Methodism and the Republic; a view of the home field, present conditions, needs and possibilities

riETHODISM

' ANDlhE -

Republic

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FROM

NEW ENGLAND

METHODIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

The Coming of the White Man

Methodism and the
Republic

A View of the Home Field

Present Conditions
Needs and Possibilities

EDITED BY

WARD PLATT

First Assistant Corresponding Secretary

tlbe JSoarO ot

f)ome /Bblsaions an& Cburcb Bjtcnsion of tbc

/BetboDfst J6p(9copal Cburcb

1026 Arch Street. Philadelphia, Penna.

Boston Universiiy
School of Theology Librai1>

6V

PREFACE

METHODISM never faced greater respon-
sibilities than now. The Home Field is
becoming crucial. The Church is right
at heart, but awaits information. This
book is a partial answer to an inquiring people.

We owe much to the writers of these chapters.
No single pen could have outlined a picture so
varied. Our hope is that those who read and are
awakened may pass this message to others.

An informed Church will be an aroused
Church. The greatest missionary field today lies
in American churches. When pastors and con-
gregations of our country know, they will do.
The full service of American churches means a
speedily evangelized world.

There are other important branches of Metho-
dist home endeavor not covered in this publica-
tion; of necessity we deal only with what per-
tains to, or is affiliated with the Board of Home
Missions and Church Extension, and, so immense
is this particular field, that we do not present
this publication as an adequate survey of it. This
is the first and only book of the kind in Metho-
dism, and hence may be counted a beginning.

Robert Forbes,
Ward Platt.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Methodism and the Republic 9

Dr. Robert Forbes, Corresponding Secretary

THE SOUTH

Our Work Among Negroes in the South 25

Dr. Robert E. Jones, Editor Southwestern
Christian Advocate

Our White Work in the South 35

Dr. W. S. Bovard, Dean of School of Theology,
University of Chattanooga
The New South as It Looks to a Business Man. . 43
Mr. J. A. Patten, Chattanooga, Tenn.

THE WEST
The West — Methodism's Promised Land 51

Dr. Christian F. Reisner, Denver, Col.
The Pacific Northwest 63

Dr. Daniel L. Rader, Editor Pacific Christian
Advocate
The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah 79

Dr. H. J. Talbott, Superintendent Utah Mission
The Southwest the Land of Opportunity 98

Dr. John C. Rollins, Albuquerque, N. M.

OUR CHURCH EXTENSION WORK 114

Dr. Alpha G. Kynett, Recording Secretary

OUR PEOPLE OF FOREIGN SPEECH
New England — A Missionary Field 129

Dr. D. B. Holt, Bath Me.
The New France of America 135

Dr. E. C. E. Dorion, Plymouth, N. H.

7

Contents

PAGE

Greeks and Portuguese 141

Dr. W. I. Haven, Secretary American Bible
Society
The Italian in America 149

Dr. Frederick H. Wright, Pittsburg, Pa.
Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast 171

Dr. Edward James, Superintendent
Evangelization of the Japanese in America 194

Dr. Herbert B. Johnson, Superintendent
Porto Eico — A Methodist Romance of Missions. .214

Dr. Benjamin S. Haywood, Superintendent
Hawaii 230

Dr. G. L. Pearson, Los Angeles, California
German Methodism — Its Origin, Progress and
Present State 248

Dr. Otto E. Kriege, Professor in Central Wes-
leyan College and Theological Seminary,
Warrenton, Mo.
Norwegian and Danish Methodism 274

Eev. Carl F. Eltzholtz, Cambridge, Wis.
The Future of Swedish Methodism 284

Dr. C. G. Nelson, Evanston, 111.

othee important fields

Piegan Indian Mission — An Example of What is

Being Done 299

Eev. F. A. Eiggin, Superintendent

Methodism and the Cities 309

Dr. Charles M. Boswell, Assistant Correspond-
ing Secretary

Woman's Home Missionary Society 323

Miss Martha Van Marter, Editor Woman's
Home Missions

METHODISM AND THE
REPUBLIC

DR. ROBERT FORBES

Methodism was born when John Wesley 's heart
was strangely warmed. This took place at a quar-
ter before nine o'clock on the twenty-fourth day
of May, 1738. Mr. Wesley's relation to God and
God's relation to him were not changed by this
experience. He was not converted at that time.
He was a Christian — did not need conversion; wesiey's
but he made a great and important discovery, discovery
namely : That he was a son of God. He did not
become a son of God at that moment, but dis-
covered a relation that he already sustained.
Methodism took a grand forward step when this
devout young Protestant Episcopal clergyman
stood on his father 's tombstone in the old church-
yard and declared, ''The world is my parish!"

* ' Aggressive Evangelism ' ' was well under way
when ''In the latter end of the year 1739 eight
or ten persons who appeared to be deeply con-
vinced of sin and earnestly groaning for re- Early
demption, came to Mr. Wesley in London. They Aggressive
desired, as did two or three more the next day, ^^^^^®^ ^™
that he would spend some time with them in
prayer, and advise them how to flee from the
wrath to come, which they saw continually hang-
ing over their heads."

Mr. Wesley had been a missionary in Georgia

9

Methodism and the Republic

An

Epoch-Making

Battle

and was therefore providentially interested in
the New World.

A great battle was fought in the year 1759
on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec. This bat-
tle was not so great in the number of men en-
gaged and the number of lives sacrificed as
some others, but it was exceedingly important in
that it decided that English and not French
should be the dominant language on the conti-
nent of America; that Protestantism and not
Eomanism should mould the religious thought
of the New World.

Travelers reverently stand with uncovered
heads beside the monument erected to the
memory of General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec.

"In the year 1766 Philip Embury, a Wesleyan
local preacher from Ireland, began to preach in
New York City, and formed a society, now the
John Street Church."

Philip Embury's first congregation consisted
of five persons, and their place of meeting was
a room in his own home. ''Aggressive Evangel-
ism" had made a mighty forward movement.

Another local preacher, Thomas Webb, a cap-
tain in the British army, soon joined him, and
they preached elsewhere in the city and its
vicinity.

About the same time Robert Strawbridge,
from Ireland, settled in Frederick County, Mary-
land, preaching there and forming societies.
** Aggressive Evangelism" was on the march for
the conquest of America.

**In 1769 Mr. Wesley sent to America two
itinerant preachers, Richard Boardman and

10

Methodism and the Republic

The Birth of
Our Church
Extension
Movement

Joseph Pillmoor, and in 1771 two others, Francis
Asbury and Richard Wright. '^

The first Methodist conference met in St.
George's Church, Philadelphia, July 24, 1773.
There were seventeen preachers present. *' Ag-
gressive Evangelism" had its eye over a conti-
nent and was girding itself for glorious achieve-
ment. The words were not used, but the spirit
of the movement meant "America for Christ."

In 1776, just ten years after Philip Embury
began to preach, and four years after the meet-
ing of the first conference, forty-eight patriots
signed their names to the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. These were the days of Lexington,
Concord Bridge, Valley Forge, Germantown and
Brandywine ; the days when the soil of the infant
colonies was being baptized with heroes' blood,
that a nation might be born.

In the year 1783 Great Britain recognized by
treaty the independence of the United States.

In the year 1784 the Christmas Conference
met in Baltimore, and the Methodist Episcopal
Church was formally organized. Thomas Coke,
the first Protestant Bishop of the New World, ^^^^^^^
was there. He came across the sea with the
wreath of scholarship on his brow, a Bishop,
having been consecrated to the episcopal office
by Mr. Wesley. Francis Asbury, the Apos-
tolic Bishop of Methodism, was consecrated at
that conference. "Aggressive Evangelism" had
its vigorous hand on the destinies of the young
Republic, and Methodism entered upon its
career as an organized Church, the first Epis-
copal Church on the continent; its purpose

11

Methodism
and the
Nation

Together

Methodism and the Kepublic

An Address
to tha
President,
George
Washington

being to spread spiritual holiness through these
lands.

Who can read the story of the rise of the
Republic and the rise of Methodism without
believing that God was raising up a great spirit-
ual force that should aid largely in molding the
thought and sentiment of the young Nation.

The patriotic attitude of our Church is illus-
trated in the following from Stevens' ''History
of Methodism."

"At the New York Conference for 1789 it
was deemed expedient to recognize, in the name
of the denomination, the new Federal Constitu-
tion lately adopted, and the Chief Magistrate,
Washington, recently inaugurated. An address
to the President was voted by the Conference.
Dickins and Morrell were appointed to wait on
him, and request him to designate a day for the
reception of the Bishops vv^ho would present the
address. May 29th was appointed, when As-
bury, "with great self-possession," says Mor-
rell, "read the address in an impressive man-
ner. The President read his reply with fluency
and animation. They interchanged their respec-
tive addresses; and, after sitting a few minutes,
we departed. The address and the answer, in a
few days, were inserted in the public prints;
and some of the ministers and members of the
other Churches appeared dissatisfied that the
Methodists should take the lead. In a few days
the other denominations successively followed
our example." The address of the Bishops was
signed by Coke and Asbury. It said: "We,
the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church,

12

Dependence
on God

Methodism and the Republic

humbly beg leave, in the name of our Society,
collectively, in these United States, to express
to you the warm feelings of our hearts and our
sincere congratulations on your appointment
to the Presidentship of these States. We are con-
scious, from the signal proofs you have already
given, that you are a friend of mankind; and
under this established idea, place as full confi-
dence in your wisdom and integrity for the pres-
ervation of those civil and religious liberties
which have been transmitted to us by the Provi-
dence of God and the glorious Revolution, as Washington's
we believe ought to be reposed in man. We have
received the most grateful satisfaction from the
humble and entire dependence on the great Gov-
ernor of the Universe, which you have repeatedly
expressed, acknowledging Him the source of
every blessing, and particularly of the most ex-
cellent Constitution of these States, which is at
present the admiration of the world, and may
in future become its great exemplar for imita-
tion; and hence we enjoy a holy expectation,
that you will always prove a faithful and impar-
tial patron of genuine, vital religion, the grand
end of our creation and present probationary
existence. And we promise you our fervent
prayers to the throne of grace, that God Al-
mighty may endue you with all the graces and
gifts of His Holy Spirit, that He may enable
you to fill up your important station to His
glory, the good of His Church, the happiness
and prosperity of the United States and the
welfare of mankind. Signed in behalf of the
Methodist Episcopal Church."

13

Methodism and the Republic

Washington's
Reply

A Patron
of Genuine
Vital
Religion

Washington, in reply, said: **I return to you
individually, and through you to your Society,
collectively in the United States, my thanks for
the demonstrations of affection and the expres-
sions of joy offered in their behalf on my late
appointment. It shall be my endeavor to mani-
fest the purity of my inclinations for promoting
the happiness of mankind, as well as the sin-
cerity of my desires to contribute whatever may
be in my power toward the civil and religious
liberties of the American people. In pursuing
this line of conduct, I hope, by the assistance
of Divine Providence, not altogether to disap-
point the confidence which you have been pleased
to repose in me. It always affords me satisfac-
tion when I find a concurrence of sentiment and
practice between all conscientious men, in ac-
knowledgments of homage to the great Gov-
ernor of the Universe, and in professions of sup-
port to a just civil government. After mention-
ing that I trust the people of every denomina-
tion, who demean themselves as good citizens,
will have occasion to be convinced that I shall
always strive to prove a faithful and impartial
patron of genuine vital religion, I must assure
you in particular, that I take in the kindest part
the promise you make of presenting your
prayers at the throne of grace for me, and that
I likewise implore the Divine benediction on
yourselves and your religious community.''

The story of early Methodism read in the
lives of Asbury and his associates, as with brave
and dauntless spirits they went everywhere
preaching the Word, is as thrilling as a romance.

14

Methodism and the Republic

Time wore on until that mighty struggle came The close
in which North and South struggled for the °^ *^® ^^^
mastery. The boys in blue fought for the of our
Union, the soldiers in gray laid down their lives church
to overthrow the Union, and after four years of ^^*^"s^°"
devastating war, in which hundreds of thou-
sands of brave men ''hasted to duty and halted
in death," peace was restored ''with many a
sweet babe fatherless and many a widow mourn-
ing."

Stevens again notes the contribution of Metho-
dism to the saving of the Union.

"On May 9, 1864, Thomas C. Golden offered a
resolution in the General Conference meeting
in this city, which was referred to the Commit-
tee on the State of the Country, that -a committee
of three be appointed to proceed to Washington
and present to President Lincoln a suitable ad-
dress, assuring him that we are with him heart
and soul in the present struggle.

May 13, 1864, Joseph Cummings, Chairman
of the Committee on the State of the Country,
submitted Eeport No. 1, recommending that the An Address
special committee be increased to five, which ^1110^1^^*^^°*
was adopted. The committee as appointed con-
sisted of Bishop Edward R. Ames, Joseph Cum-
mings, George Peck, Charles Elliott and Gran-
ville Moody.

The address to the President was presented,
and his response was reported to the General
Conference May 19th by Bishop Ames, as fol-
lows :

"Nobly sustained as the Government has been
by all the Churches, I would utter nothing

15

Methodism and the Republic

Lincoln's
Tribute to
Methodism

Helped to

Build

One-half

Our

Churches

which might in the least appear invidious
against any. Yet without this it may fairly be
said that the Methodist Episcopal Church, not
less devoted than the best, is, by its greater num-
bers, the most important of all. It is no fault
in others that the Methodist Church sends more
soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospitals
and more prayers to Heaven than any. God
bless the Methodist Church! bless all the
Churches ! and blessed be God ! who in this great
trial giveth us the churches.

(Signed) ''A. Lincoln."

The date of Lee's surrender is April 9, 1865.
The act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania in-
corporating the Church Extension Society (the
name afterwards being changed to The Board of
Church Extension) bears date March 13, 1865;
that is, the Church Extension Society of the
Methodist Episcopal Church became a legal cor-
poration twenty-seven days before the Confeder-
acy laid down its arms. Providence was prepar-
ing for that ''Aggressive Evangelism" which
would plant ]\Iethodist Episcopal churches in
every State and Territory of the Union.

The Board of Church Extension has aided in
the erection of about 15,000 church buildings.

This is a wonderful record. The Methodist
Episcopal Church has about 30,000 church build-
ings, and the Board of Church Extension up to
January 1, 1907, in a period of forty -three years,
aided in building half of the entire number. The
names of A. J. Kynett, C. C. McCabe, W. A.
Spencer, Manly S. Hard and J. M. King will
be forever identified with the growth and glory

16

Methodism and the Republic

of Church Extension in the Methodist Episcopal
Church.

It should be borne in mind that the work of
Church Extension is continued without inter-
ruption. A change has taken place in the name
of the corporation. It is no longer ' ' The Board
of Church Extension," but is now ''The Board The New
of Home Missions and Church Extension," the organization
work of Church Extension being continued un-
interruptedly, but as a department of the Board
having larger powers.

According to the act of the General Confer-
ence of 1904 a commission, provided for by that
body, reorganized the benevolent boards and
societies of the Church. All Home Mission inter-
ests were transferred from the Missionary So-
ciety to "The Board of Home Missions and
Church Extension" on January 1, 1907.

The tremendous influx of foreigners arrested
the attention of the Church and led to the re-
organization. If we were not reaching the maxi-
mum of our possibilities in sending the Gospel
to distant lands, Providence came to our aid immigration
by sending the uncounted millions from distant and our
lands to the United States. Our Government church
with all its faults is the best on God's earth.
Our land is a refuge for the distressed people
of other lands, and in the order of God's Provi-
dence they are coming. We should not prevent
their coming. We should rise equal to the de-
mands of the occasion, and give them a cordial
welcome. We are to throw around them the
protecting folds of our flag, and recognize their
rights while we steadily maintain our own. We

17

Methodism and the Republic

How to Do
Foreign
Missionary
Work at
Home

Four

Thousand

Preachers

welcome people from every clime under the shin-
ing stars, not to build up a separate nationality,
but to become Americans.

The Church, the public school, the secular and
religious press, and all the agencies of our splen-
did Christian civilization must be employed to
Americanize and Christianize these immigrants;
and the best work for Foreign Missions will be
done through The Board of Home Missions and
Church Extension if we prove equal to our
magnificent opportunity.

To save the Italians in America is the best
possible work that can be done for Italy; to
evangelize the Afro- American means in due time
the evangelization of Africa. We need not go
to Jerusalem to evangelize the Jews: they are
here. The same is true of all nationalities.

God has been wondrous kind in sending the
people from other lands to these shores. We thus
reach the question at short range, ''America
for Christ" means very soon, the ''Nations of
the world for Christ. ' ' Evangelize America, and
the problem of the world's evangelization will
speedily be solved.

The Board of Home Missions and Church Ex-
tension carries on simultaneously two lines of
work: The Church Extension Department aids
in the erection of churches and parsonages by
either Loan or Donation, or both. The Home Mis-
sion Department aids in the support of minis-
ters. Four thousand such ministers are now
being supported in whole or in part by this
Board.

Every foot of land under the flag is included

18

Methodism and the Kepublic

in some Annual Conference and there is no rea-
son why either city or country should be neg-
lected. Our Bishops have episcopal supervision
in every State and Territory of the Union and
our insular possessions. We need a revival of ^j^^ qj^
the old circuit system of our fathers to properly circuit
care for the country places and smaller villager, 5^^?™
and we need immense contributions of money
that we may secure real estate and erect suit-
able buildings for aggressive movements in every
great city in the Union. Our chief hope is in
the education of our people on Home Mission
and Church Extension lines, and our reliance,
in order to secure this, is on the intelligence, en-
thusiasm and hearty co-operation of the pastors.

We recognize the great importance of that
magnificent Society in our Church known as the
Woman 's Home Missionary Society. Their cour-
ageous call for half a million of dollars this year,
the call of our own Board for one million and a
quarter, making a total of $1,750,000, is only a
hint or suggestion as to what the Church will
give in some blessed year of our Lord before very
long, when missionary intelligence shall be more
fully diffused and the needs of our great cities
and country places are laid upon the hearts of
our entire membership.

We began on this continent in 1766 without How we
a foot of ground or a building or an organiza- -^^^^
tion of any kind. This year (1908) we
have more than three millions of members,
more than three millions of Sunday-school
scholars. Our church buildings are worth more Grown
than $160,000,000, and our parsonages nearly

19

Our

Women

How We
Have

Methodism and the Republic

We Must
Retrieve
Lost
Churches

Close

Affiliation

Needed

$27,000,000. This is a remarkable showing. We
have a right to ' ' Thank God and take courage. ' '
The Nation is young. The Church is young. It
is yet possible to undo to a considerable extent
the mistakes of the past. ^\rhere church prop-
erty has been sold in the great cities, and we
have seen that property in many cases advanced
to twice the amount for which it was sold, we
must rise equal to the demands of the hour and,
regardless of the cost, buy such property as is
needed and erect suitable buildings in the great
centers of population and establish ourselves,
with the understanding that we shall remain
there and continue the work of evangelism
among native-born and foreign-born people no
matter what expense may be involved or how
difficult the work is that is to be performed.

The splendid organization referred to above,
namely, the Woman's Home Missionary Society,
and this great organization, The Board of Home
Missions and Church Extension, must become
closely affiliated and in mutual helpfulness enter
every open door and carry on the work that the
Master left unfinished and committed to the care
of His Church.

We must not neglect the city, as the city is
now the frontier. We must not neglect the coun-
try, as the country is supplying in large measure
strength to city churches and is important for
its own sake. ** America for Christ" must be
shouted from shore to shore until a holy enthu-
siasm shall be kindled in the hearts of all our
ministers and people, until this glorious land,
the land we love the best, shall be laid in sub-

20

Methodism and the Republic

jection at the Saviour's feet. We must prove Fau into
ourselves worthy sons of illustrious sires in ^^°®
State and Church, and our blessed American,
Christian civilization must be maintained and
its influence extended "to earth's remotest
bounds."

"He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call
retreat ;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judg-
ment seat;
Oh, be swift, mj soul, to ansAver Him! be jubilant, my
feet ! '

Our God is marching on.

"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the
sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me ;
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men
free,

While God is marching on. ' '

21

THE SOUTH

OUR WORK AMONG NEGROES
IN THE SOUTH

BY DR. ROBERT E. JONES, EDITOR

CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE

SOUTHWESTERN

The

American

Riddle

At the entrance of the negro building of the
Atlanta (Georgia) Exposition, held in 1895,
stood a statue, by a negro artist, representing
a negro form of strong muscles with a rather
questioning look upon his face, with shackles
upon his wrists, broken but not off. The shackles
of slavery are broken, but much of the ef-
fects of slavery remain. Ignorance and pov-
erty prevail, and poverty largely because of
ignorance. So long as there are ten millions of
negro people in this country who are in an un-
developed state as to religion, morals and edu-
cation and economics, no Church that seeks to
fulfill the command of the Christ to disciple all
nations can justify itself if it neglects to face
this, America's most difficult and far-reaching
problem. It is our richest field for missionary
effort; largest in point of numbers, the most 5;^*,,P^°®
vital as it concerns the life of the Republic. The
whole question of the redemption of the negro,
whether in the Church or State, practically re-
solves itself into a question of missions. And
this is one phase of our Home Mission work, in
one step of which the Nation spent billions of
treasure and a million of lives.

Solution

25

Methodism and the Republic

A Momentous

Christmas

The Methodist Episcopal Church entered the
field in the South December 25, 1865, with the
organization of the Mississippi Mission Confer-
ence. With what? Practically nothing. There
were a dozen or more colored men ; poor and un-
learned. Bishop Thompson was presiding and
the question was asked, **Who will you have
for secretary ?*' one of the colored brethren re-
plied, * ' Bishop, one of them white men will have
to act as secretary, for none of us can.'' No,
there was not a man among them who could
write; and this was also true a year later in
the organization of the Texas Mission Confer-
ence. "We had then only a few inexperienced
preachers, with the smell of slavery upon them ;
inexperienced in the management of a church
and the preaching of the Gospel. They were
willing, and that is all. Few in number. What
have we today? Twenty conferences and one
mission. These twenty conferences had 92
votes in the last General Conference which met
in California; an annual conference member-
ship, including those on trial, of 2,003, with
4,178 local preachers, with 291,395 full members
and probationers, making a total membership
of 297,566. This does not include the member-
ship of the great St. Mark's Church in New
York, nor our colored work in California. With
these added, we have without a question, a mem-
bership of 300,000. This is 25,000 more than the
total membership in the foreign conferences and
missions. In the organized territory, which
covered the Mississippi Conference organized
December 25, 1865, which included the States of

26

Our Work Among Negroes in the South

Types of Men

Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, we have today
six annual conferences with 35 Presiding Elders,
700 pastors and nearly 100,000 lay members.
This is the territory which was organized into a
mission conference in 1865 with not a colored
man that could write. But this same territory
has produced M. C. B. Mason, corresponding
secretary Board of Education, Freedmen's Aid
and Sunday Schools; John W. E. Bowen, presi-
dent Gammon Theological Seminary; G. G.
Logan, missionary secretary ; J. M. Cox, J. B. F.
Shaw, M. W. Dogan, college presidents; A. P.
Camphor, J. H. Reid, J. C. Sherrill, mission-
aries to Africa. Every one of these men named
are graduates from reputable colleges, and in
every case but one post-graduate courses have
been pursued. What hath God wrought?

But further, in this membership developed ^'^ ^^^'^
within forty-two years we have 3,762 Sunday g^^^i
schools with 23,609 officers and teachers, 188,194
scholars. As to church property there are
3,538 churches, valued at $5,072,602, being an
average valuation of $1,432.74. Of the 2,003
preachers, 1,157 occupy parsonages with a total
valuation of $672,244, making the parsonages
worth on an average of $581.02.

But our work in the South has not been con-
fined to the membership within our fold. The
work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, per-
haps more than any other church, has been to
lift the ocean level of the entire race. Being a
Church of high ideals, we have stood as an ex-
ample for all the negro churches in the South
in morals as well as religion. It is not becoming

27

The Entire
Bace Lifted

A Competent
Witness

A Marked
Recognition

Names
Should "be
Written High

Methodism and the Republic

for us to sound our own praises on this particu-
lar point and hence I call to my rescue in this
embarrassment a competent witness. At the
General Conference held in 1900 at Chicago, the
fraternal delegate of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, to our Church, the Rev. Dr.
E. E. Hoss, then editor of the Nashville Chris-
tian Advocate (since elected a Bishop of that
Church), in referring to the work of our Church
in the South among the colored people, said :

''The time has come when there ought to be
the fullest and most cordial and most generous
recognition of the superior quality of the work
which you have done among the colored people
in the Southern States since the war. As a mat-
ter of course, in an undertaking so vast as that,
there have been some men not altogether wise,
for I doubt not that even in your Church there
are some men who lack something of perfect
wisdom. Certainly the conditions are very ex-
ceptional, if that is not true. But while that is
true, it is nevertheless true that in your schools
and colleges, your literary and theological and
medical and other institutions, you have done
a work for the colored people the value of which
eternity alone will reveal. And such men as
Braden and Wilbur Thirkield and their asso-
ciates and companions are fit to have their
names written alongside William Capers, on
whose monument in the cemetery of Columbia,
S. C, is this simple inscription: 'William
Capers, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, Foimder of Missions to Slaves.'
Under hard conditions, under adverse circum-

28

"if we-uns could only go to school "

Plenty More on the Way

Where Some of Them Live

A Typical Cabin Home

Our Work Among Negroes in the South

stances, they have labored faithfully, ofttimes
without due appreciation, ofttimes in the face
of stern criticism, severe and censorious com-
ment and remark — but I speak out of my heart,
without any reserve or any qualification at all,
when I say that I pray the time may never come
when you shall lose your grasp upon the col- i^ Advance
ored people. For it is only the truth to add that,
take them man for man and conference for con-
ferencCy the colored Methodists in the South, who
have had the advantage of your supervision and
your traininQy are far in advance of any other
colored people in that section.'^

This would appear to be a reason that would
convince the most skeptical of the sort of work
that we are doing. May we add here that it
would be a serious blunder, if not for the ^°* ^®^^ ^"*
Church then most certainly for the negro, if at
any time this membership which has cost the
Church so many dollars, heartaches and tears,
is set aside. Much rather let the Church address
itself to the task with renewed effort.

Much has been said as to self-support; for
the Church has put thousands of dollars into
this work. The amount appropriated by the
Board of Home Missions for these twenty col-
ored conferences amounts to something like
$45,000. In 1902 these conferences put back
into the treasury of the Missionary Society Seif-Support
$20,354. The report for the year ending
October 31, 1906, showed that these same confer-
ences contributed something over $30,000, mak-
ing a total yearly advance in collections within
three years of over $10,000. Deducting the

29

Methodism and the Republic

It Costs us
Little

amount contributed from the amount received,
leaves the Church to contribute for this colored
work about $15,000. To say the least this is
not a large sum for a great Church to contribute
for the preaching of the Gospel to ten millions of
people. A study of the figures show that the
Delaware Conference contributed more than
twice the amount received. The Washington
Conference maintains about the same ratio,
while the South Carolina Conference contributes
about three times the amount it receives. That
is to say, the Delaware, the Washington, the
South Carolina and the Atlanta Conferences
have reached the point of self-support, for they
now put more into the treasury of the Missionary
Society than they receive. But what is still
more remarkable, notwithstanding the South
Carolina Conference contributes practically
$4,000 more than it receives from the Missionary
Society, it at the same time contributes about
$8,000 per year for the cause of education, and
in this collection it leads all the conferences of
Methodism.

Two specific examples of growth: In 1864 the
Washington Conference had two districts with
6,000 members and 22 appointments and 21
ministers. In 1906 this same conference had
157 itinerant ministers, 31,000 lay members, 328
schools, valued at $116,070. Dr. W. F. Steele
brought out in an article which appeared in
The Christian Bepuhlic for September, the
following facts : The North Carolina Conference
had increased in ten years from 7,000 to 12,000
members (and the latter figures quoted in this

30

Our Work Among Negroes in the South

connection are from the Year Book for 1907).
This conference had then 29 ministers and today
there are 82, 19 of whom are from Gammon
Theological Seminary. This conference con-
tributed then for ministerial support an average
of $130 for each preacher and now $310. It ^ ^^^^^
gave twenty-five years ago $160 for all benevo- Record
lent purposes. Last year it contributed $2,566.
A quarter of a century ago the North Carolina
Conference had 87 churches worth $4,100, or
less than $500 each, today there are 166 churches
worth $167,835, or more than $1,000 each ; while
the parsonages have increased from 7 to 38 and
from an average valuation of $100 to $500.
What is true of these two conferences is true in
other instances.

Notable examples of our people in securing
church homes are the purchase of Union Memo- j^Q^^ijig
rial in St. Louis, Mo., from a Jewish congrega- Enterprises
tion for the consideration of $41,000; and the
building of Sharp Street Memorial, Baltimore,
Md., the walls being of granite, at a cost of
$75,000, not one cent of which came from the
Board of Church Extension. There are two
churches being erected in North Carolina, one
at Greensboro and the other at Winston, each
of which will cost more than $15,000, and both
of which are nearing completion without one
penny of outside help. There has been a steady
and gratifying growth toward self-support.

I am just home from a visit to the Texas Con-
ference. Within the last ten years, aside from
increasing all its benevolent collections, this con-
ference, with the assistance of a few thousand

31

Methodism and the Republic

dollars, has constructed a main building at
Wiley University at a cost of $30,000 and has
built outright a trades building costing $3,000,
Consider ^ hospital costiug $1,500, a president's cottage

This costing $4,000, besides making improvements

and remodeling other buildings. Nerved by
what has been accomplished, this conference sets
out this year to erect a boys' dormitory to cost
$30,000, and of this amount, at the recent Dis-
trict Conferences visited by me, the people pres-
ent placed in hard cash on the collection tables
$3,200 toward this boys' dormitory.

Let us take other examples of approach to self-
support: September 8, 1900, Trinity Methodist
Episcopal Church, Houston, Texas, was laid in
ruins by a storm, made memorable by the de-
struction of Galveston. The following December
the Rev. W. H. Logan, D.D., was appointed to
the^Loan this charge and set about at once to erect a

structure costing $16,000. The Board of Church
Extension came to the relief of this congrega-
tion, donating $2,000, and lending $3,000 more.
Within seven years all the indebtedness incurred
by the erection of the church has been paid, in-
cluding the $3,000 due the Board of Church Ex-
tension; the pastor's salary increased from $600
to $1,500. This congregation will contribute this
year to the benevolent causes of the Church
more than $600 — $125 to the Foreign Missionary
Society and $125 to the Home Missionary
Society.

But these conferences make a showing when
figures that concern property valuation are
studied, that is startling, and it is said that

32

Union Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church (colored I
St. Louis, Mo.

Ebenezer Methodist Episcopal Church (colored),
Washington, D. C.

1 • w4\

9
* ■

-s ^^^jV . '

V

Our Work Among Negroes in the South

figures do not lie. We stated above, and the
figures came from the Tear Book, that these con-
ferences had a parsonage valuation of $672,244
and a church property valuation of $5,072,602,
making a total value of $5,744,846. Up to and
including the year ending October 31, 1905, the
Board of Church Extension had contributed in
donations outright to the erection of this prop-
erty $402,514.48. The Board of Church Exten-
sion had also made loans to the amount of $245,-
242.27, making a total investment in property
in these twenty negro conferences of $647,756.75.
But these conferences paid back into the treas-
ury of the Board of Church Extension during
these years in conference collections, $94,858.34.
Now, taking it for granted that none of the
Church loans were ever paid (while some of
them have been long standing, some have been
paid), deducting the amount contributed in the
collections from the gross amount invested by
the Board of Church Extension would give the
Board a net investment of $552,898.41 in the
property among colored people. This amount ^ Enormoua
deducted from the gross valuation of parsonages Dividend
and church property would leave these negro
conferences to have contributed to the Church
in property, all the titles of which are vested in
the Methodist Episcopal Church, to the amount
of $5,191,947.21. This is no mean showing.
But still further: For the year ending Octo-
ber 31, 1906, the total collections of the Freed-
men's Aid Society amounted to $111,902.44,
which was an increase over the previous year of
$6,294.45. But of this net increase, $4,792 came

33

Methodism and the Republic

from the colored conferences. The aggregate
collections of these conferences last year toward
the Freedmen's Aid was $30,452.86. These fig-
ures may be tedious, but they tell the story and
they are satisfactory to the most skeptical that
work among the negroes pays.

But this Home Mission work has been the best
S°Forei^n '^ sort of Foreign Mission work. According to the
Work ° Directory of Foreign Missionaries sent out by
the Board of Foreign Missions recently, the
Liberia Annual Conference has eighteen young
men and women, direct from this territory, con-
verted and educated through the missionary
effort of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the
South. These men and women, led on by Bish-
ops Hartzell and Scott, are on the firing line in
Africa, paying back in a small measure and
certainly in spirit what the Church has done in
the development of our missions in the South.

The conclusion of the whole matter is this:
The vexatious race question is to be solved only
along the lines laid down by Jesus Christ. The
Church is to be the mighty and invincible and
indispensable factor, and we cannot withdraw
or relax our effort without proving ourselves
faithless to the command of the Master.

34

OUR WHITE WORK IN THE
SOUTH

REV. W. S. BOVARD, D.D., DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OP

THEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CHATTANOOGA,

CHATTANOOGA, TENN.

SUMMARY

A distinct work.— Advantages of working alongside Meth-
odist Episcopal Church South.— Our white membership in the
South largely native Southerners.— Statistics.— The Holston
Conference.— The Layman's Association. — Methodist Advocate
Journal. — University of Chattanooga. — Strong individual
churches.— Relative strength of our Church in the South.— New
aggressive policy imperative. — Problems of the circuit system. —
Work must be intensive rather than extensive.— The work of the
Board of Church Extension.— Growing spirit for self-support.—
Largely increased apj)ropriations demanded.

I shall confine my communication to the work
among the white people. For good and sufficient
reasons, the work of our Church among the
colored people of the South is just as distinct
as it is among the Japanese or Chinese in the
West, or the Italians in the East. The experts
in these special kinds of work must be relied
upon to give the public the facts and inspira-
tion which abound.

We have the advantage (not always appre-
ciated) of working side by side with our breth- „ , , ,

^ "^ Helpfulness

ren of the ]\Iethodist Episcopal Church, South, of a Good
Being one in doctrine, spirit, traditions, and al- Neighbor
most one in polity, we are naturally drawn very
close together in the common work of our Mas-
ter. Time was when the leaders in both Metho-

35

Methodism and the Republic

disms were not as careful as they are now in
planting their churches and in confining them-
selves to constructive work, hence some friction
arose. Happily, w^e are about past that stage.

The friendly competition between the Metho-
disms, serves to raise the standard of ministerial
efficiency in both Churches, and to awaken a
more active and generous interest on the part
of the laymen in the support of the work. I
think no candid student of the situation will
deny that the two Churches have accomplished
a much larger work than either would have done
w^orking alone.

It must not be forgotten that the member-
ship of our Church in the South is made up of
Significance native Southerners to a very large extent. Many
ship ^^ ^' Northern people coming into the South identify
themselves with the Church South, while it is
a frequent occurrence that persons brought up
under the influence of the Church South, unite
with our churches. The people moving from
one section of the country to another, who have
trained themselves to see the universal, rather
than the provincial, have but little trouble in the
new environment.

That there is abundant room in this part of
the country for both Methodist Churches may
be seen in the fact that both are working over-
time, both are growing rapidly in numbers and
property, both are increasingly enterprising,
both are building up great educational institu-
tions, both are pushing their publishing inter-
ests, both are entering new fields, and yet there
is much land to be possessed. The rapid devel-

36

Our White Work in the South

opment of the physical resources, the increasing aii Religious
wealth and prosperity of the people, and the ^°''^^' ^^^^^^
growing cities with their peculiar problems,
make it a serious question whether all the re-
ligious forces working together can keep abreast
of the forward movement of this part of our
country. No, the cry is not for less Methodism
in the South, but for more.

The field of which I write comprises seventeen
Annual Conferences and one Mission Confer- The Field
ence with a total church membership of more
than 350,000, with church property valued at
nearly $16,000,000. Last year these Conferences
gave more than $171,000 for Home Missions and
Church Extension. Clothe these figures with the
moral and religious fruitage that must accom-
pany them, but can never take statistical form,
and you will have some idea of the magnitude,
vitality and fruitfulness of our Church enter-
prises in this field.

The history of the Holston Conference, one
of our leading Conferences in the South, for the
past ten years will show the possibilities of the
co-operation of certain well-known factors in
Methodism.

1. The Laymen's Association. Probably there
is no Laymen's Association in Methodism with a Layman's
more effective organization, with a more clearly Association
defined purpose and with a more enviable rec-
ord of achievement than the Laymen's Associa-
tion of the Holston Conference.

In ten years the pastoral support has increased
more than two and one-half times. For the last
seven years, so effective has been the work of

37

Methodism and the Republic

Religious
Journalism

Higher
Education

this Association, there has not been a single
deficiency in the pajnnent of the estimates
for pastoral support, there has also been re-
markable advancement in the Benevolent Col-
lections. Every enterprise of the Church has
felt the strong impulse of organized laymen.
The temporal prosperity has been accompanied
by a marked improvement in the personnel of
the working force, and by an enlarged concep-
tion of the Christian life and service.

2. The Methodist Advocate- Journal, pub-
lished within the bounds of the Holston Confer-
ence, is one of the greatest unifying factors in
our Southern work. It is edited and published
with the definite mission of promoting the work
of our Church within this territory. It keeps
the strong centers in sympathetic touch with the
remotest circuits. It touches the most hard-
pressed member on the picket line with the
heartening assurance that his great Church is
not unmindful of his heroism. Never in the his-
tory of this paper was there such an apprecia-
tion of its constructive, unifying, stimulating
ministry as there is at present. Just now there
is an effort being made by the management of
the paper to raise a $10,000 fund toward a pub-
lishing plant. The churches throughout this
territory are responding liberally.

3. The University of Chattanooga (formerly
Grant University) and its affiliated schools stand
for one of the most promising enterprises sup-
ported by our Church. Nothing develops the
latent resources of talent and means like a gigan-
tic undertaking. Such is our educational task.

38

Our White Work in the South

The most gratifying success is attending the
work of the university. Her educational stand-
ards are as high as the best in our Church. She
represents a plant valued at more than half a
million dollars. She has nearly eight hundred
students in all her departments. Her graduates
and former students may be found almost every-
where in this field as ministers and laymen push-
ing the work of our Church with intelligence
and vigor.

4. The strong individual churches at Chatta-
nooga and at Knoxville are centers of mission-
ary influence and material help for the outlying work of
districts. Thousands of dollars go from these J^divMuai

Cnurcnos

churches each year to help the weaker churches.
These funds are administered under the careful
direction of the Presiding Elders. These strong
churches, commanding the respect and admira-
tion of all classes, serve to stimulate the growth
of the smaller churches.

While the Holston Conference profits most
from the co-operating factors which I have just
enumerated, increasingly the remoter Confer-
ences are feeling their fostering influence. Al-
ready nearly ever}^ Southern Conference has its
Laymen's Association. Everywhere the Advo-
cate-Journal is endorsed and liberally supported.
There is a most gratifying revival in the pro-
motion of Christian education.

In Chattanooga and Knoxville our Methodism
is as strong as any denomination, and as strong
as our Church in such cities anywhere in the strength
United States. In the other cities in the South our
Church is not strong. In fact, the struggle for

39

Methodism and the Republic

New Policy
for Cities

Rural
Problems

existence is as heroic as any isolated frontiers-
man ever experienced. There is imperative need
of a definite policy on the part of the Church
authorities touching our work in these cities.
These churches must have more ''Elixir of
Life," or they must submit to a final surgical
operation. It is not like our great Church to
leave such heroic bands lingering between life
and death as though they were orphan waifs.

There are now springing up all over the
South rapidly growing towns and small cities.
In a reasonably large number of these, our
Church is the leading religious organization.
In such places salaries are gradually increasing,
parsonages are being built, congregations are
outgrowing their present buildings and a gen-
eral air of prosperity prevails.

In the rural sections our Church also finds a
fruitful field. Some of our circuit preachers
have hesitated to risk the support of their fam-
ilies to the meager stipend promised by the cir-
cuit and supplemented by the Missionary So-
ciety, and have engaged in other pursuits while
attempting to serve the charge. Some teach
school, others farm or work in the mines. The
result of this divided interest has been little or
no progress in the circuit. The minister must
be a man of one work. There is not a circuit
in Methodism that does not demand the whole
time of a whole man. One Bishop recently re-
fused to assign missionary money to a charge
unless the preacher would agree to give his en-
tire time to the work. In one charge where the
preacher had been teaching the public school,

40

Our White Work in the South

the stewards told him that if he would devote his

whole time to the circuit, they would guarantee

him an increase in his salary to the amount the

school had paid him. He cheerfully complied change of

with their offer. This is an example of what Emphasis

must take place in scores of charges in this

territory.

I think there is a growing conviction that we
have neglected the intensive work in the promo-
tion of extension. Preachers have been placed
over circuits of eight or ten preaching places,
and during the year would find a few small
settlements where there was no preaching of
any sort, which they would add to the already
impossible task. Such expanded charges can-
not be properly w^orked. No Sunday schools
or prayer meetings can be successfully estab-
lished, and pastoral visiting must surely be
neglected.

It would seem to be a much wiser policy to
have smaller circuits and work them more
fruitfully. We are not so much called to have
a church of our denomination in every commu-
nity as that where we do establish one we shall
see that it does the full work of a Methodist
church.

The help rendered our work by the Board of church
Home Missions and Church Extension is incal- !^^®f»^^f

m • Invaluable

culable. There is scarcely a church erected that
is not made possible by the judicious help of the
Board of Home Missions and Church Extension.
In some places the housing of the minister's
family is quite as imperative as the building of
a church. The Board of Home Missions and

41

Methodism and the Eepublic

The Right
Spirit

Larger Appro-
priations
Imperative

Church Extension has more than once helped
such an enterprise.

The preachers of this section are surprisingly
anxious for the day to come when their charges
shall be altogether self-supporting. I do not
think we ought to expect such a result from many
of our churches sopn; for the salaries, including
the missionary help, are so miserably inadequate
that we cannot hope to furnish these charges
with growing, efficient ministers who will achieve
the results the possibilities of the field war-
rant. It is not simply a question of providing
the minister a living. It is a question of provid-
ing better equipped ministers for the charges
and keeping them there. This will require more
help from the Board of Home Missions and
Church Extension as vrell as more generous giv-
ing by the local laymen. Three times the pres-
ent missionary appropriation to this field, with
the purpose of strengthening strategic places
and placing and keeping well equipped men in
these places, should be the appeal to the Gen-
eral Missionary Committee.

I am convinced that this field, all alive with
industrial and commercial activity, with thou-
sands of pure-blooded American youths hungry
for Christian education, presents to the whole
denomination one of the most promising oppor-
tunities for the investment of Christian workers.
Christian money and Christian sympathy and
prayers that can be found in the wide world.

42

THE NEW SOUTH AS IT LOOKS
TO A BUSINESS MAN

BY J. A. PATTEN, CHATTANOOGA, TENN.

An

Cotton.— The crop of 1887 was 5,977,000
bales, of which two-thirds was exported. North-
ern mills took 1,710,000 bales; Southern mills
took 401,450.

In the year 1907 the Northern mills took
2,555,904 bales and the Southern mills took
2,530,713.

In 1907 there were 768 cotton mills with 215,-
889 looms and 9,890,997 spindles in active opera-
tion in the Southern States, against 741 mills Agricultural
with 206,637 looms and 9,099,932 spmdles in Awakening
operation for the year preceding.

The cotton crop of 1901 sold for $534,000,000 ;
1902, $512,000,000; 1903, $552,000,000; 1904,
$673,000,000; 1905, $683,000,000; 1906, $715,-
000,000. The size of the 1907 crop is not yet
known. It is estimated at 11,500,000 bales.

Other Crops. — Government estimates for the
Southern States for the year 1907 place their
crop of corn at 959,743,000 bushels; wheat, 91,-
433,000 bushels; oats, 67,339,000 bushels; rice,
21,412,000 bushels; hay of all kinds, 7,590,000
tons; tobacco, 457,139,000 pounds. The annual
Southern yield of fruit and vegetables brings
not less than $100,000,000— some say $150,-
000,000.

43

Methodism and the Republic

Coal. — The value of coal and its products pro-
duced in the fifteen Southern States in 1906
was $120,300,000. It has been calculated that
if the coal in West Virginia alone could be capi-
talized at ten cents a ton, it would amount to
$10,000,000,000. The Kentucky field is con-
sidered second only to West Virginia. The al-
most undeveloped fields of Arkansas underlie
6,400,000 acres. The growth of the actual out-
put of bituminous coal in some Southern States
is shown by the net tonnage produced in the
two years 1869 and 1906 :

Vast

Resources
in Coal and
Iron

States

Net tons of coal produced

1869

1906

11,000
138,418
150,582

61,803

608,878

18,107,968
6,269,275
9,653,647
4,254,879

43,290,350

T'pnnpssiPP

Virginia

West Viro-inia

Total

965,681

76,566,114

Iron. — Government reports for 1906 state that
in that year the Southern States produced
$8,857,867 of iron ore and $52,816,000 of pig
iron. To those amounts Alabama contributed
about 54 percent, and the two Virginias together
nearly 27 percent. Alabama's production of
pig iron for 1906 was 1,674,848 tons. The
National Geological Survey estimates that Ala-
bama, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia together
contain a reserve supply of 725,000,000 long
tons of brown iron ore and 1,850,000,000 long
tons of red ore, not to mention the magnetic
ores.

44

The New South as it Looks to a Business Man

Other Minerals. — In 1906 the Southern States
produced petroleum valued at $36,940,000; nat-
ural gas, $14,433,000; clay and clay products,
$20,816,000; stone, $8,087,000; copper, $3,562,-
000; lime, $1,856,000; phosphate rock, $8,550,-
000. In reported values less than $1,000,000
each, they produced talc, soapstone, salt, pyrites,
zinc, bauxite, asphalt, glass sand, mica, slate,
fluorite, barytes, asbestos, paint earths and ores,
graphite, abrasives, etc. Of the great cement
industry it is difficult to write conservatively.

Lumber.— Ahout 40,000,000,000 feet of lum-
ber, valued at $660,000,000, is cut annually in
the United States. Of the total, about 18,000,-
000,000 feet, valued at $290,000,000, is cut in
the South. The cut and the value by States in
the South are shown in the following table :

About One-
half Our
Lumber

States

Feet

Value

1,C09,783,000

1,839,368,000

888,137,000

831,675,000

661,299,000

2,796,395,000

219,098,000

1.840,260,000

1,222,974,000

566,928,000

634,587,000

1,741,473,000

1,063,241,000

976,173,000

$15,706,600

A.rksmsB'S

29,657,784
15,538,716
12,792,888
13,170,127
46,460,499
3,755,439

Florida.

