Rev. Robert McLean, D.D.
(i) Forces Uniting. — The Missionary Education Movement has undertaken the executive leadership of the program in whose promotion it is hoped all mission Boards having work in Latin America will participate. The Council of Women for Home Missions federating the Woman's Home Missionary Societies of the United States is heartily engaged in a similar effort to promote the use of the program among the women of the churches.
(2) Purpose of the Program. — The primary object 5s the intelligent enlistment of the church members, old and young, throughout the United States, and to a con- siderable extent in Canada, in sympathetic and systematic
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 387
study of Christian work in Latin America and of the peoples and spiritual needs of these lands, in order to in- crease the volume of prayer and gifts for the mainte- nance of the work, to multiply the number of the volun- teers for service in Latin America, and to strengthen all the bonds of fellowship and good-will that should exist between the peoples of ''The Two Americas."
(3) The Text-hooks Available. — For the use of mission study classes, in addition to the three books for adults and young people already in print, two new books will be published in the spring of 191 6 by the Missionary Education Movement; one on South America by Bishop H. C. Stuntz, and the other on the home missionary as- pects of "The Two Americas" program, by the Rev. John M. Moore of the Board of Home Missions of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church, South. These books will be for interdenominational use. There will be continued use of reference libraries covering the fields of Cuba, Porto Rico and South America. Missionary programs for evening church services and mid-week prayer-meetings based on the new text-books will be issued. Separate programs for Sunday schools will contain complete ma- terial for use in stimulating the intelligent devotion of children and young people of all ages. A new inter- denominational stereopticon lecture will be prepared for use in the autumn and winter of 1916-17 on Christian work in Latin America. Sets of these lectures will be placed in about ten depository cities so located throughout the United States as to be easily available. Emphasis will be laid in all literature upon prayer for Latin America and for the Christian forces at work in Latin-American countries as the most important method of work.
(4) Special Denominational Literature. — In order to present the facts about their own missions in Latin America with fullness, the Episcopal Board of Missions will issue for use in 1916-17 a text-book for adults to be entitled The New World^ by the Rev. Arthur R. Gray, and the Presbyterian Board a similar book to be entitled The Living Christ for Latin America^ by the Rev. J. H. McLean.
Now available.
388 THE HOME BASE
(5) Publicity Methods, — Printed announcements will, as usual, be distributed by the mission Boards to all the churches. Denominational and interdenominational summer conference programs will introduce the literature to the chosen leaders and will secure wide publicity in many communities and through many religious agencies.
The program will be announced generally in conven- tions and institutes, in missionary magazines, and in the daily and weekly general and religious papers and maga- zines. The plan also calls for the preparation and publi- cation of articles on important subjects connected with the countries of Latin America, and with Christian work in them, in selected general magazines, as well as in the denominational monthly missionary periodicals.
5. THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE ON UNITED STUDY OF FOREIGN MISSIONS
Acting for the women's Boards of foreign missions in promotion of the study of Christian missions since the year 1900, this committee in 1909 published ''The Gospel in Latin Lands," by Dr. and Mrs. Francis E. Clark. The number of copies circulated is 60,000. Speakers from South America and Mexico have given addresses in sum- mer schools for women of the churches conducted by the Central Committee.
6. THE COUNCIL OF WOMEN FOR HOME MISSIONS
This interdenominational committee federates the woman's home missionary Societies of the United States for united study and action. It has given Latin-Ameri- can subjects a prominent place in its summer school ])ro- grams, its community institutes and its extensive litera- ture for study in classes and meetings of local woman's home missionary societies. Books published by this Com- mittee dealing exclusively or in part with Latin- Ameri- can subjects are as follows : "Under our Flag," "The Call of the Waters," "Indian and Spanish Neighbors" and "Home Missions in Action." The book for use in 1916-17 in connection with the united program on "The Two Americas" will deal with Latin Americans in the
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 389
United States and will be entitled "Old Spain in New America." ' The author is the Rev. Robt. McLean, D.D. The total circulation of the books issued has been be- tween 150,000 and 200,000.
7. THE STUDENT VOLUNTEER MOVEMENT AND THE STU- DENT YOUNG men's and YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS
From its origin in 1886, the Student Volunteer Move- ment has included Latin-American fields in its active propaganda of mission study and in the enrolment of Student Volunteers. The records of the Movement on December 31, 1915, showed that 6,475 Student Volun- teers had been accepted by the missionary agencies of Canada and the United States and sent to the mission fields. Of this number, 758 went to Latin America, as follows : 169 to Mexico, 187 to the West Indies, and 402 to South America.
a. The Quadrennial International Conventions.
Seven international conventions have been held by the Volunteer Movement, the first being held in 1891. In each of these conventions, except the second, which was held in Detroit in 1894, the needs and claims of Latin- American countries have been presented along with the needs and claims of other countries to which the mis- sionary agencies of North America were sending mis- sionaries. In addition to the general addresses on Latin America given at these conventions, sectional con- ferences, to consider more in detail the situation in Latin- American countries, were held in connection with all these conventions except the one held in Detroit in 1894. At all these conventions the exhibits and the missionary bibliographies published included sections on Latin Amer- ica.
h. The Promotion of Mission Study Among Students. Its systematic promotion among students began early in the '90s. Emphasis has been laid on the study of Latin America each year. One of the first books which was actively promoted as a mission study text-
Now available.
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book was "South America, the Neglected Continent," by Miss Guinness, which was used in 1894. In 1901, a text-book on "Protestant Missions in South America," edited by H. P. Beach, was published and used as the text-book for mission study classes. In 1907, a general book on "The Continent of Opportunity," by F. E. Clark, was recommended to mission study classes. The book by Robert E. Speer on "South American Prob- lems" has been widely used as a mission study text- book since it was published in 1912. In addition to these books, courses of study based on the "Geography and Atlas of Protestant Missions," issued by H. P. Beach in 1901, included studies on Latin America, and "The Religions of the Mission Field," edited by H. P. Beach and published in 1903, contained a chapter which resulted in a study of the religious conditions in Latin America. The Student Volunteer Movement has ac- tively promoted among students six text-books issued by the Missionary Education Movement, the Council of Women for Home Missions and the Central Committee on United Study of Foreign Missions.
During the last ten years a prospectus of mission study courses recommended for students has been published yearly. This prospectus has recommended each year text-books on Latin America suitable for students. Sta- tistics of mission study are available since 1904. The records of the Movement for that year show that 12,629 students were registered in mission study classes ; of these, 1,431 were enroled in classes studying Latin Amer- ica, The num.ber of students enroled in Latin- American subjects during the next nine years has varied from 441 in the year 1908-9 to 3,154 in the year 1913-14. In the year 1914-15, 1,938 students studied Latin- American sub- jects out of a total of 43,000. It should be remembered that the total figures given above include the enrolment in classes studying both home and foreign missions.
c. The Summer Conferences.
In the widely distributed summer conf*^rences for college men conducted by the Student Department of
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the International Committee of Young Men's Christian Associations, Latin- American subjects have been included in the curriculum of instruction. In 1912, out of fifty-five classes in eight conferences, eight were on Latin-Ameri- can subjects; in 1913, in nine conferences, seven out of fifty classes ; and in 191 4, in nine conferences, six out of sixty-one classes. Among summer conferences for col- lege women in 1912, 1913 and 1914 the number of classes on Latin- American subjects were respectively four out of fifty-one ; three out of forty-five and one out of fifty-one.
d. Articles in the Student Religious Press.
In The Student Volunteer from 1894 to 1897 only a few studies, book reviews and programs for meetings re- lating to Latin America appeared. In The Intercollegian from 1899 to 1 9 12, and in The North American Stu- dent for 1913 and 1914 fourteen articles, eight reviews, four programs for meetings, three editorials and two miscellaneous notices on Latin- American subjects ap- peared, which is as much space as was given to any other great field.
e. The Volunteers Who Went to Latin America. The following table of all missionaries sent to Latin- American countries by missionary Societies of the United States and Canada has been compiled from the records of the Student Volunteer Movement :
Total Sent Sent to Year to all Countries Latin America
1907 554 98
1908 663 159
1909 611 91
1910 642 90
1911 880 153
1912 814 133
1913 485 76
1914 516 62
/. The Conferences of Volunteer Unions.
At the district and state conferences held under the auspices of the Student Volunteer Movement conducted
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in different parts of the United States and Canada, ad- dresses have been given on Latin America whenever mis- sionaries at hom^ on furlough from these countries have been available. No data are available to show how much attention has been given to Latin America at these gather- ings. It is probable that fewer addresses have been given on Latin-American than on other mission fields, this being due primarily to the fact that missionaries from Latin America were not available.
g. College Student Missionary Meetings.
The Student Volunteer and The Intercollegian published suggestions as to monthly missionary meetings. These suggestions occasionally recommended Latin-American countries as the topics for these monthly meetings. The pamphlet entitled ''The Missionary Department of the Student Association" also recommends that Latin- American countries be studied in these monthly mission- ary meetings. Latin-American countries are included in the prayer cycles issued by the Student Volunteer Move- ment.
h. The Work of Travelling Secretaries.
The travelling secretaries have done as much as any other one agency in developing missionary thought and life among students. There is no way of finding out how much attention these secretaries have given to Latin America in their addresses and conferences when visit- ing the colleges. While these workers have called atten- tion to Latin America in their addresses, and have pro- moted mission study in Latin-American books, a candid judgment indicates that they have drawn most of their illustrations from and made most of their addresses on the mission fields in Asia and Africa.
8. THE BIBLE SOCIETIES
The American Bible Society and the British and For- eign Bible Society in the administration of their Home Departments are constantly attempting to interest the people of Great Britain and the United States in their
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extensive work in Latin America. The British and For- eign Bible Society holds auxiliary and other meetings throughout Great Britain. Its district secretaries present the story of the work of the Society in Latin America in their various visitations. The Bible in the World frequently publishes notes or fully illustrated articles on the work of the colporteurs in Latin America. Many leaflets describing certain phases of this work are also prepared for gratuitous distribution. The American Bible Society has nine home secretaries in addition to the staff at the Bible House in New York covering the entire United States, and these secretaries in their pres- entations at anniversaries, public conventions and meet- ings always set forth the work of their fellow agents and colporteurs in the Latin-American field. The Bible Society Record, published monthly, rarely sends out a number that has not in it fresh information from some of these workers in these lands and many booklets and leaflets are issued giving historic information and cur- rent news concerning the demand for the Bible in Latin America.
9. THE GENERAL YOUNG MEN's CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION
a. Presentation in Conventions and Conferences.
At the great International Conventions the work of Latin America is presented equally with the other fields. At state conventions and conferences there usually is present at least one representative of the Foreign Depart- ment. The presentation as a rule takes the form of a gen- eral address concerning the whole foreign work, supple- mented in many cases with special addresses on the work in the speaker's field as typical. During the last year, in many cases this representative has been a Latin-Ameri- can secretary. In the summer schools for the training of the secretaries, in addition to a platform presentation of the whole foreign work program there are held special conferences or class sessions, under the leadership of a home secretary, when the technique of the promotion of interest in and support of the foreign work is discussed. Secretaries on furlough present at these conferences for
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their personal benefit or by the direction of the Foreign Department aid in the presentation and meet men per- sonally. This personal touch is one of the most valuable features of the work in promoting interest in Latin America.
b. Presentation in Local Associations.
Their methods include : (a) Men's meetings, the least productive of all, for they fail to reach the constituency which can be most vitally and helpfully related to the work, (b) Dinner events, such as annual business meet- ings and specially invited groups, (c) Parlor confer- ences, where the message can be given to selected groups with an opportunity for questions and discussion, (d) Usually the Association arranges for the foreign secre- tary to speak in one or two churches, bringing this inter- denominational emphasis to bear on the foreign mission- ary interest of the congregation, (e) Brief presentation of some outstanding single fact suited to different groups, as to men on the gymnasium floor, in an educational class, or in the dormitory, (f) Calling on individuals.
c. Presentation through Publications and Photographs. A detailed annual report is required from each secre- tary. While this is primarily an administrative document, sections of it are furnished to the constituency of the re- porting secretary for their information, inspiration and education. Three other reports fill out the quarters of the year. In most cases these are sent directly to their constituencies by the men on the field, with copies to the New York office. Monthly news letters are sent by many secretaries to their constituencies instead of quarterly re- ports, which in other cases supplement the quarterly reports.
Printed matter issued by the Foreign Department with reference to its work in Latin America, includes the following: The Foreign Mail Annual, an annual survey of the yearns work, always contains a section on the work in Latin America. The Year's Review covers the im- portant events of the year, including those in Latin
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 395
America. The materials under the different countries consist of a general statement followed by details of the work in each station. Foreign Mail is a thirty-two-page, illustrated, bi-monthly publication with a subscription list of 4,500 names made up of those of individual contribu- tors and friends and of local Association lists of subscrib- ers, and contains letters from the different fields. Each issue has at least one letter from Latin America. It also contains a geographical list of all foreign secretaries, with their addresses. The policy covering printed mat- ter is to have available one good general pamphlet on each country or general division, like Latin America. At present the Foreign Department has only one Latin- American pamphlet, "Christian Pan-Americanism," by P. A. Conard, associate secretary of the South Ameri- can Federation of Young Men's Christian Associations. It has been largely used by Associations interested in Latin America. "A Student Demonstration in World Brotherhood," designed primarily for a special campaign among state universities in the interest of student work in Asia, contains references to student work in Latin America. The West Indies Bulletin, presenting in brief compass important events in the work in the West Indies, mainly in Cuba and Porto Rico, is circulated among indi- vidual contributors and Associations having a part in the support of that work.