Kentucky

Mississippi

30,960,278
19,066,437
8,959,042
13,485,630
29,127,450
16,906,139
14,510,111

South Carolina

Texas,

Virginia

West Virginia

Total

16,291,381,000

$270,087,140

United States

37,5.50,736,000

$621,151,388

The Railroads. — All this material and prod-
uct, and an enormous tonnage of manufactured

45

Methodism and the Republic

Bailroads
Inadequate

and unmanufactured products not even sug-
gested above, must be short-hauled to and fro in
the South, and a gratifyingly large portion of
it must be long-hauled out of the South for use
or consumption elsewhere. The latest word of
the President of the Southern Railway Com-
pany, which serves every Southeastern State, is
that ''Transportation facilities in our section
must be greatly increased and improved if they
are to keep pace with the increasing demands
that will be made upon them as a result of the
agricultural and industrial development of
Southern communities." That others share Mr.
Finley's opinion, is clearly sho^vn by the Manu-
facturer's Record in its recent review of Rail-
road Building in 1907, giving details of new lines
built in 1907 and construction proposed for
1908, with total mileage by States, as follows:

States

Alabama

Arkansas

Florida...

Georgia

Kentucky

Louisiana ,

Mississippi

Nortti Carolina
South Carolina,

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

West Virginia .

1907

1908

143.4

144.0

178 5

873.5

322.5

300 5

201.5

337.0

76.0

267.0

586.7

222.3

242.8

42.0

264.5

230.5

119.0

157.0

80.1

162.0

4606

741.0

254.7

209.0

78.7

134.0

In aid of the railroads, therefore, rather than
in opposition to them. Southern business men
are working together more effectively and with
broader view than ever before for the general

46

The New South as it Looks to a Business Man

and practical improvement and use of the nat-
ural highways called rivers and harbors, and of
those local prime essentials to the very begin-
nings of all business — good wagon roads.

Educational. — Lest you get the impression
from this hasty sketch that everybody in the
South works and does nothing but work, let me
offer a few figures from an article contributed to
the Tradesman Annual of January 1, 1908, by
Edgar Gardner Murphy, Secretary of the South-
ern Educational Board:

Expenditures for Public Schools

Virginia: 1901, $2,012,359; 1906, $3,158,497;
increase, 56 percent.

North Carolina: 1901, $1,152,920; 1906, Educational
$2,291,053 ; increase, 99 percent. ^'°^"''

South Carolina: 1901, $961,897; 1906, $1,-
404,474; increase, 46 percent.

In Georgia the increase for the five years was
32 percent; and the amounts raised from local
fimds, aside from general State taxation, in-
creased 159 percent.

In Tennessee the increase in State expendi-
tures was 79 percent, and in local funds 42 per-
cent.

In Louisiana the entire increase was 127 per-
cent, and in local funds 111 percent.

In Alabama the entire increase was 73 per-
cent.

And yet, the percentage of illiteracy in the
white population as well as among the colored
people is still deplorably large; and the educa-

47

Methodism and the Republic

tional uplift has just made a good beginning.
The call for churches and schools in this great
empire with its rapidly increasing population is
imperative. The way this call is met in the next
decade will largely determine the character of
this citizenship for generations to come.

48

THE WEST

THE WEST— METHODISM'S
PROMISED LAND

REV. CHRISTIAN F. REISNER, D.D., PASTOR GRACE
METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, DENVER, COL.

SUMMARY

Home Missions patiiotic— Contribution of Christian colleges
to the Union.— Home Missions and temperance reform; influence
on educational movements, public moral standards, on great
national leaders and on Foreign Missions.— Liberality of Home
Mission churches.— Work of Church Extension in the Louisiana
Purchase. — Foreign problem.— Paine and Ingersoll Sunday-
schools.— Immigrants in public office,— Wandering sheep won
back.— Irrigation vs. rainfall.— Railway enterprises.— Wide fields
with few laborers.— A hundred fold.

The centurion seeking healing for his servant,
found approval from bystanding Jews, who
demonstrated that he loved the nation by de-
claring "He hath built us a synagogue" (Luke,
vii, 5). This was and is full proof of patriotism.
An irreligious and churchless community or
country will certainly go to pieces. The found-
ers of Liberal, Mo., at first determined to prove
that their infidel views would give basis and suc-
cess to a great city. But they admitted defeat
and sent for a Christian minister to found a
church.

The slogan of patriotism is a good one for
Home Missions. It was a fearless Home Mission-
ary, Marcus Whitman, who kept the United Missions
States from signing away Oregon and the great
Northwest to another nation.

The Christian colleges in Home Mission terri-

51

Patriotism
and Home

Methodism and the Republic

tory sent thousands of students into Abraham
Lincohi's Nation-preserving armies. Oberlin
College alone sent 850 in four years, and Beloit
400 out of the 800 that enrolled during the time.
A careful compilation showed that the Home
Mission churches in the West ' ' had sent into the
army one in four of their entire male member-
ship, including in the count old men, invalids
and boys.'' Kansas was saved as ''free soil"
by Home Missionaries and their organizations
radiating out from Lawrence, where the oldest
church in the State still thrives, pastored for
nearly fifty years by Richard Cordley. James
Shaw, a Methodist itinerant whose great grand-
son has just entered the ministry from Baker
University, dared to preach in pro-slavery
Atchison, while my father's hotel sheltered
freely every Methodist preacher from Bishop
Simpson down, until the "Bushwhackers" put
a rope around his neck to punish him for shield-
ing the ** nigger lovers."
Methodism's All good hearts beat in high joy over the rout-
contribution jng of the saloon forces in new and highly des-
tined Oklahoma. Home Mission churches and
their members made the victory possible. Kan-
sas long ago declared the saloonist a criminal
and now supports its Methodist Governor in law
enforcement, because our Church alone has
110,000 members. A Methodist Home Mission-
ary founded the State Agricultural College. A
Congregational Home Missionary started the
State Normal, with now over 3,000 students, and
a Methodist preacher as president; and another
Home Missionary started the State University.

52

to the West

The West — Methodism's Promised Land

Less than 100 of the Methodist churches in the
State were built without Church Extension aid,
and $195,500 of Home Mission money had been
put into the State up to 1906.

A Home Missionary, Rev. J. A. Ward, framed
the Dakota prohibition law and carried it to vic-
tory. His sister, Mrs. Sheldon, the wife of a
Home Missionary, gave him valuable aid, and
also reared a son, Eev. C. M. Sheldon, of Topeka,
to write "What Would Jesus Do?" and go
everyw^here, even to England, to strengthen the
advance of prohibition.

Other great Western States are setting high influence of
moral standards. Home i\Iissionaries were early Missionaries
on the ground and gave the right keynote. Bar-
ton H. Cartwright plowed and as a Home Mis-
sionary organized the first church, a Methodist,
in Iowa, at Burlington, in 1834, and the second
was a Methodist class at Dubuque. When the
Congregational Home Missionary arrived in
Omaha, hoping to be the first in Nebraska, he
found a Methodist class of six. The first de-
nomination in Colorado was the Methodist at
Central City (this charge this year gave $3
a member for missions), and the second was the
same clan at Black Hawk; the Congregational-
ists arriving the next year. The Methodists
were never far behind. Among the first four
in Minnesota was a ]\Iethodist. Among the first
five in California, organized before midsummer
of '49, was a Methodist. If it had not been for
the salt of the Gospel in these new communities,
destructive decay would have early set in.

The Home Missionaries at once prepared for

Methodism and the Republic

Most Colleges
Christian

Home

Missions and
the Foreign
Field

future Christian leadership, and so they organ-
ized Christian colleges. We hear much of secu-
lar education, but this is a misnomer. Secular
drill alone never completely educates. There are
no great schools in non-Christian lands. Of the
first 119 colleges in this country, 104 were
Christian schools. Of the 415 colleges in the
United States in 1890, 316, or seven-ninths, he-
longed to Christian denominations. From Har-
vard on, organized by eleven ministers, nearly
all the universities, including even the State in-
stitutions, were started by Christian mission-
aries. These colleges have trained the great
leaders of the West, such as Speaker Henderson,
Senator Beveridge, ex-Governor and ex-Secre-
tary Shaw, Governors Mickey, Deneen and Buch-
tel, all graduates of western Methodist colleges.
Vice-President Fairbanks, a Methodist college
graduate, said at a Baker commencement
(founded by a Kansas Methodist Home Mission-
ary in 1858, and having Congressmen and
church leaders among its alumni), *'It is in
such institutions as this that the best womanhood
and manhood of the country are prepared for
their future work."

The Church itself is not recruited in the East.
Dr. Clark says that 25 percent of all the foreign
missionaries have come from Home Mission soil.
Kansas gave nine to the Methodist Church in
one year recently. Austin Phelps once said, "If
I were a missionary in Canton, China, my first
prayer every morning would be for the success
of American Home Missions for the sake of
Canton, China.*' In ten years, from 1896 to

54

The West — Methodism's Promised Land

1906, the four Kansas conferences quadrupled
their missionary offerings, going from $20,000
to $85,000.

In 1883, when much of the West was mission
country on a map, ''2,000 towns are indicated
where graduates of ten western colleges and
three western theological seminaries were serv-
ing as Home Missionary pastors under the Amer-
ican Home Missionary Society. In 1,000 other
towns the graduates of these institutions were
serving under other societies, and not less than
30,000 students from the same colleges had been
employed as teachers in 15,000 towns of the
West.''

Surely the western recipient's gratitude takes
a practical channel. But the financial returns
to the Church are marvelous. In a great de- jjow it pays
nomination raising $1,000,000 for Home Mis-
sions, one-half the amount came from churches
which now are or have been Home Missionary
enterprises. In twenty-five years this sort of
churches have contributed more than ''the en-
tire century of Home Missionary endeavor has
cost to that denomination." If the perpetuity of
the country depends upon the strength and
growth of the Christian Church, then Home Mis-
sions should command our mind and money.

When the Louisiana purchase was made, the
whole territory thus acquired had but 522
churches. Now there are 7,000 IMethodist
churches in this western region, and all but d^urch
1,000 were helped by the Board of Church Ex- Extension at
tension. Congregationalists credit four-fifths *^^ ^^°^*
of their churches to Home Missions; Presby-

55

Churches

Methodism and the Republic

terians, nine-tenths; and Baptist, Methodist
and Episcopal estimates range from five-sixths to
nine-tenths.

Even St. Louis had its first missionary less
than 100 years ago, i. e., in 1814. Kansas,
Nebraska, Colorado and other western States
have not yet laid away the tired bodies of all
of God's Church foundation-stone layers. Some
of them are compelled to live on a stinted stipend
doled out to conference claimants. Twenty mil-
lion dollars has been spent for Home Missions by
our Church. Many of us have been the enriched
beneficiaries. Our fathers by toil and prayer
and sacrificial giving planted the trees whose
Patriotism fruit wc cnjoy. If the regions beyond call, shall
Springs from ^6 not do as well? Patriotism commands us;
Christ and His Church can alone keep and build
new and struggling communities truly Amer-
ican. Gratitude and brotherliness will not let
us rest imtil we have done our best. God's joy
cannot sun and sweeten and feed our lives if
we close our ''bowels of compassion" against
the needy and refuse to at least give that which
"costs" us something to show our love to Him.
75 the way open for large results for present
investments? Just ponder a few appended facts
and it will not need a miracle to see whitened
harvest fields and the fallow seed-demanding
soil.

The foreign problem will doubtless command
other treatment, but the West has a growing
new opportunity facing it. Colorado has 4,000
Japanese, 5,000 Italians and 8,000 Russians. In
fact, the Denver District Presiding Elder, Dr.

56

The West — Methodism's Promised Land

Warner, found that 48 percent of Denver's Peoples of
population were either foreign born or of for- strange
eign-born parentage. Three-elevenths of the ^^^^
city's population belong to these needy classes,
such as Russians, Bohemians, Poles, Austrians,
etc. Chicago also has 76,9 percent, and Milwau-
kee, the heaviest, has 82.7 percent. Dr. F. C.
Beattie declares that for sixty years, up to 1880,
10,000,000 immigrants, largely English-speaking
and Protestant, came to our shores, but since
then, in twenty-five years, 13,000,000, largely
of foreign speech and Catholics, have arrived.
Prof. Edward A. Steiner (''On the Trail of
the Immigrant") says that 80 percent of the
immigrants are Roman and Greek Catholic, and
Greek Orthodox. He foimd that two-thirds of
the 100,000 Bohemians in Chicago were claiming
to be infidels and studying Paine and Ingersoll, underground
even to teaching their writings in Sunday schools History
with from 30 to 3,000 in attendance. On investi-
gation he found that the Catholic Church and
Christianity to them were synonyms. Less than
one percent of the people were reached by the
Protestant missions. Hence foreign church op-
pression was charged against the whole of
Christianity because they saw or knew no other
form. Professor Steiner further declares that
the public schools convey the impression that the
old faith is foolishness, and this results, alas too
often, in no faith. This is because of their
limited religious instruction. Again, he says
that the Roman Catholic Church, in holding
them to its communion, preserves their language
and forms and so keeps the American spirit away

57

Methodism and the Kepublic

from them, and they thus hold their national
distinctions. Thus, to amalgamate them, we
must pry open their eyes and hearts with the
truth in Christ. We must give them a vision of
character beauty and of free choice religion.

How is this problem related to the West?
The great mass in eastern cities cannot be easily
affected. Home Missionaries must be set to work
on the smaller groups in the West. Northern
Avenue Methodist Church, Pueblo, has just been
aided to secure a Japanese as assistant pastor to
work among his o\\ti people. Seattle has 5,000
Japanese. Buddhist missionaries are now com-
ing over from Japan.

Astoria, Ore., has a settlement of 5,000 Finns.
The English pastor is holding a Friday night
Bible class which 150 attend. He is confi-
dent that a native could soon have a strong
church. Only one church, Lutheran, and that
without a pastor for a year, is located in their
midst.

Professor Steiner tells of a group of Poles and
Slovaks, known at home as thieves, who are
located among Christian ALmericans and have
Be Neighborly become thoroughly honest. He tells of a Jew
speaking after an appreciative address by a
mayor, as follows: ''Whenever I hear a Chris-
tian speak of Israel as this man has spoken, I
feel like saying, 'Almost thou persuadest me to
be a Christian.' *' If we can treat the few near
us kindly, if we can win one or two to Christ,
if we can put native workers among them in the
smaller companies of the West, who can tell the
harvest? They will, through relatives and

58

The West — Methodism's Promised Land

friends, permeate the larger masses in the East,
and in the home-land.

What splendid men, like Senator Knute Nel- Distinguished
son and Governor Johnson, have come from our immigrants
Scandinavian immigrants in Minnesota. Of two
men teaching Hebrew in our best theological
seminaries, one is German born, the other is the
son of a Norwegian Methodist preacher. The
German immigrants who helped colonize Penn-
sylvania made the first protest to the Quakers
against slavery. Once the Irish were section
''hands," spurningly passed by — now they have
moved on to be policemen, professional men and
mechanics. They have ceased to be mere
''hands" and become men. Who knows what
our western railroad-building Poles and huckster
Italians may become ?

The way is open in our present new western
land for an indescribable amount of pioneer
work.

Strong, faithful and well furnished church
workers come West and forget the old ways un-
der new surroundings and customs. They easily
get out of the habit of church attendance. The
old hunger is never completely lost. Ambition,
driving them to heavy work, and sometimes
shady dealings, keeps them, together with care- ^^® soarch
lessness, and that old undefinable fear or back- s°he^*^'^^"°^
wardness that Satan implants, away from
church, if there is any to attend. If met and
touched personally, they respond and put on
again the working harness. Dr. Banks took in
1,000 into Trinity Church in one year without a
special revival meeting. If given a church in the

59

Methodism and the Kepublic

mountains, mines and settlements, they will do
the same. People come from everywhere and
must be amalgamated. In one Sunday evening
service at Grace Church, we had 32 States and 8
foreign countries represented. If the Church
does not make friends for them, the saloon will.

There is plenty of room out West. If Oregon
was filled up as New York is, 15,748,920 people
could be given homes, while New York has only
8,066,672; the State is larger than New York
and Pennsylvania combined. Texas, California,
Montana, Nevada and Colorado, in the order
named, are the largest States in the Union. What
would result if they were thus filled up ?

And they are being made habitable. Wyoming
has 10,000,000 acres for sale at fifty cents an
acre. The Government is putting in reservoirs
and watering this land, charging only enough to
repay the expenditure. And the sandy plains then
produce so that they are worth from $100 to
p/orelu ^""^ hlfiOO an acre. The Roosevelt Eeservoir in Ari-
rospen y 2ona, costing $3,000,000, and higher than
Niagara, will soon be completed and furnish
electric power and water for thousands of acres.
The St. Mary's Canal in Montana will water
350,000 acres.

Returns such as rainfalls cannot bring, result.
Grand Junction, Col., with irrigation had a
fruit crop this year that will clear thousands of
dollars, when cold nipped orchards in other sec-
tions, simply because its mountain-guarding
walls shut out the frost. Ten acres of bearing
orchard is equal to 640 acres of wheat land.
Dry farming raises over twenty bushels of wheat

60

The West — Methodism's Promised Land

to the acre. This is peopling vast regions, be-
fore absolutely only tenanted by prairie dogs.

Railroads are seizing these signs as golden and children of
building across so-called semi-arid States and tiiis
into hitherto inaccessible valleys. The Moffat ^^'^^'^^"^^
road will cut a tunnel nine and one-half miles
long to get under the mountains to Salt Lake.
Five lines are preparing to cross Montana. In
five years the Northern Pacific and Great North-
ern have doubled their capacity and business.
The latter road has recently created sixty-nine
new towns by new branches, all prospering and
ready for the new churches.

Will the Church wake up to her opportunity ?
Is the hero spirit dead ? The Presiding Elder of
the Republic District in the Columbia River Con- children of
ference, Washington, has a district covering Light
30,000 square miles, or more than one-third as
large as all Kansas. To make his rounds he
must use stage, steamboat, saddle horse, steam
and electric cars and go afoot. A Baptist mis-
sionary in this country wrote: ''Twice I have
been caught by snow storms when twenty miles
from home, with no other conveyance than a
bicycle. Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of
wading over an eighth of a mile knee-deep in
ice water.*' Dr. Phifer, a Colorado Presiding
Elder, must travel 1,000 miles to reach his Routt
County preachers, 500 of it by stage. The pastor
at South Park, Col., has 10,000 square miles in
his circuit. The first church opened in Wyoming
with 19 members. The nearest church on the
west was 1,200 miles, on the east 400, and on the
north 2,300. In Cheyenne, the pastor found a

61

Methodism and the Republic

population of 5,000, and of the 80 deaths during
the year, 70 were from stabs, pistol wounds, etc.
Of course, this was in earlier days.

Dr. Phifer said in his report that 15 new ap-
pointments ought to be opened in Routt County.
He has opened 41 new ones in eight years. His
usual plan is to buy a horse and give a single
man $1 a day to '^missionate'* and feed himself
and horse with. He always has more men than
money for this sort of work. The Home Mission-
ary Committee of the Colorado Conference said
in its report this year, after conferring with the
Elders: *'If we had the money we could this
year build 25 new churches and open 42 new
preaching places.'' Think of this in one con-
ference !

Are there any results from this work? The
Baptists in New Mexico, in five years went from
Mustard Seed 17 socictics to 42. The Republic Presiding El-
der's District of the Columbia River Confer-
ence (Washington) in five years grew from 13
preachers to 36, and from 20 appointments to 42.
The Montana Conference grew in fifteen years
208 percent. In the same time Washington grew
in communicants 122 percent, California 93 per-
cent and Oregon 83 percent, the three averaging
99 percent.

And so the story goes. The West has been a
fertile field for the Methodist Church. Our
Gospel and methods exactly fit. It is now the
promised land of America. Let us *'go over
and possess it.

62

A Grain of

ty

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

REV. DANIEL L, RADER, D.D., EDITOR PACIFIC CHRIS-

SUMMARY

The hand of Providence.— Asia and the Pacific Coast.— Early
exploration.— Indians search for the Book.— Work of Jason
Lee. — Why immigration was retarded. — Why Methodism is
dominant.— Immigration follows railways.— Magic transforma-
tions.—Hindu invasion.— Stubborn facts.— A missionary minis-
try. — Missionary influence of natives who return home from
America.— Importance of immediate action.

Years ago a great writer brought out in bold
relief the providential preservation of America
from the knowledge of the civilized world until
the Reformation had gotten well under way and
made possible the raising up of Protestant Chris-
tianity to evangelize and give the highest type
of civilization the world has known to this great
new country.

It seems queer that any one can study any part
of history and not see the hand of God visibly
affecting the affairs of men. One who reads care-
fully and thoughtfully the history of the great providence
West, and especially of that part known as the and the
Pacific Northwest, must realize a sense of the Northwest
deepest awe as he marks the controlling influence
of an all-wise Providence in the settlement and
development of this country.

For untold ages the western part of the North
American continent has been exposed to the

Methodism and the Republic

tribes of Asia, and at no time would it have been
an impossible enterprise for the Japanese, the
Chinese or the Koreans to have gone up through
Kamchatka, crossed Bering Strait and come
down the western coast of this continent. That
was doubtless done by some adventurous spirits
in prehistoric times.

It is not difficult to believe that the Indians
inhabiting this coast are descendants of the same
ancestry as peopled Eastern Asia; but, for some
cause inexplicable now, these peoples were never
intelligent, industrious or enterprising, and the
country has remained through the long centuries
practically as it was before their coming.

European adventurers following the inspira-
tion that prompted Columbus, sailed up the
west coast of America, looked into the bays
sounds and inlets along this coast until they had
discovered what are now known as Coos Bay,
Columbia River, Gray's Harbor and Puget
Sound, but not much beyond the discovery did
any of them go until in 1805. Under President
S-S,„««^ Jefferson, the pioneer hunters and trappers,
Lewis and Clark, determined to find a path
across what was then known as the Great Ameri-
can Desert, over the Rocky Mountains, and dis-
cover the conditions and resources prevailing
between the summit of the Rockies and the Pa-
cific Ocean. This onerous and most difficult task
was accomplished. But little, however, grew out
of the discovery made or the records kept beyond
a knowledge of the country, its contour and in-
habitants. The people who belonged to this
expedition became known to the Indians as men

64

Exploration

The Pacific Northwest

A Book
Which Told
of God

of pale faces, peculiar dress and wide informa-
tion, but so far as any benefit to the Indian, there
was nothing tangible which remained after the
company had gone back over the mountains to
tell its wonderful story.

However, the records of the expedition and the
extensive knowledge thereof aroused the spirit
of adventure in the minds of many men in
Canada and in the northern part of the United
States. These people sought this isolated land
as hunters and trappers and, following the trail
with the Eed Men, about the camp fires and in
their intercourse wdth them as trappers, under
some conditions which we know not now, the In-
dians got an idea of a Book which told them of
God and brought a knowledge of Him to men,
and revealed a land of life and light beyond the
river of Death. . The chiefs came together to
powwow and have a conference over the prospect
of securing such a book. Somewhere about the
year 1829 they selected four of their stalwarfc
men, a chief, a medicine man and two young men,
to cross the mountains and traverse the plains
seeking "the Book." They finally came to St.
Louis. Some one discovered that they lived in
the land through which Lewis and Clark had
gone. The Indians were taken to Mr. Lewis, but
while he knew something of history, much of ad-
venture, a little of the church, he seems to have
kno^vn nothing of the Bible, for it evidently did
not occur to him that these Indians were seeking
the Bible from the description which they gave
him. After searching in vain for the Book and gearcwng for
two of them had died, in despair the other In- the Book

65

Methodism and the Republic

dians gave up their quest, and at a gathering of
their friends before their departure the old chief
is reported as saying :

"We came to you over a trail of many moons
from the setting sun. You were the friend of
our fathers who have all gone the long way. We
came with our eyes partly opened for more light
for our people who sit in darkness. We go back
with our eyes closed. How can we go back blind
to our blind people? We made our way to you
with strong arms, through many enemies and
strange lands, that we might carry back much to
them. We go back with empty and broken arms.
The two fathers who came with us — the braves
of many winters and wars — we leave here asleep
by your great wigwam. They were tired in their
journey of many moons, and their moccasins
were worn out.
A Pitiful ''Our people sent us to get the white man's

Appeal Book of Heavcu. You took us where they wor-

ship the Great Spirit with candles, but the Book
was not there. You showed us the images of
good spirits, and pictures of the good land be-
yond, but the Book was not among them to tell
us the way. You made our feet heavy with bur-
dens of gifts, and our moccasins will grow old
with carrying them, but the Book is not among
them. We are going back the long, sad trail
to our people. When we tell them, after one
more snow, in the big council, that we did not
bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our
old men, nor by our young braves. One by one
they will rise up and go out in silence. Our
people will die in darkness, and they will go on

66

The Pacific Northwest

the long path to other hunting grounds. No
white man will go with them, and no Book of
Heaven to make the way plain. We have no
more words."

All but one of these men died before they
reached their people after their long journey;
but the journey was not in vain. Knowledge of
their adventurous and perilous trip and the pur-
pose for which it was made got into the papers.
It attracted the attention of some devout Chris-
tian workers and stirred the heart of the Church
in the East as probably no other incident in the
life of the Nation had done. Wilbur Fisk, at
that time President of the Wilbraham Academy,
was so impressed with the story that he gave
careful attention to the incident and investigated
the conditions far enough to have his soul might-
ily stirred at the though of the Red Men of the
West seeking for a Book teaching them about
God. He was at that time the most influential
person in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He The story
was the one man in the Church who was big chu^^.^^®
enough to positively and permanently refuse to
be consecrated a Bishop in the Church, and
therefore had the pre-eminence in influence over
those who had accepted the high honor. Dr.
Fisk turned at once to Jason Lee as the only
man in all his knowledge whom he thought in
every way qualified to undertake the great task
suggested by the mission of the four embassies
from the Indian tribes. Jason Lee, after careful
deliberation, accepted the superintendency of
missions to the Flat Head Indians. When prep-
aration had been made, he crossed the plains

67

Methodism and the Republic

and preached the first sermon that was ever
proclaimed by a Protestant minister west of the
Rocky Mountains, at a point that is now kno^vn as
Fort Hall, in Idaho. While many other white men
had preceded Mr. Lee, his company was the first
that had ever crossed the plains, scaled the moun-
tains and descended into the great country, then
kno\\Ti as Oregon, for the purpose of proclaim-
ing salvation to the people. Others had come for
discovery, for traffic, for adventure, but he came
to seek and to save the lost. After careful
thought and prayerful investigation, he estab-
lished his mission in the Willamette Valley,
about 60 miles from where it empties into the
The Work of Columbia. He stands pre-eminently above every
Jason Lee other man who has ever entered this region or
undertaken to establish a Christian civilization
in this secluded and peculiarly fruitful and
boundlessly fertile country. It was his influence,
connected with that of Mr. Whitman, of the
American Board, that determined that the Pa-
cific Northwest should be a part of the territory
embraced in the United States. Over this region
none other than the American flag ever floated
with authority, and this cannot be said of any
other portion of the United States.

The country was so fertile, the climate so
salubrious and desirable, the conditions were so
inviting, that Mr. Lee and his associates antici-
pated a great influx of people to follow imme-
diately upon the exploitation of the resources
of the country among those who lived on the At-
lantic seaboard. But the distance around South
America was so great, the perils so many; the

68

Big. Trees, Oregon

The Pacific Northwest

long dreary march across the plains was so try-
ing, the trail was difficult, the marauding bands
of Indians had made it so dangerous and every
path of access to the country seemed so nearly
impossible that for the first half century the
country was almost an impossible land. But
at no time was there any lack of bold, adventur-
ous, consecrated ministers of the Gospel in the
Methodist Episcopal Church ready to proclaim
to the authorities, ''Here am I; send me," and
who braved every danger, met every difficulty
and proved themselves equal to every re-
quirement to push the interests of the cause of
the Master into every settlement, town and city
that has been developed throughout this entire
region.

Jason Lee was a master builder, but he had
followers worthy to be his successors. William
Roberts, J. H. Wilbur, David Leslie, A. F. Wal-
ler, all of these partook of the spirit of his lead-
ership and are worthy of all honor, and their
successors were not one whit below them. Gus-
tavus Hines, Nehemiah Doane, I. D. Driver,
T. F. Royal and their coadjutors were worthy
successors of these intrepid followers of the
Master who first broke the trail into this great
empire. But the early pioneers lived and la- Frustrated
bored, hoped and waited and most of them died ^°p®^
without seeing the immigration which they had
expected or the development in the work to
which they had given their lives. But this delay
in the incoming of the population made it pos-
sible for them to make more secure and lay
deeper the foundations than would have been

69

]\Iethodism and the Republic

The Inland
Empire

Immigration

Follows

Railways

practicable had the incoming of the people been
as rapid as they had anticipated.

With these great leaders to perform the task
allotted to them, Methodism became the great
and almost dominating force in what is now
Oregon, Washington and Idaho. These names
indicate but little to the average reader. Three
States do not impress one who is familiar
with the fact that there are now forty-six
States in the Union, but when it is made plain
that these three States have a territory as large
as all of New England, New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Indiana and 2,200 square miles be-
sides, one gets nearer an adequate idea of the
area embraced in these three great common-
wealths. In addition to this, when one calls to
mind the fact that the fertility of these three
States is far beyond the like area of the north-
western part of this Nation, one can then come
to realize something of its importance. The
supply of timber is unprecedented in the world.
This year about one-sixth of the wheat pro-
duced in the United States will be from this
great region.

As long as the emigrant was compelled either
to cross the plains in wagons or take shipping
around South America, the coming of the people
to the Northwest was slow and very uncertain,
but when the Union Pacific Railroad was built
across the continent from Omaha and the Ore-
gon Short Line was constructed from Granger
on that line to Portland and the Columbia River,
the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern
built from St. Paul to the Puget Sound, a stream

70

The Pacific Northwest

of people began to pour into this region unparal-
leled in the history of any part of the United
States. Hundreds of mills were constructed to
cut the lumber which should laden the cars of
these roads as they went on their way eastward;
the fruit trees which had been planted by the
fathers gave of their product to add to the com-
merce of this country with the States across the
Mississippi River; the fertile valleys lying be-
tween the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, which
were formerly thought to be useless, contributed
millions of bushels of wheat to add to the com-
merce of our people, until now the most inde-
pendent farmers in the world are among the
early settlers in w^hat is kno\Mi as the Inland
Empire. Cities are springing up all through the Magic Trans-
land. Spokane, which is at the falls of the formations
Spokane River, is being recognized as one of the
most promising and prosperous inland cities in
the Union. Portland and Seattle are estimated
as having a population of about 200,000 each
and are growing with almost unparalleled rapid-
ity. Tacoma is coming close behind these, with
other cities, ranging from 10,000 to 25,000 popu-
lation, numbering nearly a score.

The most important feature connected with
the situation at present is the character of the
population which is now pouring into this re-
gion. But few of the emigrants from Europe
reach this land. The long distance across the
continent, the high rate of railroad fare, the
open country east of the Rocky Mountains, the
difficult and forbidding conditions in crossing
these mountains, cause nearly all of the emi-

71

Methodism and the Republic

Superior
Class of
People

Asia and the
Northwest

grants from Europe to drop out and settle east
of the mountains; whereas adventurous young
men and women, well trained and thoroughly
informed, meet without hesitation all the diffi-
culties, the labors and hardships, in securing a
footing among the noble descendants of the
hardy pioneers, so that the character of the
population of American antecedents who are
now in the Northwest is the most desirable.
There is but a very small percentage of illiter-
ates among the people. The most of them, how-
ever, are independent, self-reliant, adventurous
spirits, who are ready for any task, to meet any
danger and to overcome any difficulties, but de-
termined to succeed. They are capable of be-
coming very bad, or may be led to be very good
and greatly helpful.

In addition to these, there is coming from
across the Pacific Ocean people who are creating
problems that will give us our heaviest tasks
and who are producing the most difficult situa-
tions with which any people have ever had to
deal. On this North Pacific Coast are to be
found more Chinese, more Japanese, more Ko-
reans than in any other part of the United States
outside of San Francisco, except the Hawaiian
Islands. The Japanese, however, in these parts
have never had the strained relations with the
white man which they have met in California.
They are not concentrated in any great nimibers
in any of the cities of the Northwest. They are
rather gardeners, farmers, section hands on the
railroad and scattered through the country in
clearing lands, running mills and engaging in

72

Tlie Pacific Northwest

other pursuits which do not challenge the atten-
tion and arouse the animosity of the white peo-
ple. These Japanese, as a rule, are not coming
into contact with the better class of white men.
They are meeting the more ignorant, the baser
and more undesirable elements of the citizens.
When in the cities they are associated with the
saloon loafers and the degraded classes of the
people. They have become experts as porters
in hotels, banks and especially in saloons. They
have become adept in learning the tricks and
games connected with gambling. They have
learned how to make profit out of the submerged
social classes. After being here a few months
they return to Japan and there exploit their
own people, who have Imown nothing of our de-
grading saloons, of our disastrous gambling
houses or our debasing and humiliating public
houses of infamy.

Within the last four months the Hindoos . „. .
from India have been coming without restriction invasion
into this country. This freedom of movement is
because these people are British subjects. In
June, 1907, it was estimated that 1,100 Hindoos
came into the State of Washington alone, and
the number has been steadily increasing every
month to the present. These people come from
a land where they had received from five to
twelve cents for a day's work, into this land
where they will secure from fifty cents to three
dollars a day. Bishop Thoburn stated recently
to a large congregation during the session of the
Oregon Conference in Portland, that these peo-
ple were not being brought here by parties who

73

Methodism and the Republic

The Churcli
Faces
Stubborn
Tacts

intended to exploit them, but had themselves
learned of the benefits of our country, the large
wages which they would receive and the im-
proved conditions which would be possible to
them in this land, and that in all probability
they would continue to come. Away from the
cities and from the ordinary employment of
white men they will find demand for their
labor and places where they will secure good
wages. There appears no reason why they
should not continue to increase in numbers who
come from India to this country.

The present population of the three States
about which we are writing is estimated to be
about one and a quarter millions, but this is
being increased so rapidly that no one would
pretend to be able to give, with anything like
accuracy, an estimate of the exact number.

Any studious person can easily see the diffi-
culties confronting Church work throughout
this land. Race prejudice appears with all its
heinous bestiality wherever either the Chinese,
the Japanese or the Hindoos are brought into
close competition with white men, so that our
problem in the field of race prejudice is full as
difficult and dangerous as the race problem in
the South. The rapidity with which the people
are filling the countrj^ the sense of strangeness,
the freedom which comes from the breaking of
former affiliations, the daring connected with the
fresh, warm blood in the j^oung and adventurous,
the rapid acquiring of wealth and the feverish
restlessness associated with great success, all ag-
gravate and emphasize the difficulties which con-

74

The Pacific Northwest

front the Church in Christianizing this land of
boundless possibilities and incalculable future.

But the churches, true to their mission, are
meeting their problem with devotion and states-
manlike breadth of vision. Because of the ante-
cedents and superior leadership of the Metho-
dist Church, and not because of any deficiency
or lack of loyalty on the part of the other
churches, ]\Iethodism has the primacy among
the churches, and upon her rests the largest
share of the responsibility for housing these new-
comers, supplying them with Church privileges
and giving them the Gospel from the lips of men
who are not only aflame with the love of the
Master, but have the scholastic preparation Methodism
which will insure them respect in the estimation ^^^ *^®
of the people, who themselves have been finely
trained and who have extensive learning. Every
effort is being made by the leaders to produce
institutions of learning which will be equal to
the demand, in furnishing a proper supply of
leadership in pulpit and pew. But it is im-
possible for the present membership to build the
churches, support the quality of ministers re-
quired, build and endow colleges, erect and sus-
tain hospitals, open and develop Sunday schools,
produce and maintain Church papers and do all
the other things which are required to meet the
demands arising out of the conditions of our
population, and produce in this country the
character of population which, if conditions are
now met, may be developed. The Church has
done a work of inestimable value in sending into
this region missionary money to support the

75

Methodism and the Republic

A Missionary

Ministry

The Eeal
Missionaries

intrepid itinerant as he has gone in his canoe,
along the shores of the streams, inlets, sounds and
bays; seeking out the lonely emigrant, or has
given him the means by which he has secured
a horse to follow up the path of the woodman,
seek out the farmer in his solitude, cheer and
comfort the miner in his adventures and instruct
and help the railroad-men and the boatmen in
their perilous and trying employments. These
missionaries have gone throughout this country
as messengers of light, as veritable John the
Baptists, and their message has not been in vain
and their mission is in no way a failure.

If this varied lot of emigrants which is now
pouring into this country from all points of the
compass, and which will continue to come, are
met with the right Christian influence, are led
by trained, capable, devoted leaders who are
sufficiently permeated with the spirit of Jesus
Christ to harmonize these nationalities, then
there will be produced here a population of the
finest quality that the world has known. The
foreign population here will influence the peoples
of the countries from whence they come, where
the reports of their o^vn people will be of greater
effectiveness than the messages borne by any
class of Americans can have. The impressions
conveyed by the Chinese who will return to
China will have greater potency in that land
than any utterance that can come from a messen-
ger of Christ or from a writer of our nationality
concerning our own civilization, and will either
help or hinder more when repeated by the Hin-
doos who have been here and witnessed for them-

76

The Pacific Northwest

selves the effects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
upon our people, than it can ever have if told
by another.

It is probable that for the present, and maybe
for a score of years to come, the Pacific Coast
will be the greatest missionary field the world
has ever known. Influences which shall go out
from this coast will affect the minds of the peo-
ple of the Orient as no other channel of informa-
tion can possibly do. There are here Japanese,
Chinese and Hindoos, open to impressions, who
can best be made messengers of the Gospel to
their own people. There are here German, Nor-
wegian, Swedish and Danish churches whose
services are conducted in their own tongues,
who, if properly encouraged and sustained, will
be developed into the finest type of German and
Scandinavian Christianity that can anywhere be
found.

All this must be done speedily, for if one gen-
eration is neglected and the people get away
from God in the days of their poverty and
struggle, it will not be possible to win them lUZvfT''
back when they have come to affluence and pros-
perity. If the Church cares for them in their
poverty they will support the Church and ex-
ploit its interests in the days of their affluence.
The whole land is before the Church. On every
side are rich harvests ready for the reaper; the
laborers are few, and a cry comes from every
quarter, "Come over and help us." The day
after tomorrow, if we are faithful today and
tomorrow, the Church may hear a voice as of
many waters coming up from those who have

77

Methodism and the Republic

been saved in this land, saying, "Glory and
honor and salvation unto Him who hath loved
us and washed us in His blood," provided we
heed now the cry as it goes over the land, "Who
will go for us ? " and shall answer gladly, ' ' Here
am I; send me."

78

THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN UTAH

BY REV. H. J. TALBOT, D.D., SUPERINTENDENT

SUMMARY

A peculiar field.— Devoted pioneers.— "Why we are there.—
The great need.— Our Church on trial.— Mormon interpretation
of the Scriptures.— A barren gospel.— Compact organization.—
Mormons as neighbors.— Chief hindrances to progress.— Gentile
population.— Influence of Christian Churches in thwarting Mor-
monism and in respect for Federal authority.— Elements which
must characterize our work there. — Need of lay missionaries.—
Picked men for pastors.— A revival expected.

Our Church is the only one of the Methodist
family that has any work in this State. The his-
tory of the beginning of our mission here, more
than thirty-five years ago, is an interesting one.
Similar in many regards to the opening of Chris-
tian work in all this western country, it yet has
an individuality which differentiates it from
missions anywhere else. Great honor is due the
men and women who have served here in the
past. Theirs was not only a tremendous under-
taking, but it was prosecuted under conditions ^ Tremendous
which laid all human resources under tribute, undertaking
and made a large draft upon infinite grace. It
is rather pathetic to consider that, of those who
patiently wTought here, it must be said they ''re-
ceived not the promise," only ''having seen them
afar off." One is touched at the thought of
missionaries abroad working, praying and en-

79

Methodism and the Republic

during for years before any results of their devo-
tion were visible ; but they who are familiar with
the conditions under which Christian work here
has been pushed forward through these long
years, will be ready to declare that some, at any
rate, who toiled in this field are worthy to stand
beside the heroes and heroines whose names have
had more prominence than theirs in human
records.

It will perhaps naturally be asked why our
Why in Utah? Qhurch should maintain mission work in Utah.
Such a question is a fair one, and deserves a
candid answer.

There is the same reason for mission work here
as there is for it in any part of the West or
South. Here is a vast region of country which is
rapidly filling up with a heterogeneous mass of
people. Among them are Christian families that
need to be ministered to, for they are in sur-
roundings which ceaselessly beat against the
spiritual life ; and the children in these families
must have the teachings of the Christian faith,
its sanctions and examples, if they are to be saved
from relapsing into semi-barbarism. Here, too,
are the turbulent, the vicious, the God-defying,
to whom the Gospel of Jesus Christ offers the
only hope for time or for eternity. And here,
likewise, are multitudes of foreigners who need
to be assimilated to our American life, and who,
in the process of assimilation, must have Chris-
tian influences upon their lives or must become
No Field an cvcr-growiug menace to our Christian civili-

More Needy zation. There are in Utah quite a number of
mining towns. In some of these conditions are
80

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

but little different from what they are in towns
outside the mining districts; but in others the
need for Christian services is emphasized by the
frightful immorality prevailing. It is quite
within bounds to say that no more needy and no
more promising fields for Christian work can
be found in all America than in these new States
and Territories which the Board of Home Mis-
sions and Church Extension has undertaken to
cultivate. Looking at the opportunity presented,
one is surprised that the church-at-large is not
more alive to it; likewise that so many young
men, just entering the ministry, are content to
remain in the older sections of the country where Christianity
the pastoral charges fairly crowd upon each °" "^^"^^^
other, and where there is such an over-abundance
of Gospel light and privileges, whilst these vast
districts are without shepherds. It does not
speak well for the quality of our present-day
devotion to our Lord. One cannot long remain
in this western country without coming to see
that here, as nowhere else, our Christianity is
undergoing a most severe trial.

But, in addition to the common need for Chris-
tian work prevailing in all this western country,
there is an emphasized need which is peculiar to
Utah. Whilst our Church, in common with other
Christian Churches, has its message for all this j^ormon
new country, it has also a mesage, as they also interpretation
have, to the Mormon population of Utah. Mor-
monism has some peculiarities which differ-
entiate it from all other religious cults. It not
only professes to be a Christian Church, but it
claims to be the 07ily Church of Jesus Christ in

81

Scriptures

Methodism and the Republic

the world. It holds the Bible to be an inspired
Book, and that it is authoritative, when properly
translated and interpreted. It believes in God
and in the Holy Spirit, and in the divinity of
Jesus Christ, after a fashion, and professes to
hold His life as an example for men. It has
seized upon much that is contained in Bible doc-
trine and appropriated it as peculiarly its own.
But its conception and teaching about God is that
He is only an exalted man ; that He was once as
Distorted jj^^n are now; that He has body and passions as
man, only exalted. Its thought and teaching of
Christ is that, whilst He is divine, He is a man,
physically begotten by God the Father of a
human mother. Its idea of the Holy Spirit is
that He is of material substance, capable of
tactual transmission from person to person. Its
interpretation makes the Bible an utterly in-
adequate revelation from God, which must needs
be supplemented by the equally divinely
inspired utterances of Joseph Smith and the
** living oracles"; these last being certain mem-
bers of the "Holy Priesthood" who are, upon
occasion, authorized to reveal God's will to men.
To judge from the relative stress laid upon
these sources of revelation, in their teachings, the
Bible is wholly subordinate to all the others.
Mormonism's ideal life is one of unquestioning
obedience to a priesthood of practically unlim-
ited powers. Its heaven is one of material ad-
vantages and exaltation. Judged by its writings,
its teachings and its results, it has no message
for the sin-burdened; no promise of spiritual
fellowship with God; no redemption by the

82

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

No Good
News for the
Sinful

Self Defense

vicarious sacrifice of Christ, as held by
Christians generally; no conception of a spirit-
ual need which is met and satisfied only by an
assurance of divine favor. Its claim to be a
Christian Church would not be admitted, or
even seriously considered, by an intelligent jury
convened to pass upon its assumption. What
the results of its unchecked teachings would be
morally may be conjectured if one reverts to Made
the history of, conditions prevailing in Utah ^®*;®"^ ^^
before the building of railroads and the con-
struction of telegraph lines connecting the
Territory with other parts of the country; and
before the influx of a '^ Gentile" population in
considerable numbers and the influence of the
Christian churches. Much attention is now
paid to education; but this has been stimulated
by the small schools opened by the Christian
churches. Civil law is in full operation, and is
as well administered here as in other western
States, perhaps, save when it touches the prac-
tices of the Mormon Church. The political and
the business conditions are in the power of that
Church whenever it chooses to use that power.

The Mormon Church is more compactly or-
ganized than any other communion known in
this Nation. Its system of interdependence, ex-
tending from the head of the Church to its most
obscure member, is as thorough as any military
establishment. Its knowledge of its member-
ship and its control over them is most intimate,
and little short of despotic. Its appropriation
of many Christian tenets, its careful espionage
of its clientele and its use of priestly power,

83

Compact
Organization

Methodism and the Republic

Our Message
to Them

:!!vTormons as
Neighbors

together with the unceasing teaching of the
children, makes it well-nigh invulnerable to
Christian influences. Without exaggeration it
may be said that Mormonism more defiantly
challenges Christianity than does any other
power in this land.

From this brief and hastily- worded survey it
may be seen that, if we are right in our inter-
pretation of the Bible, we have here a people
who are blinded and led astray from the truth
as certainly as are those peoples who have no
conception whatever of the Christian faith. That
our Church has a message for them, and that
the chief reason for our being here is to bring
the pure Gospel to them, is at once apparent.
Whatever else it may be doing, Mormonism is
not making Christians of the people in the New
Testament sense of the word Christian. It has
no testimony against sin per se, but against
those forms of it that affect economic and social
conditions. To minister to the ''Gentile" popu-
lation of Utah is important ; to teach and preach
a pure Gospel among the Mormons is a prime
reason for Christian missions here.

In all Christian work here, due account should
be taken of all that is commendable in those
who hold the Mormon faith. The utter sincerity
of the vast majority of the people is unques-
tionable; their thorough devotion to the Church
and what they believe to be true is praise-
worthy; and in general their lives are free from
turbulence. Indeed, in these regards, they can
challenge comparison with the people of any
other faith whatsoever. They are naturally a

84

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

kindly-disposed people, and, left without inter-
ference, are agreeable as neighbors and friends.
As a rule, they are easily led, not much given to
independent research, and quite susceptible to
the argument of authority when well-intrenched
and strongly exercised. Thus they are singu-
larly susceptible to priestly rule ; and the power
lodged in the priesthood is unsparingly used
against all recalcitrants. They have been well-
taught in the duty of obedience to their supe-
riors in the Church. Whether or not any con-
siderable number of them are oath-bound to
Church loyalty as against obedience to any other
authority, may be an open question; but that,
generally, all other obligations are held subor-
dinate to Church fealty — one comes, after due
acquaintance with them, to have little doubt
upon this point. It may be seen, therefore, that
there is much that elicits one's respect
for the mass of the people. Wholesale and
undiscriminating denunciation of the Mormons
is as unchristian as it is unwise. No man's
religion, sincerely believed, may be held up to
ridicule, however grotesque it may appear to
those who are of different faith. Every man's
religious belief is worthy of respectful considera-
tion, however we may regard the conduct of
those who may appear to exercise authority in
religion for their own advantage.

It v/ill naturally occur to our people, who are
expected to patronize our work here, to ask why
have not results been more satisfactory? The
answer is at hand. In the first place, much of
the population of Utah is migratory in char-

85

Unwise
Denunciation

Methodism and the Republic

Hindrances
to Progress

Non-
Mormons
Non-Cohesive

Cur Mission
to the

Gentiles

acter. It not infrequently happens that a min-
ister who last year had a fair-sized membership
under his care, this year finds himself under
the necessity of beginning at the foundations
again, as his members, for the most part, have
moved on. This is true of the most of our
western work.