Publications of the Latin- American Associations and newspapers and other documents from the field are sent directly by secretaries to their supporting constituencies. By correspondence and suggestion of travelling secre- taries, the attention of individuals and of North Ameri- can Association secretaries is directed to timely articles in current magazines and newspapers, and to new books on Latin America.
In addition to reports, each secretary sends photo- graphs of his work directly to his constituency and to the New York office. Those sent to New York are uni- formly mounted and labeled, filed topically, and loaned to local Associations for use in exhibits. Good photo- graphs with explanatory statements are in some respects
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better than reports. Photographs are increasingly recog- nized as having a distinct value as cultivation material. Curios are sent by secretaries to their constituencies. The personal tie is emphasized in all cultivation work, although in many instances contributions go to the work of a station rather than that of an individual.
lO. THE INFLUENCE OF TRAVELLERS AND PUBLICISTS
Attention is called to the important service to be ren- dered by travellers in Latin America. If those who visit the Latin-American countries from Europe or North America would first secure the "Tourist Guide" to mis- sion work in Latin America and would then call on missionaries and visit mission stations, they would gain first-hand knowledge of such work and would often bring inspiration to the missionary. By this means the tourist can best discover the needs and opportunities for the varied forms of Christian work.
Upon returning home many travellers have aroused their mission Board and its constituency to the need of a larger investment in Latin America. By interviews, ad- dresses and articles for publication, the tourist has en- listed gifts and prayer for mission colleges, hospitals and churches. His enthusiasm has sometimes influenced young people to offer themselves as candidates for the missionary service.
In many instances representative Christian travellers have profoundly influenced their fellow countrymen in Latin-American cities by their example in church attend- ance, and also by their addresses and personal visits. Such cooperation has often resulted in dignifying the work of the missionary and in the discovery of new friends for his cause.
Since the traveller may either help or hinder the cause of Christ in the land which he visits, it is of the utmost importance that he shall not reach hasty conclusions based upon superficial observation, but that he shall take sufficient time to discover the truth, and thus avoid re- turning to his own country with prejudice regarding the missionary propaganda. The problems of the home base
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will be nearer solution when more travellers avail them- selves of the privilege of visiting the missionaries, and of becoming familiar with their needs and aspirations.
The cause of missions in Latin America is deeply in- debted to several prominent educators, statesmen and merchants from Europe and North America who, while visiting the South and Central American Republics, have most generously given sympathy, time and money to strengthening and extending the efforts of individuals and of mission Boards in Latin America.
It v/ould be difficult to overstate the importance of the service rendered by the Pan American Union in Wash- ington, D. C, in promoting knowledge of Latin America, and in stimulating better understanding and international good-will between the Americas. The beautiful home of the Union in Washington is a center much visited by travellers from abroad and from North America. Fre- quent meetings and conferences are held in this palatial building attended by all of the official representatives of Latin America, as well as by other distinguished Latin leaders. By means of the monthly magazine of the Union and through addresses of the director-general and his associates a vast amount of valuable information has been disseminated, and wide-spread interest has been aroused in the future of Latin America.
Among the means by which thousands of people have become deeply interested in Latin-A.merican affairs are conferences such as those conducted at Clark University at Worcester, Massachusetts, at Lake Mohonk, New York, and the recent Pan-American Scientific Congress in Washington, D. C. Able addresses and papers are there presented, followed by a thorough discussion of the most urgent social, civic and educational questions of Latin America. Printed reports of these conferences are given wide-spread circulation.
Public opinion among people of North America is formed largely by what they see and read regarding the South and Central American Republics. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, that educators, publicists, government officials and business men, who have oppor-
398 THE HOME BASE
tunity to gain first-hand knowledge of these countries, should write and speak without prejudice concerning their observations. An accurate statement of facts with- out unfair comparisons is greatly needed and desired.
II. THE WOMAN^S MISSIONARY SOCIETIES
Under the auspices of woman's missionary Boards, the following methods of awakening interest and disseminat- ing information are reported :
a. Their Use of Literature.
Many recent books on Latin America are reported as used in auxiliary missionary Societies under seven woman's Boards, in addition to the use of text-books in mission study classes. Books on Latin America are be- ing introduced into local missionary libraries and are increasingly read. The libraries on Latin lands, pub- lished by the Missionary Education Movement, have sup- plied a real need among women. Leaflets presenting in interesting form various short articles and stories are prepared by ten woman's Boards for the use of their constituencies. These leaflets are distributed at a nominal cost and have a wide circulation and use. Maps, pictures and charts are made use of in auxiliaries under five Boards. These are supplementary helps in mission study classes and to some extent in the programs of regular missionary meetings. Periodicals, both missionary and secular, have supplied helpful material on Latin America that has been read extensively and gleaned for use on programs of missionary societies. Ten woman's Boards publish missionary periodicals in which such material is given a regular place. Children's periodicals published by these Boards also present suitable material on Latin- American fields.
b. The Mission Study Class Movement.
Mission study classes in auxiliaries of eight woman's Boards used to very great advantage the new text, "The Gospel in Latin Lands," published by the Central Com- mittee. This systematic study of the work of evangelical
METHODS OF ACTIVITY 399
missions, of the history of Latin countries and of their peculiar needs and problems marks the beginning of a new erai of interest in missions to Latin- American
countries.
c. Special Programs on Latin America.
Carefully arranged programs on Latin America each year at one regular meeting of local missionary societies, are provided for auxiliaries, under seven Boards, while two Boards provide for two such programs annually, and one board plans for the study of Latin-American fields in three meetings of local auxiliaries each year. Presenta- tion of special programs on Latin America for general audiences, in young people's meetings, before Sunday- school classes, and at other gatherings are given under eight Boards.
d. Presentation at Conferences and Conventions. Nine woman's Boards discussed the Latin-American
work in conferences and conventions held under their aus- pices. In these, Latin-American work is receiving an in- creasingly large share of attention. Within the last five years, there is a marked increase of interest in the work being done in these countries upon the part of the con- stituency of certain woman's Boards, and they are seek- ing to supply the need of information.
e. An Organized Scheme of Addresses and Lectures. Addresses given by missionaries, travelling secretaries
and others, are used by nine Boards, four of which have speakers regularly employed for such work. In this way, the woman's Boards are instrumental in bringing the subject of Latin- American missions before churches, Sunday schools, prayer-meetings, parlor meetings, also conferences and conventions. This is one of the most successful and effective methods employed for reaching the general membership of the churches and for creating an interest among those who have not the time or the inclination to take up the study of a text-book. This method is limited, however, by the small number of workers in Latin Lands.
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/. Stereopticon Lectures.
Such lectures are being provided by ten woman's Boards and the value of such definite methods of in- struction cannot be over-emphasized.
g. Pageants and Dramatic Presentations of Latin- American Subjects. Pageants and dramatic presentations of Latin-Amer- ican subjects are reported by two Boards as being oc- casionally used.
h. Miscellaneous Methods.
Regular and systematic instruction on Latin-American missions is provided for children's missionary organiza- tions by ten Boards. Prayer periods for Latin America in missionary meetings, and presentations on prayer calen- dars are given under seven Boards. Many suggestive remarks accompanied the reports of various woman's Boards on the agencies being employed for awakening interest. The periodicals of three Boards are reported as giving regular space to Latin America in each issue. Travelling speakers under four Boards are reported as emphasizing the Latin-American fields. Two Boards re- port plans for presenting special programs on Latin America throughout their auxiliaries, due to influence of the Panama Congress. Several Boards report Latin- American missions as not entirely neglected, but on the other hand, as not receiving attention commensurate with the importance of the field, and with the interest only beginning to be awakened.
CHAPTER V
MEASURES REQUIRED TO SECURE ADE- QUATE SUPPORT OF CHRISTIAN WORK IN LATIN AMERICA
In all countries from which Christian workers have been sent to Latin America, the attention of the churches has been directed anew toward these countries be- cause of the preparations for this Congress. The concern of the supporting Churches for the progress of Christian work in Latin America, while not as positive and sustained as in relation to some other sections of the world, has nevertheless been one of expanding interest in recent years. Whatever measures may be taken to enrich the knowledge of Christian people everywhere in the progress, problems and needs of Christian work in other countries will contribute toward the awakening of a more profoundly sacrificial interest in such work in Latin America. The unity of the missionary task, the growing spirit of unity and cooperation among the lead- ers and members of all Christian communions, the rapid- ly developing world consciousness among Christian peo- ple, and the rising standards of Christian stewardship as related to the use of time, money and talents by Chris- tians, together will effect beneficially Christian work in all lands, Latin America included.
The Commission, however, is conscious of the fact that Christian work in Latin America calls for special con-
401
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sideration by Christian people and Churches in those countries from which workers and financial support must come. In a real sense Latin-American countries have yet to be adopted by the members of Christian Churches at large as fields calling for discriminating and continu- ous study, constant intercessory prayer, growing support by gifts of money and workers of highest talents and qualifications. In order to bring about this conscious and devoted recognition of Latin America's claims, the Commission urges missionary Societies and Churches to continue the use of all methods of establishing interest hitherto employed. The Commission specially recom- mends the following methods in the hope that a new sense of responsibility among Churches obligated to sup- port Christian work in Latin America may be the re- sult of their adoption.
I. UNCEASING INTERCESSORY PRAYER FOR LATIN AMERICA
In a peculiar manner the conditions surrounding Christian work in Latin America demand the practice among the Churches and individual Christians every- where of intercession. The problems of occupation, the social and spiritual needs of the people, the attitude of the Roman Catholic Church, the opportunity and urgent need for evangelistic work, the training of Latin- American leaders, the enlistment of larger gifts for cur- rent support and for more workers, the training in self- support, self-direction and self -propagation of the churches now in existence, the prevalence of rationalism and materialism, the rejection by many among the edu- cated classes of spiritual religion as an essential factor in the welfare of the individual, of society and of the state, the personal difficulties surrounding the mission- aries in their labors and their domestic life — these and other reasons impose upon Christians a deep obligation to pray unceasingly for Latin America. The fact that Christianity has been so inadequately taught in Latin- American countries should add intensity to the prayer of all Christians that the time may soon come when all
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 403
men in Latin America may have "an adequate oppor- tunity to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and to be- come His real disciples."
a. Directed to Specific Needs.
Missionaries are requested to furnish frequently to missionary Societies and to their friends at the home base lists of specific objects of prayer to be printed for gen- eral use or to be placed privately in the hands of work- ers and friends for use in meetings for prayer or in homes for family prayer.
The example of those Societies that now publish prayer calendars and other helps to prayer definitely dealing with Christian work in Latin America should be fol- lowed by all Societies maintaining work in these coun- tries. The plan of circulating special prayer helps each year among mission study classes and for use in meet- ings on Latin-American topics should be generally adopted.
b. At Regular and Special Gatherings.
The regular meetings of woman's societies, young people's societies, and mid-week services of prayer, when devoted to Latin-American subjects, should be utilized largely for prayer. The practice of a few Boards in as- sociating voluntarily a group of believers as a prayer league or league of intercession for missions is v.^orthy a general adoption. At least once each year a special re- quest for prayer sent to persons enroled in these circles of intercession, listing particular objects for prayer, would do great good.
c. In Response to Calls to Prayer.
The occasional publication from time to time in mis- sionary magazines and in general relieious periodicals of calls to prayer for Latin America, along with needs of other fields, will serve to enlist many in prayer.
d. In Response to Training in Prayer.
Ministers, all Sunday-school officers and teachers, leaders of woman's societies and mission study classes
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should make it a practice to include Christian work in Latin America regularly in the list of objects for which they pray, privately and publicly, and in connection with which they train others to pray.
e. The Use of a Prayer Calendar for Latin America.
The preparation and the wide circulation of a gen- eral Latin- American prayer calendar suitable for com- mon use by all bodies of Christians, with space provided to enter lists of objects and persons of a given Com- munion for intercession, would meet a genuine need and would extend greatly the number of those who at the close of this Congress will purpose to pray for Latin America. The publication in a magazine, or a circular letter to members of prayer groups, of answers to prayer in the fields of Christian work in Latin America should be arranged as an assurance to faith and an aid to prayers of thanksgiving.
/. Special Days of Prayer.
The regular appointment by each Communion of a spe- cial day of prayer for Latin America would assist many congregations in undertaking to pray ^^egularly for mis- sions. A prayer service or meeting on Latin America in the course of senaces customarily devoted to prayer and study of missions, would meet the purpose, especially if preceded by an address on Latin America from the pulpit.
2. THE PORTRAYAL OF THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF LATIN- AMERICAN PEOPLES
The Commission recognizes that information about the outward evidence of civiHzation is more easily obtainable, and when given is more readily sought by casual students of Latin America, than is that body of information about spiritual needs. Such evidence must be forthcoming, and must be presented universally among the churches before an adequate response to the claims of Christian work in Latin America will be made. Some Christian workers in Latin America claim that the truth regarding
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 405
social needs does not readily find treatment in the re- ligious press — that editors revise and strike out much that is said in correspondence and in articles, until the actual conditions which demonstrate the need of the evangelical Christianity are not revealed with compelling force. It is essential that the spiritual longings and needs of those among whom Christian work is being promoted be interpreted in terms of sympathy. When laying em- phasis on the spiritual needs of any people, it should not be done in the spirit of superiority but in humble recog- nition of the tremendous spiritual needs of the home base lands themselves and of their failure adequately to ex- emplify the teachings of Christ in moral, social and business life. In what so-called Christian country have the teachings of Christ as yet had full expression?