In the next place, the non-Mormon popula-
tion of Utah is not sufficiently cohesive to effect-
ually contend with the prevailing religion. The
solidarity of the Mormon Church is phenomenal.
It would naturally be supposed that the pres-
ence and impact of a dominant, solid and every-
where self-assertive force, like the ^Mormon
Church in Utah, would drive all the people who
do not hold with it, into close alliance. But
such is not the case. Many of the non-Mormons
are transients having but a temporary interest
in affairs here; many are not at all concerned
about Christian w^ork here or anywhere; and
some withdraw themselves from our Church
work for prudential reasons. This leaves but a
comparatively small contingent upon which the
Christian leaders can depend for active assist-
ance.

When you add to the above things mentioned
the fact that, for the most part, our work has
seemed to have for its objective the caring for
the ''Gentile'* population, not generally going
into solidly Mormon communities, and some-
times even withdrawing from such v/hen the
"Gentiles'* have moved away; and when you
add the still further fact of the almost impene-
trable front presented by the dominant Church

86

First Methodist Episcopal Church, Salt Lake City, Utal

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

against our work; then it will begin to appear
why results have not been greater.

But, as a matter of fact, the outcome ot our
work here has been greater than can be made to
appear in any table of statistics. Our Church
has borne a most-honorable share in the Chris-
tian work in the State. In estimating what
Christianity has done for Utah, it must be
remembered that, as yet, but a comparatively
small area of the State has been reached by its
work. Out of the approximately three hundred
towns in the State, only about sixty have Chris-
tian work maintained in them. Among these influence of
sixty, however, are the centers of population. °"^ churches
The influence of the small, thinly-attended
Christian churches upon the conditions here has
been out of all proportion to their numerical
notation. They have favorably affected educa-
tion. It may be doubted whether any other
agency has been so powerful in developing the
public school system in the State as the small
church schools opened wherever the denomina-
tions went years ago. These stimulated in
parents a desire for the education of their chil-
dren, and revealed to those who oppose our
work the necessity of counterbalancing the in-
fluence of such Christian schools by a public
school system. These Christian churches have
toned up public sentiment on social questions,
so that, though the laws against polygamy are
not generally enforced, and cannot be under
present conditions, yet it is not as open as in
other days, though it has yet the Church sanction
as of old. The Christian churches have been

87

Methodism and the Republic

Methodism
and the Flag

V/e Must
Educate

influential in preventing the prevailing system
from reaching its full fruitage in conditions
little short of despotism and moral degradation.
The spirit of Mormonism is one of priestly ab-
solutism; and the fruitage of its teachings, if
unchecked, would inevitably issue in moral de-
terioration. No amount of sophistical reasoning
can obscure this point. The Christian churches
have steadily resisted this development, and not
without creditable success. They have fostered
respect for Federal authority. Wherever they
have gone the flag has been unfurled, and they
have emphasized loyalty to Federal institutions.
All these are not results that can be tabulated;
but they are none the less real and important.
When to these things is added the fact that
many converts have been made in these years of
Gospel work, that converts to the Mormon faith
from among the '^Gentiles" in this State are so
rare as to attract no attention, that Gospel light
is spreading into new communities every year,
and institutions of learning under Christian
auspices are constantly increasing — when all this
is taken into account it may easily be seen that
the results of Christian work in Utah are by no
means inconsiderable.

Experience and observation alike show that
our mission in Utah must be characterized by
several things which should here be mentioned:

First of all, it must be educational. In no
land where a form of religion is strongly in-
trenched, and especially where it is intertwined
with the business and civic life of the people;
and, more particularly^ yet, where it has some-

88

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

thing of the color of Christianity — in no land
where such conditions prevail have revolutions
in religion been suddenly wrought. The way
must be prepared. For years we have had no
mentionable part in the educational life of the
State. A few small and isolated schools we
have supported have made no appreciable im-
pression in the communities where they have
been located, much less upon the State-at-large.
Otherwhere our participation in educational
work has been not only creditable to us, but has
been of vast public good and a potent means of
extending the influence of our Church. Until
two years ago, we had not for a number of years
had any schools in the State except five or six
small ones of primary and intermediate grades.
There were but few high schools in the State,
and, in consequence, the people were limited to ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^
the common school grades, or were under the schools
necessity of sending their children long dis-
tances— forty to one hundred miles from home —
to pursue their studies beyond the grade w^ork.
Two years ago we opened an institution of high
school grade in the center of a large territory;
and one year ago another such school was
opened in a like center. These schools began
with but few students — in one case with but
eight, and in the other with only five— but both
are increasing in attendance and are making a
fine reputation for excellent work. The oppo-
sition to them is quiet but persistent, upon the
part of those who regard all Christian workers
as intruders; nevertheless, the purpose is to
steadily follow up the development of the

89

Methodism and the Republic

schools already established, and to open others
of like character in strategic locations as rapidly
as means and teachers can be secured therefor.
This side of our work must be emphasized if we
are to have a permanent constituency here, and
if we are to do any fair share of the Christian
work that needs to be done in Utah. Money
could hardly be put to a better use by those who
have something to spare for benevolent work,
than to donate it for the founding and support
of such schools.

In the next place, here of all places we must
bear clear and steadfast testimony to the author-
A Vital Issue ity of the Bible as the full and sufficient revela-
tion of God to men. Its claims as such must be
pressed, and its precepts as bearing upon prac-
tical life must be strongly enforced. Its great
central doctrines of God, sin, atonement, must
have reiterated proclamation. The claim of co-
equal authoritative revelation set up for the
writings of Joseph Smith and for the ''Living
Oracles" of the Mormon Church must be merci-
lessly exposed, though in the spirit of Christian
kindness. Our message must lay great stress
upon the absolute necessity of spiritual regen-
eration. Whatever may be true of other regions,
in this State the need and possibility of regen-
eration by divine power are put aside as being
beyond the range of things to be considered in
connection with religion. As elsewhere said, our
Christianity is here on trial as perhaps nowhere
else. Is the Bible a sufficient revelation . of
God to mankind, or must it be supplemented
by revelations upon matters both important and

90

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

trivial through all kinds of men who may hap-
pen to hold official positions in the so-called only
Church of Jesus Christ in the world? Does
God reveal the enormity of sin, and declare that
men must be born from above? Can He reveal
Himself in human consciousness? Can He for-
give sin and renew the penitent sinner in the
divine likeness? Does the atonement of Christ
meet a realized need in human experiences? Can
faith in Christ and spiritual fellowship with
Him revolutionize human lives? It is no ex-
aggeration to say that the prevailing religious
teaching in Utah not only obscures these things,
but in its practical effects is directly adverse to
them. Not Christianity, but a substitute for it
is proclaimed. Herein appears the challenge
to spiritual religion, and also the unceasing need
of the Gospel message.

Still further, our campaign must have a
definite purpose. If we are here to minister
only or chiefly to ''Gentiles," then our work is combated
much simplified, and we need but small increase
from year to year in prosecuting it. But our
mission is not primarily to the "Gentiles." We
do not believe that any evidence yet adduced
substantiates the claim that the Book of Mor-
mon, or any of the other professed "revelations"
upon which the Mormon people rely, is divinely
inspired. We do not believe that credentials
have ever been produced sufficient to prove that
Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, or that any
of his successors in office have been the Lord's
prophets. We do not, therefore, believe that the
Mormon Church is the only church of Jesus

91

Errors to be

Methodism and the Republic

Christ in the earth. We are not able to see that
the Mormon Church teaches a vital, personal
faith in Jesus Christ as a requisite of salvation,
or that in any adequate degree it ministers to
the spiritual needs of mankind. Our only con-
clusion must therefore be that its claim is erro-
neous, and that its people are deluded and are in
spiritual darkness. We hold these conclusions
firmly, whilst at the same time we concede the
greatest respect to the vast majority of the
members of that Church, whom we believe to be
sincere in their faith. Whilst, therefore, we
cast no reproach upon them, and are far from
ridiculing their religion, yet at the same time
we hold that they are being led away from the
true revelation of the Divine One as given in
the Bible, and that they are not following the
Christ of God. These are the views which have
inspired the founding of our work in Utah.
Hence, our mission is distinctly and primarily
to the Mormon people. But if it is to the Mor-
mon people, first of all, then we m^ust use the
means best adapted to reach the end in view.
Must Sound Apparently, for some years past, the work has
been pitched upon the plane of caring for the
"Gentiles.*' No word of criticism is here
offered, or can be allowed, concerning policies
previously pursued. Doubtless it was necessary
for the work to pass over some such stages as
those over which it has gone. But what is here
claimed is that we are not here to hold our
ground among the ''Gentiles,'* but to press our
work among the Mormons. We are not here to
defend ourselves, but to carry our banner to

92

the Advance

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

conquest over an unauthenticated religion.
And there is no hope for the cause of Christ here
except in sounding the advance. No one has
the data upon which to declare that the evan-
gelization of Utah is impossible, for it has not
yet been seriously undertaken. The preliminary
work has been done, and well done. The final
struggle for the supremacy of Christianity in
Utah lies before us. This declaration does not
dwarf the services of the men and women who
gave the best years of their lives to this w^ork;
but it recognizes the quality and extent of their
toils and privations as being in the highest sense
necessary; and, at the same time, it apprehends
the fact that all such pioneer work has but been
in preparation for the decisive contest. It
would seem to be the dictate of wisdom to push,
as rapidly as is consistent with permanency of
occupation, into all communities where there
is no Christian work, until all communities
have the Gospel message. But one way to ac-
complish this seems practicable. We need to ^^^^ °^ ^^y
employ a number of lay missionaries who will be
willing to go into solidly Mormon toAvns, live the
Christian life, organize Sunday schools, culti-
vate friendly relations with the people, distrib-
ute Bibles and tracts, hold meetings for prayer
and religious inquiry, and gather people to-
gether for preaching services. Then group from
four to eight or ten of these places under the
care of one preacher who shall travel from place
to place and preach the Word to many or few,
as the lay missionary may be able to gather them
together. For purposes of evangelization cir-

93

Methodism and the Republic

cuit work stands justified by the experience of
the Church. It is not forgotten that great
obstacles stand in the way of such a method;
nor that such an active campaign will arouse an
opposition the like of which has not heretofore
been encountered. But it is to be remembered
that there can be no obstacles to the Gospel pre-
sented in Utah which have not been met and
overcome elsewhere by the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. We shall not easily nor peacefully
spread the light of divine truth, but rather in
toil and conflict. Who will say, ''Here am I,
send me " ?

The next thing to be noted has respect to

Picked Men men and means for the prosecution of our work.

Only We must have men of the best quality. Money

is not to be made in this field, a bare support
being all that a minister can usually expect.
Distinction among men is not to be gained; this
is no place for self -exploitation. Therefore, if
either of these motives is dominant in a min-
ister, he would do well to shun Utah. "Who-
soever will be great among you let him be your
servant; and whosoever would be chief amongst
you let him be your slave" — that's the note of
distinction in such a field as this. ''The love
of Christ constraineth me" — that's the motive.
Much inconspicuous toil will fall to the lot of
any minister who brings any conscience to speak
of into the work here. The opportunity for
self-forgetting service is phenomenal. It is
much to be doubted whether there is a field in
the civilized world, or anywhere else for that
matter, where Christ has more need of tactful,

94

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

faithful friends in the ministry than He has in
Utah. Little use for ministers, however pious
they may be, to come here, who are so fixed in
their habits of life and in their methods of work
as to be unable to adapt themselves to the
singular conditions which they will find. It
wiU be little to the purpose to send men here
who have ceased to study, or have become per-
functory in their work, or who have failed else-
where, or who are deficient in the gift of leader-
ship, or whose personal religious lives are below
par. And it will be a mortal hurt to put men
into this work whose reputations are clouded.
The very best that the Church has must be de-
tailed for service on this front line, if we are to
hope for victory, or even avoid disaster. Men
of singular ability and of unsurpassed devotion
have served here in other years, and slowly, yet
surely, a fine force of men who are in nowise
second to them is gathering at this outpost now.
We invite young men of training, devotion and
energy ; upon whom God has laid His hand ; who
are not afraid of hardships; who can endure
defeats, reproach and hard knocks for Christ's
sake; who covet a place with the advance
guard — we invite such men to volunteer for
service here. We pray to be defended against
the fearful, the unbelieving, the indolent and
the time-serving.

Some day — pray God it may not be distant ! — ^ spiritual
there will be a great spiritual awakening among Awakening
this people. When that day dawns the time of
opportunity will have come. Then thousands
of people whose spiritual natures have been

95

Methodism and the Republic

starved through dreary years of misguidance
will be feeling after God if haply they may find
Him, though He is not far from every one of
them. And they will find Him. It will be the
happy fortune of those ministers and others
here who have kept their hearts open toward
the Lord, whose spirits have been sensitive to
the Spirit Divine, who have nourished them-
selves with the grace and love of God through
faith in His Son, who have not fainted in the
day of trial, nor doubted in the time of despond-
ency, nor given over prayer in the hour of
blackest night — it will be theirs to guide grop-
ing souls to Him who never rebuffs the penitent.
We have never ceased to pray and look with
longing eyes, though sometimes with weary
hearts, for that certain dawn. Ye that can come,
come over and help us! Ye that cannot come,
plead with God for us that our faith fail not
until the morning breaks !

Be sure to give a loyal support to that newly-
Heip the New organized Board which administers our Chris-
tian work in the home field. Vast multitudes
are pouring into this western region, with whom
wdll rest ere long the welfare of this country
we love and the honor of the Lord we adore.
That Board, in the magnitude and importance of
its work, has a patriotic and religious claim upon
the interest and bounty of all our people. By
no word or hint must the interest of our people
in Christian work beyond the seas be impaired.
Duty and loyalty to Christ call us to enter the
open doors there. Duty, self-preservation,
patriotism, devotion to Christ call us to the be-

96

The Methodist Episcopal Church in Utah

stowment of service and bounty here. The one
call need not drown the other. Leaders of our
missionary enterprises in our own land do not
ask for much — certainly for nothing unreason-
able. They only wish to have the assurance of
increasing support from our powerful and
wealthy Church, as they may be able to secure
suitable men and women to open new work, and
sustain it, where it is most sorely needed. And
let it not be forgotten that, even as compared
with the lot of those who go abroad, the situation
of our home missionaries is not one naturally
desirable. They will have a large place, there-
fore, in the sympathies and prayers of thought-
ful Christian people. Of all the missionaries,
either at home or abroad, none are more entitled
to such prayerful and sympathetic consideration
than our missionaries in Utah.

97

THE SOUTHWEST-THE LAND
OF OPPORTUNITY

REV. JOHN C. ROLLINS, D.D., PASTOR FIRST METH-
ODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, ALBUQUERQUE, N. M.

SUMMARY
Immense areas.— The new and the old.— Spanish rule.—
Resources yet latent.— Climate.— Products of the soil.— A world's
sanitarium.— An incident that changed history.— A New Eng-
land type of inhabitants.— Two races, Latin and American.—
Protestant martyrs.— The new order of civilization and morals.
—The future.— Exacting pastoral duties.— The cry of the hour.—
The larger plea.— No place for laggards.

The Southwest is a term applied to all that
region lying south of the southern boundary of
Kansas, Colorado and Utah, and west of the
eastern boundary of Texas and Oklahoma.

It is an empire of huge proportions, compris-
ing an area of more than 570,000 square miles,
not including the Commonwealth of California.

In this vast expanse the older and more

densely populated States of the East and Middle

Areas that West are lost, when we consider geographical

East'^ area, like the proverbial needle in the haystack.

From this strangely diversified region two
huge States have been carved and their stars
added to the field of blue on Old Glory's royal
face, while two other Territories patiently wait
the fiat of government to make them sovereign
States.

Texas with its 263,000 square miles and un-
fathomed opportunities for wealth and growth,

98

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

both of a material and moral sort, boasts the
largest area of all the sisterhood of States.

Oklahoma, born of the union of Indian Terri-
tory and the Territory of Oklahoma, comprises
more than 70,000 square miles of inviting soil
and climate. Into these two States have poured
in an unchecked flood the homeseekers and
adventurers.

The little strip of land knowTi to us who stud-
ied the geography of twenty years ago as *'No
Man's Land," because it really belonged to no ''^° J^^°'^

' - Land" Trans-

one and knew no law or government, save that formed
maxim of the bully and coward, ''Might makes
right, ' ' has wooed the homeseeker and the home-
maker into as delightful a stretch of climate and
soil as is to be found anywhere between oceans;
and today the valley of the Cimmaron, in the
sands of whose waters the early traders cached
their heavy silver and gold while they escaped
from the hostile Indian — alas, too few ever re-
turned to recover the precious coin — laughs into
waving harvests and the persistent crop of
alfalfa fattens the stock and swells the bank ac-
count of the contented rancher.

To the average mind, however, the Southwest
means the Territories of New Mexico and Ari-
zona. Together these have an area of more than
260,000 square miles. Their boundaries from
north to south are as far apart as New York and
Newport News and from east to west as from
Chicago and New York.

• Here is found the oldest civilization on the q^ oldest
Western Hemisphere. Almost a hundred years civilization
before the Pilgrims sang their valiant hymns to

99

Methodism and the Republic

Our Oldest
City

Spanish
Inhumanity

the accompaniment of the icy waves on the
''stern and rockbound coast" Coronado had
penetrated the interior bearing the arms of
Spain and planted the cross among the awe-
struck natives ; and five years before his advent,
Cabeca, in his search for the Seven Cities of
Cibola and the Kingdom of Quivira with their
fabled wealth, had traversed the old Santa Fe
Trail and traveled into New Mexico as far as
Las Vegas.

Beyond a question Santa Fe, the ancient and
present capital of New Mexico, holds claim to
being the oldest city in the United States.

A¥ithin fifty years after the discovery of
America by Columbus, the Spaniards began to
occupy that portion of our country now known
as New Mexico, and immediately the Christian-
izing of the natives began.

St. Michael's Church, erected in 1540, is still
in use as a place of worship. The bells brought
from Spain almost immediately afterwards, still
peal out their strangely musical call, as they
have done for more than three hundred and fifty
years. One of them, the largest, was cast in
1351, and there entered into its composition the
purest gold, silver and copper, which accounts
for its lasting purity and tone.

The early civilization and Christianizing of
the natives was of the rudest and most cruel
sort.

Fox's Book of Martyrs contains no more hor-
rible tales than are authenticated in the records
of these olden days. The unflinching heroism
and devotion of the early missionaries glows

100

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

amid the lurid years with the white light of un-
stinted sacrifice in this remote wilderness.

The impolitic zeal of the monks, however, re-
sulted in the hatred of the populace, and in 1640
the Spaniards w^ere driven from the country.

Many missionaries were left after the exodus,
and the cruelty meted out to these unfortunates
is well-nigh incredible.

It is recorded that at Jemez an old priest
named Jesus Morador was seized in his bed,
stripped and mounted on a hog, and was paraded
through the streets at midnight amidst the de-
risive jeers of the natives.

Not satisfied in their thirst for blood, he was
himself saddled and compelled to bear them on
his back, going on all fours for hours, until,
from repeated beatings and the cruel torture
of sharp spurs, he fell dead in the dust.

The invaders destroyed everything that could
remind them of the Spaniards. All books and
papers were burned and the rich robes of the
priests were torn to shreds. Even the names
of Jesus and the Virgin were prohibited, while
those who had been baptized into the Christian
faith were washed in a mole in the Rio Chiquito
to destroy the infection.

The period of native rule was short. Twelve
years only elapsed until the Spaniards returned
bearing the same banner with which Ornate had
entered the quaint old town one hundred years
before. "We may still read his autograph just as
he wrote it on the ageless rock while on his mar-
velous journey to ' ' discover the South Sea. ' '

Says Lummis, the best-informed of all the ex-

101

Fierce
Retaliation

The Spaniards
Return

Methodism and the Eepublic

An Intrepid
Explorer

Resources Yet
Latent

plorers of this Southwest: **He camped at the
Moro and wrote in its eternal page. Here it is,
just as he wrote it two years before our Saxon
forefathers had built a hut in America, even on
the seacoast, while he was 1,500 miles from the
ocean. In 1604 he trudged at the head of thirty-
men across the fearful trackless desert from San
Gabriel to the Gulf of California and back
again. ' '

Here is the officer's autograph, '* Passed by
here the officer Don Juan de Onate to the dis-
covery of the sea of the south on the 16th of
April, year 1605."

The valiant heroism and intrepid zeal —
though rudely mistaken as we deem it after the
lapse of centuries — makes the heart beat faster,
and the admiration for those brave pioneers com-
mands respect.

But it was civilization of the Latin type, and
on such foundation have the passing years
builded.

New Mexico and Arizona are destined to be-
come mighty factors in the sisterhood of the
Union.

Here is the land of opportunity. The major
part of the material resources is as yet latent.

For the year 1907 Arizona outstripped every
mining district in the world in its mineral out-
put, reporting for that year the great total of
$67,000,000.

Vast and untouched deposits of copper every-
where abound. Silver and lead are here in such
quantities that only the mines of the richest
value are worked.

102

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

Tracts of virgin forests, far from the vandal immense
touch of mill or railway, exist. One company ^°^®st8
alone — and its mill one of the largest and most
modern in the United States — has a sufficient
amount of standing timber to employ a double
shift of men for thirty years to come.

It is stated that Arizona possesses the largest
untouched tract of standing timber in the
Union.

New Mexico produced gold many years be-
fore any other portion of the United States.
The placers of Santa Fe County were worked
two hundred years before gold was discovered
in California. The hoards of the precious metal
for which the Conquistadors sought the ruins
of Gran Quivira were never found, but from
their coming to the present time the stream of
argonauts and prospectors has been persistent.
It, however, remains true that the surface has
scarcely been scratched here and there.

One-fiftieth of all the area of New Mexico is
prospected coal land.

Iron and zinc, mica and sulphur are abun-
dant. The largest deposits of aliun in the world
are in New Mexico.

This Territory also leads the world in its pro-
duction of turquoise — far outrivaling Persia
in the extent of deposits and beauty of the gems.

Arizona has within its boundaries the most
gigantic and sublime gorge on the face of the
earth. The Grand Canyon has no rival.

And what shall we say of the matchless cli-
mate of this Southwest? There are mountain Climate
peaks where the crown of snow is never kissed

103

Treasures of
tlie Mine

A MatcMess

Methodism and the Republic

away by summer's sun. There are valleys
where the pomegranate and fig groAv side by
side with never a breath of frost.

The waving branches of the palm and pepper
tree fringe the horizon of the mesa and desert,
on which thrive a half a hundred varieties of
cacti.

In the charming valley of the Salt River in
Arizona is the only spot on American soil where
dates are grown commercially.

Here thrive all manner of semi-tropical fruits.
Arizona oranges are in eastern markets six weeks
before the golden apples of California are
plucked.

The olive is in evidence everywhere. Lemons
and grape fruit are no luxury. The mulberry
begins to ripen before the January thaw has set-
tled the slumpy roads of New England. Roses
shake their tinted leaves across the hedge of
cedar and find a grave beside the dormant
poppy, which only waits the kiss of the early
rain to deck the sere brovvn earth in gorgeous
hues.
Tropical Alfalfa, king of agriculture, grows both by

Plenitude j n -, \-i i 4. j • ^t,

night and by day, while corn planted m the
early spring will ripen, harden and become seed
for a second crop, which in turn will itself ma-
ture, all in the long bright months of this sunny
clime.

Here in the Valley of the Salt is America's
Italy.

And into such a climate as both these great
Territories possess pours an increasing throng
of health seekers. Thousands of them find the

104

Alfalfa Field, Rio Grande Valley

p^Y J

^^^K'l^^B

il

E^M

1;

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

color coming again to the wan cheek. Strength a world's
returns and life once more has attraction and Sanitarium
zest.

Is it a high altitude that is required? New
Mexico has many such spots. The United States
Government has placed its seal of approval upon
this land by establishing two sanitariums for
tuberculosis within its boundaries.

Tens of thousands of these folk become per-
manent residents and valuable citizens.

Nor is this a Latin civilization which predomi-
nates. The Romish Church is strong and ag-
gressive. Santa Fe is not only a stronghold but
an archiepiscopal see.

How strangely a trivial incident turns the
stream of centuries ! The Almighty very evi-
dently destined this wonderful land for Protest-
ant dominion. Fifty years before gold was dis-
covered in Colorado, one Pursley, a carpenter ^^ incident
from Kentucky, was driven by hostile Indians History ^"^^
to the high ground about Pike's Peak. Here he
found nuggets of gold which he carried about
in his leather wallet for many months. He was
finally sent to Santa Fe to negotiate trade with
the Mexicans. He found the climate so enchant-
ing he determined to remain. He told the Mexi-
cans of his discovery and showed them the yel-
low metal, but refused to disclose the spot from
which it came, believing the Territory was Gov-
ernment property and by so doing he would
prove dislo3^al to his country. Had this sturdy
yeoman been less patriotic, how different might
have been the history of the Southwest. This
region would have doubtless continued a part

105

Methodism and the Republic

People of
New England
Type

Methodism's
Heritage

of Spain, and, with the golden flood pouring
into Castilian treasuries both from Colorado
and California, she might have been the most
powerful nation of Europe.

Thus does one man change the face of a
hemisphere.

Into this land of unparalleled opportunities
and well-nigh limitless resources is coming a
class of men and women similar to those who
populated our Eastern borders in the early days.

The year of 1907 saw more than 80,000 home-
seekers settle within the limits of New Mexico
alone. Towns are springing up in a night.
"Where yesterday was an unbroken expanse of
prairie claimed onlj^ by bands of roving cattle,
today feels the tremble of the locomotive and
sees the smoke from hundreds of homes; very
simple and limited, to be sure, but the begin-
nings of larger things. To the uninitiated the
bare brown acres are useless and without profit;
b.ut the science of dry farming, where irrigation
is impracticable, has solved the problem of agri-
culture in the arid zone. And strange, but
strangely true, when the soil is turned by the
white man's plow and tickled into life, the yel-
low grain waves in the shallow furrow and
gardens flourish without the courage from the
clouds. Not alone does science bid the desert
drink, but it compels the desert to bring forth,
and lo! the parched wilderness blossoms as the
rose.

Into such an heritage has Methodism come,
joining forces with the other arms of the great
Protestant faith.

106

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

How is she measuring up to this responsi-
bility? How shall she meet the tide of the com-
ing multitude, and here make emphatic and po-
tent for righteousness the incoming wealth and
developing resources?

These are questions to be seriously considered
and quickly acted upon. Within these two Ter-
ritories two distinct and separate lines of work
have been maintained for more than forty years.
The one with the English-speaking peoples, and
the other among the Latin race, or Mexicans.

Every year the work becomes easier and every
year it becomes more exacting and laborious.

Heroes and stirring heroism are not wanting Two Distinct
in all the history of the region. For a genera- ^®^ °^
tion every one brought into the Protestant-
Mexican fold was wrested from the clutch of
Rome. But little by little the schoolhouse made
its appearance, until at the present time the
public school system of both Territories is of an
exceedingly high order; and this coupled with
the culture and gentleness of every Protestant
minister and missionary resulted, in another
generation, in children of Latin extraction bom
into the faith of Protestantism. This work goes
on increasingly. The Baptist Church has its
workers not alone among the Mexicans, but
scattered among the Navajo and Apache tribes
of Indians. These, who a few short years ago
were the dreaded scourge of the plains, have
been brought under the influence of the Son of
God and His message of love and peace. The
Congregationalists maintain many excellent
schools for these people. One of them is situ-

107

Methodism and the Republic

A Belie of the
Middle Ages

Protestant
Martyrs

ated at San Mateo, where may still be found a
considerable number of the Penitentes, that
strangest and most bloodthirsty sect of the Rom-
ish Church. They are a remnant of a once
numerous brotherhood, a relic of the Middle
Ages. During the forty days of Lent they flog
their naked backs with cruel scourges of aloe
fiber and walk in beds of cactus.

On Good Friday they redouble their flagella-
tions and choose one of their number who is
crucified on a cross. "The victim does not
always die," says Lummis, who has witnessed
and photographed these exercises several times.
Need we journey to Africa to witness barba-
rism? or to Oberammergau to witness a genuine
Passion Play ?

The Presbyterian Church is expending, prob-
ably, the largest sum of money annually of any
of the Protestant denominations in this field.
Their Avork is well scattered among both the
Mexicans and Indians and the results appear to
warrant the large outlay.

In our own denomination work has been main-
tained for more than forty years among the
Spanish-speaking people in both Territories. We
have numerous small schools in operation. The
Woman's Home Missionary Society does excel-
lent work in maintaining industrial schools,
notably at Albuquerque and Tucson.

Protestantism, and especially Methodism, has
had its martyrs, and some of them sleep in the
soil they consecrated with their blood. In the
year 1875 the Rev. J. F. Tolby was deliberately
shot to death while returning from one of his

108

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

appointments. He is buried on the banks of a
small stream which bears his name. It is pro-
posed to build a memorial church on the spot
where this brave pioneer gave his labor and his
life for Methodism.

Will Methodism measure up to its opportuni-
ties in this land of the turquoise skies and balmy
air?

This is a land of magnificent distances. The Magnificent
Superintendent of the New Mexico English Mis-
sion has an area over which he must travel three
times the size of the State of Pennsylvania,
aside from the entire State of Chihuahua, Old
Mexico. How is that for a Presiding Elder's
district ?

The Arizona Mission covers an area one and
one-half times the area of the State of Kansas,
aside from the State of Sonora, Old Mexico.

These men are heroes, who at this time and
during the past years have cared for the inter-
ests of Methodism in this Southwest.

The Superintendent of the Spanish Mission
Conference declares the Discipline shall travel
the Territories of Arizona and New Mexico;
the State of Colorado; El Paso, Texas; and the
States of Sonora and Chihuahua, in Old Mexico.

This is a territory more than 700 miles square.
Here is w^ork the Church is doing in this region
which is no child 's play.

Strange ideas have some who come from the The oid order
effete East regarding this land of possibilities. ^^^g^^°*^"
No, brother, there is no danger of being scalped
by wild Indians on the streets of Phoenix or
Albuquerque. There are natives to be seen con-

109

Metkodism and the Kepublic

Moral
Beforms

What the
Future Holds

stantly, plenty of them, but they are more law-
abiding than the Easterners who come here to
instruct them — in many instances.

Here are the homes of sturdy Christian men
and women who are doing pioneer work — mak-
ing history, and that rapidly.

The "tiger," the evil genius of gambling, is a
thing of the past in both these Territories. Ee-
speet for law and decency is as much in evi-
dence as anywhere under the flag.

The saloon is a factor to be reckoned with in
all the land, nowhere more than here. It is
fast becoming unpopular in the Southwest.

Home missionary Churches and those who lead
therein are largely responsible for the decrease
of crime and the increase of integrity and
virtue.

Provisions are ample and generous for the
public schools and they are of a high order. At
the head of many an one is an active and dili-
gent Christian man who is not afraid to take his
stand for his convictions.

What of the future and what does it portend?

First of all, the population is assured. The
people are coming and their tread is the tread of
multitudes. Nor are they the sick and penni-
less. The proportion of this class steadily de-
creases, not because of any lack of curative prop-
erties in the Land of Sunshine, but because the
strong and sturdy seek a more hospitable cli-
mate and a breath of God's great out-of-doors.

The untouched mines, dormant since the ear-
liest invaders, are being reopened. In those
days it was profitable to transport only ore of

110

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

the highest grade over the long dreary miles to
a smelter — hence many of these old workings
disclose marvelous wealth.

New and dazzling veins are being opened.
The cattle annually increase, and the millions
of sheep and goats — great staple industries of
both Territories — are turning into gold and sil-
ver as winter's clemency and summer's grass
contribute to fatten and develop.

The best climate — thus they claim who live in
this region — encourages the robust and strong.

The untouched wealth of mountain and mesa
invites the prospector and investor. What, with
timber and mineral, agriculture and grazing,
and over all the ozone and salubrious air, the
future will discover none dare prophesy.

Second, these incoming peoples must be
housed and shepherded.

In the larger towns like Albuquerque, Phoenix
and El Paso the work of a Methodist pastor is
no easy task. The sick must be visited, the torai Duties
dying comforted and the troubled advised. The
endless round of pastoral duties bestowed on the
thousands who have no claim upon the pastor's
time or energy is weakening in the extreme.

Third, both men and money are demanded.
Nor is there any surplus of either for this
region.

Many a man who would be reasonably suc-
cessful in some great Eastern church where
things will care for themselves whether or no,
is more than useless here — he is a detriment to
the development of the work he is appointed to
perform.

Ill

The Cry of
the Hour

Methodism and the Republic

Indeed it has been the drawback to the work,
in these mission fields — the idea possessed by so
many, that anything or any one will do for the
land that God forgot.

The cry of the hour is for both men and
money to open and sustain new fields.

None may discern the future. Where there
was a barren waste when the Conference was
in session, by another year maybe a city, a house
of worship and a work well-nigh self-sustaining.

Very rapidly the larger centers have come to
self-support, but with every such one, a half a
score are organized and demanding timely aid.

Will the greater Methodism heed the call from
this land of opportimity ?

Nor is this a plea for our own sakes. It is
for world-wide Methodism ; wider yet — for
world-wide Christianity. If America be Chris-
tianized the world is Christianized. If this great
The Larger region — bigger than all Norway and Sweden —
^^^^ Arizona and New Mexico alone, is to be vitalized

by a workable Protestant Christianity it must
have both men and money — and in more liberal
measure. Nor may we wait. Nearly a genera-
tion since Professor Phelps said, ''Those whose
speedy conversion is most vital to the conver-
sion of the world are the Occidental nations. ' '
There is no longer a frontier. The Orient and
the Occident have long since met. This West
is made of heroic stuff and outlined in huge pro-
portions.

0 faith of our fathers, awake and hear the
bugle call from these far-stretching plains and
over these eternal mountains, and, hearing, make

112

The Southwest — The Land of Opportunity

possible the fruitage of righteousness in the
foundation work being done by our great arm
of Protestantism ! No piaco for

We are making history — it is being written Laggards
rapidly. Tomorrow will be too late. This is
the time the bones and sinews are in the making.
Today, today hear the cry for help and see the
salvation of our King in the triumph of right-
eousness beside the sun-down sea and across the
mighty expanse of sim-kissed lands we know as
the Southwest.

113

What It Is

What It Is
Not

OUR CHURCH EXTENSION
WORK

REV. ALPHA G. KYNETT, D.D., RECORDING
SECRETARY

I. What is it? It is *' Church Extension,"
the expansion or enlargement of the Church,
the body of Christian believers and workers. It
is growth outwardly from places where it is to
places where it is not. It is the obedience of
God 's coworkers to the Divine command : * * En-
large the place of thy tent, and let them stretch
forth the curtains of thy habitations: spare
not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy
stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right
hand and on the left ; and thy seed shall inherit
the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be
inhabited.'' (Isaiah liv, 2-3.) It is the soul of
the old centurion incarnated in modern life,
for *'He loveth our nation and hath built us a
synagogue.'' It is not church relief. Its
work is not to lift burdens from the shoulders
of others which they can and should bear for
themselves. It is not intended to relieve any
people from the necessity of giving all they can
toward building their own churches. Over and
over again the General Committee has said:
* ' We are fully persuaded that, except in the most
extraordinary cases, no demand should he made
upon the Board for aid in the older communities,

114

Our Church Extension Work

Door

nor for the payment of church debts, unless it
he to avert imminent and otherwise inevitable
disaster in the loss of church property. We en-
treat all to remember that Church Extension
means aggressive movement — the multiplication
of these religious homes so essential to the pros-
perity of the Church and welfare of our coun-
try/' '*Let it be remembered that the whole ^'^'^ °p^°
country is open before us. The field in which
this work is most needed is the West and South.
The frontier States and Territories are being
rapidly penetrated by new lines of railroad,
the country is filling up with marvelous rapid-
ity, and towns and villages are springing up
as by magic. The people are comparatively
poor and have everything to do. Churches are
an imperative necessity to their religious wel-
fare, and they must have aid to procure them.
Builded in time they will prove garners of un-
told resources of Christian power for the future
work of the Church. Never before were such
vast opportunities presented. They cannot be
neglected without great loss to the Church. In
the Southern States there is still abject poverty Lose
and destitution of churches. Our Church has
a mission of vast moment — a mission of elevation
and salvation to the neglected, and of concilia-
tion and peace to all in that wide region. In this
gigantic work Church Extension is in perfect ac-
cord with every other agency of the Church."
Our Home Mission work ''sends out the living
minister to preach the Gospel to the poor; but
where shall he preach ? Where garner the fruits
of his preaching? Where organize his church

115

We Must
Invest or

Methodism and the Republic

Houseless
Preaching
Fruitless

How it
Began

and utilize the power of converted souls for fur-
ther conquests? Where gather the Sunday
school and nourish and train the Church of the
future V * ' These are questions fundamental
to any true and permanent success, and Church
Extension comes in with the answer. It says to
the people, 'Do all you can, and we will help
you.' " With this proffered aid the strength
of the community is called out, the house of
worship is erected, the Gospel is preached, souls
saved, the church planted, the Sunday school
organized; and this work, repeated all along the
advancing lines of the Church militant, is
Church Extension.

II. What is its history? There was a time
when we had no Church Extension work. As
early as 1856, Dr. A. J. Kynett secured the ap-
pointment of a committee, when stationed at
Dubuque, Iowa, to prepare and plan for the or-
ganization of a Church Extension Society. Prof.
S. N. Fellows, in his ''History of the Upper
Iowa Conference," says that in 1858 the ques-
tion was brought to the attention of the Confer-
ence and a Committee on Church Extension, of
which A. J. Kynett was chairman, was ap-
pointed. The financial crisis of 1857 caused
great business depression. Before the country
could rally from this overwhelming financial
distress the Civil War of 1861 was begun. At
one session of the Conference it appeared from
the official reports that twelve churches in the
Upper Iowa Conference were hopelessly in debt,
members scattered and discouraged, mortgages
past due and soon to be foreclosed and churches

IIG

Our Church Extension Work

lost to Methodism. In this emergency the Upper
Iowa Conference Church Extension Society was it Rose in
organized and A. J. Kynett taken from the Pre- *^® ^®^*
siding Eldership and appointed Corresponding
Secretary and General Agent, with instruction
to save these churches if possible. One year
later he reported that ''During the past year,
by the favor of God and liberality of our people,
all the old debts have been removed." ''But
this was not all, ' ' Dr. Fellows continues : ' ' Dr.
Kynett took a v/ider vision of the needs of the
Church in Iowa and the Middle West. He saw
that evangelism was not the sole need of the new
communities that were springing up like magic,
for the newcomers were nominally Christian
and many of them genuinely so. For them the
erection of a visible and suitable house of wor-
ship was the chief need in order to permanently
establish Christianity in this new land. Accord-
ingly he evolved the plan for a Church-wide
movement for Church Extension, and secured conferenc
the adoption of his plan and measure by the Action
General Conference of 1864. On July 1, 1867,
on the death of Dr. Monroe, Dr. Kynett was se-
lected by the Board of Bishops as Correspond-
ing Secretary of the Board of Church Exten-
sion with headquarters at Philadelphia. He was
elected and re-elected by eight successive Gen-
eral Conferences and so for thirty-three years
and until his death he stood at the helm and
guided that great interest of the Church." He
is recognized by the Church generally as the
Founder of Church Extension in American
Methodism. Dr. S. Y. Monroe was the first Cor-

117

Methodism and the Republic

The
Secretaries

The Church
at Work

responding Secretary and served from the
spring of 1865 until his death in February, 1867.
Dr. Kynett called to his aid in 1868 Chaplain
Charles C. McCabe, and for sixteen years they
labored together in loving fellowship. When
Chaplain McCabe was elected to the Correspond-
ing Secretaryship of the Missionary Society, Dr.
William A. Spencer was chosen as the associate
of Dr. Kynett. Then Dr. Manley S. Hard was
added to the force as Additional Assistant Cor-
responding Secretary. When Dr. Kynett died
in 1899, the Bishops selected Rev. Dr. James M.
King to succeed him in association with Dr.
Spencer, and when Dr. Spencer passed away.
Dr. King, as executive, was assisted by Dr.
Hard. On the death of Dr. Hard, Dr. Robert
Forbes was selected by the Bishops as his suc-
cessor, and Drs. Iliff, Parr and Boswell were
selected by the General Committee, Additional
Assistants. On the death of Dr. James M. King,
Dr. Robert Forbes was elected Corresponding
Secretary of the Board of Home Missions and
Church Extension, and Rev. Ward Piatt First
Assistant Corresponding Secretary, and they
are, together with their associates the present
leaders of our Church Extension work.

III. Who does it? The Church does it now.
Formerly the Society bearing the name of the
Church Extension Society did. It was a cor-
poration composed of all who should contribute
to its fund the sum of $1 a year, those contrib-
uting the sum of $20 at one time becoming life
members, whether members of the Church or
not. Its members were scattered throughout

118

Our Church Extension Work

the country and could not be brought together.
Only the very few who attended the yearly meet-
ing could share in its management. Practically
the Society was but a legal fiction and its Board
of Managers was a perpetuating closed corpora-
tion over which the Church had remote and im-
perfect control. Inquiry by the General Confer-
ence of 1872 brought these facts clearly before
that body. With the vastly increasing sums of
money needed it was wise that the General Con-
ference should step in the place of the Society
in its relations to the Board. The change was An Evolution
made by the unanimous concurrent action of
the General Conference, the Society and the
Legislature of Pennsylvania, and since 1872 the
Board of Managers has been elected by the Gen-
eral Conference and is under its direct control.
For forty years the work of Church Extension
was the sole work of the Society and of the
Board, but, in accordance with the action of the
General Conference of 1904, since January 1,
1907, the Board has had added to its responsi-
bility the vast work of Home Missions, and is
now The Board of Home Missions and Church
Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
but the work of Church Extension still con-
tinues to be an exceedingly important depart-
ment.

IV. How is it done ? With money. It cannot
be done without, any more than you can buy
a farm or build a store or house without it. Two Money a
things are necessary: first, get the money where Z^q^
it is to be had, and, second, apply it where the
work is to be done,

119

Methodism and the Republic

How is the money obtained?

1. By collections in all our congregations.
Each Conference and each congregation within
it is asked for a definite sum as the least that
should be given for Home Missions and Church
Extension, and the General Committee has di-
rected that one-fourth of the collections received
shall be devoted to the department of Church
Extension, which in turn is also to pay one-
fourth of all the expenses incurred.

2. By bequests and special donations, as, for
instance, to the Mountain Fund, where $100 will
secure the erection of a church worth from $500 to
$600 above the cost of the ground, and especially
to the Frontier Memorial churches where, with

Donations for ^ gift of $250, the donor is permitted to name
Various Funds the cliurch as a memorial for some loved one,
and the Board agrees to secure the erection of
a church building worth at least $1,250 above
the cost of the ground. The actual fact is that
the average value secured in over 850 such gifts
is between $1,500 and $1,800. The Board ear-
nestly solicits many such donations.

3. By contributions to the Loan Fund. The
plan as set forth in the preamble and resolutions
adopted at its inauguration is as follows :

"Whereas, The demands made upon us for
means to carry forward the work of Church Ex-
tension are largely in excess of our receipts from
annual collections ; and

Whereas, A large proportion of the work we
are called upon to do may be accomplished by
temporary loans; and

Whereas, The fields are white already to the

120

Our Church Extension Work

harvest, and the present is our golden oppor-
tunity; therefore,

Resolved, 1. That we most earnestly invite
special contributions from all our people to es-
tablish in our treasury a Loan Fund to be con-
trolled by the Board of Church Extension un- Fund
der the following restrictions :

First. — No part of said fund shall ever be do-
nated for any purpose or used for current ex-
penses, but shall be preserved without diminu-
tion a perpetual fund.

Second. — Said fund may be loaned to any
church or society without interest in small sums,
in no case exceeding $5,000 ; or with interest, as
occasion may require, and the Board shall from
time to time determine, in aid of the objects of
the Board of Church Extension.

Resolved, 2. That sums of $5,000 and upward,
contributed by any one person, church or Con-
ference, maj^ be named by the contributor, and
shall constitute a separate Loan Fund, and the
Corresponding Secretary shall report annually
the investment thereof and the work accom-
plished thereby.

The best epitome of this plan was given by
Bishop Kingsley at the meeting to consider it,
November, 1868. He then said of it :

*'I am exceedingly well pleased with the Loan
Fund feature of the Board of Church Exten-
sion. I can think of nothing that impresses me
more favorably, or as favorably, as putting
money into this Loan Fund to go on repeating
itself and reproducing its blessings from age to
age. It does not stop simply with the first hless-

121

The Loan

Methodism and the Republic

A Manifold

Blessing

The Annuity
Fund

ing. It helps huild one church, and comes hack
ivith the glad tidings of what it has done, and
goes again and builds, or helps to huild, another
church, and coming hack again, says: ^Here am
I, send me,' and goes again and again."

4. By contributions to the Annuity Fund.
This feature was added by the Board hy resolu-
tion adopted January 6, 1869, which provided
*'That the Corresponding Secretary be author-
ized to agree with any persons who may have
means to be devoted to religious uses, but who
may need or desire the income from the same
during their lifetime, to pay them an annuity
equal to a reasonable interest on the amount
they may contribute to our Loan Fund — the said
interest to be paid annually, semi-annually, or
quarterly, as the contributor may desire."

This plan has been repeatedly endorsed by the
General Committee and by the General Confer-
ence. The acceptance of contributions subject
to life annuities is under the following restric-
tions :

1. Those of the Charter:

(a.) ''That all amounts received shall be
loaned by the Board on adequate securities. ' '

(&.) "That the aggregate amount of annuities
that the Board shall assume to pay shall never
be allowed to exceed the annual interest receiv-
able on the loans made by the Board."

2. Those fixed hy the General Committee:
"That the rates paid on sums received on an-
nuity shall in no case exceed the rates paid un-
der the same circumstances by reliable annuity
and trust companies."

122

Our Church Extension Work

3. Those fixed by the By-Laws of the Board:

For many years the Annuity Fund was ad-
ministered as a part of the Loan Fund, and the
principal was loaned to churches. More re-
cently, however, the funds have been divided so
that now the Annuity Fund consists ''of all
moneys or other property contributed to and ac-
cepted by the Board, subject to the payment of
annuity, and of all sums received for interest
on the same. It is charged with all sums that
shall be disbursed for the payment of annuities, ^JJy^^*^
and with any loss or depreciation in value on protected
disposal of property in said Fund, and also with
an equitable proportion of the current expenses
of the administration of the business of the
Board. The net residue of all moneys or other
property hereafter contributed and accepted
subject to annuity, but not otherwise directed
by the contributor, shall at the termination and
final adjustment of said annuity be credited to
and merged to the Loan Fund."

The property of the Annuity Fund has been
invested in interest-bearing bonds of the highest
character, and at present is fully protected by
such bonds, dollar for dollar.