Care should be taken in the preparation and publica- tion of statements revealing spiritual needs to write in temperate yet convincing terms. The facts of such writings should be based on good authority. All un- necessary cause of offense should be avoided. With these ordinary precautions, it should be the policy of speakers, writers and publishers to reveal spiritual needs in order that intelligent support through prayer, gifts and workers may be enlisted in proportion to the need. A faithful friend of Latin America writes : "I do not be- lieve in anti-Catholic propaganda here or in South Amer- ica except it be full of love. Place emphasis first on the fact that fifty percent, of the thinking men of South America are not in sym.pathy with the Roman Catholic Church and its teaching. If their own Church does not attract them, we should endeavor to do so. Emphasize secondly, that many of their most altruistic men are enemies of religion because they want to help their people to better things and they believe religion is hindering. If they feel thus, their own Church cannot help them. We must do so. A patient process of education such as we have used to overcome general missionary indif- ference at the home base ought to be undertaken, but on the lines indicated just above."
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The Commission therefore believes that ministers in the presentation of Christian work in Latin America by sermons and addresses, and that leaders and teachers in Sunday schools, young people's organizations and woman's societies, should set forth the actual spiritual needs of Latin-American peoples in their meetings and classes. The Commission urges that editors, pubhshers and committees planning the educational literature on Christian work in Latin America should incorporate ma- terial in their publications dealing with these spiritual needs in the spirit of sympathy and love.
3. THE DEVELOPMENT OF FRATERNAL RELATIONS WITH LATIN AMERICANS
Attention has been called to the invaluable result in the realm of international good-will and Christian fel- lowship of establishing and maintaining friendly relations with Latin-American students temporarily resident in European and North American university centers.
a. Through the Deiinite Attitude of Individual Churches. The Commission believes this ideal should be con- verted into action wherever Latin Americans and repre- sentatives of other nations are thrown together tempo- rarily or permanently. The churches should be aggres- sively in the lead in all efforts to combat race prejudice, to enrich the social, intellectual and spiritual life of these groups, and to serve them when they are in need, by be- coming acquainted through friendly visits, by making them welcome to Christian homes and churches, by help- ing them secure employment in cases of need, iDy organ- izing and maintaining special schools for teaching the languages of the country to those who cannot enter the common schools for this purpose, and by supporting, through personal service and gifts, much needed social service activities for the common good, such as sanitary housing, playgrounds, district nursing, vacation Bible schools, wholesome social and physical recreation and the prevention of disease. In this way the gospel of good-
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will becomes effective in establishing brotherly relations of abiding moral and spiritual value.
b. Through the Free Interchange of Thought.
It is desirable that every opportunity for free inter- change of thought between Latin Americans and resi- dents of North America, Great Britain and Europe be utilized in the interest of brotherly relations. Visitors from other countries going to Latin America should seek opportunities of meeting with representatives of the best institutions and movements of Latin-American countries, in order to acquire accurate and intimate knowledge of their ideals, achievements and needs. In like manner, visitors from Latin America representing business, pro- fessional, educational, literary and social interests and agencies should be sought out and hospitably entertained with a view to interchange of knowledge and the repre- sentation of what is best in the moral, social and religious life, as well as the most notable in commercial and edu- cational achievement of the country visited. Such cour- tesy it should be the purpose of every Christian worker or church or community to show in the interest of broth- erly relations.
c. Through Mutual Introductions and Information. Missionaries in Latin America may help Latin-Ameri- can students into right influences and to friends in other countries by means of letters of introduction, by advance information to friends who may meet them at ports of landing and by furnishmg them with literature answering their natural inquiries about the country to which they go, its educational institutions, and other opportunities worth while. Bulletins of information regarding student life and requirements of the universities in other lands should be published and distributed in all the schools in Latin America from which students come. In like manner, the visit to Latin America of travellers from other countries who are in sympathy with Christian ac- tivities should be announced to Christian workers in Latin America, in order that opportunity may be made to meet
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and form friendship with both Latin Americans and Christian workers resident among them.
d. The Organized Promotion of Friendly Relations.
In addition, the mission Boards should unite in an agency to represent them in establishing information bureaus and in making proper arrangements to meet every student who comes to a home base country when practicable, accompany him to the university, help him register, find suitable room and board, relate him to the best; and above all else, place him under the most power- ful Christian influence in the university. The mission Boards might well work in a cooperative enterprise for Latin-American students through the Committee to Pro- mote Friendly Relations among Foreign Students.
e. Personal Calls on Latin Americans away from Home. Missionaries while on furlough should make it a prac- tice to call on students and other representatives of Latin- American countries, wherever they can be found.
/. Addresses by Latin-American Students.
Students and church members at the home base are woefully ignorant regarding Latin America. Such igno- rance has often resulted in bad manners and in race pre- judice. To remove and prevent this, mission study groups, young people's societies, churches, literary so- cieties, and student organizations are urged to give op- portunity for the Latin-American students to make public presentation of their countries from time to time, by means of personal conversation, public addresses and illustrated lectures. This will tend to develop the usefulness of the Latin Americans themselves, will provide much need- ed information and will promote a better understanding of Latin America. Information concerning such speakers can usually be secured from the president or dean of the local college or university, the officers of the city or col- lege Young Men's Christian Association or, in the United States, from the Committee to Promote Friendly Re- lations, whose address is 124 East 28th Street, New York
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City. Stereopticon lectures^ have been given by the Latin- American students before the entire student bodies of several of the universities.
g. Encouragement of the Study of National Problems. Much can be done to help the Latin- American students develop into real thinkers on the problems pertaining to municipal, state and national government, sanitation and health ; public and private charity ; education and religion, so that they can return to their homes prepared to solve the social, moral and religious problems of their own countries.
h. The Promotion of Personal Work.
Since the real solution to these problems is attained through Christ, it is imperative that Latin-American stu- dents become personal workers who will resolutely spread the gospel of Christ. Personal workers can be multiplied by utilizing the Bible classes more largely, by distributing a larger number of books helpful in deepening their Chris- tian life and in increasing their sense of responsibility. Anglo-American students and professors with tact, sym- pathy, and warm spiritual nature can greatly aid in this by cooperating in the Bible classes. The emphasis should be on the positive side of Christianity and its ap- plication to the practical problems of personal and social life and service. Christ, if held up in this true char- acter and power, will attract them, will vitalize their lives, and will send them back to be a Christian leaven in their own communities.
i. Giving of Our Best.
If Christian countries would only aim to give the Latin Americans their best, surely such blessings will follow as are described by Dr. John R. Mott in his book, ''The Present World Situation" : "That race will be most
^ Slides can be rented from denominational mission boards, the Missionary Education Movement, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City; the Pan American Union, Washington, D. C, and Underwood and Underwood, Chicago and New York.
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blessed which gives its best with generous hand, not in fear and not with ulterior motives, but with sincere recog- nition of all that is good in others and with unselfish motives ; and which in all its intercourse tries to see with the other's eyes and to sympathize with the other's hopes."
4. THE MULTIPLICATION OF LITERATURE FOR GENERAL USE
The most emphatic testimony gathered by the Commis- sion bears upon the universal need for a larger volume and greater variety of literature suited to wide use among the churches. The need seems to call for text-books, books for general reading, articles in pamphlet form for wide distribution, material for program meetings, and biographical studies of foreign Christian workers and Latin-American Christian leaders. The appeal is for knowledge of the history and results of Roman Catholic teaching and influence; of the social, moral, economic and religious conditions ; of the customs, character, achievements and potentialities of Latin-American peo- ples ; of the present occupation by Christian forces and the distinctive features of the Christian work now being done; of political history and governmental attitude to- ward religious toleration, and kindred questions. Many feel that as compared with available literature bearing directly upon Christian work in other countries, Latin America is as yet insufficiently supplied with suitable ma- terial. The attention of churches in North America is called again to the existing text-books published by the INIissionary Education Movement, the Student Volunteer Movement, the Council of Women for Home Missions and the Central Committee on United Study of Foreign Missions, and to similar denominational publications, also to the books and other literature now in course of prepa- ration by the Missionary Education Movement and the Council of Women for Home Missions for use in 1916-17. All of these are worthy of much more extensive use in the churches than they have yet received. The fact remains, however, that the field of available literature
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 411
written from a religious point of view is limited. The Commission urges missionary societies to increase the number of pamphlet and leaflet publications for general sale or for free distribution, aiming not only to supple- ment the text-book literature by presenting more com- pletely the work done by the different Communions, but to encourage the preparation of biographies or autobiog- raphies of Christian workers whose lives and service lend themselves to such treatment.
There is in course of preparation a limited bibliography of selected books on Latin America with annotations. The number of general treatises on countries, political and com.mercial relations, books of travel, scientific ex- ploration and similar subjects is rapidly increasing. The reading of selected works from this list is urged upon the members of churches and students of international affairs as essential to a clear appreciation of the countries and peoples in the midst of which Christian work is be- ing supported. City and town libraries should be encour- aged to purchase books on Latin America. The establish- ment of missionary reference libraries in church build- ings, where current selected books are made available to Christian leaders, teachers, classes, societies and general readers, is recommended. The distribution of pamphlet literature on Latin America in churches in connection with some other educational presentation, such as an ad- dress or sermon, a program meeting or a missionary re- ception or entertainment, supported by a brief review of the pamphlet by the minister from the pulpit, or by some other leader on another public occasion, exerts a leavening influence of high value.
5. THE LARGER USE OF MISSIONARY MAGAZINES AND RELIGIOUS PERIODICALS
The importance of frequent treatment of Latin-Ameri- can subjects in missionary and general religious periodi- cals is generally recognized. Since space in which Chris- tian work in any one country or section of the world can be treated is necessarily limited, care should be taken to use only those letters and articles dealing with matters
412 THE HOME BASE
of genuine human interest. The Commission believes that every Christian worker entering Latin America for Hfe service should give consideration to literary style and force in writing, and that the faculties of observation should be exercised intelligently and persistently, based on a progressive study of conditions at the home base and the best methods of appealing to the imagination and will through the printed page. Editors are also encour- aged to give practical suggestions from time to time, in personal letters and in printed form, to Christian workers in Latin America on the reporting of news and the sub- jects of interest from the point of view of the home base. By such cooperation before a worker sails, after he reaches his field, or when on furlough, marked improve- ment in the character of letters and articles in the reli- gious press about Latin America will constantly be made, and the power of the press as an auxiliary agency be multiplied accordingly.
6. THE USE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
As in the case of writing, so in connection with pho- tography, the reading and seeing public at the home base is in an observant mood. In years past most Christian workers in mission fields have failed to recognize this in time to acquire a practical amateur knowledge of photography. The value of well-composed pictures can- not be over-emphasized in presentrday religious educa- tion. It has been estimated by experienced photographers who see negatives and pictures forwarded by Christian workers in foreign lands, that nine-tenths of the material used and money spent in photography is wasted (except for the value of having a hobby for recreational pur- poses), as far as illustrative uses at the home base in magazines, stereopticon lectures and exhibits are con- cerned. These three last-mentioned methods of conveying knowledge are in the ascendency. It is certain that they will continue to be used with ever-changing variety of form and on multiplying occasions. Every station should if possible have one amateur photographer equipped with a good camera. A few lessons in composition, exposure
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 413
and developing will yield not only genuine satisfaction to the worker with the camera, but will guarantee a con- stantly improving quality and increasing supply of story- telling pictures, whose use will enlarge the value of letters and articles for the religious press. If necessary and practicable, the cost of acceptable pictures might well be paid by the Society using them. In certain cases Societies may be justified in providing both camera and films or plates, where pictorial material will prove of special value. By a combination of several Societies, motion pictures of Christian work in Latin America might be taken, whose use would prove of real value at the home base.
7. THE USE OF SPEAKERS AND LECTURES
No phase of the program of education of Christian people at the home base in the subjects dealing with Latin America is of greater importance than that of the systematic use of well qualified speakers. Among the many occasions in the local church where such addresses can be given with profit, are the leading Sunday church service, meetings of men's, women's and young people's societies, and in the Sunday school. Community meetings arranged by an interdenominational committee of the churches, adult Bible classes or women's societies are mul- tiplying in which Latin- American subjects can be pre- sented with good results. In larger cities, business men's luncheons and regular or special micetings arranged by the Chamber of Commerce can occasionally be used for the presentation of a speaker of authority and influence. District, state and national or international religious con- ventions of denominational or interdenominational char- acter afford opportunity for reaching leaders widely rep- resentative of the local churches at the home base. The most important of these conventions are those that bring together statedly ministers and lay delegates of the churches, ofBcers and leaders of Sunday schools, young people's societies, women's home and foreign missionary societies, brotherhoods. Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associations, church workers in mis- sionary summer schools and student summer conferences.
414 THE HOME BASE
Special reference is made to the value of a series of lectures and addresses by one or more speakers, covering a period of days or weeks in communities where coopera- tion between the churches of all Communions is common or practicable. Similar courses in theological seminaries, colleges and universities not only reach an influential constituency, but occasionally result in publication of the lectures in book form.