The condition of affairs before the inaugura-
tion of Church Extension was described by the
Honorable Hiram Price, of Iowa, in a speech at
the eighth anniversary, held in Arch Street
Church, Philadelphia, on Thursday evening, No-
vember 20, 1873. He illustrated by a leaf of his
experience :

''When, thirty years ago, I left the banks of
the 'Blue Juniata,' and went beyond the Mis-

123

Methodism and the Republic

sissippi, I foTind there in the suburbs of the
village where I now live a little church, 24 x 36,
walls 14 feet high. The seats were free — free
A Bit of from upholstery, free from paint, free from
Experience backs — but there was a choice of seats even
there. The best were made of slabs from the
sawmill, with the flat side up. On the other
side, holes had been bored and pins put in for
legs. Others were made in a similar way, of
poles split through the middle. They were of
the poorest kind of seats in which to take a nap
during the sermon. We had on the church no
cupola, belfry or spire, but we had a judgment
upon it, and an execution in the hands of the
sheriff. There were but few members belonging
to that church, and they were poor. I added
two to its membership, but not much to its
finances, for I belonged to that numerous and
very respectable class of people who were born
barefooted. My business made it necessary for
me to come to Philadelphia, and I endeavored
to find out how to get access to some church and
make a Church Extension speech and take up
a Church Extension collection. Arriving on
Saturday, I went to church on Fourth Street, on
Sunday morning, and suppose I heard a good
sermon, though I remember only the concluding
sentence, which I will give you presently. I sat
about thirty feet from the pulpit, in the gallery,
and while sitting there and looking down on that
congregation, I thought about that little church
away off on the sun-down side of the Mississippi
with no fence around it, nor anything attrac-
tive about it. I thought of that judgment, and

124

Our Church Extension Work

the execution in the hands of the sheriff, and
said to myself, if I could get the useless orna-
ments of the apparel of that congregation, how
nicely I could fix up that little church. Thus I
sat dreaming,

" 'Dreaming dreams no mortal ever dreamed before,'

and was awakened from my reverie by the
preacher's concluding sentence: Feel's

** ' Thine 's all the glory; man's the boundless
bliss.'

"The next day I went to the house of the
preacher, rang the bell, and told the servant
what I wanted and was told that I could not see
him. I argued the case, but it was of no use.
Returning to my quarters, I wrote the preacher
a letter setting forth the necessities of the case,
but I have never received an answer to that let-
ter. Greater men than I, however, have written
better letters, and yet never received any answer.
Paul never got an answer to his letter to the
Ephesians, so far as I am informed.

''Now, if there had been a Church Extension
Board, I would have gone to the office and told
the Secretary just what I needed, and he could
have presented my case to the Board, and they
would have afforded the needed aid ; or we could
have sent in our application in the regular way
and received aid. But there was no Board of
Church Extension and nobody to go to for aid,
and I had to go home and say to our little strug-
gling band, we will have to manage this thing
somehow ourselves."

Contrast that experience with the following

125

How the
Other Man

Methodism and the Republic

Summary of
Success

A New
CaU

table, which shows the growth of Methodism and
the value of our Church Extension work :

Churches

Value

Members

Sunday schools

Officers and teachers

Scholars

Missionary collections

Conf. claimants collections.

Parsonages

Value of parsonages

1864

1908

9,430

29,523

$24,000,000

$160,094,875

830,000

3,303,221

13,000

34,356

148,000

361,875

859,700

3,007,677

§490,000

$3,012,107

578,000

$401,053

2,853

18,079

$2,790,150

$26,629,150

Gain

20,093

$136,094,876

2,473,221

21,356

213,375

2,147,677

$2,522,107

$323,05;:5

10,226

$23,839,000

That is — two-thirds of the church buildings
the Methodist Episcopal Church now owns have
been erected since the foundation of Church Ex-
tension, and one-half of all the churches — that is,
15,000 — have been built with aid furnished by
the Board through donations or loans, aggre-
gating over $9,250,000.

The field for Church Extension work, the
need and the opportunity are not diminishing,
but on the contrary, vastly increasing. More
than 50,000 people per month, largety Ameri-
can-born, are passing up into the Pacific North-
west. More than 100,000 per month are pouring
down through St. Louis and Kansas City to the
vast Southwest. New Methodist empires are
being created. Vast sections of our national do-
mains are thrown open in the erection of great
railroad lines, so that never before in the West
or in the South were there so many calls for help
from our Church Extension funds. Home Mis-
sions provides the message and the man ; Church
Extension provides the place and means for the
permanent occupation of our land for Christian-
ity and Methodism.

126

OUR PEOPLE OF FOREIGN
SPEECH

NEW ENGLAND

A MISSIONARY FIELD

BY REV. D. B. HOLT, D.D., PASTOR WESLEY METHO-
DIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, BATH, ME.

New England was settled by a people thrifty,
religious, Protestant and lovers of education.
As they spread their settlements over the coun- oid New
try, they were careful, first of all, to build the ^^^land
meetinghouse and the schoolhouse. Their de-
scendants retained these characteristics. No
wonder such a people, scattering west and south,
have made their influence felt. They have been
important factors in building States, establish-
ing industries, founding colleges, multiplying
churches throughout the whole country. For
years New England led in religion and educa-
tion. A larger percentage of its people were com-
municants of churches and a smaller percentage
were illiterate than in any other section. But
in the last fifty years a decided change has come
over this part of the country, a change so marked
that we may speak of a new New England. And
this latter is not equal to the former in religion ^j^^ ^^^^
and education. Not that New England churches order
have ceased to be active, or her schools to be
efficient; but the advance is by no means in
proportion to the increase of population.
There has come a marked decrease in church
attendance, a decline in membership and an

129

Methodism and the Republic

Religions
Indifference

Causes of

Marked

Change

increase in illiteracy and crime. There has
spread over this whole section a certain indif-
ference to religious matters. The Sabbath is
not observed as formerly. Each year seems to
increase these conditions. The Christian Church
in New England is facing a grave problem and
struggling w^ith a difficult situation. The hope-
ful circumstance is that the Christian people of
this section are realizing the situation and stir-
ring themselves up to meet it.

The causes of the change are various. Some
of them common to the whole country; some
peculiar to itself. A period of marked business
prosperity is generally a time of religious de-
clension. This has been true in New England.
For the past twenty-five or thirty years, in par-
ticular, manufacturing industries have largely
increased. Cities and larger towns have profited
by this. The opening of better local markets has
helped agriculture to some extent. The com-
mercial spirit has outstripped the religious.
Men absorbed in money-making cease to be
deeply interested in spiritual things.

The deeper cause is a difference in the people.
A threefold change has been taking place. There
have been an emigration, a migration and an
immigration. During the thirty years fol-
lowing the Civil War a steady stream of people
were going out of New England. These were
of the best native stock — young people lured by
the larger opportunities of the West. The census
of 1900 shows about 550,000 New England born,
living in other parts of the country. Probably
the estimate that 800,000 native New Englanders

130

New England

Migration

emigrated, is not unreasonable. That would be
like wiping the two States, Vermont and Rhode
Island, off the map. Such an exodus could not
fail to have a great effect on church life.
The work has been seriously weakened in hun-
dreds of communities.

At the same time there has been a considerable
migration by the passing of people from small ^^^^'^*^°^
towns to larger villages and cities. Manufac-
turing industries afford better remuneration than
the rocky hillside farms. Take the State of Maine
for an example. During the decade ending with
1890, the sixteen cities of Maine gained in popu-
lation 25,830, w^hile the outside territory lost
13,680. The same cities in 1900 showed a
gain for the decade of 29,036, while the outside
territory gained 4,344. This gain was confined
to a few manufacturing towns; the country
towns lost steadily. This change precipitates
the problem of the rural church and, for another
reason, does not solve the problems of the city
church. What has taken place in Maine is true
of other New England States. In many towns
it has become utterly impossible to support relig-
ious work without outside help. Methodism, in
particular, with less money at her command than Methodism
some other denominations, has been obliged to
abandon many fields. The time has passed when
untrained men can be sent as preachers to even
small towns with any hope of success. And to
find trained men who can give their time and
strength for such prospects and support as is
furnished in these communities, is impossible.

The heaviest part of the problem comes from

131

Hard Pressed

Methodism and the Republic

Food for
Reflection

Foreign
Population

Aliens
Predominate

immigration. It may not be generally under-
stood that New England receives a larger relative
proportion of the immense foreign immigration
than any other section of the country. These
two tables will furnish food for reflection :

Percentage of Foreign Born Population in 190O

United States 13.6

Maine 13 4

Massachusetts 30.2

Rhode Island 31.4

New Hampshire 21.4

Connecticut 26.2

Vernaont 13.0

Percentage of Popui-ation Born of Foreign Parents
From 1870 to 1900

1870

1890

1900

14.6
14.0
25.3
48.0
48.7
37.9

22.9
32.2
31.4
56.2
58.6
50.3

28.8

New Hampshire

40.9

34.1

62.3

Rhode Island

64.2

57.3

The rate has increased since 1900. Massa-
chusetts has today 65 percent born of foreign
parents, and is the most foreign State in the
Union. Rhode Island and Connecticut are close
seconds. These three States have five cities that
have a larger foreign percentage than New York,
Chicago or San Francisco. The change in
Maine and New Hampshire has been most rapid.
In Maine, from 1890 to 1900, the native born in-
creased 3.3 percent, the foreign born 18.2 per-
cent. In New Hampshire the increase was 6.3
percent and 21.8 percent. About 400,000 aliens
have come into New England since 1900. It is
as if a completely foreign State as populous as
New Hampshire had been added. If children,

132

New England

parents and grandparents are reckoned, not one-
quarter of the people of the three southern New
England States is of the old stock. These facts oid stock
are startling. Is it any wonder that churches vanishing
have relatively declined during the last thirty
years, or that they are well nigh appalled at the
magnitude of the problem confronting them?
Vice-President Charles W. Fairbanks, a few
weeks since, standing under the Old Elm in
Boston Common, where Jesse Lee preached the
first Methodist sermon in New England, said:
''The American citizen of the future is to be the
best citizen of all the world, and one of the great
influences to make this ideal citizenship is the
great Church." To convert this tremendous
inrush of foreign elements into good American ^ Herculean
citizenship is a herculean task for the Christian Task
churches of New England. To their honor, be
it said, they are meeting this great responsi-
bility with heavier effort. It is doubtful if
heavier sacrifices are being made anywhere in
American Llethodism than here. One of our
Bishops said some years ago, that he knew of no
Methodist ministers who were working so hard,
for so small salaries, as those of the East Maine
Conference. It is also true that nowhere are the ig ^iiig
people paying so much per member for the sup- Equitable?
port of the ministry as in the two Maine con-
ferences. The work among the foreign people
is not forgotten. New England Methodism is
carrying on work in at least ten different lan-
guages. The work might be greatly increased
if more means was available. The Congregation-
alists of New England are leading us in this

133

Procession?

Methodism and the Republic

work. They are supporting work in twenty for-
eign languages and are putting about $100,000
shau We a year into it. Other denominations are also
Head this ^ active. The Baptists, in particular, with larger
means are doing far more than Methodism is.
It seems as though the time had fully come
when New England should be regarded as mis-
sionary ground and Methodist work should re-
ceive more generous aid from the general fund,
or in sheer self-defense New England Metho-
dism must limit her missionary zeal and offerings
to her own borders.

134

THE NEW FRANCE OF
AMERICA

BY REV. E. C. E. DORION, D.D., PASTOR PLYMOUTH

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH,

PLYMOUTH, N, H.

New France has become a reality. The dream
of Louis XIV has been realized. True, not in
the sense in which it first appeared, but never-
theless it has become a fact. And New France is
in New England. Coming by the way of Canada,
the sons and daughters of ancient Gaul have
established themselves in the cities of the Puri-
tans, spinning the wool and weaving the cotton
that is to clothe a Nation. Here they are a a Million
million strong and more, potent in their influ- strong
ence, acquiring property, filling political offices,
transforming the land of the Fathers of this
Nation to meet their likings.

It is the proud boast of Methodism that it
preaches the Gospel in this country in twenty-
five different languages and dialects. Looked at ^^ Twenty-
from certain standpoints, there is no language Languages
that it employs that is more important to the
future of this Nation than the French. The
Fathers of Methodism seem to have understood
this when they organized the Home Missionary
Society for the expressed purpose of using that
language among the people of Louisiana. Now
the theatre of action has shifted, and we find
ourselves as a denomination spending practi-

135

Methodism and the Republic

They

Dominate

Cities

French

in

Prejudices

cally all of our efforts in this language in the
New England States. With the single exception
of a flourishing work in the city of Chicago, this
is an actual fact. And there is reason for this.

An American from another part of the coun-
try can scarcely realize the large number of
French Canadians to be found in these centers.
The city of Manchester, N. H., alone has more
than 6,000 more of these people than there are
native-born in that city. And the same proportion
holds true in centers like Fall River, Holyoke,
Woonsocket, Lawrence, Lowell — to mention only
a few of the larger places. New England is
New France. This is forcibly emphasized every
now and then, when the patriotic organizations
of this people parade the streets carrying their
own particular banners and calling upon all to
be true to their o^vn nationality. An alert clergy
sees to it that the people remain French in their
prejudices, for it is only thus, they claim, that
they will remain Roman Catholic. Hence their
attempt in certain quarters to keep them from
learning even the English language. Said one
of these prelates in public: "Do not learn to
speak English, or, if you do, speak it just
enough to do business. There is nothing that I
love to hear better than a French Canadian
speaking poor English. * ^

It is among this people with their little Can-
adas and their foreign prejudices that our
Church is attempting to do work in the French
language. And well might it be done, for among
all the foreigners who come to this country there
is none that will make a better citizen when once

136

Works

of France

The New France of America

he is Americanized. He is God-fearing, home
loving, peace abiding. Let him once be given
the light and liberty of the Gospel and he will
become a son in whom the Nation will take pride.

It is interesting in this connection to remem-
ber that the first work done among the French ^l^'^,"^^^^*
on this continent was undertaken by the Metho-
dists. It was back in 1815, when John de
Pudron was sent to Canada by the Missionary
Society of the English Wesleyans. He reported
that he found the people ignorant and super-
stitious. It is not to be wondered at. France
after the conquest had left them to their fate.
Many of the better classes had returned home.
The light of pure Christianity had been denied
them, as France had over and over again re- ^^^1^°^^^
fused to allow the Huguenots to find a haven
on Canadian soil. Only here and there was there
a Protestant family. Ignorance had grown, and
superstition had been fostered. But it was not
to remain thus. Soon we see other missionaries
making their way across the waters to preach the
Gospel to this people. They build churches, they
found institutions of learning, they establish
religious periodicals. Out of it all there comes
a strong Protestant following, which has grad-
ually grown until it is to be found on both sides
of the line affiliated with all of the leading
denominations.

It was not until 1870 that work was begun
by any denomination in the United States on
behalf of the French Canadians. In that year
the American Baptist Missionary Society ap-
pointed the Rev. Narcisse Cyr as general mission-

137

Methodism and the Republic

A Faithful
Remnant

Bishop
Mallalieu

Hopeful

Beginnings

ary among the French. They were followed in
1877 by the Congregationalists, when the Rev.
T. G. A. Cote established the first church of that
denomination among the French in the city of
Lowell. A few years later our Church began
work. The nucleus of nearly all these congrega-
tions were French Protestant who had come into
the manufacturing centers to labor in the mills.
With these as a beginning, organizations were
formed and around them soon gathered others
who, coming from Roman Catholicism, found in
these churches the light which they needed. But
long before these churches were organized or any
formal work was carried on, there gathered in
various parts of New England the believers who
had brought their faith with them to their new-
found home.

Prominently identified with our work has been
Bishop Mallalieu, who has it in his heart in a re-
markable degree. It was back in the early
eighties that the foundations of this evangeliza-
tion of the French Canadians by the Methodist
Episcopal Church were laid. Our work at pres-
ent is carried on in Manchester, Dover, Laconia
and Lawrence, in the New Hampshire Confer-
ence, and in Worcester and Lowell, in the New
England, beside other places that are visited
by our men with more or less regularity and as
the occasion demands.

It is only within a short time that work has
been begun in the city of Lawrence, in charge of
the Rev. Bernard Lizette, a young man who at
one time studied for the priesthood and has had
a most remarkable conversion. Already he has a

138

The New France of America

goodly number who await on the ministry of the
Word, while some fifty children are gathered
regularly in the Simday school. "We are plan-
ning the organization of a church here very
soon.

It is difficult to tabulate; as a matter of fact,
almost impossible. Few are the statistics to be
had concerning this work. The French Cana-
dians move a great deal. But there is this one
thing to be borne in mind, wherever they go they
carry with them the good seed. Still another
difficulty in tabulation is that many of the con- They Join
verts, especially the younger generation, have cSinihes
found their way into the American churches and
have become a part of these bodies. It is well
that this should be so, but this must not be for-
gotten when looking at the seemingly meager
results that have been attained.

The crying need is for workers of intelligence
and consecration. The Church itself must be
awakened to the importance of this branch of
the vineyard. Very often where work is the
most needed, there is foimd opposition to it on
the part of the official board. There must also
be a recognition of the worth of the French
Canadian as a most desirable citizen, who needs
but to be taught the more excellent way. If we obtuse
who are Protestants have it, it becomes our duty ^^^^^^
under the terms of the great commission to lead
him to walk therein. If it were possible to
secure the training of a number of French
Canadian Protestant girls as deaconesses and
then utilize them in some of the American
churches that are located in French Canadian

139

Methodism and the Republic

centers, much might be accomplished. Certain
it is that the Church of the living God, bearing
Take This ^^^ name of Mcthodist, ought to awaken to its
To Heart great obligation and opportunity here in New
England. We have done and are doing some-
thing, but how little compared with the demands
of the situation.

140

GREEKS AND PORTUGUESE

BY DR. W. I. HAVEN, SECRETARY OP THE AMERICAN
BIBLE SOCIETY

Of all the astonishing army of immigration
peacefully invading this great Republic, perhaps
the smallest regiments are those that march under
the pennant of Portugal and the blue and white
cross of Greece. The notable change, however,
by which the center of the starting point of this
foreign invasion has shifted from the North of a New
Europe to the ancient capital on the Bosphorus, starting
brings one of these regiments into more conspicu- ^^^^^
ous relations to this problem of our future citi-
zenship. The number of incoming Greeks has
increased remarkably in the last few years. The
Portuguese immigration has been a small but
somewhat steady one for many years. The two
peoples apparently have little in common. Liv-
ing at the opposite extremes of the Mediterra-
nean, the Portuguese are only by courtesy
counted as Mediterranean people at all. Vary-
ing in religion; one belonging to the Western,
and the other to the Eastern branch of Christen- They Have
dom; differing in language, in racial habits and ^^"^® ^^
in temperament, there seems to be no reason why
they should be classed together, and yet both
are included in what is termed **The Iberic
grand division'' of races, as compared with the
Teutonic, Celtic, Slavic and other divisions.

141

Methodism and the Republic

The Stream
Widens

They Come
in Families

Young
People

The Portuguese immigrant comes not so much
from the mainland of Portugal itself as from the
Cape Verde and other outlying islands. For the
year ending June 30, 1906, the last year of
published record, a total of 8,729 Portuguese
entered this country, 8,517 of them from Portu-
gal and the Cape Verde and Azore Islands, and
the others from different parts of the world.
This was an advance of over 3,000 on the num-
bers coming from the same regions in the year
1905. During the last six months ending the
1st of September, 1907, 6,852 immigrants from
Portugal have come into this country, which is
nearly as many for this six months as during the
whole year ending June 30, 1906. The only pur-
pose of the use of these figures is to show the
increasing numbers of these peoples which are
coming to be wrought into the body of our citi-
zenship.

One of the characteristics of Portuguese immi-
gration is the fact that families come together.
The proportion of females to the whole number of
Portuguese immigrants is noticeably large. Dur-
ing the year, according to the last published re-
port of the Commissioner of Immigration, there
were 3,633 females who entered this country in
company with 5,096 males; and very nearly all
of these were between the ages of fourteen and
forty-four years, only 187 being over forty-
five — 580 being children under fourteen.

This is not by any means characteristic of the
total wave of immigration which consists so re-
markably of young men, giving rise to the start-
ling figures of the Statesmen 's Year Book, which

142

Greeks and Portuguese

show that while the total immigrant foreign-born
population of the United States in 1900 was only
13.6 percent of the total population, the per-
centage, by the way, varjdng only a trifle from
the percentage of foreign-born population of
1860, namely, 13.2 percent, and in 1880. 13.3
percent, yet in 1900, of the 20,822,733 males of
voting age, twenty-one years and over, 4,981,400,
or nearly one-fourth, were of foreign birth.

The Portuguese population of this Republic
must be at the present time in the neighborhood
of 50,000 souls. A quiet, unobtrusive, domestic
people, they have not, in common with the other
immigration, sought the great cities of the coun-
try and distributed themselves far and wide
throughout the Nation ; they have curiously con-
fined themselves to two or three localities. Nearly
all of the Portuguese in the United States are
located either along the eastern coast of New
England or on the Pacific Slope. In many of
the towns in Rhode Island; in the ancient city
of New Bedford ; along the shores of Cape Cod,
everywhere will be found Portuguese settle-
ments. Many of those weather-beaten, gray-
shingled houses on the little, narrow cobble-stone
streets of Provincetown, and the other shore
communities of Cape Cod that used to be occu-
pied by the well-to-do families of the old whal-
ing interests, are now the homes of these new-
comers. So far as this country is concerned,
the Portuguese are chiefly interested in the fish-
ing industries. They, however, work in the mills
in the winter and have had a little to do with
the clothing trade in Boston. In all these towns

143

One-Fourth
Our Voters

Where They
Live

Methodism and the Republic

there has been something of a sympathetic out-
reach towards them on the part of the native
American population ; but inasmuch as they are
Roman Catholic in religion, as well as alien in
Little Done spccch, many obstacles have to be overcome. The
as Yet Methodist Episcopal Church and the Congrega-

tionalist churches in New England have workers
among them, and the local pastors have ap-
proached them, but so far there has been little
incorporation of these peoples into the old
churches, and very few successful mission
churches established amongst them, though a be-
ginning has been made. The other local neigh-
borhood to which Portuguese immigrants find
their way is California. The most hopeful
region of Protestant mission work among the
Portuguese, strangely enough, is in the islands
of the Pacific Ocean, where many have become
not only earnest Christian converts, but also mis-
sionaries themselves.

The Greek population in the United States
probably exceeds 60,000, and is increasing much
more rapidly than the Portuguese. It is of
recent origin, relatively. The Portuguese, ac-
cording to Professor Commons, found their way
to America most accidentally, *'for it was the
What Came WTCck of a Portuguese vessel on the New Eng-
from a Wreck land coast that first directed their attention to
that section." This was many years ago. The
Greeks have only recently been attracted to this
country, but now they are coming in consider-
able numbers. While possibly not as stable and
unobtrusive an element in our national life as
the Portuguese, the Greeks are certainly a most

144

Greeks and Portuguese

Sensitive to

attractive and interesting addition to this won-
derful ''olla-podrida" served for the digestion
of the American people. The imagination cannot
help being stirred at the thought of the immigra-
tion of the descendants of the marvelous repub-
lics of ancient Greece to this new and undreamed
of Republic of America. While it may seem to
many a far cry from the modern Greek to Praxi-
teles, Aristides, Demosthenes, Herodotus and Ancient
Pericles, from the fruit and flower booths in our Greece
cities to the glories of the Acropolis, yet it is
a fact to be reckoned with that few peoples of
the European world have preserved with more
intensity the memory of their past and are more
sensitive to their ancient glories than the Greeks.
The modern Greek language has not traveled so
far from the Greek of the classics as one might
think, and there are strange conservative forces
dominating the Greeks today that make them
build their present cities on the lines of their
ancient architecture and cause them even by law
to require that the Scriptures which are circu-
lated in Greece shall be in the ancient language.
I doubt if there is a Greek in this country today
that does not bear in his heart the traditions of ,. ^.

Marathon

Marathon and Salamis as surely as the migrating and saiamis
New Englanders remember Lexington and Bun-
ker Hill. They are a proud people.

During the year ending June 30th, 1906,
23,127 Greeks entered this country, only 861 of
them females — nearly the entire number between
fourteen and forty-four years of age; 19,489
males from Greece itself and almost all the rest
from Turkey in Europe. This was an advance

145

He Cherishes

Methodism and the Republic

Whence

Come

They?

Why They
Come

Why They
Stay

of nearly 9,000 over 1905. During the six
months ending September 1st, 1907, 23,051 have
arrived at the port of New York, a larger total
than the entire arrival of the year ending June
30, 1906, which has been quoted. This gives
some impression of the remarkable and rapid
increase in the inflow from this fountain-head.
Where do these Greeks come from, and what are
their occupations and customs and beliefs at
home? As has been seen, they are nearly all
young men, or men in middle life. They come
from the mountains and valleys of the Pelopon-
nesus, some from Macedonia, others from Turkey,
others from Egypt. Women are just beginning
to come. At home most of these men are farm-
ers, raising grapes and other crops in the little
country villages and communities of their beauti-
ful land. They are practically all members of
the Greek Church, more or less familiar with the
Scriptures as recited or intoned by the priests
in the services of that Church. They have come
to this country in most cases to make money.
Many of them have an idea of going back home
to their country after they have enriched them-
selves here, but relatively few of them go back.
The attractions of our civilization, intermarriage
with other populations, either of foreign birth
or native born, the impossibilities of taking up
their new modes of life in the communities from
which they came, all hold them in this country.
Unlike the Portuguese, who seem to be planted
in only a few sections of this country, the Greeks
go everj^where. They are found in every city,
large and small, throughout the Nation. At first

146

Grreeks and Portuguese

they turn their hand to anything that comes
along in the way of manual labor, blacking Ready
shoes on shoestands, in ferryboats, railway sta- Adaptation
tions, etc., doing menial service in the great
buildings under the superintendence of janitors,
working in hotels, and later opening fruit, con-
fectionery, and flower stores. Almost all the
flower stands in some of our great cities are in
the hands of Greeks. They also, from catering
to their own people, become restaurant keepers,
and many of their restaurants are frequented by
all sorts and conditions of city life. They are
enterprising, stirring people. Professor Steiner
says of the modem Greek, "He is no plunger.
He moves along a straight and narrow way ^^°^^^

which leadeth to a big bank account

He is industrious and temperate, yet he likes to
lounge about the saloons, where he sometimes
gets too much of his native wine, and then he
can be a really bad fellow. The big cities spe-
cially attract them.'*

There are thirteen or fourteen thousand
Greeks in New York, and nearly as many in Chi-
cago. They have their Greek churches in this
country, with their priests and their ritual.
Many of them do not go to church at all, but
they do not affiliate with or become Roman Cath- Protestant
olics. A little Protestant work is being done App^^^ach
among them. Missionaries representing city
mission and other home mission activities of the
Protestant churches have work in Lowell and
Boston, Mass., in New York and Albany,
N. Y., and in Chicago, 111., specially. There
are Greek students in Mt. Hermon, in Spring-

147

Methodism and the Republic

field, Mass., and in Crozier Seminary, in Penn-
sylvania.
Demand for The demand for the modern Greek Scriptures

the Scriptures among these people, though slight, is steadily in-
creasing. The issues from the American Bible
Society show 384 Bibles and Testaments in mod-
ern Greek called for during the year ending
March 31, 1903, and 935 Bibles and Testaments
during the year ending March 31, 1907.

Almost all this male Greek population takes
out naturalization papers, indicating their pur-
pose of becoming a part of this Nation. At
present, living as they do in flats, men crowded
together without the opportunities and ideals of
home life, they are less accessible to our Amer-
ican Christianity, which is organized on the unit
of the home. There is, however, a great work
for young men to do to become acquainted with
and welcoming to their brotherhoods these wide-
awake, intellectually active, Greek brethren.
When their women begin to follow them in large
numbers to this country, so that the ideals and
privileges of home life are restored to them, it
ought to be possible to win among them many a
spiritual convert like Damaris and Dionysius,
and to establish Christian churches as devout as
those of Berea and Thessalonica. To this end
ought not our Methodism to pray and labor?

A Special
Work for
Young Men

148

THE ITALIAN IN AMERICA

DR. FREDERICK H. WRIGHT, LATE PRESIDINSI ELDER
IN ITALY

America is another word for opportunity.
The oppressed of other nations conjure with
the word, until the fever to emigrate to the
promised land of milk and honey is so high
that large sections of the old country are being
deserted, and this year's record will beat all
previous ones in the number who have landed
on our shores. Before the year closes, we shall
doubtless have reached the million and three-
quarters line. Of this number 225,000 are illit- An Army of
erates over fourteen years of age. The Italian ^"^^^^^^^^^
contingent in round figures will number over
200,000, and the vast majority of these are illit-
erates.

To the average mind these figures are simply
appalling, and native-born Americans are in-
clined to become pessimistic. A recent writer in
a New York daily calls for strong measures, de-
cidedly suggestive of lynch law, to suppress the
Italians, and calls himself a native American.
This is a cowardly method of meeting the prob-
lem, but it represents the attitude of quite a
number of Americans, and the vast majority of a cowardly
our citizenship is considerably alarmed over the ^®*^°*^
condition, and are prone to view the invasion
of this country by aliens, particularly by

149

Vain to

Methodism and the Republic

Italians, as a dangerous menace to our time-
honored institutions. But as long as we re-
member *Hhe pit from whence we were digged,
and the rock from whence we were hewn,"
we will face the subject with a stout heart and
rrgw;'^ stop questioning the motives of an overruling

Providence Providcuce who is sending the foreigners to our
shores from every race and all climes, in order
that we may give them new ideals of living,
socially, morally and religiously.

On the other hand we must guard ourselves
from a false optimism, as in a thoughtless way
we dismiss the subject with the conclusion that
our powers of assimilation are great enough to
take in the whole world. A careless attitude
How to Invite towards this question will reap disaster, and all
Disaster good American citizens will not be satisfied with

such a summary treatment of this important
matter.

To condemn all Southern Europe immigration
as undesirable is both unjust and unreasonable.
The social conditions, it is true, are different to
ours, the mode of living is entirely foreign to us
and the religious environment is so opposed to
ours as to make the effort to assimilate a very
difficult one, but it is not a hopeless task. Let
us see what the characteristics of the Italian
immigrant are, and then we shall be able to

A Closer T . ^ . T . , .,.

View decide as to their desirability.

I. The Italian is Industrious. — Any one
familiar with the Italian will not be long in
deciding as to the truth of this statement. There
are exceptions to every rule, but Gladstone has
well said that he had ceased criticising a nation

150

The Italian in America

for the faults of individuals. If we occasion-
ally see a lazy, shirking Italian, we should not
forget that there are just as occasionally, lazy, About Like
shirking Americans. A visit to the vine-clad ourselves
hills of Italy where the barren rocks have been
made to bloom, will convince any one that the
Italians are industrious. Yet they learn to beg
from the cradle to the grave in their own land;
the genius of their religion encourages it, but
they forget to beg when they get to this coun-
try. It is a rare thing to see an Italian tramp.
Their record on this line is better than their
Irish compeers whose place they are taking to a
great extent. With a population of 300,000
Irishmen in New York City, 1,564 Irish tramps ^^^^ ^^^^ ^
went to Blackwell's Island in one year, while Good Record
during the same period, with a population of
half a million Italians, only sixteen were tramps.
With such facts before us, shall we be justified
in stigmatizing the Italian as undesirable?

II. The Italian is Arnbitious. — The unam-
bitious stay at home. These are perfectly con-
tent with their present condition, and they live
from hand to mouth all their days, and never
go beyond their own township. We have their
duplicates in America. I met a fairly intelli-
gent woman the other day who was bom in
New York State nearly sixty years ago, and yet
she had never once been on a train. Such an
element does little for the development of a
country. But the Italian who comes to America,
already poverty-stricken, makes tremendous He Loves His
sacrifices so that he may give his children a children
chance in the race of life. He will deny him-

151

[Methodism and the Eepublic

A Homesick
Brother

You Would
Love Him
If You Knew
Him

Bad Example
of Americans

self of the actual necessities, so that he may save
up money enough to emigrate to the promised
land across the sea. Self-exiled, he suffers all
the hardships incident to a life in a foreign
land, grows homesick for his family, and after
weary months of patient waiting, finally suc-
ceeds in saving enough to send for his wife and
children. I saw an Italian the other day on
Long Island who was earning $10 a week as
man-of-all-work, who told me that he had been
in this country for a year, and that a year from
next March he was going back for his wife and
four-year-old girl. As he spoke of his family,
I saw the tears come to his eyes, but the brave
heart faced the struggle of eighteen months of
loneliness without a flinch because of what it
meant for all of them in the future. That is the
stuff the Italian emigrant is made of. Shall
that be called undesirable?

III. The Italian is Abstemious. — As compared
with America, the drink question does not. enter
into the life of the Italian people. Intemper-
ance is a rare vice among them. You can see
more drunken men in New York City in one
week than you could see in the whole of Italy
for one year. It is a very exceptional thing to
see a drunken man in Italy. The light wines
they drink have little or none of the deleterious
effects of American beer and whiskey. Sad to
relate, of late years, drinking places have been
established in all the large cities of Italy where
the nickel-in-tbe-slot machines are used for sup-
plying strong drinks, and very significantly,
they are called in English, ''American Bar."

152

The Italian in America

The only redeeming feature to this iniquitous
system is the absence of sociability, but it is
painful to observe the Italian youth of both
sexes patronizing this ''American" (?) institu-
tion. When the Italian immigrant reaches this
country, he discovers that wine is very expen-
sive, and too often he resorts to beer drinking,
but even with all this, he is far above his Amer- Temperate
ican brother-laborer in a life of sobriety. Surely Than we Are
we will not consider such an element as this
undesirable.

IV. The Italian is Honest. — Whatever Ameri-
cans may find to criticize in the Italians, all
who have business dealings with him declare
unhesitatingly that he is honest. An Irish law-
yer in a New Jersey city told a friend of mine
that he had been lending money to Italians for
twenty-seven years, and he had his first cent to Business Men
lose. Business men in every place I have visited Trust mm
in this country, who have had any relations with
Italians, volunteer the same testimony. A
savings bank in one of the large cities of New
York State — so one of the directors informed
me — was readj^ to lend $200 more on real estate
to Italians than to any other nationality. They
pay their just debts, and everywhere I go I find
the American tradesmen perfectly satisfied with
their business dealings. Is this element of ^^^j^^ ^^^^
honesty undesirable? Do we not need a little Them High
honest blood injected into our body politic?

y. The Italian is Pure-Blooded. — He is the
product of the amalgamation of the best blood
of the world. The old Greek, the noble Roman,
the intellectual Norman, the dashing Spaniard,

153

Methodism and the Republic

No Bace
Suicide

Better Blood the warlike Arab, the acute French, the devout
than Ours Latin are all found in the composite Italian
character. Their insanity record is lower than
any other European nation. True to the laws
of nature, the Italian family is large and the
nervous system normal. Their temperament
may be excitable, due to the climate, but it is a
rare thing to hear of nervous prostration, the
bane of our American civilization. If we had
space, it would be easy to trace the cause of the
difference, but we have already hinted at it.
Race suicide is unknown in Italy. Is this pure
blood an undesirable element to enter into our
American life?

VI. The Italian is Clean. — I have always a
difficult task before me in convincing my brother
and sister Americans of this fact. There seems
to be a general impression in the minds of Ameri-
canos that the Italians are dirty. There is possi-
bly a reason for this impression. The Italians
who come here are poor and bring their old
country ideas with them, which to us appear
Need Bevision crude and vulgar ; but when we understand the
nature of their former environment, we become
less critical. The vast majority of the Italian
immigrants come from the country, and have
a little or no knowledge of hygiene; there are
cities in Southern Italy and Sicily of 20,000
inhabitants and more that have no sewerage sys-
tem, while in the country the conditions are
even worse. To suddenly transplant these Italians
into a large American city and expect a prompt
adherence to sanitary rules and regulations is
to look for the impossible. They are like chil-

154

Our Ideas

The Italian in America

dren in this respect and are capable of being
taught, as they are also perfectly willing to be.
One of the New York State inspectors of tene-
ments informed me that in the new tenement
houses of New York City he found, without ex-
ception, clean homes among the Italians. A
graduated physician from Syracuse University,
who was engaged in settlement work in Boston
for two years, told me that she always found
four clean walls in the Italian homes. Physi-
cians in Hoboken, N. J., and SjT^acuse, N. Y.,
informed me that in their professional visits to
Italian homes they invariably found immaculate immaculate
beds. My experience in Italy from Sicily to ^^^^
the Alps confirms this testimony.

Another reason for the wrong impression
among our people is due to the fact that we can-
not discriminate between Italians and other for- ^jiow
eigners. We see dark eyes, dark hair and a dark Enough to
complexion and conclude that they are Italians, ^discriminate
whereas they may be Greeks, or Slavs, or Hun-
garians, or Poles, or Syrians, or Armenians, or
Kussian Jews, and some of these are very dirty.
A ministerial friend of mine who is much inter-
ested in the Italians, took me for a long walk to
some box cars out of the city limits, where he
supposed some Italians were working. He had
seen them often before, but when we reached the
cars we found that there was not an Italian
among them; they were either Syrians or Mace-
donians. If a friend of Italians could be so
mistaken, what may we expect of the average
American, to whom all Southern Europe immi-
grants look alike?

155

Methodism and the Republic

They Do Our
Dirty Work

We Get the
Cream

They Carry
Back the
Bible

Still another reason for this mistaken notion
is traced to the dirty work the Italians do. They
crowd our cars on their way home from work
and then they are dirty. But Americans would
be as dirty if they did as dirty work. The odor
that comes from them may not be the sweetest,
and sometimes their presence on that account
is not very desirable, but it is unreasonable to
condemn them as a whole and call them dirty
when they are seen to such disadvantage. See
them off duty; watch them with their families
taking a walk or going on a pleasure trip; you
could not ask for a neater dressed or more
attractive company.

We could multiply the arguments to prove
that the Italians are a very desirable element in
our foreign immigration. A friend of mine who
has been twenty-seven years in Italy — an Eng-
lishman— wrote me recently from Naples. The
following extract from his letter is a remarkable
testimony to the quality of men who are coming
from Italy :

"The emigration question is a burning one in
Italy, and on this side we are sure you are
getting the cream of our working-class popula-
tion— hard-working, abstemious folk. Many
Italians would gladly check the emigration,
were it possible, so convinced are they of the
drain it is to the country .... Moreover,
the emigration is leading to a better knowledge
of Protestantism and the Bible. As you know,
returned emigrants from America have in not
a few instances brought the Bible and purer
form of Christianity back with them and several

156

The Italian in America

Peasant
Stock

What We

churches have sprung up. The second genera-
tion of these emigrants to America will be edu-
cated, good American citizens and a gain to the
country. ' '

This statement coming from an Englishman,
who for nearly thirty years has lived in Naples
and who is running two large dry goods estab-
lishments in that great city, ought to have
weight. The fact is, 99 percent of our Italian
immigration is from the peasant stock — men and
women who never saw a large city until they
sailed for America, who know nothing of the
crimes of the city, and who are in a plastic con-
dition, ready to be molded by the first positive
influence they come in contact with. Unfor-
tunately, they too often get into bad company ^^^^ j^^^^^
and drift from bad to worse. They learn inele- what
gant English, because of their associations, and Teach
then when they are heard speaking the newly-
acquired tongue, thej^ are judged accordingly,
whereas, they are more to be pitied than blamed.
I had an instance of this the other day. An
Italian from Calabria who had become greatly
interested in our Church and who had volun-
tarily subscribed to the support of the Church,
used a very strong exclamation in my presence,
which greatly shocked those who heard it. I
took him to one side and told him that such Environment?
expressions were considered blasphemous in this
country. He thanked me heartily for the in-
formation, and then named other vulgar terms,
asking if they were right. This showed that the
man against his will had got into the wrong
kind of environment and wanted to escape from

157

Why This

Methodism and the Eepublic

it. Our business is to give them the right kind of
A Little environment, and show that we like to help

Leaven them to good American citizenship. One per-

cent of the Italian immigration is from the cities
of Itaty, and represents a rough and vicious ele-
ment. This percent spoils the reputation of the
99 percent. Take New York City as an illus-
tration. There are, as we have said, 500,000
Italians in that city ; one percent, or 5,000, stands
for the tough element. The Black Hand, the
thug, the stiletto — we hear frequently from
these, and our prejudice against *'the Dago*'
deepens; but we hear nothing from the 495,000
good, honest, hard-working Italians who will
become part of the bone and sinew, the brain
and heart of our great Nation. Let us exercise
a just discrimination in measuring the qualities
of our Southern brother, and our prejudices
will disappear.

VI. The Italian is Laxv-Abiding. — Notwith-
standing the crimes that are committed by the
Not a ^ one percent of immigration, the record of the

Italian on criminal lines compares favorably
with all others, indeed his average is much
higher in law-abiding qualities than some who
have been in this country longer. The Irishman
wielded his shillalah, the Italian uses his stiletto ;
but these national emblems or weapons of de-
fense have been used from time immemorial, and
we must not be hasty in our conclusions. The
general idea is that the criminal record of the
Italian is very high. The United States Indus-
trial Commission on Immigration declared in its
report to Congress, that '^Taking the United

158

Criminal

The Italian in America

States as a whole, the whites of foreign birth

are a trifle less criminal than the total number

of whites of native birth ' ' ; adding, ' ' Taking the we Are Not

inmates of all penal and charitable institutions, ^^ ^^^ ciass

we find that the highest ratio is shown by the

Irish, whose proportion is more than double the

average for the foreign-born, amounting to no

less than 16,624 to the million.''

The Italians appear to disadvantage in crimes
against the person, though it is significant that
they are chiefly confined to their own people and
almost invariably grown out of jealously or kin-
dred imaginary evils; but an expert in crim-
inology, Dr. S. J. Barrows, in his recent work
on ''The Italian in America," says: "There
are, no doubt, murders of sheer brutality, or
those committed in the course of robbery. There
are known instances, also, of blackmail and das-
tardly assassination by individuals or bands of
ruffians. But such outrages are utterly at
variance with the known disposition of the great
mass of the Italians in this country. There are ^® ^"^*
vile men in every nationality, and it does not the surface
appear by any substantial evidence that the
Italian is peculiarly burdened, though it has
been unwarrantably reproached through igno-
rance. ' '

A few months ago I was called from New
York City to Buffalo as a specially invited guest
of the Methodist Social Union, to give an ad-
dress on the Italian in America. Judging from
what was told me, I succeeded in winning
friends for the Italians. But a few days later
the citizens of Buffalo were startled by seeing

159

Methodism and the Republic

They Are
Misrep-
resented

It Makes
a Difference

in glaring headlines in the daily papers an ac-
count of an "Italian Riot. Mob Suppressed
BY THE Police. ' ' And, as one of my friends ex-
pressed it, ''it neutralized all the good senti-
ment you had induced toward the Dago." Of
course I felt chagrined and disappointed, but
what were the facts? The Italians were having
a parade; the motorman of a passing car, con-
trary to the rules of all cities, broke the pro-
cession. ''They are only Dagoes"; but he paid
the penalty for his foolhardiness by getting
some rough handling from the Italians. The
police were called in to separate the combatants
and the papers were full of the news the next
morning. All over the country the news spread,
and everywhere the prejudice against the Italian
was intensified. Supposing the parade had con-
sisted of Free Masons, or Ejiight Templars, or
Odd Fellows, or Knights of Columbus, and sup-
posing the motorman had attempted to drive his
car through the procession, what would have
happened? Just what happened with the Ital-
ians, and without doubt the motorman would
have been arrested, while the public would have
congratulated the Americans in parade on their
plucky spirit. It all depends on whose ox
is gored. This unreasoning prejudice is respon-
sible for the persecuting attitude of the average
American. I have no desire to magnify these
difficulties. I recognize, as much as any one,
that the Italians are not all angels, that not all
are worthy to be named in the saints' calendar;
but I also know that if they are let alone, they
are law-abiding citizens and ornaments to our

160

The Italian in America

Nation. In the Southern States the Italian is
heartily welcomed, and inducements are offered
him to migrate South, and a prominent business The itaUan
man from San Francisco told me that some of ^ the south
their best citizens were Italians, and that the
Californians were ready to accord a warm re-
ception to Italian immigrants. A Vicksburg,
Miss., paper recently made a statement that a
colony of 2,000 Italians had settled near the city,
and after three years there had not been a single
criminal or civil case on record. Is this an un-
desirable element?

VII. The Italian is Thrifty. — They wiU suffer
from unsanitary conditions and be content to
live in old ''shacks" so that they can get enough
money to send for their families from the old
country. They endure this degradation so that
they can eventually buy a home for themselves. ^°°^®
Twenty years ago, we are told, there was not a
single Italian owner of real estate in the dis-
tricts where such owners now predominate. One
Italian real estate man alone has a list of more
than 800 land owners of Italian descent whose
aggregate holdings in New York are approxi-
mately $15,000,000. Mr. Gino C. Speranza,
vice-president of the Society for Italian Immi-
grants, states that the savings of Italians in
New York City are more than $15,000,000. The
real estate holdings he estimates at $20,000,000. He Buys
There are 10,000 Italian stores in the city with Real Estate
a value of $7,000,000, with a future capital of
as much more in wholesale business. The total
value of property possessed hy Italians in New
York he estimates at over $60,000,000, and he

161

Methodism and the Republic

Who Casts
the First
Stone?

A Fascinating
Character

Walt
Whitman

thinks that this is relatively below that of the
Italian possessions in St. Louis, Boston and
Chicago. In these days of extravagance, when
our American aristocracy charter special trains
from Los Angeles to New York to carry a sick
dog to a hospital and then spend $500 for a
casket to bury it in, while suffering humanity is
all about us ; when our Newport nobility provide
monkeys in evening dress to entertain the **four
hundred" at their evening banquets, while the
denizens of our cities are crowded into tene-
ments and crying for sjonpathy and help and
dying for want of the actual necessities of life,
it is gratifying to find an element of thrift, and
we would do violence to truth if we classified
the Italian immigrant as undesirable.

VIII. The Italian is Teachable. — He is a good
deal like a child — I mean the illiterate immi-
grant. He has been brought up under a
feudal system and has been taught to reverence
his superiors; and by superiors he understands
those who live in larger houses and have more
money. I greet them in Sicily with a cordial
''Good day," but such a familiar salutation
would be considered, on their part, impertinent,
so they touch their caps and bow their heads as
they say, *'Bacio la mano" — I kiss your hand.
They are submissive, patient, long-suffering, re-
sponsive, courteous — there is a kind of facina-
tion about the average Italian. Walt Whitman,
quoted in the Century Magazine for September,
1907, furnishes a beautiful testimony to the
Italian immigrant. He says : ' ' Browning is full
of Italy — knows it — writes of it — has something

162

The Italian in America

of its air, its sky, in liis work, his soul. And
there is even to me a great charm in Italy, in
things Italian, in the simple Italian immigrants,
in so far as I can get the feel of the country at
this distance. When I got sick that time we ^ ^^^.j^
went down to the Staffords on Timber Creek, Day story
there was a gang of Italian laborers came along
to work on the narrow gauge railroad then just
being laid ; a number of Italians came, aU sorts —
they lived in huts there, accessible of course to
me, and I, as you may well believe, only too
ready to seize the opportunity and prospect
among them a little. Oh ! the good talks we had
together. We became almost intimate. I found
in them the same courtesy, the same charm, the
same poetic flavor that have always been asso-
ciated with Italy and things Italian. I often
read of accidents on the road — accidents in
which the little Italians are the main victims.
They are accorded but scant sympathy — nobody
seems to care. It makes me sad and mad — riles
me. Yes, they are the Dagoes — always so harm-
less, quiet, inoffensive. Italy seems in some
things to represent qualities the exact opposite Their
of qualities we cultivate here in America. The ^^nifest
Italians are more fervent, tenderer, gentler, "^^^^'^ ^
more considerate — less mercenary. It runs
through the whole race, cultivated and igno-
rant— this manifests superiority." Two days
ago I was at Massena, N. Y., and addressed a
company of Italians. It was a very stormy day,
but there was a good attendance at the church
and they had come fully a mile through a
pouring rain to be present at the service. They

163

Methodism and the Republic

Natural Born
Methodists

They
"Catch On'

sat there like childreD , ready to hear the message
of the Gospel — these lineal descendants of the
men of Rheginm (Acts xxviii, 13) with whom
Paul stayed three days. "When I sang in Italian,
''Tell Me the Old, Old Story, '^ they listened
attentively to the first verse, and when I sang
the chorus after the second verse, without books,
they joined in the singing, and before we had
sung the hymn through they had learned the
tune and the words of the chorus. Then I knelt
in prayer, and like children they knelt with me
and repeated the prayer after me. As I
preached, they nodded their heads approvingly,
and occasionally ejaculated some expressions of
approval. It would not take long to make those
men responsive Methodist Christians.

The Italian, because of his teachableness, can
be made a good American citizen. They like
American ways. Despite their training, there is
a good deal of the democrat in their tempera-
ment, and when it finds free scope, as in Amer-
ica, their natural temperament exerts itself.
They ''catch on" to American ideas. A story
is told of a New York City organ grinder who
heard that Mascagni, the Italian music com-
poser, was a guest in one of the large hotels. He
made his appearance in front of the hotel and
played a selection from Mascagni ^s Cavalleria
Rusticana. He turned the handle very slowly,
much to the annoyance of the great artist; but
he had a design in his method. It so irritated
the Italian composer that he rushed down the
hotel steps, pushed the organ grinder aside, and
grasping the handle of the organ, he turned it

164

The Italian in America

very quickly as he exclaimed, "You don't know
how to play that piece." Discovering that it
was Mascagni, the slirewd organ grinder
thanked him for his lesson, and the next da;?
found him on the streets of the city with a great
placard on the back of his organ, on which was
inscribed, "One of Mascagni's pupils." Not
even an American could excel that Italian in Business
shrewdness and an eye for business. The efforts
they make to become American citizens, and the
pleasure it gives them, is indeed interesting, and
personal reminiscences, if space permitted,
would confirm all we have said. It is sufficient
to say that their teachable spirit makes them
particularly teachable to the influences that
reach them the most directly. Permit one illus-
tration. I was once in a mail coach in Southern
Italy about thirty miles from the railroad. It
got noised about that a real live American was
in the vicinity, and the natives gathered to look
at the curiosity. Among those who came were
three peasants who had been in America, and
they began to talk in pigeon English to me, much
to the astonishment of the onlookers. One of them
insisted that I must take a glass of beer alia
Americana in honor of the occasion. I assured
him that I did not drink beer, but his answer
was "Every American drinks beer." It was Gentlemanly
getting a little embarrassing, for I did not want instincts
to hurt the fellow's feelings; but one of his
companions turned to him and said, "There are
a lot of Americans w^ho do not drink beer.
Don't force the gentleman to do what he is not
accustomed to do." And then turning to me he

165

Methodism and the Kepnblic

May Make

told me that he was a member of the Italian
Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. The one
The Italian had had the environment of beer-

Diflference We guzzling Americans, the other had been asso-
ciated with American Christian people. Here is
our great opportunity. We must throw the
right kind of influence around these Italian
immigrants, and we can mold as we choose the
passive clay.

IX. The Italian is Naturally Religious. — From
the days of Paul the Apostle he has loved re-
ligion. ''Your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world," he said to the Roman Chris-
tians. At Syracuse, Sicily, he saw the brethren
for three days, and when he got to Puteoli (the
modern Pozzuoli, a suburb of Naples, the Nea-
politan brethren desired him to tarry with
them seven days. (Acts xxviii, 14.) Then when
he went on to Rome the brethren came out fif-
teen miles to meet him, showing their fearless-
ness, sincerity and loyalty to their prisoner-
pastor, ' ' whom, when Paul saw, he thanked God
and took courage." After Paul's martyrdom
they continued steadfast in the faith and in the
catacombs worshipped God according to the dic-
tates of their conscience, and in yonder Coliseum
some of them paid the penalty of their faith
by giving their life 's blood for their new Master.
The first convert to the Christian faith in the
Gentile world was Cornelius, the captain of the
Italian band who, like one of his precedessors
in Christ's day, was commended for his faith
and righteousness. '*I have not found so great
faith, no, not in Israel," said the Saviour, of

166

Like Noble
Ancestors

Christ and
an Italian

The Italian in America

the Roman centurion. And what was charac-
teristic of the Italian in the early days of the
Christian era is true of today. The martyr
spirit is very strong in them, but, alas! its ob-
ject has been changed; it runs to patriotism in
these times instead of the Christian religion.
There is no country of the civilized world in this
twentieth century that is farther from the
Roman Catholic Church than Italy. They are
disgusted with the intrigues and money-grab-
bing spirit of the priests. The worship of relics
and the business done in their manufacture has
nauseated the average Italian, and all over
Italy you will hear the comment, "La chiesa e
una Santa bottega" — The Church is a holy
store. So glaring has this opposition become
that Pope Pius X on his accession to the chair
of St. Peter, ordered a commission to be ap-
pointed to look into the authenticity of all relics,
but that is the last we heard of it. It was too
big an undertaking, for the trade in relics is the
chief source of income to the Church. The pil-
grimages to the various shrines of Lourdes, Pom-
peii, St. Anne Beaupre, etc., are sources of tre-
mendous revenue to the Church, and to
examine the history of these shrines and the
methods adopted to popularize pilgrimages
might be disastrous to the financial interests of
the Church. The revolt of the people, however,
continues, and a strong anti-clerical sentiment
is prevalent all over Italy. Last 20th of Septem-
ber (the anniversary of the Fall of the Temporal
Power of the Pope) over two hundred anti-
clerical meetings were held in Italy and the

167

Theirs the

Martyr

Spirit

The Romish
Church
Losing
Italy

People VB.
Priesthood

Methodism and the Republic

A Crisis
Imminent

Yet They Are ^^
Kehgious

Testimony of
a Itoman
Catholic

Government was busy all day preserving order.
The Vatican, and St. Peter's even, were closely
guarded by soldiers. The Socialist element,
particularly m Southern Italy and Sicily, is
very strong, and the element, of course, is de-
cidedly anti-clerical. A crisis in ecclesiastical
affairs is imminent, and it would not surprise us
if a similar outbreak should take place in Italy
as has just taken place in France. If the state
money should ever be withdrawn from the
Church in Italy, there would inevitably come
Church bankruptcy, for the voluntary offerings
of the people are very meager and far from
sufficient to support the hordes of priests, monks
and nuns.

All this anti-clerical feeling is the result of
antagonism to the priest: "Siamo sotto le unghi
del preti" — We are under the talons of the
priests. That is the people's complaint. They
have had no other religion than the Roman Cath-
olic from time immemorial, and thus they have
become disgusted with all religion known to
Yet they are of a very devout turn of
mind. To be more exact — they have lost faith
in the priest, but they are naturally religious.

Mrs. Betts, who has been very much inter-
ested in Italian settlement work, a devout
Catholic herself, makes this frank confession:
"The relation between the Roman Catholic
Church and the mass of the Italians in this coun-
try is a source of grief. Reluctantly the writer
has to blame the ignorance of bigotry of the
immigrant priests who set themselves against
American influence. Men who too often lend

168

The Italian in America

themselves to the purposes of the ward heeler,
the district leader in controlling the people, who
too often keep silence when the poor are the vie- protestant
tims of the shrewd Italians who have grown rich opportunity
on the ignorance of their countrymen/' This
kind of leadership is doomed to fall, both in
Italy and in this country, and if Protestant
Christianity does not come to the rescue, these
illiterate masses will become the slaves of politi-
cal bosses and eventually drift to anarchism.

No one who has lived in Italy will doubt that
the Italians are accessible to evangelical Chris-
tianity. There used to be, and still is in some
parts, considerable prejudice against the name
Protestant. By the teaching of the priests it
represented unbelief and infidelity, and while
the Italian has little faith in the priest, he had
less sympathy for the infidel. Priests have been
known to pile up Protestant books and Bibles
in the public squares and set fire to them. As
soon as the fire reached the rock salt which they
had placed between the pages, it would crack,
and then they would cry out to their supersti-
tious onlookers, ''Just hear the devils coming
out of the Protestant Bibles ! ' ' But that day is
going by when the people can be fooled so easily. Italians Now
Protestant churches are being established all Not so Easily
over the country and, except in the very remote ^®°®^^^^
places, the Italians are familiar with evangelical
doctrines introduced by the Protestant denomi-
nations. The result is very gratifying. The
men representing the better educated element
show great sympathy and interest in our work;
in fact, we never have any difficulty in getting

169

Methodism and the Republic

Men

Predominate
in Ohurcli
Membership

Influence of

Home

Missions

The City
the Key

the men to listen to the Gospel. The larger part
of our membership is composed of men, and
quite frequently our congregations are composed
entirely of men. At one place in Sicily I had
a company of over one hundred men meet me at
the station and escort me to the meeting place,
which was an old wine cellar, where there were
gathered as many more men and only one
woman, and she was the wife of the janitor. The
women are more illiterate than the men, and as
a consequence are more under the influence of
the priest through the confessional. But this
cannot continue. Indeed, in one of our missions
in Italy there are as many women as men, and.
this work was begun by means of an Italian con-
verted in our New York City Mission. The
inter-relation of our Home and Foreign work
can be emphasized by showing that some of our
best work in Italy was begun by Italians brought
to God in the missions of our large cities.

The field is white unto the harvest. The
strategic point for work among the Italians is
our modern city, and these diamonds in the
rough that are coming to our country are bring-
ing children with them who will become the
polished jewels of our glorious Republic, and
who will do for our land what their forefathers
did for Italy. In science, literature, sculpture,
music and painting they occupy a unique posi-
tion, and the Italian influx in America shall
bless coming generations. May God help us to
do our duty to this interesting peoph^ of the
South land.

170

CHINESE MISSIONS ON OUR
PACIFIC COAST

REV. EDWARD JAMES, D.D., SUPERINTENDENT PACIFIC
COAST CHINESE MISSION

The relations between Chinese and Americans
(or other foreigners) on the Pacific Coast have
two phases: (1) political and industrial; (2)
philanthropic and religious. Very little popular
attention has been given to the second phase, ^n important
but such thought as has been given the Orientals Distinction
has been almost entirely concerned with the first
phase. It is necessary for us briefly to review
political and industrial conditions in order to
clear the atmosphere and rightly understand the
conditions of religious work among the Chinese
on this coast.

The Chinese have never presumed to concern
themselves with our politics, economics or relig-
ion. They have been content to proceed quietly The chines©
about their own business, adopting without pro- Attitude
test such of our customs as have seemed desirable
to them, embracing our faith and our institutions
as they have appealed to their judgment, meas-
urably as other aliens conforming to our civil
requirements, and showing themselves in every
way quite as amenable to reason and the civil
authorities as any nationality coming to us from
the thirty -two points of the compass. They have

171

Methodism and the Republic

Who Anti-
CMnese
Disturbers
Are

Status of
Chinese
Labor Here

never demanded special favors nor asked uncom-
mon privileges. The anti-Chinese agitations have
not found basis upon lawlessness of Chinese, but
have almost always come from other peoples
greater disturbers than they. Those who vio-
lently oppose and consciencelessly abuse Chinese
are almost invariably themselves foreign born,
or first generation descendants, and a large per-
centage of them imable to speak the English lan-
guage correctly. Judging from their profane,
obscene and vituperous language, their preju-
diced, partial and senseless legislation, their vio-
lent, murderous and anarchistic methods, con-
demnation from such people is often equal to cer-
tificate of good moral character.

The problem is involved, and for clearness per-
haps we can do no better than to ask and answer
a few leading questions, which will be found to
cover the principal arguments.

Are not the Chinese workmen in this country
on contract labor, and virtually slaves ? Ans. : Not
at all. The Chinese are not a servile people, but
as free as any who ever breathed our atmosphere,
and they have no such class and caste distinctions
as prevail among some other peoples. Every
Chinaman who comes to this country comes as
a free man. He is at liberty to enter what occu-
pation suits him, to come and go as he chooses,
to work or quit work at his own option, to earn
and use his money as he pleases, and he acts in
all respects as any other free man may act. If
he has borrowed money to help him come, like
any other man he is under contract to repay the
amount. He seeks connection with friends, or

172

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

with employment agencies, in the same way as
others.

The famous "Chinese Six Companies," sup- ..The CMnese
posedly a sort of contract labor bureau or slave- six
dealing company, are simply six separate and ^^o^pai^ies"
voluntary associations of Chinese from several
localities, formed for purely legitimate purposes
of mutual aid and protection in a strange land.
Formerly almost all Chinese coming from China
allied themselves with one or another of these
Six Companies according to their respective dis-
tricts, which is the natural thing to do, and is the
universal custom in their own country. But
these companies do not invite nor contract for
laborers to come here, do not govern them and
are not responsible for them. The Chinese who
through this co-operative agency obtain assist-
ance and employment, repay a certain stipulated
sum for the assistance given and for maintenance
of this bureau ; but they are no more slaves than
are the multitudes of our teachers and other pro-
fessional men who secure positions through an
agency or a bureau and pay a premium for its
aid.

Do not Chinese work for starvation wages, and
so disturb our economic system? Inquiries show
that in whatever kind of work they engage, agri- They Do
culture, mining, manufacture, domestic service, ^^ages ^^^^^*
clerical work, etc., Chinese on the Pacific Coast
command as high wages as is paid to white peo-
ple for similar service in our Atlantic or Middle
States. In spite of all the outcry against Asi-
atics, wages in all lines for white labor are higher
in California than in States without Chinese. So

173

Methodism and the Republic

They Benefit
White Labor

They Do Not
Compete in
Skilled Labor

far from depriving white men of profitable em-
ployment, only the work of Chinese makes it
possible at all to conduct several important in-
dustries which give high wages to much skilled
white labor. Much of the lowly labor of Cali-
fornia, such as grading railroads, draining
marshes, picking fruits, raising vegetables, do-
mestic service and unskilled labor in some manu-
facture, would be altogether lacking but for Chi-
nese, and to be without this would work ruin to
multitudes of white people whose higher labor
and wages are made possible only by Chinese. It
always has been, and to this day is, the testi-
mony of farmers, fruit growers, manufacturers,
housekeepers, hotel keepers, etc., that not only
cannot California do without our Chinese fellow-
laborers, but that we need several thousands
more of them, and that only an increase of this
kind of labor makes possible a corresponding in-
crease in higher priced white labor.

Chinese do not compete in skilled labor; nor
are they employed in the building trades nor on
Government works. Once and again have com-
missions and employers found that sufficient
white labor is not obtainable at any price; and
no man or woman in California who is willing
to work need be out of well-remunerated
employment.

The facts of fifty years do not sustain these
incriminating charges against Chinese.

Are not the Chinese a low and inferior people ?
True, they have not for some time kept pace
with our scientific and material progress; but
the maintenance of their great nation indicates

174

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

intellectual ability of a high order. Up to a
few hundred years ago China was the foremost Not an
civilization of the world in point of scientific inferior
knowledge, literary culture and political organ- ^®°p^®
ization. After a period of quiescence they find
some other nations in advance of them, and they
are new, with large companies of students and
many commissions, making most laudable efforts
to advance. It is the common experience in our
schools and colleges where Chinese students are
in democratic association and competition with
all others, that they are not a whit inferior in
native ability, in intellectual acumen, in esthetic
responsiveness or practical ethics to their com-
petitors, and that they take at least their fair
share of academic honors, albeit handicapped
with a foreign tongue. We deceive ourselves
and do them a wrong by thinking of them as
intellectually inferior.

Is it not a danger to the country to admit
large numbers of unassimilable people? Cer-
tainly; but if you are speaking of Chinese your
premise is wrong. Certain conditions are neces-
sary to assimilation, whether in the animal body
or in the body politic. Deprive the tadpole of ^ggj^u^tg
his tail : he may come to be a frog, but will have
no hind legs. So if we deprive them of the possi-
bilities, duties, privileges and responsibilities of
citizenship, exclude them from our public
schools, and otherwise isolate and ostracize
them, our politicians need not wonder that Chi-
nese are hard to assimilate. But here again ac-
tual conditions belie the charges. Thousands of
Chinese have their interests here, live in good

175

Methodism and the Republic

homes with modern conveniences and esthetic
culture, dress as we dress, eat as we eat, and lack
only the ballot to make them as good citizens as
any ever naturalized. Many Europeans and
Americans in the Orient have married Chinese
Inter- wivcs ; somc such inter-race marriages occur in

Marriage America, and families of healthy children are

born, proving just as ready assimilation of Chi-
nese as of Germans or Irish. Many Chinese now
with us and in every way worthy, would wel-
come the possibility of becoming bona fide and
loyal citizens. It is true also that we have not
offered our civilization to them in the most
attractive form or manner.

Are not Chinese superstitious, idolatrous,
wicked, depraved and vicious to the extent of
moral peril to our Nation? Any wicked people
Their Worship are a moral peril. The Chinese are a pagan
Not Lawless people, mostly worshippers of idols, hence very
superstitious. They erect their theatres and joss
houses (idol temples) in almost every Chinese
conmiunity, and institute their traditional wor-
ship. This worship, while not of the highest
nature and not most elevating, is not obscene
nor lawless. It shows, moreover, that they are
essentially a religious people. Some of them,
as individuals, are ''wicked, depraved, vicious,
a moral danger" to a community; but it is only
their due to say that they are no more so than
any one of a dozen other nationalities which we
welcome to our shores.

Chinatown of San Francisco has its joss
houses for pagan worship, but is no more
* * wicked, depraved, vicious and a moral danger * '

176

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

than the adjacent Italian, Portuguese or Greek
quarters. Chinese are accused of polluting our
moral atmosphere, but no one has ever heard of Chinatown
a white youth taking his first step dowTiward in Ranks with
any connection with Chinese. Moral or civic ^*^®[
evils in any Chinatown are subject to the same Quarters
conditions as in any other parts of our cities.
The same honest city administration would anni-
hilate them, as the winking and conniving of
the authorities perpetuates them.

It has seemed expedient to mention these
things to clear the mind of the "gentle reader"
of any possible prejudical misapprehension of
the Chinese as a people, and to suggest the un-
fairness, insincerity, misrepresentation and arti-
ficiality with which the Chinese are met and
pursued among us. Everywhere they are im-
pressed with our prejudice, dishonesty and in-
justice. Unjust laws have discriminated against J^^jJ^^®**
them; but our promotion companies, shipping unjustly
concerns and shyster lawyers combine to help
them violate the laws and perjure the courts,
and to bring them here. We condemn them for
their vices and fine them for their presence ; but
their courtesans came first only upon the solici-
tation and for the gratification of white men,
and many a lawyer and city officer has padded
his pocket in protecting the evil traffic. Our
leading educators, most intelligent citizens, * ' cap-
tains of industry," and all Christian opinion,
are unanimous that Chinese have been and are
now needed on this coast in considerable num- Tiiem
bers, but we permit them to be abused, mal-
treated, robbed, banished, killed at the hands

177

Numbers Not

Methodism and the Republic

of a hoodlmn element incited by political dema-
gogues or irresponsible agitators.

Inaugurating or maintaining Christian work
among people thus treated is attended with
peculiar difficulties. Yet scarcely had the first
little company of Chinese come to California,
Large in 1852, than some Christian work was begun

among them. Like all others, they came at-
tracted by gold and good wages; and still they
call this region ''The Golden Mountains." The
greatest number of Chinese in this country at
one time was about 150,000. Surely, from an eco-
nomic view, this was nothing to be alarmed at.
Now there are not more than 100,000, and
probably less. Most of these are on the Pacific
Coast, and usually about one-fifth of all are in
and about San Francisco.

In 1852 Christian work for Chinese was be-
gun by Rev. W. Speer, a missionary from Can-
ton. Practically all Chinese in America come
from the Kwantung Proviuce. In 1853 Mr. Speer
opened the first Chinese church in America. In
1859 Mr. A. W. Loomis took charge, and Rev.
Dr. Condit also soon joined. This work, under
the direction of the Presbyterian Church, is the
oldest and one of the most successful missions
among Chinese in America.

Work by Baptists was opened in Sacramento
by Rev. J. L. Shuck in 1854, and in San Fran-
cisco in 1870. A Baptist convert was the first
Chinese to receive Christian baptism in America.

The earliest Methodist work for Chinese was
in the form of a Sunday school in Sixth Street
Church, Sacramento, of which Dr. M. C. Briggs

178

Christian
Work

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

was then pastor. Mr. Peter Bohl, an honored
layman, was one of the chief promoters, and is
still with us. In reporting to the California
Conference that year, Dr. Briggs said: "An Beginnings
unerring providence ' is sending the Chinese to
our shores to be evangelized by the use of our
language, beside Christian altars and amid the
associations of the Church of the living God. ' '

Our real work began, however, and all Chris-
tian work for Chinese took on new life and
meaning, when Kev. Otis Gibson came. He had ^^^
spent some years in our Foochow Mission, and Gibson
knew something of the spirit and genius of
things Chinese. He addressed himself to the
work with all the vigor of a manly mold, of un-
quenchable faith in the Chinese, and a passion-
ate love of God and man. Endowed with more
than ordinary common sense, and filled with a
spirit that feared not the face of man, he was
the man to organize, promote and defend Chris-
tian work among Chinese. In a short time he
had Chinese schools and congregations in ten
or a dozen of the principal Chinese communities
on this coast, and so well and wisely planted
were they that most of them continue to this
day. A few were abandoned owing to migra-
tions of the Chinese. San Francisco, Stockton,
Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Clara, Grass Val-
ley, Chico, Nevada, Marysville, Santa Cruz,
Salem and Portland were all centers of system-
atic efforts at evangelization, and all scenes of
Christian grace and triumph.

Mr. Gibson early realized the need of a cen-
tral plant, and began canvass for funds. By

179

Methodism and the Republic

A Central
Plant

A Defender
of the
Helpless

his personal solicitation much was secured, and
by the aid of the Missionary Society a lot was
purchased at 916 Washington Street, San Fran-
cisco, a building was erected, the whole property
costing $32,000, and dedicated on Christmas
Day, 1870.

"What hallowed memories arise in a multitude
of Chinese minds at mention of that street and
number. Literally thousands of Chinese have
here found a touch of inspiration. It is known
that Christian Chinese, and others, are now liv-
ing in many parts of the world who here were
first befriended and given the helpful hand.
The name of Otis Gribson is perhaps better
known among Chinese in America than that of
any other American. He was pastor, -teacher,
friend, adviser and tower of defense. Their con-
fidence in him never failed. Through years of
bitter and bloody persecution, through obloquy
and hate, hanged and burned in eflagy, publicly
threatened by a great daily newspaper, fined and
imprisoned, assaulted and stoned, Otis Gibson
was Sir Knight in defense of a helpless people
and in maintenance of constitutional rights.

What most acceptable and effective forms of
service can we institute? was the first question.
He asks : ' ' How may this strange element of our
population be made to aid in the development of
the resources of our country and add to our
national prosperity, while we, on our part, intro-
duce them to our higher civilization and holier
faith? Will not a system of education in the
English language be an efficient means of ac-
complishing this desired result ? As a knowledge

180

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

of our language becomes common among them
may we not look for these results ? The Chinese
will gradually lose their clannishness and more
readily adopt our customs, our civilization, our
country and our religion.''

There is no ''driveling sentimentalism " here.
Evening schools were opened and have been con-
tinued as- a right arm of the service and oppor-
tunity to this time. "Wisdom is justified in gj^^ois
her children." These schools prove powerful
agencies in molding the changing civilization
of Chinese in America. An optional fee of one
dollar a month was charged. Some paid ; others
did not. Nowhere in our work is a fee now
charged, but the scholars pay the running ex-
penses by voluntary offerings.

How many thousands of Chinese have re-
ceived more or less instruction from these schools
it is not possible now to tell ; and these all came
under religious instruction. Nor can it be known
in how many souls a spark of divine inspiration
was felt. The records and careful inquiries
show that about one thousand Chinese have been ^ Thousand
converted and connected with our Church on the
Pacific Coast, and not a few of these have been
won by these schools.

Evangelism has always been the prime object
and keynote of all our efforts ; for ' ' The tree of
knowledge is not that of life." The first native
preacher here was Rev. Hwui Sing Mei, from
Foochow. Soon Dr. Gibson had about him a the^^Keyn'ote
class of earnest young men which he was pre-
paring for Christian work, some of whom in due
time came into the service. So vigorous was the

181

Methodism and the Republic

True

Disciples of
Christ

Apostolic
Labors

propaganda that in San Francisco Mission alone
over five thousand different Chinese heard the
Gospel in one year. Abundant experience both
in China and in America shows that by all the
tests we apply — subjective or objective — Chinese
are capable of becoming as true exponents of
Christian graces and virtues as any other race
of people.

We cannot in small compass follow in detail
the heroic and often militant service of Otis
Gibson for the Chinese in California. In the
mission rooms and on the streets he held up a
crucified and glorified Saviour; among the
crowds on the corners or the mobs on the sand-
lots, and often before the courts, he fearlessly
defended the Chinese in their rights; watching
the legislation, he boldly protested to municipal,
State or Federal Government against the de-
vices of wicked men. He was a leader in move-
ments for sane and humane treatment of an
abused people; and though he could not fully
stem the tide of popular prejudice and avert all
cruel, unjust and unworthy legislation, it is gen-
erally recognized that he materially ameliorated
conditions of Chinese living.

From 1868 to 1884 Otis Gibson continued his
apostolic labors, in journeys much, in perils oft,
by voice and pen in public and in private, plant-
ing missions and promoting Christian literature,
leading the Chinese into a true experience of
religion, training them in disciplinary way to
distinguish between acceptable and prohibited
conduct, and inducting them into the various
disciplinary, ritualistic and voluntary means of

182

Rev. T. J. Masters, D.D., Superintendent of Chinese Work, 1885-1900
Rev. Otis Gibson and His First Class of Chinese Boys in San Francisco

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

grace and service characteristic of Methodism.
Some of the value of all this became apparent
years later. His book, ''The Chinese in Amer-
ica," is readable and thrilling as a novel, and
full of information. Its equal in matter and
manner is still needed to bring the history down
to the present.

No sweeping revivals of religion occurred
among Chinese during this period, but there was
steady gathering. The necessary ground work
of Christian consciousness was not yet formed.
But many an individual brand was plucked
from the burning. In 1882 he could report in
defense of his work against the animadversions
of his critics that some three hundred Chinese
had been converted to the Christian faith and
life by the work on this coast. Rightly did he An unanswer-
appeal to such results as justifying the work of able Appeal
the Church, and as sufficient ground of hope for
Chinese and reason for fair treatment of
them.

In the early winter of 1884 Rev. F. J. Masters,
returning with his family on furlough after ten ^- J- Masters
years of service in the Wesleyan Mission in Can-
ton, visited our Chinese Mission in Oakland. By
invitation he preached in the Cantonese dialect.
The Chinese were delighted, and felt that an
angel of God had come to them. Dr. Gibson's
great heart gave him glad welcome and abun-
dant opportunity, and during the ensuing few
months of his sojourn in California, Mr. Mas-
ters was much in demand and did great service
among the Chinese. Dr. Gibson greatly regret-
ted the necessity of losing such a fellow-worker

183

Methodism and the Republic

A Good
Fight

Elements of
Leadership

when Mr. Masters proceeded to England in the
early spring of 1885.

"Within a few weeks after, the man who for
sixteen years had maintained such strenuous
and incessant labors, suddenly and totally failed
in health. This was not expected, but he had
"fought a good fight and finished his course."
A militant career came to a victorious end.
Otis Gibson had kept and advanced the faith,
and in 1889 he passed to his reward.

Immediately the thought of all was upon Mr.
Masters. In response to the urgent solicitation
of Mrs. Gibson, Bishop Fowler and many others,
he consented to take up the work of the fallen
chief.

Frederick J. Masters came regally equipped
for service. A fine physique and personal ap-
pearance, in the full strength of robust man-
hood, a well-disciplined mind, an extensive ex-
perience, wide knowledge and fluent use of the
Cantonese dialect, a gentle and kind disposition,
unbounded faith in the Chinese and enthusiasm
for his work, the constraining love of Christ —
these were some of the characteristics of this Sir
Galahad. From the moment of his entering
upon the work no one, Chinese or American,
ever doubted his fitness or his divine call, and
each succeeding year only strengthened the con-
fidence of all who knew him.

Those were strenuous days and Dr. Masters
never shirked. From Puget Sound to San Diego,
all up and do\\Ti the coast, he carried the sweet
Gospel of the Son of God to the despised and
abused sons of China. His genius for organiza-

184

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

tion was not less than his gift of speech. Owing
to the migrations of Chinese it requires frequent
adjustment to keep the work following their
settlements. Some of his own words will show
both his ideals and some results of the work:
' ' Our week-night service is a grand sight. There
are present from sixty to eighty of the most . « . j^^
intelligent young men in Chinatown, twenty of outlook
whom remain every night for study of the Holy
Scriptures." ''The Gospel has been preached
to larger numbers than ever before. Several
new missions have been opened. Three Chinese
have offered themselves to be received on trial
in this Conference — the first in the history of
the Mission, 1894, The attendance at the even-
ing schools has greatly increased. Many have
become earnest students of the Word." "There
is every reason to believe the whole Mission is
in the dawn of a genuine revival. The teachers
are active; the preachers are vigorous, aggres-
sive and full of spiritual energy, not simply per-
forming their duty, but conducting a great cam-
paign against sin entrenched in these old strong-
holds of idolatry. Our brethren of the Chinese
Mission have indeed found that the Gospel is
the power of God unto salvation even among
their own people. They have been earnestly and
powerfully preaching the Word of God." "The
revival has been more than a prophecy. Seven
hundred and fiftv persons have been converted _ _ ,
m the twenty-five years of this Mission, and one work
hundred and seventy-five during this conference
year. At special services in San Francisco

185

Methodism and the Republic

forty-two were converted. Twenty were for-
ward for prayer in one evening."

Such work as this is worthy the support of
the Church, and such results crowned the con-
secrated labors of this apostle to the Chinese.
Dr. Masters accomplished prodigious labors. In
one year he preached two himdred times in Chi-
nese, besides numerous addresses and sermons
in English, and a vast variety of activities in
organization and in literary work that indicate
great versatility. In 1898 the conference re-
quested the General Missionary Committee to
appoint him Superintendent of the Chinese Mis-
sions on all the Pacific Coast. Not yet, however,
is the work thus unified.
Work for ^j^g work for women has kept pace with that

for men. Perhaps the difficulties in this have
been even greater than in that. From the first
the top story of the Mission building was de-
voted exclusively to a female department. Dr.
Gibson at once called upon the women of Pacific
Coast Methodism to organize for the work. The
''Woman's Missionary Society of the Methodist
Episcopal Church on the Pacific Coast" was or-
ganized in August, 1871, as auxiliary to the Gen-
eral Missionary Society, ''for the elevation and
salvation of heathen women on this coast. ' ' The
charter of the W. F. M. S. prevented the desired
connection with that Society ; and not until 1893
was it deemed expedient to make this an organic
part of the W. H. M. S. This part was then
designated "The Oriental Bureau."

The sphere of activity and the modus operandi
were definite. Three thousand Chinese women

186

Chinese
Women

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

in San Francisco, and as many more scattered
along our western coast. Perhaps a hundred of
these were legitimate first wives; several hun-
dreds are secondary wives, according to Chinese
custom; some five hundred are married accord-
ing to American laws and customs ; most of them
were slave girls, all were idolaters. The mental
and spiritual condition of these women, with
their physical and social surroundings, defy de-
scription, and made Christian work for and pgfy^*^°"^
among them both difficult and dangerous. Add Description
to this two thousand Chinese children, mostly
born in this country, growing up under the Stars
and Stripes to be future citizens, for whom no
adequate provision is made in the public schools.

Women workers were employed, and the three
lines of effort: rescue work, house-to-house visi-
tation and a children's school in the Mission,
were carried on energetically and heroically.

We need not here describe the wicked devices
of men, both American and Chinese, for unlaw-
fully importing Chinese women and girls into
this country. Unwashed heathenism was never
more foul than were those white persons who
initiated, promoted, protected and profited by
this human merchandise. The missionaries in
this work had to deal not only with a class of
Chinese women degraded in body, mind and soul, whites as

V . • ji • 1 ji J 1 T_ Bad as Yellow

but With organized gangs of desperadoes who
hesitated not at physical violence, and with con-
scienceless pettifoggers who from one side of
their mouth denounced the Chinese and from
the other side protected their evils and reviled
the missionaries. Owing to the courage of these

187

Methodism and the Republic

White
Brutality

A Monu-
mental Record

An Elect
Company

workers and the integrity of some immigration
officials, this evil has markedly decreased.
Among no other people who come to our shores
has Christian work met such monumental oppo-
sition ; and this opposition is almost entirely due,
directly or indirectly, to the instigation of white
people.

Among those connected with the work of the
Rescue Home may be mentioned Mrs. Jane
Walker, Mrs. Ida Hull, Miss Marguerite Lake
and Miss Carrie Davis. The wonderful record
shows scarcely less than five hundred women and
children delivered from bondage and abuse.
Nearly two hundred of these have become mem-
bers of our Church. The greater part have re-
turned to friends in China; some have become
helpful Christian workers ; more than a hundred
have married and made Christian homes. The
missionary meets all incoming steamers from the
Orient, and visits among the homes of China,
town, as she is recognized by the customs and
city authorities as a valuable helper in righteous-
ness.

A few names should be mentioned of elect
ladies who have given time and service in teach-
ing and in administration : Mrs. Otis Gibson, Mrp.
Goodall, Mrs. McElroy, Miss M. E. Williams,
Miss Templeton, Mrs. Kate Lake, Miss Hum-
phrey, Mrs. Tomkinson, Mrs. Downs, Mrs. Rus-
sell, Mrs. Chan Hon Fan, Mrs. Masters, Mrs.
Williams, Mrs. F. D. Bovard, Mrs. M. C. Harris,
Miss Heath and many others who have helped
to make the Oriental Home a way of salvation
and a ''gate of heaven" for so many. The

188

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

average number of inmates of the Home is about
twenty-five. A kindergarten is maintained with
average attendance of thirty-five. Day and
Sunday-school work brings many more children
under Christian influence and instruction.

In the year 1900 a nev/ building was erected
at 912 Washington Street, in which was housed
all the various departments. Unfortunately,
this plant, like that at 916, and all Chinatown,
with so much of the city, was destroyed in the
disaster of 1906.

In 1895 a Mission and Rescue Home was ^^® ^°^^
opened in San Diego by Mrs. T. S. Turk, for °"^^
similar work. Early in 1896 Mrs. T. F. Davis
opened a mission in Los Angeles, which has been
in affiliation Vv'ith the San Francisco branch.
In medical work Mrs. Davis, and in rescue work
Miss Nora Bankes, continue in helpful ministra-
tion to a people too much neglected, and steady
fruitage in rescued and redeemed lives is being
reaped.

Soon after the organization of work for Chi-
nese, Japanese began coming to this country,
and they too were included in the beneficent Japanese
efforts of the Mission, as they also were glad of ^f.^^
the opportunities afforded. This continued for Begin
many years, and many Japanese were saved. In
1883 K. Meyama was licensed to preach. Early
in 1886 a separate place was secured at 920
Washington Street, for Japanese work, and the
name of T. Hasegawa appears as a worker. By
the middle of that year Dr. M. C. Harris, now
Bishop Harris, came to take charge of all our
Japanese work on the coast.

189

Methodism and the Kepublio

Were there space we could tell of some notable
conversions, and the founding of branch mis-
sions from this parent stem. Meyama became
an earnest evangel, opening Christian work for
Mi Japanese in Honolulu, and later returning for

Overflow the same work in Japan. Chan Kiu Sing, con-

verted in San Jose, has been for many years a
very helpful supply local preacher in Los An-
geles. Little self-supporting missions have been
founded in several places in America by Chris-
tian Chinese migrating from these coast mis-
sions. In 1889 Lum Foon, fulfilling his vow, re-
turned to Heang Shan as a self-supporting
Christian missionary. A converted Chinese re-
turns for a visit to his ancestral home, opens a
school for girls before coming back to this coun-
try, and continues to support it. Another opened
a boys' school in Canton. Ofttimes have Chinese
Methodists in this country petitioned our For-
eign Missionary Society to open a mission in the
Kwantung Province, whence come all the Chi-
nese here, but hitherto it has seemed impossible
or inexpedient. But the Chinese are loyal to
their Church. Not willing to change their affilia-
tion, and feeling the need of Methodism there,
Chinese as returning Christians have organized an inde-
Missionaries pendent Methodist mission. The work is en-
tirely supported by Chinese Methodists in Amer-
ica. They have spent thousands of dollars for
property, have a chapel, parsonage, with girls'
and boys' schools, and are opening new stations.
This is a vital part of our mission on this
side of the Pacific. The preacher, Rev. Yue
Kwai, sent from here, is a member of the Cali-

190

A Mother

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

fornia Conference, and was ordained an Elder
by Bishop Bashford in Canton. All this is evi-
dence of their Christian faith and their Metho-
dist loyalty, as it testifies to the vitality of our
work on this coast, and is a standing invitation of Missions
to the Methodist Episcopal Church to enter that
open door. The Chinese Mission on the Pacific
Coast has been a mother of missions, home and
foreign. Such men as Fong Sui, Walter Fong,
Chan Lok Shang, Lee Tong Hay, Chan Hon
Fan, who has served the Mission more years than
any other worker, and many others, have been
a credit to Christian character and service.

In 1897 Dr. Masters was able to report that
seven hundred and fifty persons had been con-
verted during the twenty-five years of the Mis-
sion. Up to the present about one thousand Chi-
nese have been saved from paganism, many of
whom have died in the faith, many returned for
helpful life and service in China, and many
are still with us scattered throughout America.
A little kindly inquiry often discovers Chris- Kindly
tians where we did not expect to find them. Let Helps^
this be a suggestive word to all Christian people.

The work under Dr. Masters continued to
grow, as he was ever adding to his multiform
activities. Preaching and preparing preachers;
organizing missions; preparing literature, Eng-
lish and Chinese; in Sunday-school and class
meeting; in chapel. Gospel hall and on the
street; by platform, press and pulpit, incessant
service was his joy. This constant strenuousness
was too much for even his robust manhood, and Harness
in January, 1900, in the sixteenth year of his

191

Methodism and the Republic

Living
Monuments

Edward
James

service (like his precedessor), he was suddenly
called to lay down the burden and the care to
''come up higher and behold my glory."

Monuments of stone stand in the cemeteries
for Gibson and Masters, but their greatest monu-
ment is in the work they organized, in the hun-
dreds of redeemed men and women and in the
esteem of at least forty thousand Chinese who
have felt the helpful touch of their sanctified
service.

For six years after Dr. Masters' death over-
sight of the Chinese Mission was with Drs. F. D.
Bovard, H. D. Hammond, H. B. Heacock and
Thomas Filben consecutively, all members of the
California Conference. But as none of these
was acquainted with the Chinese or their lan-
guage, it was felt to be only a temporary expe-
dient. In 1906 Rev, Edward James, who had
spent ten years in our Central China Mission,
came to take up the work. It is no light task,
for many perplexities attend the work for Chi-
nese in America not experienced in China. Yet
the response of Chinese to the Gospel is encour-
aging and assuring. Invidious discriminations,
ill-treatment, political disability, social ostra-
cism and violent prejudice have embittered
many; but everywhere they recognize Christian
workers, American or Chinese, as their friends.
Our schools and services are well attended;
street meetings gather crowds of respectful hear-
ers ; children of the second and third generations
are coming on.

Up to 1904 the Chinese work had been consid-
ered as a District of the Conference; but that

192

Chinese Missions on Our Pacific Coast

General Conference constituted all the work in
California a separate mission. Present statistics
are as follows.

Stations 9

Chinese workers 7

Members 226

Probationers 57

Sunday-school scholars 222

Benevolent collections for current year $664

However future legislation may affect the
numbers of Chinese coming to America is no
part of this discussion. Present facts and con-
ditions are sufficient stimulus to greatest en-
deavor. The existence of so many Chinese now
among us ; the increasing number of native born,
who are eligible for citizenship ; the great possi- Facts we
bilities of the Chinese as individuals and as a Must Face
people; the expediency and eternal rightness of
cultivating friendly relations with neighboring
nations; the unique position of America as the
embodiment and exponent of the highest civil
and religious life and institutions yet developed ;
the certainty that if we do not Christianize the
Chinese they will paganize us — all these and
other considerations impose obligations, responsi-
bilities and necessities which we cannot escape,
and give us unequaled prestige and opportunity
for evangelizing the Chinese.

193

EVANGELIZATION OF THE
JAPANESE IN AMERICA

REV. HERBERT B. JOHNSON, D.D., SUPERINTENDENT

In the opinion of a large and increasing num-
ber, the immigration of Japanese to this coun-
try is one of the living questions of the day. It
is many-sided, and needs to be considered with
the greatest care. There is great danger from an
agitation against any race, whether Hebrew,
Negro, Chinese or Japanese. There is special
danger in the present agitation against the Jap-
anese in California. In succeeding paragraphs
some observations will be found touching the
discrimination against the Japanese, particu-
larly with reference to its bearing on Christian
work.

However this immigration question is settled,
it is clear that there are already Japanese
enough here, right at our doors, to demand the
best efforts of the Christian Church; and, from
past experience, it is equally clear that it pays
well to do this work, both from its results in
this country and from its influence in Japan.
The opportunities of today and the possibilities
of tomorrow are very great. Equally so are the
responsibilities that are upon us.
Early Thirty years ago, in 1877, there were not more

Japanese ^j^^^ ^^^y Japanese in San Francisco, and there

Immigration x- i i! • xu i 4.1,

were comparatively few m other places on the
194

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

coast. Nine years before this, one hundred and
fifty Japanese laborers were introduced into the
Sandwich Islands. The first arrivals on the
coast were laborers and sailors, but these were
soon followed by students, who formed the pre-
dominant class for the next ten years. Mer-
chants and professional men came later. Bishop
Harris is authority for the statement that in
1886 there was not a store kept by a Japanese
on the coast, but it was not long before one or
more shops entirely in Japanese hands were to
be found in nearly all the cities from Victoria to
San Diego. There were few women, and these
were mostly of the baser sort who had been en-
ticed here by bad Americans and Chinese. Again
quoting Bishop Harris, in his report for 1894:
''Among these thousands are but few women,
their numbers being perhaps less than three hun-
dred; unfortunately, some of them belong to the
disreputable classes. Two years ago, the Jap-
anese Government began to enforce the law
vigorously and, as a result, the coming of women
of this class has absolutely ceased. The Jap-
anese people — Christian and non-Christian — on
the coast heartily approve this action. Indeed,
it was largely through their efforts that the Gov-
ernment became aware of the existence of the
evil and determined to suppress it.'^

As a result of a Treaty of Immigration made
between Japan and Hawaii in 1885, the first lot increased
of contract laborers arrived in Honolulu that immigration
year. These were soon followed by others, and ^^^ Agitation
it is estimated that by 1894 there were 25,000 in
the islands. The Japanese population on the

195

Methodism and the Eepublic

Pacific Coast was then not more than 7,000, and
entirely different in character. But an anti-
Japanese feeling and agitation had begun. The
year 1892 recorded the arrival of 1,500,
the largest number of any single year, most
being unskilled who found employment on the
fruit and hop ranches. Opposition on the part
of labor unions was soon aroused, notwithstand-
ing the fact that there was no competition. The
students were freely admitted into the schools,
and the laborers were welcomed on account of
the scarcity of labor and their industry, high
average of moral conduct and ready conformity
to American customs.

Nearly 13,000 arrived during the year ending
June, 1900. They were distributed over the en-
tire coast, and brought the entire population
up to nearly 35,000. The daily press of San
Francisco loaned itself to certain political and
labor agitators, the object being the restriction
of laborers. The Japanese Government at once
stepped in, and by stopping further emigration
to the coast allayed the agitation. Of late we
have heard so much about the wonderful in-
crease, and corresponding menace, that it will
be well to note the figures, which are as follows :
1900, 12,635; 1901, 5,269; 1902, 14,270; 1903,
19,968; 1904, 14,264; 1905, 10,331, and 1906,
13,835. It will be seen that following the agi-
tation and the action of the Japanese Govern-
ment there was a decrease, then an increase, and
then a falling off again.
Later Dis- j j^ ^ ^^^ -^ ^-^^^^ ipsiges to refer to

crimination . f . ^ •, n i. .- x

in California the later agitation, but would call attention to
196

A Japanese Boy with His American Toys, Seattle, Wash.

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

a booklet of 133 pages recently issued by the
present writer, entitled ''Discrimination Against
the Japanese in California: A Keview of the
Real Situation." This is introduced by Presi-
dent David Starr Jordan, of Stanford Univer-
sity, who has taken a very strong position against
the agitators. The booklet reveals the nature of
the campaign of extravagance and misrepresen-
tation ; refutes various charges ; shows that large
and influential classes, as educators, Christian
bodies, the Christian press and farmers and fruit
growers, defend the Japanese; states the real
issues; discusses the broader question of immi-
gration; places the responsibility upon organ-
ized labor and the Japanese-Korean Exclusion
League; and points out the real solution of the
problem. It is designed for free circulation and
may be had by addressing the author.

No statement is more frequently made by Japanese
those who are striving to restrict Japanese immi- Assimilate
gration than that it is impossible to assimilate civilization
the Asiatic, no distinction being made between
the Japanese and the Chinese. It is assumed
that intermarriage is essential to assimilation,
which we do not insist upon in the case of the
Jew. Unlike the Chinese and many immigrants
from Europe, the Japanese do not huddle to-
gether, as is clear from Secretary Metcalf's re-
port to the President. He found them scattered
all over the city of San Francisco, their children
attending twenty-three different schools. They
live in American homes, wear American clothing,
eat American food; in short, they adopt our
customs. The marvelous changes made in Japan

197

America

Methodism and the Republic

are known to everybody. If in their own land,
under circumstances not altogether favorable,
they can assimilate our civilization, we can
assimilate the few thousands that come here. At
least we can assimilate them better than we can
and do assimilate tens of thousands who come
here from Europe. That there are in our larger
cities undesirable Japanese, both men and
women, no one would attempt to deny. But that
they are here in greater numbers or that their
influence is worse than many peoples who come
from Europe, no sane person would attempt to
assert.

I again quote my predecessor, than whom
The Japanese there is no greater authority on conditions
student in among the Japanese on this coast. In one of his
reports, he said: ''Few of us feel the pathos of
the poor Japanese student in America. He
comes to stay at least ten years, to struggle with
poverty, do menial service, sleep five hours out
of twenty-four, encouraged and stimulated by
the hope of giving to his country an honorable
and worthy service. No wonder that Americans,
Christians and teachers give welcome to the
brave lads and help them so generously. They
constitute a unique element in history; an in-
vasion of a foreign land by an army of youth,
not to despoil us but to get the best equipment
for a useful life. Only Japanese students would
undertake to do it. America is the only country
where it could be hoped to be done. They have
succeeded. I found them in Parliament, the
learned professions, leading merchants, writing
books, editing journals, managers of great indus-

198

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

tries; and last and greatest, teachers, pastors
and evangelists — in a word, men who come to
be factors for progress, enrolled among the
builders of Greater Japan."