The Commission believes that Christian workers enter- ing Latin-American countries, or about to return on fur- lough, should make special preparation of material for use in public addresses. Mission Boards are giving wise attention to the systematic use of speakers by arranging schedules of engagements for those who are at liberty and prepared to undertake a program of this character. Not all workers or travellers returning from Latin America feel qualified to enter upon a speaking tour, be- cause of inexperience, need of recuperation of health or other good cause. It is pointed out, however, that no worker or friend of Latin America is confined to public occasions in using his experience and knowledge for the enlightenment of those whom he may influence. Much can be done in private conversation, in personal work, in receptions in homes and churches, in mission study classes, and in private and public schools to acquaint young and old with one or more Latin-American coun- tries. It is considered wise that most workers available for speaking should meet personally with the secretaries of their respective Boards to receive counsel from them concerning the existing attitude and needs of the con- stituency at the home base and suggestions of large value in reference to travelling arrangements, hospitality, fixing engagements, the style of address most likely to meet the needs, and the nature of the subject matter most likely to make strong appeal. ''Talking points" of the kind here mentioned should be made a matter of constant study. It is particularly important that the spirit and language of all addresses should be indicative of warm sympathy with the people of the countries with which the addresses deal, and that portrayal of social, moral and spiritual
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 415
needs should be made for constructive purposes only. The Commission commends the growing practice of mission Boards in meeting the travelling expenses of missionaries while on furlough and engaged in speaking deputations, out of the regular funds of the Boards, thus obviating the necessity of special offerings as an accompaniment of addresses.
Elsewhere in this report reference is made to the in- creasing availability as speakers, of business men, educa- tors, travellers, Latin-American students and men of in- fluence in political, commercial, diplomatic and educa- tional life in Latin xA.merica. Their wide observation and their sympathy with Christian work in Latin America can be utilized by addresses to bring about a fuller under- standing and a conscious international fellowship between the countries of Latin America and those of Great Brit- ain, Europe and North America.
8. DEPUTATIONS TO LATIN AMERICA
The growing practice of some missionary Societies periodically sending representatives to investigate their work, and to report on the conditions, is commended, particularly with reference to Latin America. Whenever possible such deputations should include, beside an ad- ministrative officer, one or more laymen or women. The printed reports of these deputations receive marked con- sideration. In these reports present conditions and future policies are usually outlined. They should therefore be given wide circulation, especially among the leaders of the missionary forces at the home base and among donors. Of equal or greater value to the general public is the service rendered by the members of such a deputa- tion through addresses and lectures. The awakening of an entire Communion to an appreciation of the problems and needs of a field of Christian work hitherto relatively unknown to the churches, has not infrequently followed upon the report by printed page and public address of a deputation. Donors capable of large support of Chris- tian work have of their own accord joined such deputa- tions in order to have first-hand knowledge as an aid in
4i6 THE HOME BASE
the exercise of their stewardship. What a few Societies have done in sending deputations to Latin America in the last half decade is commended by this Commission as desirable and essential for all Societies, if speedy expan- sion of Christian work in Latin America along lines of development involving true Christian statesmanship is to be achieved. Consultation between such deputations representing different Communions, before, during and after their tours of inquiry and observation will do much to develop true strategy in the occupation of the fields and in prosecution of Christian work in Latin America, and will not fail to meet with the endorsement of that part of the constituency at the home base who are giving intelligent consideration both to the support and to the economical administration of the work. Moreover, such deputations can do much to interest men of affairs at the home base in the economic, moral and religious con- ditions of these countries.
9. THE ENLIGHTENING OF TOURISTS
As far as practicable, missionary Societies should fur- nish all travellers with concise information about Chris- tian work and workers in Latin America, and should encourage them to inspect the work done. In North America, the ''Tourist Guide" to Latin America is avail- able for such purposes, without charge, on application to the Committee on Anglo-American Communities, Mr. Robert E. Speer, Chairman, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City.
10. ORGANIZED PUBLICITY
In addition to articles in the missionary and general religious press, there is to-day an unprecedented oppor- tunity for using the newspapers and general weekly and monthly periodicals in the dissemination of information about Christian work. One or two Societies maintain private press bureaus capably managed and supported, whose journalistic work is widely recognized and com- mended by newspapers, and whose news articles are regularly used. In both Great Britain and the United States missionary press bureaus have been organized,
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 417
serving a part of the Societies conducting Christian work in Latin America. Chief among these in North America is the Southern News Bureau, supported and conducted by the foreign mission boards of the Southern Baptist, Meth- odist and Presbyterian denominations. There has been prolonged study of the problems involved in establishing in North America a comprehensive and well organized and supported interdenominational press bureau to gather and distribute news of Christian work at home and in for- eign countries on behalf of all religious agencies. At the time of writing this report the realization of the hope of many for the establishment of such an agency seems nearer at hand than at any previous time. Whenever the plan may take actual form. Societies at the home base and Christian workers in Latin America are uro^ed to lend full and constant cooperation as a regular phase of the educational program involved in the awakening of the Churches to a larger service in Latin America. The choice and training of a worker in each mission or lead- ing city or district to act as correspondent and reporter are steps that may well be taken now, regardless of any plans now being discussed. The reading of selected books on journaHsm, the special study of news values and the reporting of facts and experiences full of human interest, should be undertaken seriously by every Christian worker, but particularly by those who are willing to co- operate intelligently with leaders in the field of religious publicity at the home base.
II. SYSTEMATIC MISSIONARY EDUCATION
a. Its Proper Range.
While much can be accomplished in extensive instruc- tion of the home base constituency by addresses, news- paper and magazine articles and general reading, these agencies alone will not be sufficient completely to dispel ignorance, remove indifference and stimulate positive and lasting interest and service in and for Latin America. Extension lectures and the press do much in promotion of general educational activities, but they do not and can-
4i8 THE HOME BASE
not take the place of common school and higher educa- tional instruction and training. In the realm of religious education and training, a system of missionary instruc- tion is essential. The beginnings of such a system have been made by missionary Societies, Sunday-school agen- cies, and local church workers and organizations. It remains for Christian leaders in the churches gradually to introduce systematic missionary instruction into the regular work of each department or organization of the local church, as a permanent provision. Such instruction should have as its aims the training of both young and old in prayer, giving and service, so that by normal pro- cesses of Christian nurture, supplemented by direct mis- sionary teaching, benevolence and beneficence may in- creasingly characterize the life of each local church. The study of Christian work in Latin America will thus be undertaken regularly in due relation to other fields at the home base and in other foreign lands. Because many Communions in North America will adopt the literature on "The Two Americas" for study in 1916-17, there is an unusually favorable opportunity now open to bring Latin America to the fore in all plans for systematic mis- sionary teaching, benevolence and beneficence. Only by continuous and progressive instruction and training in the knowledge of Christian missions can the entire mem- bership of a local church or of a whole Communion be enlisted effectively in prayer, giving and service.
b. A Comprehensive Plan of Procedure.
A comprehensive plan of systematic missionary educa- tion in a local church as related to Latin America would combine at least the following features :
(i) Instruction concerning the objects toward which money is given.
(2) Sermons and addresses by the minister and in- vited speakers.
(3) An occasional Sunday evening or mid-week illus- trated lecture.
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 419
(4) Mid-week prayer-meetings on missions, usually once a month, in which Latin America should have its place.
(5) Emphasis on the needs of Latin- American fields by canvassers in the Every-Member Canvass.
(6) One or more mission study classes for adults, one or more for young people, and when practicable, supple- mental study in organized Sunday-school classes for the adult, senior, intermediate and junior ages.
(7) Monthly missionary meetings in the young peo- ple's society.
(8) Regular program meetings of women's missionary societies, or of mission study classes.
(9) The reading of missionary periodicals, both de- nominational and interdenominational.
(10) The circulation of pamphlets and leaflet literature.
(11) Supplemental reading of selected books and magazine articles, organized and promoted by the church missionary committee, assisted by the minister, and the officers, teachers and missionary committees of the Sun- day school, the women's and young people's society and men's organization, the mission band and similar agen- cies. The promotion of reading can often be undertaken successfully when related to preparation for mission study classes, participation in program meetings, enlist- ment for prayer and the subscription and collection of funds for missionary objects. Church missionary refer- ence libraries are recommended as a standard provision for every congregation, and in particular for use by Sun- day schools, young people's and women's societies and mission study classes.
(12) Quiet but persistent attention given in each ac- tive church to the training of leaders to carry for- ward the missionary activities of the entire parish. The mission study class is the best agency for the purpose, especially when conducted by a leader familiar by experi- ence or special instruction with normal or teacher-training methods. Attendance at missionary summer conferences
420 THE HOME BASE
and community institutes for training leaders should be encouraged as a working principle in the effort to train local missionary workers. Such a system of training is particularly effective in strengthening and extending mis- sionary activities in Sunday schools, women's societies, young women's and children's organizations and young people's societies. Emphasis should be laid on the neces- sity of organizing mission study classes in local churches each year on Latin-American fields where more than one subject can be studied at the same time, and giving Latin- American subjects a reasonable place each year in the program of other organizations in the local church, in annual meetings of mission Boards, and in other stated religious conventions and conferences.
12. THE ENLISTMENT OF VOLUNTEERS
The Student Volunteer Movement and the mission Boards alike should be encouraged to give special atten- tion to the enlistment of candidates for work in Latin America. By continuing to promote the organization of mission study classes, by the issuing of Latin-American literature for use in higher educational institutions, by personal presentation of the claims of these fields to chosen students, by addresses before student bodies and in student summer schools and other conventions, and by addresses in churches, larger numbers of candidates for appointment in Latin America may be enlisted. The facilities for the study of Spanish in North America and Great Britain should be an encouragement to pro- spective candidates. The prominence given among the favored classes in Latin America to higher education, the open door before Christian workers qualified to enter upon important educational activities and the incalcul- able significance of this phase of effort for Latin Ameri- can countries in the present state of educational, social, moral and religious development, should have great in- fluence with students of the highest intellectual, social, spiritual and practical qualifications. In like manner candidates whose talents and training fit them for preach- ing, for the authorship of devotional, theological and
ADEQUATE SUPPORT 421
educational literature, for medical practice, for admin- istration or for other of the chief lines of mis- sionary effort, should be given a clear under- standing of the peculiar as well as the ordinary needs of Latin-American fields. Women candidates should be given information in detail of the work they alone can do for the womanhood of Latin America and thus contribute toward the purifying and establishing of the home. Special effort should be put forth by recruiting agencies to enlist the intelligent cooperation of ministers in presenting both privately and by public address the needs of Latin America and its claims upon young men and women of ability as Giristian leaders. The highest standards of qualification for appointment should be ap- plied in the selection of workers for Latin-American fields.
13. THE EXTENSION OF WORK IN LATIN AMERICA
Attention has been called to the fact that a considerable number of Societies support work in Latin America so limited in scope, or confined to such a small geographical area, that a forceful appeal is not made to the home base constituency. Because of the enormous areas and the large population not reached by Christian workers and institutions, and the areas inadequately supplied with workers, and in order that a larger interest and devotion may exist in the supporting Churches, the Com- mission raises the question as to whether some Societies now doing a limited work may not in the near future considerably enlarge their pres- ent forces and fields, or establish new missions in other fields. For the same reason. Communions or Societies not supporting any work in Latin America, in the judgment of the Commission should consider whether the needs of these countries, the increasing belief in evangelical Christianity as essential to the life of individ- uals and nations alike in these lands, and the rising tide of prayer, gifts of money and offering of life at the home base, do not warrant the occupation by these Christian bodies of one or more of the fields reported by the Com-
422 THE HOME BASE
mission on Survey and Occupation as requiring workers. The Commission is under the conviction that by more thorough cooperation of Christian forces now in Latin America, and by similar consultation and cooperation at the home base looking toward the extension and complete occupation of present fields, and the establishment of work in new territories, the entire cause would gain in appreciation and support at the home base.
APPENDIX A
THE CORRESPONDENTS OF THE COMMISSION
The Rev. George Alexander, D.D. (Pastor Presbyterian Church
in the U. S. A.), New York City. Mrs. John S. Allen (Council of Women for Home Missions),
New York City. The Rev. Hays P. Archerd (Methodist Episcopal Church), Cal-
lao, Peru. Miss Harriet L. Ayers (Methodist Episcopal Church), Mexico
City. The Rev. Henry A. Bassett (Methodist Episcopal Church), for- merly of Mexico; Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mr. Gilbert A. Beaver (Committee on Friendly Relations Among
Foreign Students), New York City. The Rev. J. H. Benson (Southern Baptist Convention), Guaymas,
Mexico. Miss Blanche Bonine (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.),
Mexico. The Rev. George H. Brewer (American Baptist Home Mission
Society), Mexico City, Mexico. The Rev. Edward A. Brinton (Methodist Episcopal Church),
formerly of Asuncion, Paraguay; Chicago, Illinois. The Rev. Robert A. Brown (Presbyterian Church in the U. S.
A.), Coyaocan, D. F., Mexico. The Rev. D. W. Carter (Methodist Episcopal Church, South),
Georgetown, Texas. The Rev. J. S. Cheavens (Southern Baptist Convention), San
Marcos, Texas. The Rev. Ed. F. Cook (Secretary Foreign Department, Board
of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South) Nash- ville, Tenn. Mrs. B. M. Craig (Woman's Presbyterian Board of Missions of
the Northwest), Chicago, Illinois. -. 423
424 THE HOME BASE
Mrs. Samuel P. Craver (Methodist Episcopal Church), Monte- video, Uruguay.
Mrs. J. H. Cruickshank (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Barranquilla, Colombia.