The history of the planting of the Christian ^^^ Japanese
Church among the Japanese on this coast is in- Become Good
tensely interesting, very instructive and full of christians
inspiration. It can only be outlined. The name
and fame of Kanichi Miyama is known all over
the Pacific Coast and throughout Hawaii and
Japan. When there were scarcely fifty of his
countrymen in San Francisco, in 1877, with two
others he sought a knowledge of English in the
Chinese Mission, and found Christ. He became
the first convert among his people in San Fran-
cisco, the first preacher among his people on the
coast, the first missionary to the Japanese in
Hawaii, one of the first (if not the very first)
evangelistic preachers and pastors in Japan, and
the first temperance evangelist among the Jap-
anese on the coast, in Hawaii and in Japan.

There are four periods in the thirty years of
Christian work among the Japanese on this of°"ciiristian *
coast: From 1877 to 1885, during which the work
work was carried on by Brother Miyama, in and
through the Gospel Society, which was connected
with the Chinese Mission under Dr. Otis Gib-
son and his successor, Dr. Masters; 1886-1892,
the former date representing the organization
of the Japanese Methodist Episcopal Church
under Dr. M. C. Harris; 1893-1899, the period
of the Japanese District of the California Con-
ference, including the new and growing work in
Hawaii; and 1900 to the present, the Pacific

199

Methodism and the Republic

Churches
Organized:
A Great
Revival

Japanese Mission — the first four years under Dr.
Harris, including Hawaii, and the past four
years under the present writer on the coast, and
Dr. J. W. Wadman in Hawaii.

Dr. Gibson was always looked upon as the
father of the Mission, and had much to do with
inspiring and guiding it during the days of the
Gospel Society, the objects of which were ''The
study of the Bible, the promotion of education
and temperance and benevolent work among the
Japanese." During this period a branch was
formed in Oakland, across the bay. Dr. Gibson,
likewise, looked upon Miyama as his son in the
Gospel, and just before his death directed that
his gold watch be sent to him in Hawaii, where
he was engaged in Christian and temperance
work.

The first year of Dr. Harris' incumbency, the
machinery of the Church was put in operation,
a Quarterly Conference being formed, the new
church that year reporting thirty-one baptisms
and ninety members. At the close of this period
(1893) there were five missions: San Francisco,
Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno and Portland, with
314 probationers and 678 members, and with 235
baptized during the year. A gracious revival be-
gan in August, 1889, and continued several years.
Concerning this, Dr. Harris wrote: ''The chief
characteristics of this work of grace are deep
sense of sin, accompanied by agonizing prayer
and fasting for deliverance ; clear witness of the
Holy Spirit to the new birth and Sonship; full
consecration, heart purity, triumphant joy, and
witness with power to Christ as Saviour. ' ' On the

200

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

first Sunday of October fifty were baptized, and
some of the recorded testimonies compare with
the best ever heard in a Methodist love feast.
During this period, also, the first property was
secured, a fine lot on Pine Street, with a four-
teen-room house, which was later moved to the
rear of the lot to make room for the historic
church, which we lost last year in the great fire
following the earthquake.

One of the first things done during the next gchoof af '"^
period (1893-9) was the reorganization of the san Francisco
school and the modification of its character. It
became the training school, with two depart-
ments. Biblical and English. The grade was
improved, the instruction was thorough, and
several classes were graduated during the period,
Count Mutsu honoring the occasion with his
presence and an address at one commencement.
This school, now under the efficient direction of
Professor Vail, will be referred to again. Dur-
ing this period of the Japanese District in the
California Conference, the work spread across
the Canadian border and to the south, missions
being opened in Los Angeles and at Riverside.
A mission property was secured at Vacaville
through the efforts of the Japanese, and a paper.
Glad Tidings, established. The press was sub-
sequently improved, and was worth $2,000
when destroyed by the great San Francisco fire.
The most remarkable achievement was the rais-
ing up of a full dozen splendidly equipped mis-
sionaries to Japan, among the best in the Japan
conferences — K. Miyama, S. Ogata, T. Ukai, T.
Hasegawa, M. Mitani, S. Furusawa, T. Fuji-

201

Methodism and the Republic

The Pacific
Japanese
Mission
Established

wara, T. Morimoto, K. Kimura, K. Ishizaka, T.
Nakamura and T. Ikeda, besides three others who
were in Garrett Biblical Institute preparing for
more efficient work. Mention should also be made
of H. Kihara, the founder of the Sacramento mis-
sion, who at this time was laboring most effi-
ciently in Hawaii, and who has since served the
Church most effectively both in Japan and in
Korea. Since then several others have united
with the conferences in Japan, and at the pres-
ent writing five of our men are now enrolled as
students in Drew Theological Seminary. Prior
to the close of this period (1899) 1,733 had re-
ceived Christian baptism, most of them during
the five revival years.

The General Conference recognized the de-
velopment, and under an enabling act Bishop
Hamilton organized the Pacific Japanese Mis-
sion in 1900. The Mission during the first quad-
rennium was under the superintendency of Dr.
(now Bishop) Harris, and included the work in
Hawaii; for the past four years the Pacific
Coast work has been rmder the care of the pres-
ent writer, and that in Hawaii under Superin-
tendent J. W. Wadman, of that mission. Dur-
ing the four years of Dr. Harris* incumbency,
a new church was built in Riverside toward
which the Japanese contributed most liberally,
a fine property was secured in Portland, costing
over $8,000, toward which the Japanese gave
nearly $3,000, and the work in the Northwest
showed signs of great development. As the
Baptists were already at work at Tacoma and in
Seattle, they were given right of way under the

202

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

unwritten rules of mission comity. A small mis-
sion was opened in Spokane, and just at the
close of his term Dr. Harris sent Brother
Tsuruda from Spokane to Seattle. The Presby-
terians were at work in San Francisco and at
Salinas, and had taken over our young mission
at Watsonville. The Congregationalists had also
started work in Oakland and were converting
several of their Chinese missions into Japanese
missions, at least in part. The Nishi Hongwanji
sect of Buddhists had also opened missions in
San Francisco, Sacramento, Seattle and Fresno,
having property in the last named place worth
$10,000.

The General Conference of 1904 practically
marked the twenty -fifth anniversary of the Events:
founding of the Gospel Society, the first organ- Bishop m. c.
ized effort to reach the Japanese on the Pacific ^^"^"^
Coast. That body took two remarkable actions
affecting the Mission — established a separate mis-
sion in Hawaii, and elected as Missionary Bishop
of Japan and Korea, Dr. Merriman C. Harris,
the first and only superintendent of the Mission
up to that time.

Many pressing problems at once thrust them- I'J^esent
selves upon the present superintendent. For- problems
tunately, a knowledge of the people and their
language, gained by nearly seventeen years of
missionary work in Japan, has been of great
value. With the agitation against the Japanese
in full force, these have been anxious and strenu-
ous years, but with much to encourage. As
stated in my last report, the effects of this un-
just, un-American and unchristian conduct on

203

Methodism and the Republic

a part of a section of the labor organizations
and their hoodlum followers have been two-
fold— certain Japanese who have not thought
the problem through, hastily conclude that if
this represents Christian civilization they do not
want the Christianity which underlies it; on
the other hand, the thoughtful are not slow to
observe that their defenders and their best
friends are found among the ministers and mem-
bers of the Protestant churches, and that most
of the agitators are foreign born and are not
real Americans or Christians at all.
Tried by Fire: Another serious problem has grown out of the
Loyalty of total destruction of our splendid San Francisco
Christians property by the great fire following the earth-
quake. The loss was $20,600, including the fine
new church and school building; the rear build-
ing of fourteen rooms used as a dormitory, and
with the printing plant in the basement; and
I the furniture, furnishings and library. We had
an insurance of $7,000, which was at once paid
to the Board of Church Extension to close the
debt of several years' standing. With interest
paid promptly, semi-annually, and with the awful
stress upon us, if there ever was a time for a
debt to be forgiven that was the time. But the
application of the rules of the Board was against
such a plan, and we were left without a dollar
in the world except the lot which is held by the
Board of Church Extension. The scattering that
followed reduced the members from one hundred
and eighty to ninety-five, and the probationers
from forty-five to fifteen. But those that were
left constituted a heroic band. In the midst of

204

^^ ^

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

the horror and excitement, when thousands were
fleeing for their lives, one of the members res-
cued the pulpit Bible and the pictures of Dr.
Gibson and Bishop Harris, former superintend-
ents, and buried them in the ground, where they
were safely preserved. Throughout it all, by
keeping together, by faithfulness to Christian
services, and by helpfulness in every possible
way, our Japanese Christians manifested their
love for the Church and their efficiency in an
emergency. They had a large part in the relief
work of the Japanese Committee which received
such favorable notice from the American resi-
dents.

The Anglo-Japanese Training School had
nearly four hundred pupils enrolled at the time of
the earthquake and fire, and, though greatly
crowded for room, three hundred and thirty
were enrolled for the school year ending June
last. There are four American and five Jap-
anese teachers, all of whom have been thoroughly
trained for their work. The aim is to make it
the best school for Japanese in America, to im-
part a thorough knowledge and Christianity, and
to lead as many as possible to Christ. The past
year twelve young men have been baptized and
received into the Church, the total number for
the San Francisco church being thirty-two.

The problem today is to rebuild. The best Eebuiiding
that the Methodist Eehabilitation Committee has prancisco
been able to do is to promise dollar for dollar urgent
what the Japanese will raise up to the limit of
$2,500. The only other church upon which such
condition has been placed is the Chinese Mis-

205

Methodism and the Republic

The Japanese

Contribute

Generously

sion. The amoimt will be raised, though with
great effort under the circumstances. The rec-
ords of the Mission show that the Japanese are
liberal givers. But what will this $5,000 do in
San Francisco at the present time? It will not
more than cover the advance in prices since the
fire, and after doing our best we will be short
just what we lost : over $20,000. We are getting
on now in two rented buildings, and both the
church and school are prosperous. There never
was a time before when both were so much
needed, and when the opportunity was greater,
if so great. Our San Francisco Japanese Meth-
odist Church is the mother of all the Christian
work, of all the denominations on this coast and
in Hawaii, the mother of the great temperance
movement in Japan and the mother of many of
the most efficient preachers in Japan and on the
Pacific slope. We must rebuild at once, and the
general Church must give substantial help.

To provide permanent and more suitable
church homes and to save the expense of renting,
special effort has been made during the past
two or three years to secure property and with
encouraging results. The brave little band of
Japanese Christians at Fresno, where the An-
nual Meeting was recently held, have subscribed
and paid $2,100, which, with $400 raised locally
and a grant of $1,500 from the Board of Church
Extension, has secured them a neat and com-
fortable building well adapted for institutional
work. At Selma, also, a smaller though very
nice church has been built, the Japanese contrib-
uting more than half the cost. A new lot has

206

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

been purchased at Vacaville, entirely from Jap-
anese sources, and nearly $1,000 have been
pledged or collected toward the erection of a
new church. Bishop Neely recently dedicated
a very neat mission building at Los Angeles,
which, with the lot and improvements, cost
$6,400. The Japanese collected with great sacri-
fice $2,700. Local American Methodists added
$700, and the Board of Church Extension gen-
erously provided the balance. Our latest ven-
ture is a splendid comer property in Oakland
costing $8,000, well worth a thousand more, to-
ward which our local Christians and their
friends have contributed over $2,000. A mort-
gage has been placed on the balance, with a
plan for gradual payments, and it is expected
that the Board of Church Extension will aid us
within our conference credit. The next great
property moves will be in San Francisco and
Seattle.

In this latter city wonders have been accom-
plished in the past two years. This young Encourage-
church IS very vigorous. We have no better illus- Seattle
tration anywhere of an institutional church.
The society occupies an entire block, with a
storeroom for church and assembly hall, and
with thirty rooms for school and dormitories.
The Epworth League is specially aggressive, all
the departments being in active operation.
Though the League is new as an institution in
our coast Japanese churches, we now have eleven
organizations, with a membership of over four
hundred. Several of the Leagues publish monthly
papers which are distributed as tracts and widely

207

Methodism and the Eepublic

Explanation
of Figures

Over Five

Hundred

Baptisms

read. New and hopeful missions have been
started at Bakersfield, Oxnard and Santa Bar-
bara, and the work at several points has been
strengthened.

The cutting off the work in Hawaii and a care-
ful pruning of the records makes the statistical
showing rather small, yet when conversions and
giving p^r capita are considered there is every-
thing to encourage.

1907 Gain

Members 706 80

Probationers 158

Baptisms: Adults, 120; children, 12 132

Sunday-scliool scholars 318 32

Churches (buildings) 7 2

Valuation $52,300 $8,700

Contributions :

Support of Ministry 4,093 1,276

Missions and Church Extension 1,017 278

Other regular benevolences 104 35

Other local receipts and expenses. . . . 4,771 2,217

During the quadrennium twenty-eight chil-
dren and five hundred and thirty-five adults
have received Christian baptism. Some have re-
turned to Japan, but many have gone to places
where we have no organized work, particularly
East, and appear for the time to be lost. My
observation is that the Japanese who really
backslide are comparatively few. Our Chris-
tians represent a high standard, whether con-
sidered from the standpoint of intelligence,
faithful attendance upon the appointed means of
grace, or willingness to support the Church,
including its organized benevolences.

There is something so gentle and attractive

208

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

about Japanese women that they command the Japanese
admiration of those who know them even slightly, women and
This admiration is intensified in the case of fo^^work
missionaries and others who know them more Among
intimately. Still, there are unfortunate and err- ^^®"^
ing women in Japan as elsewhere, and some of
them have found their way to this country. Com-
pared with the whole number they are few. A
large majority of the Japanese women found
here represent a very respectable and desirable
class.

Reference has been previously made to the re-
striction of the emigration of this undesirable
class by the Japanese Government, brought
about by representations made by the Japanese
residents here. Since this action the only source
of supply to the dens of San Francisco and other
cities has been the Hawaiian Islands, and hap-
pily the more recent restrictions prevent even
the migration of such classes from there. When
the history of this dreadful iniquity is fully
written it will be found that many, if not most,
of these unfortunates were enticed here by cor-
rupt Americans or scheming Chinese. The so-
called Oriental slaves on the Pacific Coast are
almost without exception controlled by these
people.

During the past few years there has been a
notable increase in the coming of two very desir- increased
able classes of Japanese women — wives, or those immigration
coming to marry their countrymen here, and cLTses^^"^'^
single women who come as students or as house
servants. Scattered throughout the country are
many Japanese young women of superior cul-

209

Methodism and the Republic

Japanese
Families

A Chance
for Christian
Work

ture and character who, like their brothers, are
absorbing the best that we have to give in this
country of opportunity.

Particular stress should be placed upon the
increase in Japanese families on the Coast. Not
only in the cities, but in the rural districts, hun-
dreds of families may now be found who have
adopted our ideals and standards, and who are
a credit to their own country and to our own
civilization. Many of these women are well edu-
cated and cultured, and are worthy of admission
into our very best families on the basis of equal-
ity. It has been my privilege to enter and be
entertained in many of these homes from north-
ern Washington to southern California, not a
few of which compare favorably with the best
that are found among our American people
and the better class of European immigrants.
In the location of these homes in our cities, in
the quality and completeness of the furniture
and furnishings, including musical instruments
and libraries, in the character of the books
chosen; in short, in everything, they are giving
abundant evidence that they thoroughly assimi-
late our civilization.

Too much cannot be said of the opportunity
for Christian work among the Japanese women
and children in this country. A beginning has
been made, but only a beginning. The Woman 's
Home Missionary Society, through their special
committee, of which Mrs. Bishop Hamilton is the
head, conducts the Ellen Stark Ford Memorial
Home for Japanese and Korean Women and
Children in San Francisco. Two lines of work,

210

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

both important, are carried on. Miss Lake, the
missionary in charge, meets the incoming steam-
ers and furnishes aid to the single women, espe-
cially those who are coming to marry. She is
also in general charge of the Home and School,
being assisted by a matron and teachers. Some
of the girls attend the public schools, but the
smaller children study in the kindergarten and
school in the Home. This committee also con-
ducts work in Hawaii and has had a missionary
at work in Los Angeles, visiting among the
women.

A few months ago, after repeated and unsuc- a New
cessful efforts to secure the aid of the representa- '^^^^'^^
tives of the Woman 's Home Missionary Society in
starting work among women in Seattle, the pas-
tor of the Japanese church there, the Rev. S.
Yoshioka, with the aid of his members secured
the services of Miss Kinugasa as Bible Woman
or Deaconess. He became personally responsible
for her expenses from Japan and for the cost
of opening the Home, including rent and the pur-
chase of furniture and furnishings. He has a
great burden and a great opportunity. Miss
Kinugasa is a graduate of our Woman's College
at Nagasaki, Japan, and has been very successful
in Japan both as a teacher and a Bible Woman.
The general Church should at once rally to the
support of these Japanese workers in their great
undertaking. The opportunity in Seattle is but
an illustration of a similar field in dozens of
places on the Coast.

The great opening today is in the homes of Marvelous
the people. These women are accessible, and will ^*° ^

211

Methodism and the Republic

Further
Expansion:
Aid
Imperative

have a large influence in determining the type
of civilization that is to prevail among our
Japanese residents in our great West. Many of
these women are already Christian. In Los
Angeles, Oakland, Seattle and other places, there
are already local branches of the Woman 's Chris-
tian Temperance Union, several non-Christian
women being prominently connected with the
movement. The great need is for workers, both
Japanese and American, among these our sisters
from Japan. Several such missionaries as Miss
Kinugasa at Seattle should at once be employed,
and where this is impossible — and even where
it is — our American Christian women should en-
ter the open door. The writer will be glad to
furnish suitable tracts, and to co-operate in
every possible way with any who may feel drawn
to this work.

For lack of workers and money, we have not
been able to enter open doors in Pocatello, Idaho,
Missoula, Montana, Reno, Nevada and other
places where we have had loud calls. The Jap-
anese are migrating eastward far beyond our
boundaries. For some time there have been
quite successful missions in New York and
Brooklyn toward which the superuatendent has
sustained an advisory relation. Of late Colo-
rado, Wyoming and other western States are
welcoming the Japanese. One advantage of the
migration of these people eastward will be to
bring Americans into close contact with them,
which will result in more complete knowledge
and a better understanding. The Japanese are
universally most respected where they are best

212

Evangelization of the Japanese in America

known. During the past year missions have
been opened in Denver and Pueblo, the former Most
as an interdenominational work and the latter i^espected
under the care of the Northern Avenue Metho- Known
dist Episcopal Church, of which Rev. J. F. Por-
ter is pastor. In view of the necessity of keep-
ing the work unified, the last Annual Meeting re-
quested the next General Conference to extend
the boundaries of the Mission as far as the
Mississippi River. There is need not only of
this, but specially of increased appropriations
in order that we may carry on the work among
the Japanese that has providentially fallen to
the Methodist Episcopal Church in the field
already occupied.

213

PORTO RICO

A Beautiful
Harbor

Climate

A METHODIST ROMANCE OF MISSIONS

BY REV. BENJAMIN S. HAYWOOD, D.D., SUPERIN-
TENDENT

When Christopher Columbus sailed homeward
from his first visit to the New World, he did not
dream that to the eastward there was a beautiful
island which he had overlooked. On his return,
however, he skirted along its southern shores
and claimed the newly-found land for Spain.
There was with Columbus on his return, a Span-
iard named Juan Ponce de Leon. He did not
remain in Hispaniola, which was considered the
principal island of the archipelago, but visited
the new land which he had seen. As he coasted
along the northern shore he found the beautiful
harbor where San Juan is now located and
called it Puerto Rico. Thus was Porto Rico
brought into the arena of history.

To other islands of the West India group have
been applied endearing terms, but the value of
a gem is not determined by its size. To Porto
Rico, the smallest of the Greater Antilles, and
the farthest east of the group, belong many dis-
tinctions which give it an honored place among
its sister islands.

Although in the tropics, the climate of Porto
Rico is mild; the northeast trade winds sweep
across it and the ocean breezes moderate the heat

214

Porto Rico

of the tropical sun. The temperature ranges
between 50 and 100 degrees, but these extremes
are seldom reached. The interior of the island
is a broad tableland of 3,500 feet elevation, and
the rivers, which flow swiftly to the sea, free
the land from stagnant water.

The soil of Porto Rico is rich, sandy loam ^°"
which is very productive. In the mountains may
be found large, stately trees, and there are large
tracts of land covered with nutritious grass.
About 65 percent of the people are engaged in
agriculture, and the chief products of the soil
are tobacco, sugar and coffee. The story of
Porto Rico's productiveness reads like a myth.
The methods of cultivation are still very crude,
but the ground has only to be scratched, the
seed sown, and immediately the harvest comes
forth. With very little attention all of the
flowers and vegetables and many of the fruits
which are grown in the United States, thrive
in Porto Rico. Unfortunately, the quality of
the products has degenerated, and not for many
years, until after the American occupation, has a
superior quality of seed been used.

The principal animals of Porto Rico are the Animals
domestic ox, the small pack pony and the goat.
The ox-cart has for centuries been the popular
mode of transportation, but the railway which
now encircles the island, and the electric lines
of the largest cities and the automobile are ds-
tined to supplant it. The American horse and
the army mule are recent contributions to Porto
Rico's facilities for travel, and the little pack
pony will soon belong to a day that has passed.

215

Methodism and the Republic

Area and
Population

Illiteracy

Wages

Religion

The area of Porto Rico is about 3,676 square
miles, or about three times the size of Rhode
Island. There are 1,000,000 people living on the
island; the density of the population is, there-
fore, about 272 persons to the square mile, or
about equal to that of the State of New Jersey.
More than three-fifths of the people are white,
and nearly two-fifths are partly or entirely
negroes. In the mixed races there are traces of
the blood of the early Indians, who were the first
inhabitants of the island. About 250,000 persons
are employed as laborers in the fields. Though
small in weight and stature, their bodies are all
bone and sinew, and they have great power of
endurance. Because of the poor facilities for
education, the illiteracy of the island is very
great. It is usually placed at 85 percent; and,
under the educational qualification, only 50,000
were recently entitled to the use of the ballot.
The average wages paid to the day laborer is
about thirty -five cents, and a house servant can
be secured for three dollars per month. The
women make elegant laces and have developed to
a remarkable degree the art of making all kinds
of fancy work. Very little of the artistic is to be
found in the men; their principal accomplish-
ment is the manufacture of fine straw hats.

The religion of Porto Rico is nominally Roman
Catholic. The Bishopric of Porto Rico was
established in 1504, and it was the first in the
New World. The leading Protestant Churches
are represented in the island, but very fre-
quently yet, in the interior, they meet with severe
persecution at the hands of the Romanists.

216

Porto Rico

When counting in numbers the Roman Church
claims the entire population of the island, but
an intelligent Romanist has said that probably
not over 10 percent of the people comply with
the conditions of the Roman Church. A Roman
priest said recently in the Cathedral in San Ji^an
that he thanked God for the Protestant Church
in Porto Rico, because the people could profit
from the educational privileges which the Prot-
estant Churches afford. The Spanish people in
Porto Rico are nearly all subjects of Rome, but
the Porto Ricans have no religion. It has been without a
frequently stated, upon good authority, that they ^®^^^^°^
thoroughly dislike the Roman Church, but, hav-
ing no other to which to turn, for many genera-
tions they have been a people without a religion.
An intelligent Romanist recently said of them,
''When they go to the Catholic Church they
go as they do to the theatre.'' The attitude of
the Roman Church is secretly anti-American,
and she is still continuing, in a feeble way, her
protest against the public schools and other insti-
tutions which the authority of the United States
has made possible. However, the secret and
incessant labors of Rome through political chan-
nels is the greatest cause for fear, and the suc-
cess of her endeavors to influence the policy of
the Government arouses grave suspicions.

The only Protestant Church in Porto Rico be-
fore the American occupation was a small
society of the Protestant Episcopal faith in
Ponce. In the nine years in which the island
has been open to all the Churches, the leading de-
nominations have established missions through-

217

Protestantism

Methodism and the Republic

Methodism
Enters the
Island

Difficulties

out its territory. The Methodist Episcopal
Church was the last to enter this field and the
work of our Church has been carried on, since
its inauguration seven years ago, with charac-
teristic vigor and precision.

Such were the conditions which obtained and
the opportunities presented when Rev. C. W.
Drees, D.D., of South America, was chosen by
the Bishops in 1899 to organize a mission of the
Methodist Episcopal Church in Porto Rico. Dr.
and Mrs. Drees reached San Juan in March,
1900, and found a number of persons who were
Methodists, and others who were friends of the
Church. Within forty-eight hours a suitable
hall in San Juan was secured for services. From
the date of Methodism's entrance into Porto
Rico the growth of the work has been phe-
nomenal.

The present territory of the Porto Rico Mis-
sion is the island of Porto Rico and the smaller
islands of Vieques and Culebra, which lie off
the east coast of Porto Rico about twenty-five
miles distant. In the brief time which has been
spent in this field, mission centers have been
established throughout this territory, but be-
cause of poor facilities for travel, the great dis-
tances between the missions and the dense popu-
lation, a great majority of the peole are still
unreached.

In 1904 the Government established a naval
station at Culebra, and there are from 50 to
100 marines in the barracks at this place most
of the time. The beautiful harbor of this island
and the unfrequented bays and sounds of this

218

Porto Rico

corner of the southern seas afford a suitable
place for the rendez\^ous of the Atlantic Squad-
ron. The hills and mountains and sea shriek
and tremble at the thundering of the big guns
at target practice. Roosevelt is the name of a
small town just started on the bay a short dis-
tance from the naval station. A small but com-
fortable chapel, made possible by three business Business
men in California, affords a place of worship for Men Bund
the people of the town and island. Through the * ^^^^^^
indomitable and heroic labors of our supply
missionary, a copy of the Bible or some portion
of the Scriptures has been placed in every home
and hut on the island.

Vieques, or Crab Island, is one of the most
fertile spots on the archipelago. Stock-raising
was originally the leading occupation of the
people. Beautiful and extensive pastures of
waving grass cover the island. The finest cattle
and horses of the West Indies have been raised
here; but the demand for good stock has taken
from Vieques many of its large droves. The
sugar industry has recently interested the people,
and many are turning their attention to the rais-
ing of cane.

The United States has five magnetic, terrestrial Government
stations: one in Alaska, one in Hawaii, one near ^^tion^^
Washington, D. C, one in Kansas and one on
the island of Vieques. Because of peculiar con-
ditions existing in this portion of the hemisphere,
some most valuable and interesting observations
have been made at this station.

Besides the natives, there are many English-
speaking negroes in Vieques, who have come

219

Methodism and the Republic

A Little Child
Leads

from the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix,
nearby. These people are pious and of a relig-
ious temperament. The town 'of Isabel Segunda
is the principal city of the island, and here our
work in Vieques began five years ago. In intro-
ducing and establishing Methodism in this cor-
ner of the universe, the scriptural prophesy, ''A
little child shall lead them,*' was literally ful-
filled. Felipe Cruz, an eight-year-old child,
looked up into the face of the priest one day and
said, ** Father, I'm no longer a Spaniard, I'm a
Methodist." Through the efforts of this lad the
people rallied, the church was built and scores
have been led to Christ.

Other churches concede to Methodism the
superiority of its methods in the mission field.
Without discrediting the work of others, it is no
exaggeration to say that Methodism is doing the
greatest work for the evangelization of Porto
Rico. The comity exists whereby each Church
has its own territory to labor in, but others are
calling upon Methodism to come into their field
to help them. Every day brings pitiful pleas
for more chapels and schools or larger places for
Does Greatest worship, and the almost limitless field which
opens before us is our great embarrassment. The
people are hungry for the truth. They are quick
to learn and many make great sacrifices in order
that they may hear the Gospel and know its
power.

It may be well at this point to take a view
of the present equipment of Methodism in this
newest of her mission fields. There are now thir-
teen American missionaries representing con-

220

Methodism

Porto Rico

ferenees from New York to California and from
the Gulf to the Great Lakes. These are all men
of experience in the pastorate, and a number of
them have had previous experience in the mis-
sion field. The majority speak the Spanish lan-
guage fluently and accurately. This equipment ^^^^
of missionaries is very providential and gives Equipment
to our work both efficiency and prestige. There
are fifteen local preachers and all of these are
native men. Most of them are doing excellent
work as preachers and pastors, and their ability
is measured by the many whom they are bring-
ing into the Kingdom through their personal
effort. These men are carrying their studies
with credit to themselves, in view of the heavy
labors which they perform. Our equipment is
further supplemented by twenty-two exhorters.
The earnestness and enthusiasm with which these
men can take a meeting at a pivotal point and
sway the congregation with their appeal, has
always turned into a victory what might other-
wise have been a failure to touch some heart.

There are sixteen mission centers, which are sixteen
presided over by a missionary who has for his ^^sionary
assistants one or more local preachers and ex-
horters. These centers are well distributed
throughout the territory which has been allotted
to Methodism. First Church and Trinity, in
San Juan, Puerta de Tierra and Santurse;
Camuy and Hatillo; and Aricebo are on the
north of the island. First Church, St. Paul and
the Playa in Ponce, Guayama, Patillas and
Maunabo are on the south ; and Aibonito, Jayuya,
Utuado and Commerrio are in the interior. The

221

Methodism and the Republic

A Circuit
System

Eager to
Hear

Sunday
Schools

two islands of Culebra and Vieques are just off
the east coast. Each mission center has not only
the duties attaching to the one church, but a
variety of addition responsibilities. Connected
with each there are from six to twenty chapels
located at distances from five to fifteen miles,
and religious services and day schools are con-
ducted in these points by the native helpers.

Our missionaries and native preachers are
greeted every week by 150 congregations, the
size of them being limited only by the capacity
of the room where service is held. Often the
crowd of listeners without is as large and atten-
tive as that within. Those who stand afar off
and listen, are simply candidates for the later
experience of coming early in order to obtain a
seat within the house. The services for all of
these congregations, except two, are conducted
in the Spanish language. The First Methodist
Episcopal Church in San Juan has all of its
services in English, and while every one is in-
vited to attend, yet the membership and congre-
gation are composed largely of American people
who are living in the capital and its suburbs.
This is the first Methodist society in Porto Rico,
and it is fully organized as a church and is doing
a good service in behalf of the American popula-
tion. St. Paul's, in Ponce, is the other English
congregation. There are a great many English-
speaking people in Ponce, but the great majority
of them are Porto Ricans.

There are fifty-five Sunday schools connected
with our work in Porto Rico. These average in
attendance from 35, which is the size of the

222

Porto Rico

English Sunday school in San Juan, to over
200 in many of the Spanish churches. The in-
struction which is afforded the children in these
schools is of a nature to prepare them for
future influence in the Church and community.
The Porto Rican children sing with much en- ^^^^^
thusiasm. Their voices are high and shrill and singers
the principle involved seems to be that he who
sings loudest sings best. No choir nor soloist
is needed to inspire them, and they learn the
hymns very rapidly and sing mostly from
memory.

After seven years of consecrated toil in this
island empire, our Church can count 3,600 bona
fide members. This number includes probation- ^apid
ers. In the membership will be found all the Growth
degrees of intelligence and social position which
obtain in Porto Rico. Also, there are representa-
tives of all the shades and hues of the human
skin and the accents of language which are
known to man in the Western Hemisphere.
Among the native people, the color line is very
definitely dra^vn, and we are informed that this
is a recent acquirement; inspired, perhaps, by
some over-sensitive Americans who have come
to the island. But the interesting problem is to
know where the line is to be drawn. Between ^j^^ ^^^^^
those who are of unmixed negro blood and those Line
of white blood there are an infinite number of
degrees of color and all of the freaks which
Nature plays in adjusting the color of the skin.
Among the poorest classes, whites and blacks
live together in crowded patios or single rooms,
and the only problem which seems to stir their

223

Methodism and the Kepublic

Possibilities

Self-
support

Churches
Building

breasts is that of existence. To the casual ob-
server, the faces and hands and feet of these
poor people have become so thoroughly coated
with filth that the color of the skin is not easily-
detected. But it is for such as these, as well as
for the more fortunate, that we have brough the
Message to Porto Rico. Abraham Lincoln came
from a home of extreme poverty; Toussaint
rOuvertour was born a slave, his father having
been brought from the wilds of Africa. Who
can say but what the future statesmen and pa-
triots of Porto Eico are now the litle ''choco-
late drops ' ' of the squalid patios.

As is invariably the case with a people com-
ing up from bondage, Porto Rico is contributing
liberally toward the support of the mission. Dur-
ing the year 1906 the membership of the Meth-
odist Church contributed of its extreme poverty
over $1 per member for self-support. The Eng-
lish congregation of San Juan paid over $33
per member, and the amount gradually decreases
to the pennies of the people of the mountain
country. First Church, San Juan, has the only
Epworth League on the island, and its members
have built a day school at Aibonito and are
paying $15 a month for the support of a native
teacher.

This is the most important year thus far of
our history, for the mission is a matter of
Church Extension. Four large and vastly im-
portant church enterprises are now on hand.
At Ponce, a large and creditable building is
being erected for the accommodation of both the
Spanish and the English congregations. There

224

Porto Rico

are two separate auditoriums and these commo-
dious quarters are expected to contribute largely
toward the development of the work in this
metropolis of the southern coast. First Church, ^ ciiurcii
San Juan, has never had a home of its own, and ror
the places of worship have been inadequate and -^^"^^^^^^^
unattractive. The Americans in San Juan are
in great need of the tempering influence of the
Church, and many have been saved from drifting
by its timely care. A year ago, a beautiful cor-
ner lot, located in Santurse, one of the nearby
suburbs, was secured. This location is proving
more than was expected, because of the fact that
most of the Americans are moving to Santurse.
A modern and commodious building for this con-
gregation is now imder construction, and it is
expected to be ready in four months for occu-
pancy. Its site is at Miramar, on the famous
military road across the island, and is regarded
as one of the choicest in the entire city.

Methodism has now $68,000 worth of property Methodist
in Porto Rico. This consists of twenty-seven property
churches and chapels and five parsonages. The
majority of the missionaries are occupying
rented quarters, and this is a great drain on the
finances of the mission. Rents are exorbitant, it
being necessary to pay from $30 to $50 per
month for a residence of very ordinary propor-
tions.

Aside from the work of the mission proper,
the Woman's Home Missionary Society has two
institutions in San Juan. The McKinley Free
Day School gathers in the little tots from the
streets and cares for them throughout the day.

225

Methodism and the Republic

Woman 'a
Work

George O.

BrObinson

Orphanage

This work is of the nature of kindergarten in-
struction. Throughout San Juan, in the dark
patios and narrow halls one may hear the chil-
dren singing the songs which they have learned.
There are about seventy-five children in this
school. In connection with this work the princi-
pal has established a training school for young
native women. There are twelve young women
who are assisting in the school and studying
various branches, music included, and after a
three-years ' course they will be able to return to
their homes and establish schools of their own.

At Borinquen Park Place, adjacent to San-
turce, is located the George 0. Robinson Or-
phanage for girls. This beautiful and commo-
dious building was made possible by a liberal
gift from Porto Rico's warm friend, Judge
George 0. Robinson, LL.D., of Detroit, Mich.
The orphanage is located near the sea, in a de-
lightful spot surrounded by large and beautiful
grounds. There are here about fifty girls of
ages varying from five to sixteen years. It is
expected to fill this home to its capacity for
100 girls just as rapidly as great care in looking
into the respective merits of the many applicants
will permit. These two institutions are adjuncts
to the work of the mission.

The work of Methodism in Porto Rico is in-
deed in its infancy. Vast territories are still
unoccupied and thousands of the natives have
not yet heard the ''sweet story of old."

It will doubtless be of interest to friends to
know what a little money will make possible. It
is sincerely hoped that our friends in the Home-

226

Porto Rico

land approach the Throne daily in behalf of our
fields and the laborers.

One Dollar pays for a block in the new churches
which are being erected. ?^J^* \onQ

Fifteen Dollars provides a month's education for wm^Do °^^^
100 children who have never known a day of
school privileges.

Fifty Dollars gives you a boy in the Boys' Or-
phanage and Industrial School which is to be
built.

One Hundred Dollars erects a village chapel,
v/hich serves the double purpose of school and
church. These are beautiful memorials.

One Hundred and Eighty Dollars will place your
own substitute in the field. If you would like
to send yourself to the front, but cannot come,
a native missionary may thus be provided to
take your work for you.

Seven Hundred and Twenty Dollars will send an
American missionary (single) to Porto Rico.
Five missionaries are greatly needed at once.
These are transitional days. Evolution and
moral revolution are working in every direc-
tion here. Help us.

The future of the mission is brilliant, and
hopes are cherished for rapidly expanding facili-
ties for more effective work. Some funds have j^^^
already been secured for the proposed Boys' projects
Orphanage, and as soon as it become a financial
possibility, the work will be begun. This train-
ing of the boys is a problem which mightily con-
cerns our future success.

Some funds are already available for a Rest

227

Methodism and the Republic

How to
Save the
Lives of
Workers

A Training
School and
Printing
Press Are
Needed

Sister
Churches

Home for the missionaries in the mountains,
but there is not yet a sufficient amount to guar-
antee the beginning of the enterprise. The lack
of a suitable and healthful place for recupera-
tion has wrought havoc among the workers.
Physical collapse comes suddenly, and frequently
without any warning, and to flee quickly to the
woodlands is often out of the question. Had
some such provision been made in the past, lives
would have been spared and others could have
continued their work in this field.

One of the most pressing needs, if not the
most urgent, is a training school for native
workers. We have the raw material, but as yet
no equipment for its development. Other de-
nominations have established their own training
schools, and our native preachers feel the great
need which they have for such training to pre-
pare them for their important work.

The possibilities for securing proper literature
are very limited. Printing bills are very heavy,
and the only means we have for the publication
of papers and tracts is the native press. A mis-
sion press would save hundreds of dollars an-
nually and make possible a wide extension of
the Kingdom.

Our Presbyterian friends have a well-equipped
hospital in Santurce-by-the-Sea, and the Prot-
estant Episcopal Church has a large hospital in
Ponce. Dispensary work is done in Mayaguez,
but the southeastern part of the island is left
without any provision of this kind. The need
of a Methodist hospital in this section is,
indeed, urgent.

228

Porto Rico

So endeth the brief account of Porto Rico's
evolution from a land cursed with ignorance and
superstition to the blessed realities of Christian
enlightenment. Prejudice and ignorance abound
on every hand, but it is the purpose of God 's ^ jjigh
messengers in this field, which requires so much Purpose
of patience and faith, to exemplify in their teach-
ing and lives the love and compassion and sym-
pathy of Him who hung upon the cross for the
sins and sorrows of the whole world, and thereby
''compel" Porto Rico to enter into the ''Great
Supper" which awaits her.

229

HAWAII

Crossroads
of the
Pacific

An Earthly
Paradise

REV. G. L, PEARSON, D.D., FORMERLY SUPERIN-
TENDENT OP HAWAIIAN MISSIONS

The Hawaiian Islands lie just within the
northern tropics, about 2,000 miles southwest of
San Francisco. They occupy a central position
in the North Pacific Ocean. Theirs has been one
of the most isolated positions in the world.
Changes in commercial lines have brought them
into prominence. They now form the ** cross-
roads" of the Pacific, being in the track of ves-
sels plying between the Commonwealth of Aus-
tralia and San Francisco or Vancouver, and be-
tween San Francisco or the Isthmus of Panama
and the coast of Asia. With the completion of
the Isthmian Canal and with the assured growth
of commerce on the Pacific Ocean, their strategic
position will give them increasing importance
as a commercial center and as the resort of the
shipping of this great ocean. The semi-tropical
climate, modified by the northern trade winds
and the Japanese current returning from the
coast of Alaska, whose waters are eight or ten
degrees cooler than those of the same latitude
elsewhere; the beauty of the abundant foliage
and varying landscape, which have given to these
islands the descriptive title, ''The Paradise of
the Pacific"; the peculiar interest awakened by
the volcanic origin of the islands and the occa-

230

Hawaii

sional volcanic activity will continue to attract
visitors and residents in increasing numbers.
Sugar is the main product. Rice is second, with Agricultural
tropical fruits and coffee following. Other prod- I'roducts
ucts are being developed. The Government,
through its Agricultural Department, is experi-
menting on many lines, and it is anticipated that
a varied line of products, such as spices, rubber,
fruits, etc., will soon be produced in commercial
quantities, thus making possible a larger Ameri-
can population and a more important commerce.
These islands have long been the scene of
heroic missionary effort, and because of their
important position, which gives a meeting place
to the Orient and Occident, will continue to be
of great importance as a field for the propaga-
tion of the Gospel of our Lord. Here great vic-
tories have been won — victories that lend encour-
agement to the present activities. The heroism
of Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston, their
wives and associates, perhaps has never been God
surpassed. Leaving Boston in October, 1819, ^^^^"^ *^®
under the auspices of the American Board of
Foreign Missions, they set sail for the far-off
''Sandwich Islands" by way of Cape Horn, not
knowing what should befall them there, and ex-
pecting to find a barbarous people given to
human sacrifice and cannibalism. They after-
wards learned that though the Hawaiians did
offer human sacrifices, they were never cannibals.
Great changes occurred in Hawaii while they
were on their more than five months' journey.
The great King Kamehameha died and left his
son Liholiho to reign. His two queens, Kapio-

231

Methodism and the Republic

The Tabu

System

A Tragic
Scene

lani and Kaahumann, had resolved upon the
abolition of the tabu system at the earliest
opportunity. The tabu was a system of pro-
hibitions that reigned over the entire life of
the people. Its cruelties and burdens were in-
deed grievous. For example, *'it was death for
a common man to remain standing at the men-
tion of the King's name in song, or when the
King's food, drinking water or clothing was car-
ried past, to enter his enclosure without his per-
mission or even to cross his shadow or that oi
his house. It was tabu for men and women to
eat together or to have their food cooked in the
same oven. It was tabu, on pain of death, for
women to enter the house of the family gods
or the men's eating-house. Several of the best
kinds of food were forbidden women. There
were many occasions when no canoe could be
launched, no fire lighted, no tapa beaten or poi
pounded, and no sound could be uttered on pain
of death ; when even the dogs had to be muzzled,
and the fowls were shut up in calabashes for
twenty-four hours at a time. These were not
merely laws but religious ordinances, and the
violation of them was not merely a crime, but a
sin, which would bring down the vengeance of
the gods." The breaking of the tabu was a
tragic scene. Kaahumanu prevailed on Liholiho
to break the tabu by eating with women. Ac-
cordingly, at a great feast, he sat down with
chiefs of both sexes and openly feasted with
them, while the common people looked on with
mingled fear and curiosity, expecting dire judg-
ments to suddenly follow such violation of law.

232

Hawaii

But nothing serious happened. At this they
raised the joyful shout, "The tabu is at an end,
the gods are a lie." The effect was marvelous, a
A religious war broke out immediately, in which Providential
the reformers prevailed. They broke and burned
the idols, temples were destroyed and the cus-
toms and. ceremonies of religious regulation and
worship were discarded forever. The mission-
aries arriving a few weeks later found that God
had prepared their way in a marvelous manner,
as they saw 'Hhe strange spectacle of a nation
without a religion." In these favorable con-
ditions they began a work which met with suc-
cess at once. They soon reduced the language
to writing and translated portions of the Scrip-
tures and other books. Industrial and other
schools were opened, some of which continue
unto this day. A paper established in that early
day is yet being published in Honolulu. It is
the oldest paper west of the Rocky Mountains.
These were great factors in the elevation of the
people. Wonderful revivals followed in a few Great
years, in which many thousands of the people
were soundly converted. They gave the masses
a sure uplift from their terrible state of bar-
barism.

In the course of a few years the missionaries
were able to secure an established government,
having humane laws, courts of justice, schools
and other institutions. They prevailed on the
King, in the year 1845, to divide the lands, and
give to his subjects title to their holdings and to
such lands as they might desire to secure. Prior
to this the people had owned no lands and their

233

Gospel
Victories

Methodism and the Republic

National
Dett to
Missionaries

Bomanism
in the
Island

right to property of any kind was lightly re-
garded by the rulers, chiefs and priests. The
raising of a barbarous people to an intelligent
and Christian civilization, the opening of a com-
merce that returns to America annually many
times the cost of missionary enterprise, is due to
the heroic missionaries who have labored long
and faithfully in Hawaii. All honor to the
Binghams, Thurstons, Coans, Bishops, Judds,
Gulicks, Lymans, Baldwins and others who here
labored not in vain in the Lord.

Eoman Catholic priests came to Hawaii in the
year 1827 and immediately began work in an
humble way. They soon became the objects of
persecution, which led to their banishment in
1832. The Hawaiians did not understand them.
Since the war of 1819 image worship had been
a grave offense. They thought they saw an effort
on the part of the Catholics to re-establish the
old or introduce a similar religion. The French
government came to the support of her citizens,
and in the year 1839 secured the right of free
worship for the Catholic Church throughout the
islands, and also a site for a church in Honolulu.
Since that time this church has carried on its
work unmolested and has had good success
among the Hawaiians. The fame of their labors
at the Leper Settlement, on the island of Molokai,
is world-wide, and surely a notable work has
been and is being done by them among these un-
fortunate people. Here a home for women and
girls who have no home, endowed by Mr. Charles
R. Bishop, of San Francisco, formerly of
Hawaii, is conducted by sisters of the Catholic

234

Hawaii

Church, and a home for homeless boys and men,
endowed by Mr. Henry P. Baldwin, of Honolulu,
the son of an early Protestant missionary family,
is cared for by brothers in the Catholic Church.
These homes are homes, schools and workshops
combined. There is a Catholic church at each of
the two villages in the Settlement. The Protest-
ants also have maintained work here. Hawaiian
pastors have been appointed by the Hawaiian
Evangelical Association. There are two Prot-
estant churches and a Young Men's Christian
Association. The ministrations of these pastors
to people of their own blood has been of incal-
culable benefit and should not be overlooked.
Laborers in the Church and Government service
are not compelled to remain in the Settlement,
and some, after years of splendid service, have
removed to minister elsewhere.

The Anglican Church established a mission
in Hawaii in the year 1859, and has been an im-
portant factor in religious work among the
Hawaiians. At the time of the annexation of
Hawaii (1898) this work was transferred to the
Protestant Episcopal Church. It is being con-
ducted with commendable zeal and with good
success.

The Hawaiian Evangelical Association, suc-
cessor, in Hawaii, to the American Board of
Foreign Missions, has the most important work
among Hawaiians. Aside from their fifty
churches, they conduct a number of excellent
schools which are attended by hundreds of Ha-
waiian youths. They have also successful mis-
sions among Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese.

235

The Leper
Settlement

Other

Beligioua

Agencies

Methodism and the Republic

Immigration

An Apostolic
Japanese

The California Conference of onr Church has
for many years taken a deep interest in these
islands. In the year 1861 the now venerable Dr.
C. V. Anthony was sent to open work there.
After a few months of investigation and experi-
ment it was decided to postpone our efforts, the
opportunities being limited.

In more recent years the development of the
sugar industry has called for more laborers, and
a numerous and varied people have emigrated to
Hawaii. Today there are perhaps 70,000 Jap-
anese, 20,000 Chinese, 15,000 Portuguese, 10,000
Koreans and smaller numbers of other foreign
people residing in Hawaii. The coming of this
heterogeneous mass of humanity put a grave re-
sponsibility and a heavy burden upon the relig-
ious forces of Hawaii. Our own Church was
again called to Hawaii: this time by Japanese,
who having been converted in our missions in
California, returned to Hawaii to live. The
story of Brother K. Miyama is one of great
interest. Briefly told, he was soundly converted
in our mission at San Francisco, under the labors
of that princely man, Otis Gibson. His conver-
sion brought him great joy and gave him an im-
pulse to tell the story of redemption. Knowing
the condition of his countrymen in Hawaii, he
took passage to preach the Gospel to them. On
his arrival at Honolulu he called upon the Jap-
anese consul, Mr. Taro Ando, to whom he told
his story so fervently that it led to Mr. Ando's
conversion. Then followed in rapid succession
the conversion of Mrs. Ando, the attaches of the
consulate and even the yard boy. This gave to

236

Hawaii

our Church in Japan one of her most prominent
and active Christian workers — Mr. Taro Ando.
Brother Miyama visited many plantations, where
he preached with great power and success. After
a brief stay in Hawaii, Brother Miyama re- Japanese
moved to Japan. Dr. A. N. Fisher was sent Persistency
to Hawaii to look after these interests. Having
but little help, and meeting with few encour-
agements, he, with others, thought it advisable /
to give our work to the Hawaiian Evangelical
Association. A few of our brethren not
satisfied with this arrangement, banded them-
selves together and held "Methodist" serv-
ices. Occasional recruits from California and
from their own efforts united with them, and
thus a nucleus of a new work was established.
Our iuterests were joined to the Japanese work
on the coast, forming the Japanese District of
the California Annual Conference, with the Rev.
M. C. Harris, now Bishop Harris, Presiding
Elder. He occasionally visited Hawaii, always
bringing an inspiration by his cheery faith and
his remarkable ability to stimulate the Japanese
to an heroic and fruitful service.

The Rev. Harcourt W. Peck was appointed to
Honolulu in the fall of 1894. He immediately
organized a class which has become our present
English church. He secured a splendid corner our Churcii
lot, situated on one of the finest avenues in Hono- Planted
lulu, on which was a large brick house, which is
now used as a parsonage, for the sum of $10,000,
paying on the same $2,000. A neat chapel cost-
ing $5,000 was erected and paid for. Brother
Peck remained three years and did a faithful

237

Methodism and the Republic

Work for
Americans

A Notable
Eecruit
From Home
Missions

and successful work, nourishing the growing
Japanese society and caring for the English
work. He was succeeded by the Rev. G. L.
Pearson, also of the California Conference, who
in addition to being pastor of the English church
had, under Dr. Harris, supervision of the Jap-
anese work. The English church has not grown
as had been expected, owing to the transitory
nature of the English population during the
period of its history. It has, however, been an
efficient force for righteousness, has ministered
to thousands and has been of special aid to our
work among foreign people. Its record of good
works is a noble one. The debt of $8,000 has
been paid and approximately $6,000 have been
raised for the care and improvement of the
property. The present valuation of this property
is $30,000.

Meanwhile, a notable Japanese preacher, the
Rev. H. Kihara, now at the head of our Japa-
nese work in Korea, a product of our mission in
San Francisco, arrived in Honolulu. He had a
rich religious experience, was a good preacher,
a flaming evangelist and a born leader. Under
him the work took a new start. It was conducted
along three lines: direct evangelistic church
work, schools and temperance. Many hundreds
of Japanese men and boys were soon gathered
into our temperance bands. Schools were opened
for children where they could be taught in their
own language. This gave us the opportunity to
secure them for our Sunday schools. It also ob-
tained a kindly interest in our work on the part
of their parents. Evening schools were opened

238

Hawaii

for young men, which were attended by many,
who were thus brought under religious influ-
ences. They readily became attendants of our
churches and many of them were converted. A
notable case was that of Agazawa, who came ^ converted
from Japan to Honolulu to conduct his father's Liquor Dealer
liquor business. After a few weeks of attend-
ance upon our school and church he was
brought under deep conviction of sin, and later
was gloriously saved. Immediately there arose
in his mind the question of dealing in liquor.
There was attached to it a question that could
not have the same weight with an American
boy — disobedience of his father's will. Japanese
boys are taught and are expected to give abso-
lute obedience to their father while he lives, and
on his death to give him a reverence and venera-
tion which practically amounts to worship. The
struggle in Agazawa 's heart between his old in-
struction and filial affection and his new experi-
ence and conviction was very intense. Grace en-
abled him to triumph. He wrote his father that
he must give up the liquor business and was
immediately ostracised. The church took this
now outcast in a strange land, under its special
care. After a few months of instruction he was
licensed an exhorter and given charge of one
of the lately organized societies. Here, in the ^ Pauline
spirit of Paul, he gave himself to an unstinted Preacher
service, bestowed the last nickel of his meager
salary upon the sick and needy, and in every way
exemplified that heroic devotion which is born
of deep religious experience and true loyalty to
the Master. This brother has by his own un-

239

Methodism and the Republic

An

Enterprising
Lawyer

Our Flag

Gives

Courage

aided efforts earned his living, learned the Eng-
lish language and graduated from one of our
Church universities. He is today a regular and
successful minister to his own people. Similar
cases abound. Another young man who was
started in the right way in Hawaii, under the
call of an awakened ambition joined a mission
school in San Francisco, where he prepared for
entrance to the University of California. In
seven years from the time he reached San Fran-
cisco he graduated from the university — a law-
yer— having earned his own living and learned
the English language meanwhile. Such products
of missionary enterprise alone give warrant for
this work.

Koreans began coming to Hawaii, to labor in
the cane fields and elsewhere, in the year 1905.
By an amicable arrangement with the Hawaiian
Evangelical Association we surrendered to them
our work, lately begun among Chinese, and took
the exclusive care of the Koreans. These people
from the ''Hermit Nation" sorely needed
friends. Timid, superstitious, mistrustful, the
result of misrule and oppression in their home
land, strangers in a strange land, they needed
some one to guide, cheer and instruct them.
Many times has the writer heard the light steps
of Koreans approaching his study at a late hour
of the night, and then listened as they told in
low, suspicious tones their story of fear awak-
ened by misunderstanding on the part of some
laborer or some show of authority on the part
of an employer. It was a matter of keen pleas-
ure to be able to assure them of the protection

240

Hawaii

that was theirs under the Stars and Stripes, and
to note their bolder step as they departed to give
the word of assurance and courage to others. As
their numbers increased societies were organized
at the several plantations where they labored.
The few exhorters and local preachers among
them greatly aided in the work. Several pastors
were secured from Korea. The regular services
of the Church were established. A paper having
an ambitious name, The Korean Christian Advo-
cate, was published and circulated freely among
them. For two years this paper was laboriously
printed on a mimeograph. It has since been en-
larged and is now printed by a standard press.
By this medium regular Sunday-school lessons
were published and instruction in social and
spiritual life was given. These were of great
profit to them.

These people by simple faith and open-
heartedness readily received the Gospel; and
the Gospel finding in them the same need that
it finds in others, works its same blessed results.
Mankind is strikingly of one pattern after all.
The writer was once accosted by an elderly
Korean woman who said, ''Pi Moksa'^ — Pastor
Pearson — "you are different from me, you were
brought up in a Christian land, you had a good
home, good schools, good churches, good gov-
ernment. You were greatly blessed in these
things. Your instructions and associations gave
you a large and happy life. I had none of these
things. I was born and grew up in a small hut ;
had no schooling; was taught that evil spirits
were everywhere, in house and tree, in wind and

241

Eager to
Learn

Human
Hearts the
Same

Methodism and the Republic

A Eich
Simplicity

How the

Spirit

Operates

stream. I learned to fear the gods — I had no
hope. Yet, Pi Moksa, we are just alike. We
have the same heartache, the same knowledge of
sin, the same sense of guilt, the same dread of
death, the same mystery of life and the same
longing for a better land." I clasped her hand
and said, ' ' Yes, sister, we are just alike, ' for God
made of one blood all nations of men,' and the
Gospel of our Lord brings us all into one peace-
ful, hopeful brotherhood." The hymn most
frequently sung in their meetings is. the one be-
ginning *'0h, Happy Day." There is a rich
simplicity in their class-meeting testimonies that
is most enjoyable. It shows the working of
Divine grace in the common details of experi-
ence and character. The writer noted his great
surprise at finding so rich and full a religious
life in those who were so limited in knowledge
and experience. It is often asked, ''How can an
illiterate and superstitious people grasp the
great principles of the Gospel and profit by
them?" Such inquirers overlook the simplicity
of the Gospel method and the great fact that God
has written, at least in outline. His laws on every
man's heart, and also how easily the Gospel can
be applied to the elements that inhere in human
nature. Dr. Wadman tells an incident that oc-
curred in Hawaii which illustrates the rapid
work of God 's spirit and truth on common hearts
and minds. He was about to administer the
Holy Sacrament to a small company of Koreans,
when Brother Kim, a recent convert, said to him,
"Jesus had twelve disciples and one of them
was a devil." Dr. Wadman asked him what he

242

Hawaii

meant. Kim repeated his statement, and added,
"I am the devil." He then told how he and
his wife had been struggling to save a little
money to take them back to Korea and to start
them in business there. But expenses were
great and profits meager. His wife had sug-
gested that while he worked in the field
she would keep a few articles, including
liquors, for sale. He finally consented to this.
As the weeks passed their money increased, but
with it his happiness decreased. He became ex-
tremely unhappy and dissatisfied. His sense of
guilt for wrongdoing grew upon him. He
thought himself a hypocrite and unworthy to
partake of the Sacrament. Afterward Dr. Wad-
man visited his home and talked the matter over
with him and his wife. At first she greatly re-
sented his appeal, but after conversation and
prayer there was heard the clinking of the bot-
tles as they were gathered from the shelves and
a crash as they were shattered on the rocks out-
side the cabiQ. Kim's happiaess was restored
and peace reigned in the home. The Koreans
excel all others of whom the writer has knowl- ?^®^S^
edge in the simplicity of their experience and Methodists
their zeal in spreading the Gospel by their testi-
mony and works. In this they follow the early
Methodists. They feed upon the Word and
nourish themselves in the use of spiritual songs.
Every Christian Korean desires to own a Bible
and a hymn book; as a result our classes grow
in number and in membership.

In the year 1900 the work in Hawaii and the
Japanese work on the Pacific Coast were organ-

243

Methodism and the Republic

The

Mission

Organized

Our

Faithful
Helpmeet

ized into a mission. Dr. Harris was appointed
Superintendent and G. L. Pearson was made
Presiding Elder of Hawaii District. The work
in Hawaii had so developed by 1904 it was
thought advisable to organize the work in Hawaii
into a mission. Accordingly, and agreeably to
the action of the General Conference of 1904, the
Hawaii Mission was established by Bishop Lu-
ther B. Wilson in September, 1904, and the Rev.
John W. Wadman was appointed Superintend-
ent. Dr. Wadman having had sixteen years'
experience as a missionary in Japan, which gave
him a splendid knowledge of the Oriental people,
and being a man of good religious experience,
deep sympathies, of good health and abounding
energy, is eminently fitted for this important
field. His administration has been most satis-
factory.

No record of our mission in Hawaii would be
complete without reference to the work of the
Woman's Home Missionary Society. In the
earlier years of our work this Society contrib-
uted to the support of Japanese Bible Women.
Later, under the immediate care of Miss Libbie
J. Blois, a Home for needy women and children
was opened. Miss Dora Jayne succeeded Miss
Blois. A fine property has lately been secured,
largely by the direction and help of Bishop and
Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Metta Marks is in charge.
Miss Almira Dean is also a missionary to the
Japanese. This Home has been an untold
blessing to numbers of Japanese and Korean
women and children. The abounding labors of
these workers in their ministration to the peo-

244

Hawaii

Property

Membership

pie and their aid in our church services has been
of great vahie to our cause. The work of this
Society is under the immediate direction of a
committee of elect women in California, of which
Mrs. Bishop Hamilton is secretary and Mrs.
C. B. Perkins is treasurer.

The statistics of our mission show gratifying
results. The churches and parsonages are val-
ued at $57,000, on which there is no indebted-
ness. The Korean school property, which was ^j^5^°^.
secured by the wisely directed efforts of Bishop
Hamilton, is valued at $20,000, and the Susannah
Wesley Home, property of the Woman's Home
Missionary Society, is held at the conservative
valuation of $8,000. There are more than fif-
teen hundred members in the twenty-eight Sun-
day schools, and a thousand members and pro-
bationers in our churches. These people out of
their poverty contribute nearly $500 a year to
our Benevolences, aside from their contributions
towards self-support. Forty-four pastors, teach-
ers and helpers are now required to man the
field, and the work grows apace.

Cold statistics, however, do not tell the story.
It cannot be fully written. The inspiration that
comes to these foreign people by their contact
with western civilization and Christian charac-
ter and works, gives them a marvelous impetus
towards a higher standard of living. There is
a steady stream of Japanese and Koreans return-
ing from Hawaii to their home land, among
them many who have come under our instruc-
tion and have been converted at our altars.

Ogata, a convert of our Church in Honolulu,

245

Methodism and the Eepublic

The Good
Seed

Do We
Bank With
Him?

Their Claim
On Us

returning to Japan, found no Christian church
in his old home. His heart grew weary from his
great desire for his accustomed services, and he
longed to have the blessed Gospel preached to his
own people. Being in possession of about four
hundred yen ($200), he conceived the idea of
building a house of worship. Agreeably, he
purchased a lot and with his own hands and
money built a church thereon. Like the woman
in Scripture story, he gave his ''living" — his
all — to the enterprise. It was the happiest day
of his life when the missionary came, dedicated
the house to the worship of God and began ser-
vices therein. Few in any land have the same
degree of enthusiasm and love for the Master
as Ogata had. Yet Chinese, Japanese and Ko-
reans are returning home having a new outlook
on life, a new preparation for living, a new faith
in God and new love for the brotherhood of
man that make them important factors in the
material, moral and religious reformation of
their own people — the one-third of the world's
population.

Not only for its reflex action on the foreign
shore should this work be carried on, but also
and specially from an American standpoint, be-
cause the children of these foreign people born
in Hawaii, have the right to claim American citi-
zenship. Many of them have already and doubt-
less thousands more will claim it. We must edu-
cate and Christianize them, that they may be-
come good citizens to whom may be safely en-
trusted a share of the grave responsibility that
rests upon Americans. Above these considera-

246

Hawaii

tions there remains the fact they are our breth-
ren, for whom Christ our Redeemer died. Stran-
gers in our land, they need our shepherding. We
are their debtors. We should improve the op-
portunity God has given to us.

Hawaii, by virtue of her foreign population,
which predominates in numbers, whose children
may claim American citizenship, needs in an in-
creasing degree the aid of our Home Missionary
Society. Here is presented to the Church a p.f^'^**^®
splendid opportunity to Christianize a foreign
people. Separated from old restraints and feel-
ing the awakening power of western civilization,
they are more accessible and more easily inter-
ested in the Gospel and developed in its experi-
ence. The fine success of the few years of our
labors in the property secured, the churches es-
tablished, the youths educated, the influence on
American citizenship and the beneficent effects
reaching a foreign shore, warrant a substantial
support of the work.

God bless Hawaii! Bless her towering hills
and beautiful valleys, her civil institutions, her
noble sons and daughters and the multitude of
eager strangers within her gates.

247

GERMAN METHODISM

ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND PRESENT
STATE

BY OTTO E. KRIEGE, D.D.

Professor iu Central Wesleyan College and Theological

Seminary, Warrenton, Mo.

The Field

When the American continent was parceled
out among the European countries, Germany
was not considered, for there was no German
nation. Nevertheless Germans played an im-
portant part in the early colonization of the
New "World. ''Germans came over as soldiers
in foreign legions; as sailors and traders on
Early foreign ships; as artisans and day laborers; as

Immigrants fugitives and advcuturers. " But these indi-
vidual Germans who crossed the seas were
quickly assimilated with the greater mass of
English colonists and left no trace of their
coming.

The emigration of large numbers of Germans
to America did not begin until nearly eighty
years after the settlement of Jamestown. It was
in 1683 that thirteen Mennonite and Quaker
families — fifty souls in all — left their home in
Crefeld, Germany, and settled on a tract of
6,000 acres of land about six miles from Phila-

248

German IMethodism

delphia. Here they founded Germantown, the
first permanent German colony in America. This
was the beginning of that mighty tide of immi- Founders of
gration which has brought to our shores mil- <>ermantown
lions of the sturdy sons of the Fatherland. Fol-
lowing the Crefelders other colonies came from
Switzerland, Wurttemberg, the Palatinate and
from the lower Rhine. They settled for the
most part in Pennsylvania, though great num-
bers of them found a home in New York, the
Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Georgia. It
is estimated that at the outbreak of the Revolu-
tion one-half of the people of Pennsylvania were
Germans and that the total number of Germans
in America was not far from 150,000.

''In the latter half of the seventeenth century
Germany was the market place where govern-
ments and colonization societies bargained for
colonists." Aside from the blandishments of
the shipowners and their solicitors, who visited
the interior of Germany and painted the advan-
tages of the New World in glowing colors, there
were other and valid reasons for the departure
of so many artisans and peasants from the land
of their birth. These reasons were partly relig-
ious, partly economic. The earliest emigrants wmiam
were sectarians: Mennonites, Quakers, Mystics, fhe^^Gemans
Pietists, who were persecuted for their faith by
the established Lutheran, Reformed or Catholic
Churches. Penn personally visited these secta-
rian centers and later scattered various pam-
phlets broadcast, inviting the discontented to
hospitable America.

Following these, thousands of others came,

249

Methodism and the Republic

Why They
Crossed the
Sea

Wretched
Conditions

who were members of the established Protestant
churches. Their hope was to improve their
social and financial position; for the ceaseless
wars between the petty rulers and the relentless
spoliation of German lands by the French had
brought thousands of Germans into abject pov-
erty and cruel serfdom.

Contemporaneous writers describe the lot of
the German peasants as pitiable in the extreme.
Exhausted by constant toil, robbed of the fruits
of their labor, treated like brutes, they grad-
ually sank to the lowest levels. In sheer despera-
tion they fled from their German homes hoping
to find pity and help among strangers.

And though they were at the mercy of cruel
captains and though the indescribably wretched
sanitary conditions on the vessels caused the
death of one-sixth of the passengers at sea, still
they came in great companies, glad to bind
themselves out as slaves for two years or more
to reimburse the shipowners for their passage.
Many Germans found a refuge in Russia and
in Ireland, but by far the greatest number
landed on our shores.

It is not surprising that the religious culture
of these German colonists did not keep pace with
their material progress. Very few pastors
accompanied these emigrants, for they were poor,
unorganized and they could not expect the gov-
ernment to assist them in erecting churches.
Some of the pastors who did cross the seas were
ungodly adventurers or such as had been ex-
pelled from Germany. All the more reason, then,
for mentioning the apostolic Heinrich Melchior

250

German Methodism

Muhlenberg, the patriarch of the Lutheran Faithful
Church in America, and Michael Schlatter, who shepherds
served the Reformed Church in a similar
capacity as pastor and chaplain, and August
Gottlieb Spangenberg, the most influential leader
of the Moravians. These men were heroic and
untiring in their labors for their German com-
patriots, nevertheless the task was beyond their
power. Asbury and the Methodist itinerants
frequently came in touch with these German
settlements, and though they deplored the fact
that they were as sheep without a shepherd, and
though Asbury *s assistant, Henry Bohm, fre- Misguided
quently preached in German, they do not seem Methodists
to have appreciated the gravity of the situation.
Jacob Albrecht appealed in vain to be sent
as a missionary to the Germans, but Asbury
did not deem it expedient, for he expected
the colonists to drop the German language
speedily and to attend the English services.
Albrecht, however, followed his conscience,
preached to the Germans in their own tongue,
and in 1800 organized the Evangelical Associa-
tion, which has had an honorable career as a
spiritual force to this day. The same year saw New Denom-
the birth of another German Church of great inationa
evangelistic power, the United Brethren, whose ^°'°^®^
founders, Phillip Otterbein and Martin Bohm,
were closely allied with Asbury in his apostolic
labors. These were the leaders of the religious
work among the Germans at the close of the
revolutionary and the beginning of the national
period.

Another era of German emigration followed

251

Methodism and the Republic

the close of the Napoleonic wars. The reaction
which set in towards absolutism and which cul-
A New minated in the revolution of 1848 caused many

Tide of the middle and upper classes to seek refuge

in America in order to escape the unbearable
burdens of taxation and the vexation of political
espionage. Many of these were students or
young, well-educated professional men, who
organized patriotic clubs in America and
dreamed of a new birth of freedom in Germany.
In a brief time, however, they found so many
inviting fields for their efforts in America that,
though still warmly attached to the Fatherland,
they soon became influential men of affairs in
their new home. Cincinnati and German town,
Ohio, were the leading centers of these wide-
awake Germans. Owing to the fact that the
cotton crops of the South furnished a ready
return cargo, most of the west-bound vessels
now chose the southern route and landed their
passengers at New Orleans. Thus it came about
Bred in ^j^^t the lowcr and middle Mississippi regions

Rationalism , , i t i ^^ • ,i • i

were largely peopled by Germans m this second
epoch of their migration. Bred in the ration-
alistic atmosphere of their time, in many cases
receiving religious instruction and confirmation
at the hands of skeptical teachers and pastors, it
is small wonder that many were indifferent or
antagonistic to all forms of religion.

Cut off from the wholesome restraints of
home and church, the new immigrant was in
imminent danger of falling into godless and
dissipated ways. Here was a problem for the
Church, more serious than any that had preceded

252

German Methodism

it. Methodism could not but heed the call to
help, as the existing forces were unable to cope
with the situation.

The Providential Man

The first emissary of the Methodist Episcopal
Church to this larger contingent of Germans
was William Nast, whose name is inseparably
connected with the history of Methodism in
America. He was born June 15, 1807, in Stutt- J^^ ^an

for the

gart, Wurttemberg. His paternal as well as Hour
his maternal ancestors for several generations
had been prominent clergymen or professors.
He received a pious training, was confirmed at
fourteen, and resolved to devote his life to the
cause of foreign missions. He studied in the
convent-seminary of Blaubeuren and at the
University of Tubingen. At these schools, under
the blighting influence of rationalistic teachers
like Ferdinand Christian Baur and of skeptical
classmates like David Friedrich Strauss, young
Nast lost his faith, abandoned theology, repaid
his tuition and devoted himself to art and
belles-lettres.

There follows a period of seven years — his
^'Wanderjahre" — during which Nast vainly
sought to find himself and his God. Unsatisfied ^ search
by his literary studies in Dresden he decided ^°^ ^°^
in 1828 to cross the seas, hoping thereby to
regain his lost peace of mind. The accomplished •
young scholar soon found employment as tutor
near Harrisburg, Pa., where a company of
Methodist preachers encouraged his quest of
peace and pardon. As librarian and tutor at

253

Methodism and the Republic

A Hard

Pilgrimage

Saved and
Sent Out

West Point he was led to renew his religious
reading by two godly officers, and to attend the
services of the Methodists. Owing to his mental
distress he declined a call to the Lutheran Semi-
nary at Gettysburg. Here, however, he sought
the guidance of Methodists and joined the
Church on probation. Still struggling towards
the light he joined Father Rapp's Harmony
Colony at Economy, Pa., but while doing menial
labor in the field, became convinced that the
means here employed would never bring peace
to his soul. At the invitation of Dr. McHvaine,
later a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, he went to Gambler, Ohio, as professor
of Hebrew and Greek in Kenyon College. But
he found no joy in his work because his heart
was not at rest. At this time Adam Miller, a
Methodist itinerant of German descent, met
Nast, brought him spiritual comfort and guid-
ance, and persuaded him to translate a part of
the Discipline into German. Nast continued to
use the Methodist means of grace, and at last,
while attending a quarterly meeting at Danville,
Ohio, on January 18, 1835, his long and desper-
ate struggle was ended, his skepticism was over-
come, and in childlike faith he accepted Christ
as his Saviour. Two weeks later he was licensed
to exhort, in July he was made a local preacher,
and in September, 1835, he was received into
the Ohio Conference and appointed to Cincin-
nati as first missionary of the Methodist Epis-
copal Church to the Germans.

It was a crucial moment, and Nast was a provi-
dential agent. For several years a mission to

254

German Methodism

the Germans had been urged upon the Church,
and Adam Miller and others had volunteered
to prepare themselves for this work. But Nast
was pre-eminently qualified to serve as leader
in this new movement, because of his intense ^ Leader
zeal, his logical mind, his ripe scholarship and
his profound religious experience. After the
long train of providential events which culmi-
nated finally in his conversion, the essentials of
Christianity and of Methodism were to him eter-
nal verities. With confidence and joy he pro-
claimed and defended them by voice and pen
among the well-educated as well as among the
imlettered Germans.

Nast began his mission in Cincinnati in Sep-
tember, 1835, on a salary of one hundred dollars
a year. Like other leaders he encountered bitter
attacks on the part of the German press and
violent opposition on the part of the vulgar. His
success was meager: only ''three clear conver-
sions" were reported at the end of the year.
The work in Cincinnati was therefore aban-
doned, and in 1836 he formed a circuit of twenty-
five appointments around Columbus. The next smaii
year he was returned to Cincinnati and was beginnings
assisted by Adam Miller and John Swahlen, one
of his three "clear converts." From this time
on the progress of the work was rapid. Nast's
fervent desire had been to see one German
church well established, and behold, in ten years
there were 75 preachers and 4,385 members!

Plainly, the growing work demanded some
channel of communication, some organ of pro-
pagandism and defense. It was a step of far-

255

Methodism and the Republic

reaching importance when Der Christliche
Apologete was founded in 1839 and the versa-
tile William Nast was elected editor. For
fifty-three years his forceful editorials guided
the thought and action of his German brethren,
s'ervicT''*^^ displayed the purposes of Methodism and
warded off the attacks of the enemies of religion.
In addition to this editorial work he preached
for many years, wrote a great number of tracts,
translated a number of important English works,
published an invaluable catechism, a learned
introduction to the New Testament and a criti-
cal commentary on the first three gospels. All
of these works manifest wide reading, calm
judgment and a reverential spirit. Never a
fluent or eloquent preacher, yet his sermons were
convincing and at times profoundly stirring. By
his enormous private correspondence he kept Id
touch with every interest of the spreading move-
ment. It was natural that this university-bred
man should be interested in the educational ven-
tures of the Church, and he was instrumental in
founding German Wallace College at Berea,
Ohio. The church-at-large honored and re-
spected him, and his German brethren lovingly
spoke of him as the ''Father of German Metho-
dism." He passed away in the home of his
daughter in Cincinnati, on the 16th of May,
1899, exclaiming, "It is wonderful, it is won-
derful!"

The Pioneer Coworkers
The early colaborers with Nast and many of
their successors were cast in heroic molds. They
encountered mobs, endured privations, blazed

256

German Methodism

their way through trackless forests and forded
raging streams if only they might reach and
save some German settler from a godless life
and its consequences. On God's roll of the
heroes of faith will be found the names of many
of these humble but faithful German missionaries.

Prominent among those who assisted Nast in
founding missions and establishing the work
were John Swahlen, a native of Switzerland,
and one of Nast's first converts. He founded
the work in Wheeling, W. Va., and erected a
plain but commodious brick church in Wheeling
in 1839 — the first German Methodist church ever
built.

Adam Miller was born in Maryland in 1810,
of German Mennonite parents. He was con- Abie
verted under Methodist preaching, joined the co-workers
itinerants, warmly encouraged German missions,
was one of Nast's many spiritual guides and
later a regular German preacher.

Peter Schmucker, converted at a Methodist
camp meeting, for several years a prominent
Lutheran minister, became a German Methodist
itinerant in 1839 and founded the work in
Louisville and New Orleans.

Ludwig S. Jacohy. His parents were Hebrews,
of the tribe of Levi. He became a Christian in
Germany and a Methodist under Nast's preach-
ing in 1839. He immediately began to preach,
and in 1841 he opened the first German mission
in St. Louis and organized the work in the
Mississippi Valley. In 1849 he returned to Ger-
many and gave twenty-two years of service to
the work in the Fatherland.

257

Methodism and the Eepublic

J. B^. Kisling, an American German, was sent
to Lawrenceburg, Ind., in 1839, and soon organ-
ized an extended circuit. He was a prominent
preacher for many years.

Oeorge Breunig, a converted Catholic, joined
the Ohio Conference in 1840, was a useful minis-
ter in Ohio and Indiana and author of the book
''From Rome to Zion.''

C. H. Doering was converted in Wheeling,
spent four years in Allegheny College, joined
the Pittsburg Conference in 1841, and in the
same year founded the work in New York. Later
he went as a missionary to Germany.

William Alirens, converted under Schmucker 's
preaching in Cincinnati, joined the Kentucky
Conference in 1842; was a successful evangelist
and pastor.

Henry Koeneke, early influenced by the
Pietists, came to America in 1836, was converted
in Wheeling and was one of the charter members
there. He joined the Ohio Conference in 1840
and labored successfully for many years in
Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.

Early suspicions as to the orthodoxy of these
German missionaries were quickly allayed when
their thorough evangelistic work was noted.
There was no vital doctrine or practice in
Methodism that these German preachers and
their converts did not conscientiously and con-
sistently support.

Epochs op Progress

Through the labors of the preachers and the
zeal of the members, the work among the Ger-

258

German Methodism

mans spread rapidly in every direction. In
order to link the scattered missions together the
General Conference of 1844 ordered the forma-
tion of German districts, under German Pre- Formation of
siding Elders, to be attached to some English German
conference. The fears of some that this change ^^^^^^'^^
might cause the Germans to separate from the
Church and to form an independent body, were
groundless. They loved the Church, which had
been the means of their salvation, too well to
leave it so soon. The formation of German dis-
tricts promoted the solidarity of the work, and
permitted a better supervision of the missions
and a better disposition of the forces. In 1844
the German work was grouped into three dis-
tricts. The Cincinnati District, under Peter
Schmucker, with twelve circuits, and the Pitts- ■
burg District, under C. H. Doering, with eight
circuits, were both connected with the Ohio Con-
ference, while the St. Louis District, under L. S.
Jacoby, embracing eleven circuits, belonged first
to the Missouri Conference, and after the divi-
sion of the Church, to the Illinois Conference.
In 1845 the Indiana District was organized and
William Nast placed in charge of it, and in the
same year the St. Louis District was divided into
the St. Louis District, under Henry Koeneke, and
the Quincy District, under L. S. Jacoby. These
districts were subsequently again divided and
new ones were organized as the needs of the work
demanded. By 1864 there were eighteen Ger-
man districts attached to the various English
conferences.

The circuits, too, were speedily divided and

259

Methodism and the Republic

The Work

Steadily

Growing

new missions were opened as quickly as the itin-
erants could reach the outposts of German settle-
ments. We have already noted that C. H. Doer-
ing established the work in New York in 1841,
and that L. S. Jacoby was sent to St. Louis in
the same year. By the aid of his earliest co-
laborers, Sebastian Barth, Willian Schreck, John
Swahlen and John Hartmann, missions were
soon planted at strategical points in Illinois and
Missouri, fields which now form parts of two
German conferences. The work in Chicago was
begun by Phillip Barth in 1846: now there are
thirteen churches with about 2,000 members in
Chicago. In this year, too, John M. Hartmann
established the mission in Detroit, and W.
Schreck preached the first German Methodist
sermon in Milwaukee. In 1850 John Plank
formed a circuit around St. Paul, and thus laid
the foundation of the present Northern German
Conference. At the General Conference in Bos-
ton in 1852, the German delegates began the
mission in New England, Christian F. Grimm
being the first missionary under appointment.
In 1855 German preachers crossed the border
into Kansas and Nebraska, and Carl F. Lange,
George Schatz, C. Heidel and C. Stueckemann
were among the brave pioneers in this region,
where now the West German Conference counts
over 5,000 members. The mission in northern
Iowa dates from 1865, when J. G. Achenbach
and Carl Schuler preached in Charles City and
vicinity. C. H. Afflerbach and F. Bonn blazed
the way in California in 1867, and E. Schneider,
C. Biel and C. Urbantke in Texas in the same

260

German Methodism

year. Thus in one generation the German mis-
sions had spread to every part of the Union work of one
where emigrants from the Fatherland were to feneration
be found in any considerable number. In 1864
there were 306 itinerants, and the membership
had gro\\Ti to 26,145.

The next period of progress dates from 1864,
when German conferences were formed by
authority of the General Conference. The ques-
tion had been agitated for several years, but the
opposition to this step came from within and not
from without; for some of the German preach-
ers valued their connection with the English
conferences so highly that they were reluctant
to part from them. However, this step, too, was
a distinct gain to the German cause, and as the Formation of
German conferences were at once placed on an German
equal footing with the English conferences, there conferences
has never been an inclination on the part of
the German preachers or members to form an
independent sect.

Three conferences were at once organized : the
Central, the Southwest and the Northwest. As
the work grew, these conferences were divided
and new ones formed, until now there are ten
German conferences in the United States and
three in Europe. The names and dates of or-
ganization of these conferences are as follows:
California, 1891; Central, 1864; Chicago, 1872;
Eastern, 1866 ; Northern (Minnesota and North
Dakota), 1887; Northwestern (Upper Iowa and
South Dakota), 1864; Pacific (Washington and
Oregon), 1905; St. Louis, 1879; Southern, 1872;
Western (Kansas, Nebraska, etc.), 1879. The

261

Methodism and the Republic

Expansion

Into

Germany

Benefits of

European

Work

Germany Conference, founded in 1856, was
divided in 1893 into the Northern Germany and
the Southern Germany Conferences. The Swiss
Conference dates from 1886.

A distinct era of progress is also marked by
the founding of the mission in Germany in 1849.
As early as 1844 the far-seeing Nast had advo-
cated such a work and had made a tour of inspec-
tion through Germany for this purpose. The
mission was not begun, however, until 1849,
when Ludwig S. Jacoby was sent back to the
Fatherland. He began operations in Bremen
and soon had the satisfaction of seeing Metho-
dist fires blazing in every part of Germany.
Other helpers and founders from America were
C. H. Doering, Louis Nippert, Ehrhart Wun-
derlich, E. Riemenschneider, H. Nuelsen and W.
Schwartz. Almost immediately, in 1856, a
theological training school was established (now
the Martin Mission Institute) for the training
of native preachers, so that no other helpers
from America were required. The work in
Europe was a distinct advance, not only because
of the direct results, but also because of its
various indirect benefits to the German work in
America. In 1897 the union with the German
work of the Wesleyan Church was accomplished,
whereby 28 preachers and 2,541 members were
added to our work. The moral effect of this
blending of sister churches has been of incal-
culable benefit. Two book concerns, a wide-
awake press, a model deaconess work, an able
ministry and a devoted membership make this
offshoot of German missions in America one of

262

German Methodism

great value to the Methodist Church, and of
untold beneficial influence to the state churches
of Germany.

Present State

The German work in America at the present
time numbers 620 preachers and 63,954 mem- pj.gggjj^
bers. In Europe there are 241 German preach- status and
ers and 31,287 members. The present rate of Growth
increase, while much lower than formerly, is
still equal to that of the parent Church. There
are several reasons why this increase is no
greater. German immigration has decreased
materially during the last fifteen years. Other
German churches in America have been stirred
to greater zeal in looking after those that come.
Every year many American-born Germans, no
longer able to understand the German language,
have been transferred into the English churches.
In fact, whole congregations of Germans have
been taken into the English fold. Nevertheless,
in spite of these discouraging features, there has ^j^^ Larger
been a steady gain every year. A conservative Harvest
estimate places the v/hole number of those who
were led into the Church by William Nast and
his successors, since the founding of German
missions, at a quarter of a million souls.

German Methodists are noted for their cheer-
ful, liberal giving. The Missionary Society last
year appropriated $42,525 for the German work
in America, but this in turn paid back into the
treasury $53,329. This means an average of
82 cents for every member and probationer,
whereas the general average for Methodism was

263

Methodism and the Republic

but 47 cents. Over one-half of the German
appointments are self-supporting. Besides this
German the Germans contributed $128,280 for other

Liberality benevolcnces and $521,894 for self-support.
Their 857 churches are valued at $3,891,522, and
their 536 parsonages at $1,056,715, and all prac-
tically without any debt. All of this Church
property has been dedicated to the service of
God and the Church with very little help from
the mother Church beyond the missionary appro-
priations for the work and Church Extension
loans for buildings. By an arrangement with
the Board of Church Extension, the collections
for this cause were appropriated by the Ger-
man conferences to such charges as erected
a church or made extensive repairs. Last
year these collections amounted to $16,825.
The average salary of German preachers, includ-
ing parsonage and missionary appropriations, is
$656, while that of the church-at-large, exclusive
of missionary appropriations, is $792. There are
no great extremes of salary, the highest being
$1,300 besides parsonage. All the German con-
Care for ferenccs have given the cause of superannuates

Superannuates ^g^j-gf^l attention, and while the veterans are
not supported as they should be, their dividends
are greater than in the connection-at-large.
Funds amouning to $125,000 have been gath-
ered and invested, to which the preachers
annually add from one-half to one and one-half
percent of their salary.

German Methodism maintains a number of
important publications, which have exerted a
powerful influence on the religious life of the

264

German Methodism

members and friends of the Church. Der Christ-
liche Apologete is now a thirty-two-page illus-
trated folio and compares favorably with the Leading
other members of the Advocate family. Founded Periodicals
in 1839 by William Nast, it has been ably edited
since 1892 by his son and successor, Dr. Albert
J. Nast. It has a circulation of about 18,000
copies. The Sunday School Glocke dates
from 1858 and The Bibelforscher — a lesson
quarterly — from 1872. The latter has a circu-
lation of 48,000. Hans und Herd is an excel-
lent illustrated family magazine, founded in
1872 to counteract the skeptical German litera-
ture of the day. It number 8,000 subscribers.
This magazine and the Sunday-school publica-
tions are under the editorial management of Dr.
Friedrich Munz.

The first hymn book was published by Nast,
Schmucker and Miller in 1839. Other hymnals
for the church, and song books for the Sunday- g^oks ^^
school and Epworth League have appeared as
the demand for them arose. More than a hun-
dred doctrinal and devotional works by German
Methodists have been published, and several im-
portant works have recently appeared in Eng-
lish, among them J. M. Rohde's "God and Gov-
ernment" and Dr. Nuelsen's biography of
Luther in the ''Men of the Kingdom" series.

The Father of German Methodism and some
of his coworkers having received a liberal educa-
tion in Germany, it was natural that they should
early think of establishing schools for the Ger-
man-American youth and for the purpose of
training an educated ministry. An early sug-

265

Methodism and the Republic

Institutions
of Learning

Seven

FlourisMng
Schools

gestion, that Dr. Nast establish a German De-
partment in connection with Indian Asbury
(now DePauw) University, proved to be imprac-
ticable. The first plan to be carried out origi-
nated with the preachers of Illinois in 1852, when
it was decided to f oimd a German college at some
suitable place. Instead of doing this, however,
a college was established in conjunction with the
English, at Quincy, 111. In 1864 the German
school was removed to Warrenton, Mo., where it
has developed into Central Wesleyan College and
Theological Seminary. The names of Phillip
Kuhl and H. A. Koch are inseparably connected
with this first educational venture of German
Methodism. A little later, in 1859, the preachers
in Ohio established a college in connection with
Baldwin University, at Berea, Ohio. This Ger-
man institution, under the leadership of Jacob
Rothweiler, William Nast and Carl Eiemen-
schneider, developed into the German Wallace
College and Nast Theological Seminary of our
day. Both of these theological seminaries were
formally approved by the Board of Bishops in
1900. At the present time there are seven flour-
ishing institutions of learning under control of
German conferences, the value of whose grounds,
buildings and endowment and whose enrollment
is as follows: 1. Central Wesleyan College and
Theological Seminary, Warrenton, Mo., $200,-
000, 315 students. 2. German Wallace College
and Nast Theological Seminary, Berea, Ohio,
$256,000, 279 students. 3. Charles City College,
Charles City, Iowa, $113,000, 196 students. 4.
German College, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, $50,000,

266

Main Building, Charles City College (German), Iowa

Blinn Memorial College ( German) , Brenham, Texas

Main Building, German College, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa

Main Building, Enterprise Normal Academy (German),
Enterprise, Kan.

German Methodism

163 students. 5. Blinn Memorial College, Bren-
ham, Texas, $60,000, 153 students. 6. Saint
Paul's College, St. Paul Park, Minn., $45,000,
124 students. 7. Enterprise Normal Academy,
Enterprise, Kans., $30,000, 162 students. It will
be seen by the above figures that German Metho-
dists have invested $750,000 in higher education
and that they are every year giving 1,400 young
people a collegiate training under the best of
Christian influences.

Of charitable institutions the German Church
maintains two well-established orphanages, at charitable
Warrenton, Mo., and Berea, Ohio, both founded
in 1864, and together caring for about 200 chil-
dren. The Home for the Aged, an excellent
institution, is beautifully located at Quincy, 111.
A comparatively new arm of service is the
Deaconess movement, begun in 1896, though
many German deaconesses had labored privately,
or in connection with English hospitals prior to
that time. There is now an elegant property in
Cincinnati, valued at $150,000, known as
Bethesda Hospital and Deaconess Mother Home,
with 39 deaconesses and 30 probationers. In
connection with this central home there are
branch homes in Chicago, Milwaukee, Kansas
City, La Crosse and St. Paul. Besides these
there are flourishing independent hospitals and
homes in Brooklyn and Louisville. These dea-
conesses are all thoroughly trained and conse-
crated to this service of mercy, and they are
proving themselves a blessing to Methodism as
well as to the cause of religion.

267

Methodism and the Republic

Influence
In estimating the influence of German Metho-
dism it is necessary to trace its indirect as well
as its direct service. It is a matter of common
comment on the part of bishops and other con-
nectional officers, that German Methodism today
represents the primitive evangelistic and pro-
gressive type of Methodism more perfectly than
does Methodism at large. Remembering that
comparisons are odius, German Methodism is not
given to boasting. It deplores its limitations and
imperfections, but boldly asserts that it will hold
firmly to those usages and views of life which
have been a source of strength in the past. There
is thorough biblical and catechistical instruction.
Conversions are slow but profound. Religion is
taken seriously. The members have strong con-
victions on the great doctrinal and moral ques-
tions of the day. Patriotism is a religious duty
and loyalty to the Government is unchallenged;
nearly 3,000 German Methodists fought and died
to save the Union. Systematic giving has placed
German Methodists in the vanguard for benevo-
lences. The Church press is so loyally supported
that there is one subscriber to every three mem-
bers. The Bible is the rule of faith and the
guide of life. The family altar is still intact.
Preaching is biblical and spiritual, rarely sen-
sational. Frequent transfer of membership and
short pastorates are unusual. To have given to
America a quarter of a million of citizens trained
up to these ideals is surely no small achievement.
If, according to Lecky, Methodism in the eigh-
teenth century saved England from a French

268

German Methodism

Life

Revolution, it may be that German Methodism of
the nineteenth century has wielded a more
potent and salutary influence on our national influence on
life than we are apt to think. It would be diffi- American
cult to find, among a like number of men in gen-
eral, an equal number of men and women filling
positions of responsibility and trust, as among
the 64,000 German Methodists in America.
Everywhere German Methodists stand for sobri-
ety and purity of life, for honesty and integrity
in business, for civic and industrial righteous-
ness.

For obvious reasons the influence of German
Methodists on the connection cannot be com-
puted, though it is safe to say that the German
element has been a blessing to Methodism. In
the General Conference the German work was
represented in 1848 by two men, Nast and
Jacoby; the German delegates to the General
Conference of 1904 numbered about forty.
When any radical change has been proposed, like
the admission of women to the General Confer-
ence, the German vote has always been conserva-
tive. In such matters as the evangelistic forward
movement, the Germans have been as aggressive
as any. In the last twenty-five years German
Methodism has sent forth an ever increasing
number of its sons and daughters into the
various professions, into important political and
mercantile stations, into the professors' chairs
at various seats of learning, into the pastorate
of the mother Church and into the foreign mis-
sion fields. Last year five young German college
graduates entered the foreign field to join Kup-

269

Influence on
Methodism

Methodism and the Republic

Power of
GermaQ
Press and
Pulpit

fer, Ohlinger and Luring, who have for years
labored heroically among the Christless nations.
A heavy debt of gratitude toward the mother
Church prompts German Methodism to loyally
uphold the best traditions of Methodism and to
assist in spreading scriptural holiness throughout
this land and the world.

There is no question that the German Metho-
dist press and pulpit have had a wholesome influ-
ence on other German churches in America as
well as in the Fatherland. They have given
their unqualified support to all that was evan-
gelical in the sister churches, and at the same
time have incited them to greater spirituality,
more careful pastoral and evangelistic work, to
stricter views regarding temperance and Sabbath
observance, and to founding Sunday schools,
young people's societies and other non-ritualistic
meetings. So notorious has this influence of
German Methodism become, that in America as
well as in Germany earnest evangelistic church
work is decried as Methodistic fanaticism. As
an indirect result of the work of German Metho-
dism the state churches of Germany are today
experiencing a spiritual quickening which is com-
parable only to the Wesleyan movement in Eng-
land in the eighteenth century. To have been
instrumental even in a small degree in stirring
up the gift within the great evangelical churches
of America and Germany is no slight distinction.

Outlook

Immigration from Germany reached its high-
est mark between 1880 and 1890. In recent years

270

German Methodism

Population

there has been a slight decline owing to the fact
that many Germans are now settling in Africa
and South America. Nevertheless, there are still
over three millions of persons in America, born in one in Eight
Germany and other German states, and there are of our
nearly ten million citizens, one or both of whose
parents were born in German lands. While it
is true that the German evangelical churches in
America are faithfully reaching out after these
millions of Germans and gathering them in in
large numbers, it is nevertheless plain to see that
there is still a wide field for such an agent as
German Methodism. And there is all the more
need of effective evangelistic work among these
newcomers, because many of them are imbued
with ideas which are subversive of all that we
hold dear in the church, the family and the state.
The realistic literature of the day has lowered
the religious and moral ideals to such a degree
that profound lapses from faith and virtue are
considered every-day trifles. The pessimism of
Schopenhauer and the glorification of the ego
as exemplified by Nietzsche, have penetrated all
classes to such an extent that many have left the
safe moorings of the past and have adopted a
misanthropic egotism as their religious creed.
The surviving mediasvalism, especially the mili-
tarism of Germany, has rightfully caused a re-
action in favor of the rights of the common man.
The rabid socialistic press of Germany, however,
merely antagonizes every existing form of gov-
ernment and religious and social conditions in
general without proposing and promoting a safer
and saner order of things. This prevailing

271

Present
Need of
Effective
Evangelistic
Efforts

Methodism and the Republic

A Distinct
Work

Mother
Tongue
Essential

** Zeitgeist" has influenced every stratum of the
Germans to a far greater degree than would be
possible in America. Thus it happens that the
German immigrant of the last few decades ap-
proaches our shores with deep-rooted prejudices
which are inimical to a happy social or indus-
trial existence. To lead these estranged masses
back into the folds of the Church and to a godly
life is worthy the best efforts of Methodism. And
to this patriotic and humanitarian service Ger-
man Methodism will be devoted in the future as
it has been in the past.