The Rev. W. E. Doughty (Laymen's Missionary Movement), New York City.
The Rev. F. M. Edwards (Southern Baptist Convention), Daw- son, Texas.
The Rev. Morris W. Ehnes (Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada), New York City.
The Rev. F. J. Fitzgerald (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), El Paso, Texas.
The Rev. Allen Fort (Southern Baptist Convention), Nashville, Tenn.
The Rev. B. D. Gray (Corresponding Secretary Home Mission Board of Southern Baptist Convention), Atlanta, Georgia.
The Rev. R. R. Gregory (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Zitacuaro, Mexico.
Miss Evelina Greeves (Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Philadelphia, Pa.
Miss Alice M. Guernsey (Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church), New York City.
Bishop E. R. Hendrix (Methodist Episcopal Church), Kansas City, Mo.
Miss Katherine L. Hill (Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church), New York City.
The Rev. George P. Howard (Sunday-school Secretary for South America, World's Sunday School Association), Monte- video, Uruguay.
The Rev. John Howland (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions), Chihuahua, Mexico.
Mr. Charles D. Hurrey (Committee on Friendly Relations Among Foreign Students), New York City.
The Rev. N. E. Joyner (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), Monterey, Mexico.
Mrs. Alva Kauffman (Woman's Missionary Association of the
United Brethren in Christ), Dayton, Ohio. Miss Bertha Lacock (Christian Woman's Board of Missions),
Bayamon, Porto Rico. The Rev. G. H. Lacy (Southern Baptist Convention), Torreon,
Mexico. Miss Kate G. Lamson (Woman's Board of Missions, Congrega- tional), Boston, Mass. The Rev. F. P. Lawyer (Methodist Episcopal Church), Pueblo,
Mexico. The Rev. D. H. LeSueur (Southern Baptist Convention), Tor- reon, Mexico. The Rev. R. P. Mahon (Southern Baptist Convention), Morelia, Mexico.
APPDENDIX A 425
Bishop Francis J. McConnell (Methodist Episcopal Church), Denver, Colo.
The Rev. E A. McDonald (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Des Moines, Iowa.
Mr. W. A. Wright (Laymen's Missionary Movement), Chicago, Illinois.
The Rev. Robert McLean (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Los Angeles, Cal,
The Rev. John M. Moore, D.D. (Department of Missionary Ed- ucation of the Cooperating Organizations of the Northern Bap- tist Convention), New York City.
Mrs. Alice V. Morrill (Women's Board of Foreign Missions of the Christian Church), Dayton, Ohio.
The Rev. M. T. Morrill (Mission Board of the Christian Church), Dayton, Ohio.
Mr. F. J. Nichols (International Committee of the Young Men's Christian Associations), New York City.
The Rev. F. S. Onderdonk (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
Mrs. J. F. Parker (Southern Baptist Convention), formerly of Sao Paulo, Brazil; Fort Worth, Texas.
Mrs. Henry W. Peabody (Central Committee on the United Study of Missions), Beverly, Mass.
The Rev. Charles Petran (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Mexico City.
The Rev. J. A. Phillips (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), San Antonio, Texas.
The Rev. A. N. Porter (Southern Baptist Convention), Alamo- gordo. New Mexico.
Miss Ethel W. Putney, Cairo, Egypt.
Mrs. C. A. Rasebrough (Presbyterian Woman's Board of For- eign Missions of the Southwest), St. Louis, Missouri..
Mrs. John L. Reeder (Methodist Episcopal Church), Punta Arenas, Chile.
Mrs. William T. Robinson (Methodist Episcopal Church), Iquique, Chile.
The Rev. George T. Scott (Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), New York City.
Mr. B. A. Shuman (Young Men's Christian Association), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The Rev. John Roach Straton (Southern Baptist Convention), Norfolk, Virginia.
Miss Harriet Taylor (National Board of Young Women's Chris- tian Associations), New York City.
The Rev. J. J. Taylor (Southern Baptist Convention), Wake Forest, N. C.
Mr. Charles E. Tebbets (American Friends' Board of Foreign Missions), Richmond, Indiana.
Mr. A. E. Turner (Young Men's Christian Association), Valpa- raiso, Chile.
426 THE HOME BASE
The Rev. E. E. Vann (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), Le- land Stanford, Jr., University, California.
The Rev. W. E. Vanderbilt (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Mexico.
Mrs. William Wallace (Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.), Coyoacan, D. F., Mexico.
Mr. John H. Warner (Secretary, Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation), Recife, Brazil.
The Rev. George Sidney Webster (American Seamen's Friend Society), New York City.
The Rev. S. H. Werlein (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), New Orleans, La.
Mrs. Katherine S. W^estfall (Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society), Chicago, Illinois.
Mrs. F. W. Wilcox (Bureau of Woman's Work of the American Missionary Association), New York City.
The Rev. Samuel Tyndale Wilson (Presbyterian Church in the U. S.), Maryville, Tenn.
Mr. J. Scott Willmarth (Methodist Episcopal Church), formerly of Peru; Greenwood, Wis.
The Rev. H. L. Winburn (Southern Baptist Convention), Louis- ville, Ky.
APPENDIX B
APPROPRIATIONS BY FIVE-YEAR PERIODS OF EIGHTEEN NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES
Name of Society 1889-1894 1894-1899 1899-1904 1904-1909 1909-1914
American Baptist Home Mis- sion Society $39,314 $50,200 $94,780 $225,700 $542,000
Woman's American Baptist
Home Mission Society... 3,240 9,540 24,240 47,200 91,344
Canadian Baptist Foreign
Mission Board 1,000 15,386 19.379 31,129
Foreign Mission Board, Southern Baptist Conven- tion 230,166 216,936 300,206 695,690 1,187,415
American Missionary Asso- ciation 33,900* 52,900 66,17s
Christian Woman's Board
of Missions 3,535 31,587 174.574 243,425
American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Mis- sions 129,796 91,265 103,005 119,340 116,200
American Friends* Board of
Foreign Missions 22,890 18,040 25,000 63,362 103,584
Foreign Christian Mission- ary Society 15,825! 54,395 43,9"
Mission Board of the Chris- tian Church 13,002 21,176 18,712
Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episco- pal Church 551.001 559.155 488,748 731,206 785,458
Woman's Foreign Mission- ary Society of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church.... 226,012 200,233 186,419 233,035 276,531
Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South 783,877 690,338 769,889 1,148,299 1,675,928
Board of Foreign Missions of Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A 924,290 680,365 730,176 757,522 1,150,246
Board of Home Missions of tne Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.+ 202,291 479,221 679,140
Executive Committee of For- eign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S 274,002 176,278 193,511 302,395 503,502
Domestic and Foreign Mis- sionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church 61,318 76,977 177.586 343.304 667,594
International Committee of Young Men's Christian
Association 140.585 300,426
* 1 900- 1 904. 11902-1904. JPeriods are 1900-1905, 1905-1910, 1910-1915.
427
APPENDIX C
TABLE SHOWING APPROPRIATIONS OF THIRTY- SEVEN NORTH AMERICAN SOCIETIES TO WORK IN LATIN AMERICA AND AMONG LATIN AMERICANS WITHIN CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES
CANADA
1914-1915 Baptist. Appropriations Canadian Baptist Foreign Mission Board $ 7,930.11
Presbyterian.
Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church in
Canada '60,779.09
UNITED STATES
Baptist.
American Baptist Home Mission Society 114,727.42
Woman's American Baptist Home Mission Society. . 21,496.34 Foreign Mission Board, Southern Baptist Conven- tion 188,746.26
Brethren.
Foreign Mission Society of the Brethren Church.. 5,707.95
Chi'istian.
Mission Board of the Christian Church 4,937.78
Congregational.
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions 30,166.28
Woman's Board of Missions 4,350.03
Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior 1.612.50
American Missionary Association 14,764.28
^Appropriations for 1913-1914.
428
APPENDIX C 429
Disciples.
Christian Woman's Board of Missions 36,024.58
Foreign Christian Missionary Society 5,143.53
Evangelistic Associations.
Peniel Missionary Society 900.00
Friends.
American Friends' Board of Foreign Missions 20,803.15
California Yearly Meeting of Friends 6,511.69
Lutheran (Evangelical).
Porto Rico Mission Board of the General Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America 16,013.63
Methodist.
Board of Foreign Missions, Methodist Episcopal
Church ....: 182,718.84
Woman's Home Missionary Society, Methodist
Episcopal Church '38,199.00
Woman's Foreign Missionary Society, Methodist
Episcopal Church ^ *46,992.00
Board of Hom.e Missions and Church Extension,
Methodist Episcopal Church *100,885.00
Board of Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church,
South *234,161.62
General Missionary Board of the Free Methodist
Church ^ ...^ 1,886.74
Home and Foreign Missionary Deoartment, Afri- can Methodist Episcopal Church *14,035.09
Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene.
General Missionary Board of the Pentecostal
Church of the Nazarene 3,008.95
Presbyterian.
Board of Foreign Missions, Presbyterian Church
in the U. S. A 213,935.55
Board of Home Missions, Presbyterian Church
in the U. S. A 149,009.25
ExecutiA^e Committee of Foreign Missions, Presby- terian Church in the U. S 89,074.82
Protestant Episcopal.
Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, Protes- tant EDiscopal Church in the U. S. A 135,207.13
Reformed Episcopal.
Rev. D. M. Stearns' Church and Bible Classes ^15,954.94
Sending Societies Not Denominational.
American Bible Society 104,700.00
Central American Mission *13.030.84
430 THE HOME BASE
International Committee of Young Men's Christian
Associations, Foreign Department ^182,920.81
National Board of Young Women's Christian Asso- ciations of the U. S. A 3,850.00
Cooperating Societies Not Denominational.
American Seamen's Friend Society ^775.00
World's Sunday School Association 4,000.00
Total $2,090,563.00
^Appropriations for 1913-14.
APPENDIX D
AN ADEQUATE PROGRAM FOR PROMOTING TRUE FRIENDSHIP AMONG LATIN-AMERICAN STU- DENTS TEMPORARILY RESIDENTS IN EUROPE, GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTH AMERICA
1. Christian people should do all in their power to get well acquainted with Latin-American students, A sympathetic attitude should characterize all relationship to them and should lead to friendly calls on them during their residence for study.
2. Wherever feasible, a committee on work among Latin- American students should be appointed; it is important that two or more Latin-American students serve on this committee and that other members should be free from a patronizing spirit.
3. Care should be exercised to see that Latin-American students have satisfactory living accommodations.
4. They should be given opportunities for employment and self-help if needed.
5. Their acquaintance and fellowship with other students and professors should be promoted.
6. Provision should be made for giving them assistance in their studies, especially by tutoring them in the languages of the country where they are studying.
7. Some of the best homes should be opened for receptions for them from time to time.
8. They should be treated as all other students are treated; one should not shout in conversing with them or hold up Roman Catholicism to ridicule.
9. Upon hearing of offensive conduct on the part of stu- dents or others native to the country where Latin-American students are temporarily studying, go to the offender at once and, if possible, see that satisfactory adjustments are made.
431
432 THE HOME BASE
10. Investigation by Latin-American students of industrial, social, moral and religious problems should be greatly facilitated.
11. Special efforts should be tactfully made to secure attend- ance of Latin-American students at churches and Christian as- sociations.
12. Acquaint them with agencies and means employed to regenerate society, e. g., church, Christian associations, play- grounds, boys' clubs, welfare work, settlements. Charity Organi- zation Societies, etc.,
13. Whenever possible, they should be given vocational guid- ance and sympathetic advice regarding life work.
14. Without being impertinent or inquisitorial, question them regarding their impressions of the people and civilization of the country they are visiting; do all you can to correct any wrong impressions.
15. Whenever special addresses are to be given before Latin- American students, the speakers should be coached to avoid dis- paraging remarks regarding the moral ideals, religion and cus- toms of Latin-American people.
16. Advice should be given regarding the best devotional and apologetic books and pamphlets.
17. An effort should be made to promote good fellowship among all of the Latin-American students, especially in their relation to students from North America, Europe, Great Britain and the Orient.
18. Occasionally the way may be opened for Latin-Ameri- can students to speak in churches, clubs, schools and before mission and Bible study groups.
19. There should be no hesitation in presenting personally the claims of Christ upon Latin-American students, and earnest efforts should be made to enrol them in Bible and social study groups.
20. Provision should be made for special evangelistic and apologetic addresses designed to appeal most forcibly to Latin- American students.
21. Be prompt in rendering every possible attention and service to Latin-American students who are ill, discouraged or in special need.
22. Serious complaints indicating discourtesy or neglect on the part of any one in relation to Latin-American students should be promptly reported to someone who is in a position to correct such tendencies.
23. A valuable service can be rendered by making provision for the profitable and pleasant use of leisure time of Latin- American students during the Christmas and summer vacations.
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUS SIGN OF THE REPORT
At the Meeting of the Congress on Saturday, February 19, 1916
AGENDA FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE REPORT
I. What information is most likely to create among leaders of churches at home and abroad a realizing sense of the unique- ness and urgency of the present situation in Latin America so as to meet the needs revealed in the Report of Commission I on Survey and Occupation and in the other Reports?
II. The vital secret of an adequate offering of lives for for- eign missionary service in Latin America.
III. The real crux of the problem of influencing the clergy at the home base to devote themselves with conviction and self- denial to promoting the missionary task of the churches in Latin America.
IV. How increase the missionary gifts of individual Chris- tians who are able to do much more financially than they are now doing, in order that their gifts for Latin America may be far more nearly commensurate with their increased financial ability and with the present need? Is a nation-wide financial campaign for Latin America advisable?
V. How can laymen of strength and influence be led to con- secrate their time and effort to a systematic missionary propa- ganda on behalf of Latin America?
VI. How can the foreign missionaries while in their respec- tive fields, cooperate more effectively with the societies and churches at home in enlisting the intelligent and sacrificial aid of the churches in undertaking more complete occupation and in increasing the efficiency of the work in the fields?
VII. What practical measures should be taken by the mission Boards in the near future to interpret to the churches at home with convincing and compelHng power the lessons and judg- ments of the Congress and of the Regional Conferences with reference to the development of intelligent interest and to the enlistment of prayer, financial support and capable candidates for the work in Latin America? What new publicity methods are needed in the light of the discussions of this Congress?
VIII. Suggestions from the Latin-American delegates as to how the churches in cooperating lands may be of most help.
Considerations of space have made it necessary to abbreviate the addresses and remarks made in the course of the presenta- tion and discussion of this Report. In doing this the attempt has been made to preserve everything that throws light upon the subjects considered in the Report. It has not been found possible in many cases to submit the report of the addresses for revision to those who delivered them.
434
THE PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT ON THE HOME BASE
Mr. Harry Wade Hicks of New York, the chairman of the Commission on the Home Base and General Secretary of the Missionary Education Movement : I wish at the outset to call attention to the hopeful situation at the home base, as that situ- ation pertains to Christian work in Latin America. In the first place, a very large proportion of the evangelical congregations in North America at least, have a responsibility of some sort for Latin America. The report itself states that in North America alone 137,789 congregations or parishes belong to those Com- munions that are supporting missions in Latin America from North America as the base. There are approximately 150,000 churches or congregations of all the Communions of North America, so that, as far as North America is concerned, there not only rests upon the great majority of the churches a real re- sponsibility for this work, but there is a distinct opportunity open to leaders at the home base to reach on behalf of Latin America a vast majority of the Christian people in North America. In the second place, indifference towards Latin America as a field of Christian work is beginning to wane very positively. It would be unwise for the Congress to ignore the fact that the correspondence which came in, in the course of the preparation of the report of the Commission, revealed considerable indiffer- ence regarding Christian work in Latin America. This is not true regarding denominations having extensive work in Latin- American fields. It is more true in denominations which have small missionary interests at stake in Latin America. In Canada, there are six Societies supporting work in Latin America ; in the United States, seventy-one ; in New Zealand, one ; in England, seventeen ; in Ireland, one ; in Scotland, three ; in Wales, one ; in the Netherlands, one ; and three international Societies, making a total of one hundred and four different missionary agencies maintaining missionary work in Latin America. Not all of them are sending missionaries, but all send funds and are therefore maintaining work. Among such a variety of nationalities, agen- cies and types of organizations great care is needed in the corre-
435
436 THE HOME BASE
lation of their activities, that there may be adequate occupation and thorough cooperation, and, as far as practicable, a united program for all Latin America. The indifference at the home base with reference to Latin America as a field may be partly due to a lack of such correllation. We conclude that this indif- ference is waning and that the interest of the churches at the home base is on the upward trend with reference to work in Latin America, because, first, this Congress is one good evidence of a changed point of view at the home base ; again, there has been a vast increase in the dissemination of literature dealing with Latin America in the last ten years, particularly in the last five years. If we include literature projected for use within the next two or three years, we may well believe that the churches at the home base are becoming more intelligent and consequently more interested in Latin America than ever before. In the third place, there has been a remarkable multiplication of wholesome contacts between all our countries, political, social, scientific and commercial in character. Again there have been the recent in- terpretations of Latin America made by scholars, travellers and literary men. All these factors have been valuable as means toward a better understanding of Latin America and her spir- itual needs. One other line of evidence is given on page 363. It states there that in the five years from 1909 to 1914 the gifts from North America to Latin-American missions were three times as large as in the five years from 1889 to 1894. There has been a marked increase of gifts. It is always true that the opening of new missions and the occupation of new fields result in a permanent advance in the amount of money available for the missionary enterprise. Again there has been a change of attitude in our evangelical churches at the home base re^ garding the necessity of missionary work in Latin countries. As compared with fifteen and twenty years ago, the belief of many Protestant churches that the prevailing Church in Latin America has dealt inadequately and wrongly with the people among whom it had free course has grown, until now there is a sure foundation on which to rest a new departure in Latin- American evangelization. And finally, during the last two or three years, particularly since the return of the deputations of the Presbyterian Church, of the Northern Methodists, of the Southern Baptists and of other bodies, there has been a fi^ner appreciation of the foundations so well laid by the missions that now exist. These deputations were composed of Christian statesmen, who placed the entire work in a new perspective and opened the way to large policies.
The Commission now desires to mention some conditions which seem essential to largest success In the enlistment of a more generous support of the unknown of Latin America. First of all, a real unity must be established between the mis- sionaries in the field on the one hand, and the Boards, their ex- ecutive officers and the governing committee on the other hand,
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 437
regarding all important policies. Wherever any disunion is al- lowed to creep in regarding missionary policies, serious injury is done to the cause of Christian missions, both on the field and at the home base. With such a multiplication of contacts be- tween missionaries on the field and the leaders at the home base that these differences of judgment will be removed, the ap- peal of the work to the churches will gain great power again. Each denomination at work in Latin America and each ag- gressive mission should present to its home base constituency a clean-cut plan of campaign. Dr. Ray of the Southern Bap- tist Missionary Board recently prepared such a statement of what his Society had planned for its work in Latin America. His statement was mad^' up in such a concrete, condensed form that he could go into the office of any business man in North America and make his case. He knew where every dollar he was asking for would be spent. He had estimates for every- thing. If he asked a man to help in erecting a building, he had also the architect's plans for it, a diagram of the compound and tabulated memoranda regarding all details on which ques- tions were likely to be asked. Such a plan marks out what the future calls for by way of forces and of additional gifts. It should be in hand before any great enterprise is undertaken. By its far-reaching scope, it will justify the recalling of able missionary speakers and statesmen from the field to cooperate with the home base authorities in its presentation to the churches. In the third place, the development of interest at the home base rests to a considerable degree upon the develop- ment of the largest reasonable measure of interdenominational cooperation in the field, thus preventing waste, avoiding compe- tition, overlapping and the duplication of equipment and effort. In my judgment, based upon a close study of the facts, in the not distant future the men and women of the churches on whose generous cooperation we rely will cease to support adequately those fields in which there is a refusal to recognize interdenomi- national cooperation. I know of no surer way to appeal to the imagination of spiritually minded men and women of af- fairs at the home base than to present plans which are not only comprehensive and practicable but cooperative. Might it not be practicable to set on foot a special simultaneous educa- tional and financial campaign among a group of denominations for Latin America, such as the Northern Presbyterians recently planned and carried through for China? A fourth condition of quickly enlisting the interest of the churches at the home base is to attempt as rapidly as may be practicable the various lines of work needed in a mission field. The more varied the lines of work, the more agencies there are to make an anpeal to the supporting constituency at the home base. If medical missions are needed, or industrial missions, or Christian literature, or any other form of work to reach the people, they help to mul- tiply points of contact with the constituency at the home base.
438 THE HOME BASE
Let me dose this brief review by calling attention to the su- preme need at this time, one which rises above all other needs mentioned in the report of the Commission, namely, the promo- tion of the spirit and the practice of prayer at the home base for these Latin-American fields and missions. There is no surer way of enlisting the kind of financial cooperation that is desired than by promoting the spirit and practice of specific intercession among all our churches.
The Relation of the Home Churches With the Field
Rev. Webster E. Browning, Ph.D. (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Santiago, Chile) : The home churches need to rea- lize more definitely two things : first, that the Roman Catho- lic Church as found in South America is quite different from the same Communion in North America or Great Britain. In those countries it has been hedged about and kept within some bounds by Protestant influences, but in Latin America, for four hundred years, it has been absolutely supreme. Again, our home churches should realize that the problem in Latin America is exceedingly complex. Some speakers or writers would make us believe that all the population of Latin America are painted Indians and cruel pagans. We do have some pagans and some ignorant people, but we have also the cultured classes of South Americans. The most difficult problem to deal with is the hierarchy of the Church of Rome. Very many people say that the field is entirely occupied by that Church. But consider the Republic of Chile, in which the Church is most thoroughly or- ganized. We find there but one preaching place to every six thousand people. There are seven hundred parish priests to a population of almost four million. Of these about three hun- dred are in the teaching profession or occupy high administra- tive positions, so that only some four hundred men are giv- ing their entire time to the churches under their charge. Sup- pose that every priest was a paragon of virtue and ability, what could he do with ten thousand parishioners? The great state of Pennsylvania has a Christian minister for every six hundred. Latin America would have surely more than ten thousand to every priest, because Chile leads the other states in religious organizations. This lack of effectiveness is sometimes recog- nized by the Church itself. Some years ago a Roman priest who afterwards became a bishop said to a missionary : "I am glad to welcome you to this land. We cannot manage it. More- over, we have lost our hold on the population. If you can bring any inspiration to our people, I, for one, shall be glad to wel- come you to a share of the work." Let us not say that the Roman Catholic Church has exhausted the opportunities for work in these lands. When Latin America is presented to the home base, it should be considered as one great field. If there could be a magazine devoted entirely to Latin America, setting forth its needs and opportunities, giving exact and fresh infer-
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 439
mation, it would greatly assist the task of arousing the Interest which will bring to us the men, the women, and the money needed to promote these vast interests at stake.
Dr. L. G. Abrahamson^ D.D. (Augustana Synod of the Evan- gelical Lutheran Church in North America, Rock Island, 111.) : The home churches should be made to realize their responsi- bility in regard to the mission field. It is the duty of the Church to do missionary work, a duty which it cannot disregard if it is true to its Lord. The church that does not work is a fossil. Saving grace must be active. Our Christianity, our confessions best express themselves in life and service. Again there is a reflexive or reactive relation between the home Church and the Church on the mission field which varies with the former's faith- fulness to its trust. When rationalism, a century ago, swept over Christian Europe like a consuming wave of fire, there re- mained one field untouched, over which the fire had no power. It was the home of the disciples of the beloved Count Zinzendorf. They were so constantly in contact with the power of the gos- pel to revolutionize the most degraded people on the globe that no specious rationalism or skepticism could take away their be- lief in the reality of the Christian life. In the third place, by teaching more faithfully the children in our homes and in the Sunday school the need and value of missions, we shall be lay- ing a solid foundation for the financial support of missions in the future as well as for getting the needed volunteers, l^ourth, our missionaries on the field ought to be assured that they are supported by the fervent prayers of the home churches. Who- ever really believes in the promise of God to hear our prayers should remember each day when he approaches the throne of grace these noble men and women on the spiritual frontier.
Rev. William F. Oldham, D.D. (The Committee on Cooper- ation in Latin America) : In order to help arouse the deeper attention of the churches and to secure responses in money and life, I would recall to all friends of Latin America, first, that God has a strange and impressive way of bringing before the Church from time to time different portions of its task. It was the Indian mutiny that brought before the Christian world the needs of India. It was the Boxer uprising that brought China before the Christian world. In His gracious providence, the digging of a great canal, the achievement of a world bless- ing, is bringing Latin America before the Christian world to- day, making this a golden day of opportunity. I would next put before the churches of North America the size of our task. The North American people like big enterprises, and they are profoundly moved when you put the problem before them even physically. They delight to hear that Brazil alone is as big as the United States, that there is room in its vast territories for new rivers to be discovered, even "rivers of doubt," that it is so vast that you can lose everybody in it except an ex- president. When, therefore, over against these wonderful natural
440 THE HOME BASE
resources we indicate the splendid human material found there another great asset for promoting interest appears. When our missionaries in Mexico were obliged to leave that land, our Mex- ican pastors held on in the midst of wild disorder with unex- ampled bravery and consecration. They have gloriously met the crisis. Again, the churches need to realize the readiness of re- sponse in Latin America. They have been led to think that every aspect of the work in Latin- American lands is desperately difficult. But if progress is measured, not by numbers but by the leavening impact of New Testament ideals, then Latin Amer- ica is a land of promise. I would emphasize to the churches the deep spiritual needs of these people. We are not proselytiz- ing, but are on an errand infinitely larger. The word of that brother from Brazil who described Latin America as an en- tombed soul waiting to hear the word of Christ for its resur- rection seemed to me profoundly suggestive. Let that figure get before the thinking of our church members, and we shall have men and means in abundance.
Bishop Walter R. Lambuth, D.D. (Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Oakdale, California) : Our home churches will realize the urgency of the situation in Latin America when they grasp five great facts: (1) That a large proportion of the aboriginal population of Latin America has never been reached in any fashion religiously; (2) That there is a strong movement under way from the prevailing church to agnosticism, not alone of men but now even of the women; (3) That, to save Latin America's future, there should be a far greater number of young men in its institutions of learning who are definitely committed to a Christian life of service; (4) That there is a marked lack of medical missionary work, doctors and nurses being greatly needed, especially in Central Am^erica, and to minister to the poor and needy common people everywhere; and (5) that greater facilities and equipment for training Christian workers are sorely needed. Our churches should also be helped to grasp these seven factors in the adequate occupation of a field : First, a policy at the home base which contemplates an investment of missionary funds truly sufficient to insure the development of a self-propagating native church which shall recognize as its great task the presentation of the gospel to every man, woman, and child in the land; second, the occupation of every natural cen- ter of twenty thousand population or over by a properly manned missionary station, developing self-supporting indigenous churches with native leadership, both in these centers and in the outlying country districts ; third, the vertical occupation of the country, aiming to reach every class, high or low; fourth, an agreement between the Boards and Societies in the country as regards the distribution of forces, so that they may be no reduplication or overlapping of effort; fifth, an ample provision of institutes for training native pastors and workers Including normal institutes for teachers; sixth, a working force large
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 441
enough and well organized enough to prevent a break in the continuity of efforts in the field due to furloughs, national exi- gencies and other contingencies which will arise. A good work has often been practically ruined by reason of a break in con- tinuity. It is as fatal as under-equipment ; seventh, a proper comprehensiveness of program. Every large mission should do evangelistic work, educational work, literary work, work in Christian literature, women's work, medical work or any other work that is needed.
Publicity Meetings
Rev. M. T. ^Iorrill, D.D. (The Christian Church, Dayton, Ohio) : Volunteers for Latin America in my judgment must be gotten individually. Had I seen the need in my student days, as I see it now, I would surely have turned to the mission field. I developed an interest in missions too late. If we wish to get students we must interest them, get them to study Latin- American conditions and to pray for the field. No doubt that their minds and their hearts can be turned toward Latin Amer- ica just as well as toward all the other mission fields. I do not think that we can over-emphasize the importance of student da3-s. If we are to get hold of students, it is very important that pastors be interested. We should make special effort to get theological students thoroughly interested with this enter- prise of the church. If we can get the laymen of the future and the religious leaders to believe that missions are the first business of the church, then we will get the money we need.
Bishop Francis J. McConnell, D.D. (Methodist Episcopal Church, Denver, Colorado) : If we are to influence the clergy of the United States to take a livelier interest in the affairs of Latin America, it will be wise for returned missionaries to ap- peal to them along the line, simply and primarily, of human social and religious needs. It is dangerous to emphasize com- mercial possibilities because a great many people in the United States are very rapidly coming to feel that our contact with Latin America along commercial lines has been harmful rather than of value. Moreover, it will be advisable to say little about our going down to these countries to reform political conditions. These reforms belong to the people themselves. When a mis- sionary goes into INIexico with fhe gospel in one hand and a scheme of political reform or intervention in the other, he is immediately tmder suspicion. It is a great deal like sending mis- sionaries to China to convert the Chinese and sending rifles and bullets and opium along on the sam.e vessel. That same missionary should be careful about discussing intervention pub- licly at home. He will arouse m.ost genuine interest by present- ing simply and primarily the crying needs of Mexico. As Phil- lips Brooks said of Japan, it is the business of the Christian church to take the Lord Jesus Christ to these lands and leave Him there, that there may be worked out any form of Chris-
442 THE HOME BASE
tianlty that may prove fitted to the people of that country.
Rev. a. Stuart McNairn (The EvangeHcal Union of South America, London, England) : What is wanted at the home base is education, a fair knowledge of the facts of the case, so that the tens of thousands of clergy and laity in the home lands, whose hearts are full of the love of Christ, who have mis- sionary zeal but are ignorant concerning South America, may be informed. If they could have such stirring details as were given us the other day brought to their consciousness there would be no difficulty in getting ample support. Think of those vast regions with millions of inhabitants and not one preacher of the Gospel ! So, I would say, organize mission study cen- ters in order to bring young men and young women to yield their lives to missionary service, to influence the clergy, to arouse lay interest and so to increase missionary gifts. In Great Britain we need in particular to remove the misappre- hension "that exists concerning South America. Many think that we have no business to develop missions in South Amer- ica. Again and again I hear the charge "Our sister Church is already in possession of the field, it is mere impertinence to at- tempt to work there." I once met at the University of Cam- bridge a group of sixty volunteers for mission fields, twenty of whom had their hearts set on South America, and not one of whom will ever see that land because of the force of this feel- ing. Now, however the Church of Rome feels about it, the people of South America want us and need us. Every republic in South America has altered its constitution so that evangeli- cal work might be carried on within its borders. Again, we must arouse the conscience of wealthy laymen to rise to their responsibility. Great Britain is receiving millions in dividends from South America and yet is doing next to nothing in re- turn. I endorse also the suggestion made by Dr. Browning of Chile that we should establish a magazine of first rank which will afford a comprehensive insight into Latin-American af- fairs. Such an agency would educate our home people and be an important factor in arousing interest in the missions and substantial support for them.
The Enlistment of Lay Support
Rev. S. H. Chester, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in U. S., Nashville, Tenn.) : There need be no pessimism regarding the financing of our work. During the brief period that I have been associated with foreign missionary work. I have seen the income of the Board which I represent more than quadrupled. We have three men in our Church now who are giving about one-twelfth of our entire missionary income. Only one of these is a millionaire; the other two would not be considered even rich in New York City today. I am sure that we have at least one hundred men in our communion who could, without serious difficulty, do what these three men are doing; but it is not es-
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 443
sential that they should do so in order to be enlisted. There is no mystery about the way in which these men were secured. First of all they were just simply prayed into a condition that made them responsive, whereupon these men, whose hearts were on fire with missionary zeal, sat down by them, communicated to them this divine fire, and secured their hearty and perma- nent cooperation, and others can be enhsted in the same way. One of these men suffered a great deal from insomnia. He said to me recently, "I am beginning to enjoy my insomnia, I just lie awake thinking about those men of ours working away over there in Korea, and I had a good tim.e in spite of my sleep- lessness." Let us not have any misgivings about our ability to carry out this great program. Hard times are the best times to raise missionary money according to my experience. We made our first great advance during the panic of 1893. Indi- viduals came to us then and gave us money in order that the missionary program at least should continue unbroken.
Prof. William Adams Brown, Ph.D., D.D. (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Union Theological Seminary, New York City) : We can enlist the support of the strong men, clergy- men and laymen, in the carrying forward of an effective mis- sionary propaganda in Latin America by bringing them to re- alize that the task which is set before us here is an integral part of the very same task that we are facing at home. We have had our hearts moved by the greatness of the need that faces Latin America. But we at home face similar needs. We face in our great cities and in our country districts illiteracy, immoral- ity, intolerance, political corruption, infidelity and religious indif- ference. In our universities we find just such difficulties as exist at Buenos Aires or Santiago. We come down to Latin Amer- ica because we know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has made us conscious of the enormity of these evils in our own land, and has determined us to share with these brothers and sisters of ours in this and other lands its regenerating power. Mission Study on the Field
Rev. Vernon M. McCombs (Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Pasadena, Cal.) : My whole being has been challenged by the thought of the unoccupied areas of South America. Its occupancy turns on the question of native leaders. If we are going to secure them, we must keep our people drinking from the fountains of Christian inspiration. We should watch the books they read. They can get hold of multitudes of books which poison their lives and set them against Christianity. We must provide them books that are better. Then in the second place, we should train our people to give systematically. Thirdly, we should send out mission study books in Spanish to be used by groups. Missionary information profoundly impresses them. What has stirred our hearts is sure to have a similar effect upon them. I would advocate books on missionary heroes all over
444 THE HOME BASE
the world — not omitting one on Latin-American heroes of the faith.
Mrs. Hallie Linn Hill (Interdenominational Committee of the_ Central West for Missions) : The strongest link in the chain that binds the foreign field to the home base is mission study. Think of the great campaign of education along mis- sionary lines that is being carried out by various organizations today. There are seven great summer conferences, conducted under the interdenominational committees of the Women's Home and Foreign Boards held at strategic points in the United States, attended last year by thousands of women from thirty- five states and four foreign countries. During this year, in various cities throughout the United States, extension confer- ences conducted on the same plan as the summer conferences, will be held for a week of intensive study of missions. There are registered in these extension conferences anywhere from two hundred and fifty to a thousand people, representing many de- nominations. These women go back to their churches and homes to lead mission interest. When the Committee on Cooperation is appointed and has formulated a great constructive, farsighted, continental program in which all the Boards will join, the Boards should send it down through their state organizations and local organizations, until every church in the home cities and towns and villages comes under its stirring influence. Out of these local communities come the sinews of war for carry- ing out these great programs. Such a campaign of education should come soon, because this is the psychological time for the appeal to students and to people alike. Cooperation really works as well at the home base as on the field. As an out- growth of this great Congress there should be a wave of in- terest turned towards Latin America of which we may wisely take advantage. When the different Boards appeal to the local churches, you will find the women already educated to respond. Intercessory Prayer
Rt. Rev, William Cabell Brown, D.D. (Protestant Episcopal Church in U. S. A., Richmond, Va.) : I feel quite satisfied in my own mind that whatever of apathy or indifference toward Latin America exists is largely due to the lack of information. I desire, however, to speak about the urgent necessity of in- telligent prayer at the home base. I want to tell you of two in- cidents in my missionary life that have been most helpful to me during my years in Brazil. Immediately after my ordina- tion, the venerable Bishop White, whose heart was deeply stirred over the needs of the world, placed his hand on my shoulder and said to me: "My son, I want you to remember during the years to come that I shall pray for you twice every day by name." I wonder how many Christian people at home follow that practice. Again, I was being entertained in the city of ^ew York in the home of a godly layman, a man of large
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 445
means and large affairs. I had been invited to speak in his church on Sunday morning and he asked me to go to his house on Saturday night, so as to spend at least twenty- four hours under his roof. On Sunday morning he said to me: "Will you come into the study for a moment?" There I found the whole family gathered together. It was just before we were to leave for church. When all were seated, a little fellow about three years of age said: "I will take Brazil, father;" and another member of the family said: "I will take the Philippines"; the mother said : "I will take Japan." Since one of my dearest friends was the first bishop of our church in Hankow, I said: "Well, I will take China." Among the different members of the family almost all of the mission fields of the world were chosen, and then we knelt down and began to pray together. I never will forget what the little boy said, "God bless Bishop Kin- solving and all other missionaries in Brazil." The father men- tioned by name not only the bishop of the Philippines, but every member of our Church at work in that field. So it went around the family. When I was leaving his home on Monday morning, he said to me : "Now I will explain to you what per- haps you did not fully understand. It is one of the deepest desires of my heart that my children shall know missionaries personally. I therefore make it a point, whenever possible, to have a missionary spend at least one or two nights under my roof, so that my children may know them well. From this time forward some member of this family will offer up this prayer : 'O God, bless Bishop Kinsolving and Dr. Brown and all the other missionaries in Brazil' " Would that this custom was cherished in every home!
Rev. Ed. F. Cook, D.D. (Methodist Episcopal Church, South, Nashville, Tenn.) : As far as my knowledge of Latin fields would indicate, there has so far been developed no adequate policy for bringing to bear upon the home church the knowl- edge and experience of our missionaries in order to quicken its interests and enlarge its liberality. I would suggest that mis- sionaries organize for the purpose of systematizing this work and distributing the responsibility. At each annual mission meet- ing on the field, they might appoint committees, to prepare material for the church at home, stories with human interest, and news items that appeal. Such a committee could render very valuable service throughout the year. Another committee might be appointed to furnish the right kind of material, stories, data and pictures for the Southern News Bureau which provides matter for the secular press, already having upon its list nearly a thousand daily and weekly papers and a constituency already running into the millions. Still another committee could be charged with the responsibility of direct correspondence with large givers or with any list of donors who may be selected by the Board and furnished to the committee. Still another could make a digest of the annual reports in English and . dis-
446 THE HOME BASE
tribute them to the church at home. Many friends at home would be interested in just such information, especially the average givers. Every missionary, too, when approaching his furlough period, should be gathering materials so as to be able to stir the whole church to a deeper interest in his field. A careful selection of thoroughly good pictures for slides will be very worth while.
Rev. Arthur H. Allen (The American Seamen's Friend So- ciety, New York City) : I represent the American Seamen's Friend Society, of which I have the honor to be a director. We are considering new work in the Canal Zone, for which I ask your interest and your prayers. A lot has been assigned to us, next to that of the American Bible Society in Cristobal. We hope to build there soon. Every one of the reports represents most statesmanlike and far-reaching policies. But the one before us today has been unusually appealing. Can we make the churches see with our eyes this great vision? There are many who have no use for this Congress, had no kind word about it or us. How can they resist that appeal that the Chris- tian religion shall not fail in a large part of South America?
Rev. James I. Vance, D.D. (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., Nashville, Tenn.) : It seems to me that it is very important for us to make unmistakably plain to our people just what we are about in this foreign mission enterprise. About a half or three- fourths of them have a total misconception of our objective. Last summer I was in southwest Texas trying to promote an in- terest in missions. One morning in San Antonio two gentle- men took seats opposite me and began discussing foreign mis- sions for my benefit. One remarked : "Those people in China have as much right to their views as we have to ours." Many suppose that changing the views of the people in these lands is the business of missionaries. We are rather sharing with them our blessings and our own Christian life. The views will come as the result of experience. Nothing will resurrect a dead church or Christian quicker than the arousing of an interest in individual missionaries. Dr. Zwemer was once to speak in the church of which I was pastor. I said to him : "Zwemer, a man sits in the middle aisle who has abundant means, but doesn't care to give to missions. I wish you could interest him." He went into the pulpit and delivered one of his telling addresses. He was to have taken dinner with me at the same manse, but the millionaire's little boy, about ten years of age, came up and took Zwemer's hand and said: "I want you to go to dinner with us." His father had not thought of inviting him, but validated the invitation. The result was that Zwemer got that man interested in the support of a missionary, and from the time of doing that his spiritual life was revolutionized.
Rev. L. B. Wolf, D.D. (General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in U. S. A., Baltimore, Md.) : It is compara- tively easy to pray other people's children into God's service
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 447
in India, China, Japan and Latin America. I wonder if we are equally insistent at the family altar about our own sons and daughters, those nearest and dearest to us, that they may go into some of these fields of service? Again, how shall we persuade Christians in North America to go into these great Latin- American fields? We must show to our home constituency the real position of our evangelical churches as over against the church which prevails here, and we must make our plea on the ground of advancing civil and reUgious liberty, of enriching a heritage. With such a plea our people will be in close sympathy.
Rt. Rev. Lucien Lee Kinsolving, D.D. (Protestant Episcopal Church in U. S. A., Rio Grande, Brazil) : I think we ought to remember that, after all, the great work to be done in Latin America must be done chiefly through the Latins themselves. The best constructive work we have done in South Brazil has been done through the national ministry. We do need a good training school. When Bishop Brown was in Brazil, he organ- ized for theological candidates a good preparatory school. After six years of study, which included historic Christianity, theology and Hebrew, they went out to work.
Rev. Judson Swift, D.D. (The American Tract Society, New York City) : Since we began the Congress with the report on Survey and Occupation until today, I have been thinking of the white harvest field awaiting our reaping. We have come to the place where the entire emphasis is to be laid upon the har- vesting of these fields. I believe we can do it. I know that we shall do it. We need not pay as much attention to a wide cam- paign for funds in the states as we should pay to a nation-wide prayer campaign. We have had it brought out. We need more consecration in our home churches to stir to life our resources. We may preach and talk and organize and hold committees, but the only real and effective method is prayer backed up with faith in God. We need to go to our knees in prayer and ask God to help us do this thing.
Bishop Luther B. Wilson, D.D. (Methodist Episcopal Church, New York City) : I have been asking myself what I am to say concerning this Congress when I return, and there comes to me the answer that came to the disciples of John the Baptist. I am to tell the things that I have seen and heard, magnifying the opportunity and the need and the great plans which are in progress here in Latin America. As representative of the home Board. I realize as never before the caution to be exercised in the selection of workers. I realize that it is not possible hastily to select men for so diflEicult a field as Latin America. They must have the right temperament as well as a fine intellectual equipment. I have come also to feel the im- portance of the spirit. The world will never be won by easy methods of self-sacrifice. Only as great leaders and the rank and file of our churches are willing to lay themselves on God's altar, can we hope for the evangelization of the world. Again
448 THE HOME BASE
I have been thinking of a great word spoken a long time ago^ "Paul may plant." Paul with his splendid culture and keen intellect may plant, and Apollos with all his wealth of emotion and sympathy may water; but after all that expression and en- deavor, it is God himself who must give the increase. At the close of this Congress, we seem to be upon, a mount of vision, but we must abide before the Christ of us all and of our Latin America, and of all the world, to make Him our leader, our strength, our guide, so that we may go hence not only with a vision of His will but also with the power of His spirit resting on us.
Mr. Joseph E. McAfee (Presbyterian Church in U. S. A., New York City) : It seems to me that the most complete value of the Congress will be that the two great factors in the mission- ary program, the missionaries and the home base, have been en- abled to understand each other a little better and to gain each other's point of view. The home base is changing its spiritual perspective very rapidly. It has not known Latin America, nor has Latin America as represented by its missionaries wholly comprehended what is going forward in the spiritual develop- ment of the home base. Let me repeat again that our home churches are looking for, and are thrilled by, positives only. They are much more interested in achievements than in failures. It is now often said that that which thrills the giving and pray- ing forces of the United States is evidence that the missionary forces are working together, that there is no schism, no conflict or divergence of purpose in the forces which are taking hold of the great task of evangelization. When a missionary goes into a church in the United States which stands on one street corner, and has a church of another denomination on the oppo- site corner, and churches of still other denominations on the other two corners, his strongest appeal for Latin America will be that the Protestant forces in the field are working together for the one great end. Whatever the appearance of conflict and duplication, our people believe down in their hearts in the unity of the forces which are to take the world for Christ. They like positive and comprehensive programs. A great thrill will go out from this conference, in the second place, if it is shown that we are aiming at vital and immediate human needs. In the third place, we must give evidence of the ability of the life in Latin America to take hold of this task. Given such a pro- gram, making it as big and vital and gripping as we can, the churches will be thrilled.
Rev. H. C. Tucker, D.D. (The American Bible Society, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) : May we missionaries take to heart this very inspiring expression of desire from our brethren at the home base for more intelligent information regarding the actual conditions and actual needs on the field, remembering that if the church at home is to have such adequate knowledge of actual conditions upon the field, we must cooperate in the study
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 449
of problems, in the classifying of opinions and in their trans- mission to our Boards at home. This will require time, effort and freedom, but we ought to get at the task. In this investi- gation of our fields we must not fail to combine our view of the situation with the knowledge and experience of our native Christian brethren in what we send to the home churches. Let us try to present broad and comprehensive programs which will command the sympathy and cooperation of our earnest and wealthy laymen throughout the Church at home. We need to educate the people at home in the breadth of the gospel mes- sage which we are proclaiming in these countries. Our gospel meets social conditions and saves life, not merely souls. Jesus came to redeem the life of man and of society. With such a program the church at home will have sympathy.
Mr. Harry S. Myers (The Missionary Education Movement, New York City) : "During the summer of 1916, more than one hundred and fifty conferences of leaders of Christian work will be held in the United States and Canada that will be attended by thirty thousand Christian workers. In many of these con- ferences arrangements have already been made to present the claims of Latin America through text-books, classes and addresses. Three who are here at this Congress w^ill have a large part in these conferences and are writing the text books. A similar opportunity is offered in the Chautauquas. One speaker at this Congress spent three weeks two years ago on the Chautauqua platform speaking about the Philippines. Such opportunities might easily be made for Latin America. Text- books on Latin America are now being prepared for general circulation. Adequate literature and special addresses at the gatherings will bring Latin America clearly before vast numbers.
Dr. John R. Mott (The Advisory Committee, New York City) : As I have been listening to the remarkable statements of this morning and remember what each man or woman here represents, I have been fairly overpowered by a sense of the possibilities. If each one of us is true to the visions which he has received here, what influence will be set in motion ! It may not be amiss for us to remind ourselves now of the processes which have been going forward in this room and about these busy hallways and elsewhere in Panama during these days, drawing us more and more closely and beautifully and surely together. What are these processes? Because we can fix our attention upon them and lend ourselves to the carrying of them forward during the coming days, this unity which has been so happily and thoroughly achieved will grow not only in volume but in power, and if a deep heart unity is established among us, the gigantic evils of superstition and shame and the many un- solved problems which have been massed together here will melt away as dew before the sun. Through an atmosphere of unity the spirit of God has ever worked with irresistible power. Am I not right in saying that one process has been that of
450 THE HOME BASE
reminding ourselves that we are one, that we of different races, different nations, different Christian communions, are one, no matter how we may have 'thought or felt before? We have become one in our consuming desire to become a little more lik Christ day by day. Being one in these deepest purposes, nothing shall keep us from standing together in our sacrificial work on behalf of His children. When a member of a family has been away from his home so long that he scarcely remem- bers his relatives, that does not at all invalidate his membership. When a citizen lives abroad so long that he is inattentive to his duties as a citizen, it does not invalidate the fact that he is still a citizen of his country. So we Anglicans, Baptists, Pres- byterians, Lutherans, Methodists are one family. Nothing can ever make it otherwise.
Another process has been that of contrition. As we have sat here during these days, we have repeatedly been stricken with a sense of our own sinfulness, our lack of charity, our lack of love, our lack of considerateness for the people from whom we consciously or ignorantly or falsely differ. Contrition should lead to confession. It should remind us of the sinfulness of thinking or speaking unkindly. A man may be unready to re- strain the sins of the tongue and the imagination, who would rather forfeit his life than give up his belief in the deity of our Lord, "I confess a sin," says a great writer, "the moment I recognize it to be a sin, whether I am alone or with the people." The moment the unkind or un-Christlike thought crosses our way, how important it is that we see the sin of it and put it be- hind us immediately. Another process has been the process of transcendence. How many of us have had the blessed experi- ence here of getting to where we have seen no man save Jesus only? On this mount of vision we see the kingdoms of this world changing into the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. Then there is the process also of comprehension. I mean the process of reminding ourselves that we are all necessary to this hufye task. The kind of unity we want is a unity which ex- cludes no one of us. It is not a unity of compromise but of comprehension ; it is not a unity in which each one expresses himself in the same forms. We all value what is most distinc- tive about us as Methodists or Baptists, or Anglicans, or Lutherans. It is well to remind ourselves how much richer we are as a result of coming together with people of varying com- munions. It has brought some of our richest blessings. Then there is the process of fellowship. I am glad that so many of us could live right here in the hotel. I wish it could have taken in every one, but we have had great opportunities between ses- sions and we have come to know one another in a blessed fellow- ship. Now let us keep together, even when thousands of miles divide us. Let us keep the pathway well worn between ourselves and our friends. Let us keep together by intercession, by let- ters, by each other's reports, and by good words about each
DISCUSSION OF THE REPORT 451
other. How refreshing it has been that day after day we have been called upon to rise in unity in intercession. Many have deplored the fact that we have not been able to get together in little groups for intercession. But this process of intercession simply must be carried forward in everything we do. It is one of our great needs. Christ's solution of the problem of union was strikingly original, and he put it in the form of an object lesson in His great high priestly prayer. By the example which he gave us there, he left no ambiguity as to what he looked upon as the only social process that would help his fol- lowers— when he prayed that we and all of our successors through all the ages might be one.
The other process upon which this Congress itself has been based is the process of standing together before impossible tasks. I thank God that they seem impossible. It has pleased me greatly as people have piled up the difficulties. We have got them up high enough now, so that we clearly see we cannot do them individually. As we confront these great problems, how we have been moved to say that we will go against them together ! The doing of things together is a process that has prevailed all through this Congress. If you look over the reports of the Commissions and review the reports of these debates, you will be startled by the number of concrete suggestions for coopera- tion that have been made, and many more have been made in the conversations that have taken place. Upon one matter we are unanimous, we realize that the more things we do together the more we will find that we can do together. Let us keep busy with that process.
As a last word, let me mention the great need that we all become apostles of reconciliation. May we not dedicate our- selves anew, each one of us, to become an apostle of reconcilia- tion— that fs, an apostle trying to make Christ's children better acquainted with one another, who shall try to make them love one another better and serve one another better and work better together. What we need are people of more catholic, Christ-like minds, of a solidarity of spirit, persons who have reverential regard for the past and therefore for Christ's deal- ings with his people through all the ages. We want people likewise of constructive ability and of vision, who have got their eye upon the day of victory and not simply upon the obstacles in other fields. We want people with a Christ-like passion to serve others. The most difficult form of statesman- ship is that which makes peace between nations that have not been pulling together. The hardest piece of work which Christ has given His Church to do is the task of promoting true unity among his followers. He said. "Blessed are the peacemakers." You and I have been in the habit of placing too much emphasis upon the word peace, but the whole context of the language of Jesus — yea, more, his life — shows that He would have us, as we go out of this Congress, place the chiet emphasis upon makers.
452 THE HOME BASE
men who take the initiative, who take the burden of responsi- bility, who recognize that the drawing together of Christians will not come as a work of magic, will not come as a m.atter of chance, and will not drive us into the great unity that we wish without the guidance of the spirit of Christ. "Blessed are the peacemakers."
Yes, I would emphasize another word in this phrase. Blessed are the peacemakers. I do not know a more happy work than that of bringing together two relatives or friends who have been bitterly divided. Some of us have had to engage in works like that, and I think of nothing that will bring a deeper joy, not only into our own hearts, but, I fancy, into the heart of our Savior, than that of having spread out all over Latin America and the home base countries the commanding work of love and true unity among His true followers and believers.
In Conclusion
Chairman Harry Wade Hicks: It is not necessary for the Commission to make more than a few closing remarks, because we do not desire that the impression already made should be dissipated. I had intended to speak of the best methods of re- porting the Congress to the home base, and, in fact, to all of our constituencies. May I ask you to read particularly Chapter V with care, as you go homeward? That chapter was intended to suggest methods and means of making effective the influence and the message of this Congress among our constituencies.
Let me also call your attention to the section in the last chap- ter on the need of prayer, and then let me emphasize the united missionary educational program for the ensuing year. All energies will be united in focusing attention upon Latin America. Note the sections on pages 378 and 411 relating to missionary periodicals and magazines, and the sections referring to deputa- tions to be sent to Latin America. An"d then particularly that section, page 370, devoted to Latin-American students in North America, Great Britain, and Europe, and Appendix D. One suggestion not made in the Report, but upon which we have all agreed, is the importance of establishing endowments in sup- port of lectureships to be undertaken by men of outstanding ability. We believe if this could be done now, it would do much to continue the influence of this Congress. May we not pray that something, like the Barrows Lectureship in relation to India, may be established to stimulate still further the thought and the conviction and the confidence of thinking men and women in North America and Latin America? My last word is one of profound confidence in the resources of the Christian Church at the home base and in the resources of God, and of belief that in the years to come many of these needs of Latin America, and of the supporting bases, will be adequately met through the blessing of God.
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