The serious problem of German Methodism is
the fact that its ranks are being depleted con-
stantly by the transfer of members to the Eng-
lish-speaking churches. Many German churches
have English services on Sunday evening, and
the Sunday schools and Epworth Leagues in the
cities are English to a considerable degree. This
is but natural. German Methodists are not clan-
nish, nor have they any desire to establish a
New Germany in America, or to perpetuate the
German language as such, though ''he hath
twice a soul who speaks two languages." But
they have persisted in the use of the German lan-
guage, even where recruits from the Fatherland
were scarce, because language is not only the
vehicle but also the index of thought. To ap-
proach a German on a religious subject in the
German tongue, more surely touches the springs
of memory and the chords of emotion than any
other means employed. The German language
is the language of the Reformation. It is the
key to the priceless treasures of German theology

272

German Methodist Orphanage, Warrenton, Mo.

Main Building, Central Wesleyan College, Warrenton, Mo.

First German Church, St. Paul, Minn.

German Methodist Orphanage, Berea, Ohio.

German Methodism

and philosoptiy, of poetry, music and art. By
employing the German tongue Methodism has
linked together the best traditions of Protestant
Germany with the rich heritage of Protestant
England and America,

While it is true that many German churches
are in a stage of transition, and will be merged
with the English churches in the course of time,
the great majority of German churches are des-
tined to wield a glorious and growing influence
on the Germans and German-Americans for
many years to come. The Church-at-large and
the connectional officers should therefore heartily
support the heroic and ofttimes discouraging
work of the German conferences, both by their
sjonpathetic interest and financial aid; for, if
the Past is the teacher of the Future, such sup-
port will be but as ' ' bread cast upon the waters. * *

Give Them

Hearty

Support

273

NORWEGIAN AND DANISH
METHODISM

BY REV. CARL F. ELTZHOLTZ

Numbers and
Residence

A Most

Desirable

People

SUMMARY

Number of Norwegians and Danes in the country.— A Tem-
perance contingent. — Importance of the Gospel to the Scandi-
navian.—He is indifferent to the State (Lutheran) Church.— Two
apostolic founders. — Their message one with power. — The work
sadly crippled by the transfer of the leaders to Scandinavia.— A
contrast to the advantages of Swedish or German Methodism
under the continuous leadership of their founders.— A rallying
of discouraged forces.— Present status.— A faithful contingent.

There are between one and a half and two
millions of Norwegians and Danes in the United
States. These people are scattered all over the
country. There are many more Norwegians here
than Danes. I will mention the following States
which about six years ago had each more than
70,000 Norwegians and Danes: Minnesota, 417,-
182 ; South Dakota, 79,199 ; North Dakota, 119,-
032 ; Iowa, 131,240 ; Illinois, 135,090 ; Wisconsin,
279,882. The other States had from 53,182
(New York) down to 95 (North Carolina) Nor-
wegians and Danes. And they are still coming
by the thousands every year. They are con-
sidered to be among the most desirable immi-
grants. I am pleased to call attention to the
fact that Local Option and Prohibition senti-
ment is very strong in five of the above-named
six States that are most thickly settled by Nor-

274

Norwegian and Danish Methodism

wegians and Danes. Mrs. S. F. Grubb, who at
that time was W. C. T. U. National Superin-
tendent of Work among Foreigners, wrote some a Temperance
years ago, *'As the Scandinavians go, so goes Bodyguard
Dakota," which has passed into a proverb in
that State. But now where do the Scandinavians
(of whom about one-half are Norwegians and
Danes) go in this country? The Union Signal
some years ago paid the following compliment
to the Scandinavians: North Dakota is a pro-
hibition State because, while Americans de-
spaired, Scandinavians went to the ballot box
and saved the State. ' '

In answer to the question, Where do the Scan-
dinavians (in this case the Norwegians and
Danes) go? it is very gratifying to be able to say
that The Board of Home Missions and Church
Extension of the Methodist Episcopal Church is
doing its best through its many missions for Nor-
wegians and Danes, to turn and guide them
aright, so that they will go where they ought to
go and do what they ought to do; and it is en-
deavoring to imbue their character with the
mind which was also in Christ Jesus, so that they
will be what they ought to be — total abstainers
and true Christians.

But why should the Home Missionary Society
send missionaries and organize missions among
these and other foreigners who have settled down ^j^y
in our midst more than a million strong during Missions
the last year? Because only comparatively few "^"^°^s Them?
of them are converted to God, and if the Church
of Christ does not promptly and swiftly extend
its helping, guiding and loving hand towards

275

Methodism and the Republic

An

Imperative

Duty

Influence of
State Church

these strangers, the saloon element, the anarchist
and infidels will entice and win them. It is,
therefore, the solemn and imperative duty of
the Church of Christ in His Name to preach
repentance and remission of sins unto all the
nations which are permitted to enter and set-
tle down in our country. This we should do for
the Lord's sake; for the sake of these poor, home-
sick and lost souls ; for the sake of ourselves and
our own country, which will be foreignized and
debased if these strangers are not Americanized
and exalted to honest citizenship and to the
experience of true Christianity.

The Norwegians and Danes come from coun-
tries where a certain sect (in this case the
Lutheran sect) is established as a State Church
of which all the inhabitants of the State who
have not withdrawn from it are considered as
members whether they are Christians or not;
and the great majority of the people in these
countries do not seem to have even the form of
Godliness, and it is a fact that their transporta-
tion from Norway and Denmark to the United
States does not produce any transformation in
their character. They should, therefore, be ap-
proached with the pure Gospel of Christ,
preached in their own language, as soon as pos-
sible after their landing, that they may be
brought to Christ and be saved. Most of the
Norwegians and Danes that come to this country
despise and disregard their own State Church
in which they have been brought up, to such an
extent that a Lutheran minister some time ago
declared in a Lutheran paper that only a little

276

Norwegian and Danish Methodism

^te

more than 6 percent of the Danes in this coun-
try and about 33 percent of the Norwegians
are members of any church. That is to say, that The Present
more than 1,200,000 Norwegians and Danes in Demand
this country disregard the religion of Christ and
the Church of God so completely that they have
no visible connection with it whatever. Nor-
wegian and Danish Methodism has, therefore, a
great work to do in behalf of this vast multitude
that has settled do^Mi outside the visible fold of
Christ.

The Methodist Episcopal Church has now for
many years had prosperous missions among these
people. As Norwegians and Danes speak the
same language they work harmoniously together
for the salvation of their couQtrymen. The lan-
guage is called Danish in Denmark and Nor-
wegian in Norway.

The founders of Norwegian and Danish Meth-
odist Episcopal missions in the United States
are the Rev. C. Willerup and the Rev. 0. P.
Petersen. Mr. Petersen is also the founder of
Methodism in Norway.

The Norwegian and Danish Methodist Epis-
copal Church at Cambridge, Wis., was organized
by Rev. C. Willerup in the spring of 1851. It
was incorporated May 3, 1851. This church is First Church
the mother church of Norwegian and Danish Built
Methodism. The church building was dedicated
July 21, 1852. This is the first Methodist Epis-
copal Church that w^as ever built by Norwegians,
Danes or Swedes in this or any other country.
This old sanctuary is venerated by Norwegian
and Danish Methodists, in a measure, as Old

277

The First

Methodism and the Republic

John Street Church, New York, is venerated by
American Methodism.

The Rev. C. Willerup, who was born in Den-
mark in 1815, emigrated quite young to the
Pastor United States. He was converted to God among

the English-speaking Methodists in the South.
After his conversion he prepared for the minis-
try, and in due time he became a member of
Genesee Conference. At that time he preached
in the English language. When it became known
at the mission rooms that Mr. Willerup was a
Dane he was secured for the Norwegian and
Danish work and sent to Cambridge, Wis., in
1850. Here he had a great revival. Many souls
were awakened and converted to God. So great
was the influence of the Word of God that there
was not a day, Mr. Willerup writes, when he
was at home but there were from ten to twenty
persons coming to see him about their spiritual
interests, asking, * ' What must I do ? "

Though Pastor Willerup was sent as a mis-
sionary to our people in Wisconsin in 1850,
where he organized the first Norwegian and Dan-
ish Methodist Episcopal Church in the world
in 1851, the Rev. 0. P. Petersen, who was born
in Norway in 1822 and converted to God on the
Atlantic Ocean, preached the Gospel to his coun-
trymen in Norway in 1849, though no church
was organized before Pastor Willerup had taken
up work among the Norwegians and Danes in
this country. A powerful revival was com-
menced and many precious souls were converted
to God.

After Mr. Petersen returned to this country

278

Norwegian and Danish Methodism

he was sent in 1851 to Iowa as a missionary to
his countrymen. He became a member of the
Upper Iowa Conference. As the new missionary
could find no house in the Norwegian settlement
where he intended to begin his work, he was
compelled to rent a house in Prairie du Chien,
about twenty miles from the nearest Norwegian
settlement. This was very inconvenient. Pastor
Petersen, who preached the Word of God with
great power in many different settlements, or-
ganized in 1852 at Washington Prairie, Iowa,
the first Norwegian and Danish Methodist Epis- strong
copal Church west of the Mississippi. He had a jj^uenco
very large circuit to take care of; it took him
four weeks to go through it. At these monthly
visits there were great manifestations of the
power of God to move the hearts of his hearers.
In some places the people followed him on the
way, asking him with tears to pray with them
before he left.

Willerup visited Petersen at Washington
Prairie and stayed with him ten days. They
preached twice every day in the woods as long
as he remained there and they had a glorious
time. In April, 1853, Petersen visited Willerup
at Cambridge, where he had the pleasure of
preaching in the new church to a large congrega- ^^°
tion and the Lord gave him great liberty to de- preachers
clare the Word. They had meetings every day
and sometimes twice a day, and the blessing of
the Lord rested upon them. While at Cambridge
Petersen received a letter from Bishop B. Waugh
asking him to return to Norway to continue the
work he had begun there in 1849.

279

Methodism and the Republic

A Bereaved
Church

A Good
Start

Petersen returned home to Iowa, accepted the
call, and left the little flock the Lord had given
him on July 4, 1853. It was difficult for the
faithful pastor to leave his spiritual children
who still needed his watchful care, but the call
of duty had to be obeyed. This appointment
was a great gain for Norway but a heavy loss
to the newly-organized Norwegian and Danish
mission in the United States.

Pastor C. Wilier up continued his labors in
Wisconsin and visited other States in the inter-
est of the Norwegian and Danish mission, the
burden of which, after the departure of Pastor
Petersen, largely rested on his shoulders. The
Lord raised up a few earnest men to supply
the work which Willerup and Petersen had or-
ganized, among whom the Rev. H. Garden, C. P.
Agrelius and Samuel Andersen must be kept in
grateful remembrance for their works' sake.

In 1854 the Presiding Elder, I. M. Lieghy, re-
ported concerning the Norwegian and Danish
work: *'It has now been in operation a little
more than three years. We have in all about
400 members. It has made its way into most of
the Scandinavian settlements in this State (Wis-
consin) and Minnesota.'' The same year Wil-
lerup reported concerning the work in Cam-
bridge and the other preaching places in connec-
tion with it : ' ' We have at present in our society
180 members and 46 on trial, 5 local preachers,
two of whom are recommended for admission to
the Conference, 3 exhorters, 11 class leaders, 84
scholars in Sabbath school, 17 teachers, and 460
volumes in the library."

280

Norwegian and Danish Methodism

In 1855 Willerup reported that they had com-
menced to build a church in Racine, and one on
Heart Prairie, and that they were laying plans
to build one in Primrose. These reports show
that the work among the Norwegians and Danes
at that time was in a healthy condition, and that
it had developed to a prosperous mission under
the efficient leadership of Pastor C. Willerup. At
that time he received a letter from Bishop T. A.
Morris, dated Cincinnati, December 22, 1855, in
which he stated that a superintendent was needed
for our Scandinavian missions in Europe, and
the Bishop asked him if he would be willing
to go.

Pastor Willerup accepted the appointment. In
1856 he left the United States for Norway, where a Heavy
he arrived July 3, 1856. This was another heavy ^°^^
loss for the Norwegian and Danish Methodist
missions in this country. Both its strong, elo-
quent and indefatigable leaders had now left the
successful and thriving young mission and there
was not a man left that was competent to fill
the place of either of them. This was such a
stunning blow to the young mission that it gave
it such a setback in its prosperity and develop-
ment that it took many years before the mission
could recover from it. While the German and the
Swedish Llethodist missions continued to enjoy
the leadership respectively of Dr. William Nast
and the venerable pastor, 0. G. Hedstrom, the
Norwegians and Danes with tear-dimmed eyes
had to witness the departure of their Elijahs
without having even an Elisha to fill their places.
They could only stand in their loneliness and

281

Methodism and the Republic

A New
Outlook

cry, ''Father, father, the chariot of Israel and
the horsemen thereof. ' '

It is a serious matter for a church or a mission
to lose its leaders when it is in a formative con-
dition. There were only a few missionaries left
to supply the work, and there was none among
them that was able to take a leading part in the
mission. The Norwegian and Danish work was,
therefore, either scattered among the English-
speaking districts or they organized as districts
under Swedish Presiding Elders.

But did the scattered missions ever rally
again? Yes, they did. After years of discour-
agement and disappointment the Lord raised up
new leaders. The separated Norwegian and
Danish missions were first united in districts,
and about twenty-four years after the departure
of Pastor Willerup the Norwegian and Danish
work was organized as an Annual Conference at
Racine, Wis., the city in which Pastor Willerup
was stationed when he was appointed to take
charge of the work in Scandinavia. The con-
ference was organized in 1880 by Bishop W. L.
Harris. Such was the beginning of Norwegian
and Danish Methodism.

Since then the work has prospered. Norwegian
and Danish Methodism in the United States has
now two Annual Conferences, the Norwegian and
Danish Conference and the Western Norwegian-
Danish Conference (on the Pacific Coast). We
have a number of prosperous missions on the
Atlantic Coast. The work in the old historic
Bethel Ship mission is prospering grandly ; their
roomy church is too small. New missions have

282

Norwegian and Danish Methodism

been organized in Brooklyn and New York. We
have a splendid mission in Perth Amboy, N. J.,
and other places on the coast concerning which
I have no statistical information. We also have
missions in Utah.

Norwegian and Danish Methodism has also p^^jnghing
three book concerns; it publishes four weekly interests
papers and three Sunday-school papers, and has
three theological schools.

While we thank God for this substantial suc-
cess, we acknowledge with grateful hearts that
Norwegian and Danish Methodism could never
have been possible if it had not been for the
liberal support and the tender care of our mother
Church, but we also rejoice to know that these
missionary grants have not been made in vain.
These thousands of Norwegians and Danish
Methodists who have been won for Christ and
the Church are as a whole loyal to our Methodist
doctrine, discipline and institutions, and there
are thousands of Sunday-school children whom
we are trying to win for God and the Church.
This million dollars worth of church property we
have accumulated during the past years of hard
work belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church ;
the many thousands of dollars which w^e have
collected for missions and other benevolent a splendid
church work have reverted to the treasury of our contribution
mother Church, and thus the Norwegian and
Danish missions of the Methodist Episcopal
Church are, like the other prosperous missions
of our Church, endeavoring in their humble way
to build up the Kingdom of God and the Church
Ave love so well.

283

A Betbel
Ship

Speaking
After the
Manner of
Men

THE FUTURE OF SWEDISH
METHODISM

BY C. G. NELSON, D.D.

A little over sixty years ago, or 1845, Swedish
Methodism was organized. There was then one
preacher, Rev. Olaf Gustaf Hedstrom. His ap-
pointment was the ''North River Mission," New
York, his church a condemned vessel that had
been purchased cheap, rebuilt so that it made a
room for worship and a pastor's office and class
room. This ship was rechristened and called the
Bethel Ship ''John Wesley." This was the
cradle of Swedish Methodism. Here Pastor
Hedstrom gathered a few converted sailors and
immigrants and commenced this work in the
name of the Lord. He had previously been con-
verted and called to the ministry and had
preached in the English-speaking part of the
Church for ten years, and it w^as with great
diffidence and much fear that he was persuaded
to begin this work; but he soon realized that it
was of the Lord and entered into it with zeal,
and soon saw some conversions and a class was
organized.

At this juncture one might well have said.
What shall become of this child; this organiza-
tion ? With only one preacher ; no church except
an old ship; no church literature; no church
paper or press; no institution of learning for
training Swedish preachers or even a competent

284

The Future of Swedish Methodism

teacher ; how could the work succeed ? There was

at that time probably not one Swede for every

ten thousand inhabitants in America. Would it

not squander time, efforts and money even to try

to do mission work among these few and try talking by

to reach and influence them in their mother Faith

tongue? Are they not in America and do they

not intend to become Americans, and who knows

if any more will come?

I fear some wise men, without much debate,
would have been ready to settle the matter by
saying, "What's the use? We can never gather
any congregation, and even if we should succeed
in getting a score or two converted, they may
soon scatter or die and our work be in vain.
Brother Hedstrom, let us close up before we
begin, and go each to our homes!"

But God thought otherwise, and with Him were
the Bishops and other leading men of the Church,
and with them was Olaf Gustaf Hedstrom, a
man full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and with
him were a few praying and faithful saints,
and the results we know in part. The work was
begun in the name of Jesus with prayer and
faith, and God has crowned it with success.

Hundreds were saved in the Bethel Ship from
their sins and sinful lives, and became living
and zealous Christian workers. Some of these Answered by
returned to the Fatherland and there kindled Fire
revival fires, and some journeyed to the great
West and settled — some in cities and some in
rural districts; and wherever they went they
testified of the great salvation they had experi-
enced. Some who heard them and saw their

285

Methodism and the Republic

Churches

Firmly

Established

Early
Literature

earnest Christian life and work, believed in and
sought the same blessing and joined them, and
as a result classes and societies were organized in
various places — at Victoria, Andover, Galesburg,
Bishop Hill, Chicago, Donovan and Rockford,
111., and in St. Paul, Marine, Chisago Lake and
Vasa, Minn. ; and from these the work was fur-
ther extended to many other places.

Men with more or less general education were
converted, called of God and sent out to preach,
and were more or less successful. Souls were
converted and more societies were organized;
churches and parsonages were erected, and thus
the work was established firmly among our peo-
ple in spite of a persistent and vicious opposi-
tion from all sides. Not only from the arch
enemy of all good and from his avowed friends,
the wicked world, but also, alas, the clergy of
the Lutheran Church, who warned all their peo-
ple against the heretics (the Methodists), for-
bidding them to even hear their preaching or
harbor them in their houses. So that it came to
pass that "they were everywhere spoken
against;" but for all this, Swedish Methodism
steadily advanced.

Soon after the planting of this movement there
was felt a need of literature in the Swedish lan-
guage to build up the converts in their most holy
faith. A few books were translated, such as
''John Nelson's Journal," "Hester Ann Rod-
gers," "Porter's Compendium of Methodism,"
"Fletcher's Appeal," "Wesley's Christian Per-
fection" and our Church "Discipline." All
these were very imperfectly translated, so that

286

The Future of Swedish Methodism

if it were now, they would not be a credit to
our literary ability in either English or Swed-
ish; but they did much good and served their
time.

Next, a little church paper was published,
Sandehimdet. This was a six-column, four-page
weekly and became a potent factor for the de-
fense of our doctrines and workers, and did
much good. This paper is still published, but
it has grown to a sixteen-page weekly of about j^ ^^^^
the size and form of the Northwestern Christian periodical
Advocate. It is edited by Rev. Wm. Heuschen,
Ph.D., one of the most learned Swedes in
America. And let me assure you, brethren, who
may not be readers of this valuable Church or-
gan, that it is well edited and stands for the
defense and promulgation of the Gospel ac-
cording to Methodism.

Next in order of development came our theo-
logical seminary for the education of candidates
for the ministry. This was begun in a small
way, with a class of three young men, of whom
two have already gone to the great beyond, teminary^^^*^
One is with us, the Rev. Alfred Anderson, the
efficient Presiding Elder of the Chicago District.
The first teacher in the Seminary was the Rev.
Dr. N. 0. Westergren, who was also pastor in
Galesburg, where our school was organized
(1870). He is still in the pastorate, though
superannuated.

The Swedish work had, up to 1877, been at-
tached to English-speaking conferences and had
attained to the dignity of three Swedish dis-
tricts, of which the Illinois and the Iowa Dis-

287

Methodism and the Republic

First Annual
Conference

An Epoch

Making

Factor

tricts belonged to the Central Illmois Confer-
ence, and one, the Minnesota District, to the
Minnesota Conference, with a few scattering
congregations in other parts of the country.
Now an epoch-making incident occurred, namely,
the organization of the Northwestern Swedish
Conference.

By this action our work was consolidated and
gained strength for future development. We
could more easily adjust our force of workers,
show a more solid front to our opponents, feel
the inspiring touch of our brothers-in-arms and
were more fully recognized and efficiently aided
by our benevolent societies, and the result of
all this was a more sure and steady growth of
our Swedish Methodism. More and better
churches and parsonages were built, more new
congregations were organized and the older ones
grew larger and stronger.

Our theological school, which up to 1881 was
like the minister in the itinerant system, then
attained a central location in Evanston, 111.,
where our first school building was erected in
1883, on the campus of the Northwestern Uni-
versity, on a leasehold. Rev. Albert Ericson,
A.M., D.D., was that year elected President of
the Seminary, which position he still holds and
is in the effective ranks.

The location of our Seminary in Evanston
was another epoch-making factor in our work;
for here we can with a comparatively small out-
lay on our part (by our students having access
to the courses in the Northwestern University
and the Garrett Biblical Institute, and ourselves

288

The Future of Swedish Methodism

A Book
Concern

instructing in the Swedish language and litera-
ture and theology in Swedish terms, and a few
other branches) give our students the advantage
of the highest and best instruction offered by
any educational institution of our land, and
thus give them thorough equipment for their life
work.

This has given great encouragement and in-
spiration toward success to Swedish Methodism,
and will in the future give still more.

In 1888 another epoch-making act was the or-
ganization of the Swedish Methodist Episcopal
Book Concern. To this we were impelled, or
compelled, by conditions over which we had no
control.

Then we have in Swedish Methodism a home
for indigent old Christians, ''The Bethany
Home," located at Ravenswood, Chicago. This
home was founded largely through the liberality Bethany
of our honored brother banker, John R. Lind- ^°^^
gren, in memory of his beloved parents, both
of whom, many years ago, went home to glory.
God bless Brother Lindgren for this noble char-
ity, and may this good institution be sustained
and continue as long as any indigent Swedish
pilgrim remains this side of Heaven.

In 1893 still another epoch-making step was
taken, when our Northwestern Swedish Confer-
ence, which up to that time had spread over
eleven great States and Territories, was divided
into three conferences — the Central and the a Marked
Western Annual Conferences and the Northern Advance
Mission Conference. By said division our work
within each respective field has been further

289

Methodism and the Republic

East and
West

A Summary

strengthened and developed and our mutual in-
terests have not suffered, because at the division
it was so arranged that each conference should
have equal pro rata share in their support and
management.

During this time our work in the East has
been organized into an Annual Conference.
This, as all now agree, has greatly aided in fur-
thering the best interests of the work in that im-
portant field. This conference now also has a
share in the support and management of our
joint institutions.

Our work has now pushed its frontiers to the
North Pacific Coast, where we have our Swedish
District in the Puget Sound Conference, with
work in three States, and to the South Pacific
Coast, where we have one Swedish District in
the great State of California, and also one Swed-
ish District in the Empire State of Texas. These
all are embryo conferences of the future.

In our Swedish Methodism in America we
have now four Annual Conferences and three
Swedish Districts in as many English-speaking
conferences. In these all we have over 225
churches and 130 parsonages, with a valuation,
including Bethany Home and our Seminary, of
a little less than one and a half million dollars,
with about 220 pastors and about 17,000 lay
members and about an equal number of Sunday-
school children and Epworth Leaguers. We
have reason, we think, to thank God and take
courage. Besides this we have, as an outgrowth
of this, about an equal army in Sweden march-
ing to Zion under the banner of the cross and

290

The Future of Swedish Methodism

under the tutelage of the Methodist Episcopal
Church. This the result of about sixty years of
a work begun by God with one man.

But What of the Future?

Let us look first, for a moment, at the discour-
agements. In what condition are we, and what
negative influences environ us? What difficul- winds
ties have we to contend with ? What weaknesses
among ourselves? What losses have we sus-
tained and what losses are we likely to sustain?
How may it go with Swedish Methodism in the
future ?

These questions are all of grave importance
for Swedish Methodism in America, as well, in-
deed, as for all non-English-speaking parts of the
great Methodist Episcopal Church. These ques-
tions studied in the light of the past, the present
and the future possibilities, may test our faith
to its utmost with reference to the future.

First of all, I mention the fact that we are in
America, and thank God that we are here, most
of us, by choice and not by accident. Here all
is American; that is, American in thinking, in American
practice, in language (English). The tenden- Environment
eies of all our environments, commercial, social
and political, are to Americanize us. Our chil-
dren attend the English-speaking public schools
and colleges, and we speak English largely in
our families. Our neighbors are Americans. In
our travels the English is used, so that the ten-
dencies are altogether in this direction, and
what is more, we would not have it otherwise if
we could; for our intention is not to establish

291

Methodism and the Republic

A Slight
Difference

Loss of
Swedish
Tongue

a Sweden in America, but to become thorough
Americans, and, if possible, the best type of
Americans.

The only difference, my English-speaking
brother, between your Americanism and mine,
is this: you came over the day before yesterday
in the person of your ancestors, and I came yes-
terday in my o^vn dignified person. But we are
both Americans — Americans to the core — and
I am willing, if you are, to join in singing that
beautiful hymn where these words are found:
"Together let us sweetly live,
Together let us die ' ' —
as Americans.

Is it not likely that under such circumstances
many Swedish Methodists in this country, and
especially our children born to us here, will lose
their Swedish language and thereby be lost to
Swedish Methodism? Most assuredly. We both
have lost and are losing many every year. Yes,
some quite recent arrivals, even, have lost their
Swedish language before they had time to learn
the English. This last-named class are, I think,
to be pitied, for they are poor indeed, but such
are few and hardly worth mentioning.

That our children become Americanized is as
natural as that the sim rises in the East. That
they lose the Swedish tongue is equally natural
and easy, unless we make special efforts to in-
struct them in our beautiful language ; and this,
I think, we ought to do, and it can be done if
right means are used, and it will do them good
intellectually as well as financially, socially and
religiously. But where this is neglected, in the

292

The Future of Swedish Methodism

very nature of the case we must lose them as
factors in our work; and if it is necessary for
us to exist at all as specifically Swedish Metho-
dist churches, it is both wise and necessary for
aggressive work that we build our young people
into our Church life as far as possible, so as to
increase our numbers and inspire our workers
and make strong churches.

Another source of weakness is to be found in
the matrimonial line. The young, black-haired,
swarthy-complexioned Yankee espies our fair-
complexioned, light-haired, blue-eyed and rosy-
cheeked maiden, or our ambitious, fair-com-
plexioned Swedish yoimg man casts his eyes on I'oss by
a black-eyed and bright young American girl, r^age"^^^'
and they are mutually pleased with each other
and go and get married ; and that, say you, is all
right, and so it is, but then, when they are to
select the church to which they are to belong,
in the very nature of the case they join the
church where both understand the language, and
that will, in nearly every case, be your English-
speaking church.

In this way our Swedish churches are depleted
and our English-speaking churches are enriched
every year.

Another cause of loss to us is found in the mi-
gratory tendency among our people. Many who
have been converted through the labors of Swed- Loss by
ish Methodism move to other places. The gen- ^^^ration
era! tendency is to go West, and often they lo-
cate where we have no Swedish Methodist Epis-
copal church. They will generally join the
English-speaking Methodist Episcopal church if

293

Methodism and the Republic

Why
Maintain
Preaching in
Swedish?

Difficult to

Secure

Preachers

they understand the English language measur-
ably well, and thus again we Swedes lose and
your English-speaking churches gain by our loss,
many each year.

The necessity for preaching in foreign lan-
guages, and Swedish as well as the rest, lies in
the difficult}^ of learning the English language
sufficiently well to understand a sermon in the
same by those who come to this country in ma-
ture years and have no opportunity or time to
attend English schools, having families to sup-
port and educate and homes to purchase and pay
for, and if possible, to acquire a competence and
at least to provide against poverty and destitu-
tion in old age. The laboring men have a hard
enough task and have not time or opportunity
or even energy left to attend school. They do
learn enough of the language to know the names
of their tools and the tasks they have to perform
and necessary transactions in their business, and
may learn many words and their meaning; but,
when it comes to understanding theological
terms and the higher language used in your
English-speaking pulpits, it is very difficult and
almost impossible in many cases.

Another great difficulty for us is in securing
a sufficient number of well-equipped candidates
for the ministry to man our increasing fields.
There are many causes for this, of which I will
only mention a few.

First, the natural reticence on the part of
converted Swedish young men who may be
called to the ministry.

Second, some who are called hesitate on ac-

294

The Future of Swedish Methodism

count of the meager support we can give our
ministers, while other professions and trades
offer great gain financially. It then requires
great self-sacrifice, which all are not willing to
make.

Third, some who are called and yield to it,
think they see no great future prospect for and
in Swedish Methodism, and so they are led to
enter the English-speaking Methodist ministry,
where they see a wider and more promising field.

Another difficulty has for many years been
and still is the lack of room in our Seminary
for a sufficient number of students to prepare
for the ministry. This lack will now be sup-
plied by our new Seminary building in course
of construction on our new campus, on the cor-
ner of Lincoln Street and Orington Avenue,
Evanston, within easy walking distance of the
Garrett Biblical Institute and Northwestern
Academy and College of Liberal Arts. This
beautiful and substantial, though modest, build-
ing will furnish room for a largely increased
corps of students, and we trust that both in
teaching force and other equipments we shall
be better prepared to do efficient work so as to
fill this long-felt want, and also that when we
are prepared to take care of and properly en-
courage them, many of our bright young men
shall yield to God's call and say, ''Here am I;
send me ! Send me ! "

Another great danger that threatens our An unwise
Swedish Methodism is a tendency on the part of ^^^^°^
some of us, not always those who would be best
equipped for it, either, to attempt English

295

Methodism and the Eepufelic

Where the
Language
May be
Taught

preaching, thus "undermining our own specific
work; and what the fathers have built up with
prayer and earnest self-sacrifice, these may
easily tear down and betray. I consider this detri-
mental, and it ought not to be encouraged by
either Americans or Swedes. If it is necessary
for us to exist at all, it is both wise and neces-
sary to the best work, that w^e conserve our in-
heritance and build strong churches and main-
tain them.

But the greatest danger to the conservation
of our Swedish Methodism is when the English
language is allowed to become predominant in
our Sunday schools — and it very easily does, be-
ing the school language of our children and
many of our young people, and therefore the
more excusable.

What can and ought to be done is, that we
instruct in the rudiments of our own language
the infant classes, and teach our children to read,
speak and sing Swedish. This will not hurt
them, but do them good in every way. Many of
the instructors in our public and higher schools
have noted the fact that the young people who
know one foreign language are generally the
most proficient in English.

But the question arises, shall Swedish Metho-
dism always continue in America? And the
answer is dependent on possible conditions in the
future.

If immigration from Sweden to America for
one, or at most two generations, should cease,
then we need not, and therefore should not, con-
tinue our distinctively Swedish work; but we

296

Into the
Future

The Future of Swedish Methodism

would all be ready and glad to become amal- a Glimpse
gamated with the English-speaking Church. It
would then be a clear waste to both energy and
money to do otherwise; but, as long as immi-
gration from Sweden continues, it is necessary
and wise to offer the Gospel in their mother
tongue to these incoming hundreds of thou-
sands and win them for God and vital piety, and
garner them in the Church. The Methodist
Episcopal Church has large responsibility in this
matter, not to us, but to God.

As to the probabilities of immigration ceasing
from Sweden to America, let the following facts

In 1854, Yv'hen the writer left old Sweden,
there were in that country about 3,500,000 in-
habitants. Since then approximately one and a
half million have emigrated from Sweden to
America, and you would naturally infer in your
American haste that Sweden would be almost ^ viriie
depopulated and could not spare any more ; but People
what is the fact? There are now in Sweden
over 5,000,000 inhabitants. No race suicide
there and none here by their descendants.

Further, Sweden is a poor country, save in
the quality of her people, and America is rich
in opportunity and wealth. Sweden a small
country, America is great in every way. Under
those circumstances and so many of their rela-
tives and friends already here, when do you
think immigration from Sweden to America will
cease? When? Never! Until America is full
of them; and I say, and I think you will say,
let them come. We'll take care of them relig-

297

Methodism and the Republic

The Work
Will Widen

How to Help

Foreign

Missions

iously and get them to help us take care of our-
selves and our country. Brothers, God made no
mistake on Pentecost when he endowed his
apostles with the gift of tongues. Nor did our
Church make a mistake when she, following the
plain indications of Providence, established mis-
sions in this country in the various languages of
the immigrants who come to our shores, and she
must do more and more of this work in order
to save America; and we as Swedish- Americans
are willing to help her in this great undertaking
if your English-speaking Americans are willing
to let us do it in the best way and to the fullest
extent, and we hope that, as in the past, so in
the future, God will help us to help you by
earnestly sustaining '^Home Missions," as well
as in every other possible way. We must not
neglect nor give less to Foreign Missions, but
unless we convert the incoming Americans and
build strong churches at home, how shall we,
when the present generation of liberal givers
have passed away, be able to sustain Foreign
Missions ?

If we fully realize the situation, the first
strong and enthusiastic forward movement must
be towards ''Home Missions." And if the Mas-
ter's command to begin at Jerusalem is reit-
erated by the Church, the Swedish-speaking
division of our militant Church is getting ready
to march forward from victory to victory.

298

OTHER IMPORTANT FIELDS

PIEGAN INDIAN MISSION

AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT IS BEING DONE

BY F. A. RIGGIN, SUPERINTENDENT

SUMMARY

Reservation defined.— Government wardship explained.—
Blaekfeet Reservation described.— Effect of Buffalo extermina-
tion.—Indians at work. — Becoming citizens. — Methodism
among them.— The work of the Government beneficent.— Re-
ligion and self-government.— Indian children.— Homes and
burials.— An Indian chief.— Temperance appeal.— Allotment of
lands.— Work to be done by the Methodist Mission.

Note.— There are about 250,000 Indians in the United States.
Our Church began work among them in 1814. We now minister
to them in 35 Indian missions, in which we reach about 12,700
Indians. We have a membership of about 2,000. The value of
Church property is 547,425. We appropriated last year for this
work $10,324. The chapter on the Piegan Indians is given as one
sample of Indian mission work.

Our mission embraces the Blaekfeet Indian
Reservation. A reservation is a tract of land
set apart by the United States Government for
its own uses and control, for military and other
purposes.

The development of the Indian requires such
a location, for they are ''wards of the Govern- Reservation
ment" and cannot, in their primitive condition. Defined
well be under the direction of the United States.
They require such regulation as is administered
by Congress and directed by the President and
the Secretary of the Interior.

299

Methodism and the Kepublic

Kelatiou to

National

Government

Number and

Tribal

Relations

Blackfeet
Reservation

Their relation to the Government is a very
intimate one, on the order of international lines,
and though they are wards, their rights exist
by treaties. These treaties have resulted from
their subjugation in Indian wars.

Every student of American history knows
what a terrible time we have had with Indians
from the earliest settlement of our country down
to the present.

When the warlike spirit has been aroused by
the encroachment of civilization upon their do-
main, conflicts have resulted and they have been
driven along bloody trails until they have been
'^corralled" in reservations in different places,
widely separated. Treaties have been made, and
their development and civilization undertaken by
the Government.

This has been wisely planned. There are
250,000 Indians remaining of the various tribes.
They could not be controlled in one body. The
different tribes have been as antagonistic toward
each other as to the white people. Thus each
nation, or allied tribes, have separate reserva-
tions and different treaties, but all tending to
the same end, viz., their Christian civilization.

The Blackfeet Eeservation is in northern
Montana. It lies at the base of the Kocky Moun-
tains. It extends fifty miles along the interna-
tional boundary between Canada and the United
States, and sixty miles south. It formerly
reached to the main divide of the Rocky Moun-
tains. On this main divide is located the ' ' Crown
of the Continent, '^ a water shed where water
runs to the three oceans. The head waters of the

300

Piegan Indian Mission

G'-^at tjr'"'™

north forks of the Missouri and the Columbia,
and the south forks of the St. Mary's River rise
here. What a coincidence! The children of
ancestors whose domain originally extended over
the whole continent are now located at least in
sight of its crown, astride the three slopes run-
ning to the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic
Oceans.

This Rocky Mountain region is among the
most picturesque of the world's scenery,
glaciers and cascades, waterfalls and canyons
snow-capped peaks and beautiful slopes extend
beyond human vision and baffle description. The
summers are most delightful and transcend even
a California winter. "Incubator Basin" is also
located here, and such a winter as dropped upon
us last! No Arctic explorer will ever reach the
North Pole if the climate up there is anything
like it. With nearly all of the passenger trains on
the Great Northern system snow-bound and their -winter
rotaries lying helpless by their sides, cyclones
of snow and gravel piling up in impenetrable
drifts, it seemed almost impossible to exist, and
yet the Piegans have so learned the art of living
that they emerge from their crude surroundings
eager for their summer's work.

It is work now. Formerly the Indian did not ^^^^ ^eam
work, at least in our way. He could go out and to work
shoot buffalo. The Indian women would ''rus-
tle" the wood and the water, but the men were
on the hunt, and what a feast! No one knows
the best cuts of beef better than an Indian. No
one can get more out of an animal. They eat all
that is eatable, both outside and inside. They

301

Methodism and the Republic

Idleness and
the Buffalo

Indians to be

Citizens

Methodism
and the
Piegan
Indians

tan the hides and use them for robes and mocca-
sins (shoes) and for other purposes. They made
tepees and got food, clothing and shelter from
a buffalo. They did not have to work, but could
get along without it. But when General Miles
and other Indian fighters exterminated the
buffalo, their means of existence was gone.

For a long time after their subjugation the
Government fed and clothed them, and in the
civilizing process the best ingredient has been
work. They have been taught the necessity of
work and they do it. In a very short time the
Piegans will be a tribe of workers. The reserva-
tion is now to be thrown open to settlement.
The surveyors are already in the field. The In-
dians are to become citizens and not wards. The
last process of eliminating the Indian ward has
begun and soon they will be at work on irriga-
tion canals, in the fields and in the mountains.
By intermarriage the red man is to become a
white man — a community of artisans and farm-
ers and stock men. Indian history is to become
past history. Much has been accomplished.
Much remains to be done. But some time the
last chapter will be written. Some will linger
a time with us, but the greater number will be
absorbed into citizenship.

Methodism has been associated with the Gov-
ernment in the development of the Piegans from
an early period. Under General Grant's peace
policy this reservation was assigned to our
Church. Its agents and employees at times
have been members of our Church; others have
come from Methodist homes ; we have had Metho-

302

Piegan Indian Mission

Influence of
Christian

Control
Beneficent

dist preachers among them at times since 1872.
Brother Van Orsdel visited them at that time.
The writer, then a young Presiding Elder, with
Rev. Clark Wright, of Helena, now of New York,
made an overland trip of several hundred miles
to visit them in 1876. Their children, now grown
to manhood and womanhood, have been educated
under the direction of such men. Brother Dun- instructors
can in the earlier days and later Rev. W. H.
Matson — his widow still remaining in the ser-
vice— have instructed the younger generation.

The beneficent spirit of our Government can
be seen nowhere better than in its control of the government
Indian. Agents are appointed to personally
supervise and direct, even in minutest affairs,
and the employees of all kinds are under civil
service regulation. The different trades are rep-
resented and a complete system of education is
carried on. Children of all ages are taken from
the tepees and as much as possible of the Indian
life is trained out of them and as much as possible
of our life is developed within them. They have
excellent industrial training. They are taught
domestic science in all its branches. Cleanliness
is impressed upon them. The Industrial Train-
ing School is a model of neatness.

They are taught at the schools and missions of
the churches the various phases of agriculture.
By precept and example principles of Chris-
tianity are inculcated. All the advantages of the
ideal home, industry, economy, thrift and the
elements of the well-rounded character are kept
constantly before them.

The agent is father, governor, judge. Em-

303

A Practical
Curriculum

Methodism and the Republic

ployees and citizens whose duties bring them to

the reservation, as well as the Indians, are under

The Passing ^lis direction. Physicians are employed to give

of "Medicine mcdical attention, and though the treatment

Men" ^£ ^^Q <<qJ^ medicine man" is by no means

among the lost arts, for his incantations and

drum beats are still in demand, yet even these

medicine men often find the remedies, skill and

advice of our doctors vastly superior to their

methods.

The development of Christian character is
necessarily of slow growth. They have a relig-
ion of their own — a sort of sun worship. The
beauty and beneficence of the influence of the
sun impress them, and they have a belief in
spirits, good and evil. They have a crude code
of moral conduct. Their native government is
patriarchal. Under the Government they are
taught self-government. They have an Indian
court, and some of their discussions are models
of judgment. The Indian police are often heroic
in the performance of their duty. They are
superstitious. When death overtakes a loved
one they often abandon their homes and select
new ones.

The best results of missionary labor are among
the children, both within and outside the reserva-
Eest Results tion. Nearly all the children are required to
with Children attend school. These schools exercise a complete
control. The missionary is greatly loved by the
pupils and most cordially treated by the super-
intendent and teachers. The Sabbath services
are hours of delight. The children sing as well
as our white children and seem to retain spiritual

304

Indian

Institutions

Piegan Indian Mission

truths in a remarkable degree. The other day a
very bright little girl went to one of the teachers
and said: ''I do wish everybody in the world
would be good and do right and nobody ever
do wrong, then all would go to heaven and live
with God after the judgment. Wouldn't the
devil then be lonesome with his fireworks all
alone?" Their constant inquiries indicate an
anxious mind and willing heart. The bright, gatan^*^^^
cheerful, sweet faces of a group of school chil-
dren are a marked contrast to the old squaws and
their children. Is it not an instructive illustra-
tion of the wisdom and beneficence of their ward-
ship by the Government and the beauty and joy
of missionary labor?

We frequently meet with indications of the
coming harvest. The other day I went into a
tepee to visit an Indian family. They were re-
pairing a fence around a hay meadow. There
was another family visiting them. I found them
getting ready to leave for Canada to visit a sick
brother, a member of the Canadian branch of
the tribe. I asked them if I should pray for chudren as
them and their sick relative. We all bowed to- ^^^t^^P^^^^"
gether around the camp fire and petitioned the
Father for his mercy and grace. Our inter-
preter was one of the school children, educated
at the Willow Creek school adjoining our mis-
sion, an attendant upon our services at the school
and church. These children are now scattered
all over the reservation and carry with them the
precious truths we teach them.

We frequently marry them according to our
ritual and the American customs. They are

305

Methodism and the Republic

An Indian
Funeral

An Indian
Temperance
Address

establishing homes. On farms adjoining the
mission are young couples married by me several
years ago. A few Sabbaths ago I baptized one
of their children. We visit them socially. Their
homes are models of neatness.

We have some pathetic scenes in our little
cemetery where we bury their dead. Their grief
is often heart-rending. They possess all the
tenderness and affection of white people. They
have peculiar ideas of the future. They will put
a trunk or sack with clothing and bedding in the
grave, place money in the pockets and even a
tent in the grave for the journey to be resumed
beyond. What a precious privilege to preach
Jesus Christ and the Resurrection.

It is extremely difficult to tell how much head-
way truth is making among them. The most
impressive and dramatic address on temperance
I ever heard, came from the lips of White Calf,
the old chief. He said in substance: ** Before
our people came in contact with the white people
our nation was strong and powerful. They were
successful on the hunt, brave in battle and vic-
torious in war. They roamed these plains and
mountains healthy and vigorous. They were
erect, could walk straight and steady, looked up
and not down, their minds were clear, they could
follow a straight line. Now all is changed. They
act like crazy people, they can't run, they walk
crookedly, they are on both sides of a straight
line and not following it, excited and not calm,
weak, helpless, fight one another and are de-
stroying themselves. Fire-water (whiskey) has
done the mischief. We met a man on the prairie

306

Piegan Indian Mission

with barrels of it a short time ago. We took
the barrels and broke them open and poured out
the stuff. Tell the father at Washington to keep
his people from selling this dangerous drink to
our people." His native eloquence and gestures
in style and language could not be surpassed.
That address was endorsed by all the chiefs then
present and the meeting was continued nearly all
night. This happened more than thirty years
ago in a council which we had with them.

Those sentiments Little Plume still preaches to
his people. In a service last fall vdth the chil-
dren at the school held by Brother Van Orsdel
and myself, Little Plume told them ''not to fol- a chiefs
low bad people but to imitate the good, listen to -^^^^^^
their teachers, love to go to school, follow the
advice of the missionaries, study the best life,
learn about God and Christianity. I am on my
way to the canal where our people are at work
digging a big ditch, to tell them not to drink,
gamble, steal or lie. I am your father and I
talk out of a father's heart. I love you. How
I love to hear you sing. ' '

Elkhom, another of their chief men accom-
panying Little Plume, said : * ' The white man is Indian's
so superior to the Indian, I am glad you are here Estimate of
at school to learn to do things like they do. ^an
The white man grows ; he is like the tree, a thing
of beauty ; the Indian is like the rock, an immov-
able something. The white man builds fine
houses, warms them and lights them and they
are beautiful. He builds railroads and runs
cars on them, he dresses well. How nicely they
all look around you. When I hear you sing it

307

Methodism and the Republic

Allotment
of Lands

Our

Methodist
Mission

is SO sweet and good. Instead of being an old
man I wish I were a boy five years old, that I
might have the chance you have. When I was a
man I was taught by the missionaries to pray
and be glad. You hear and follow the teachings
of your teachers and missionaries and it will
be well with you.''

On that very trip after his arrival at the St.
Mary's Canal he was taken with pneumonia and
died. The old Indians are rapidly passing away.
The life of not one but all of the tribes is to
be so modified in a short time what is done
for them must be done very speedily.

I have spoken of the allotment of their lands.
Each of the Indians of the Blackfeet Reservation
is to receive 320 acres of land. A man and wife
will have a farm of 640 acres. Having a family
of four children will give them three sections.
Some have large families. What an endowment
with which to make a living. How necessary
for them to know the value of land and what it
will produce. How to plow, to sow, to cultivate,
to maintain a home, to transact business, above
all to comprehend the principles of our Christian
religion.

Our mission is established in their midst. We
are touching all phases of their life. We have a
church building, a parsonage home, a cemetery
and mission premises. The Government has
provided permanent grounds for the enlarge-
ment of our work. We have won some trophies
for the Master, but the greater harvest is to
come.

808

METHODISM AND THE CITIES

CHARLES M. BOSWELL, D.D.

This chapter is not intended to consider at
length the number, population or problems of
our American cities, nor to suggest plans, meth-
ods or institutions for evangelizing them. It
aims to give an outline statement of what is be- Aim of the
ing done in our great commonwealths by the ^^*p*®'
Methodist Episcopal Church. It is hoped that
as our people come to know of the various activi-
ties now in operation, under the direction of
their Church leaders, they will come prayerfully
and promptly to their assistance. This support
should result in a largely increased force of
laborers, more liberal contributions of money,
and the establishment of religious movements
that shall command greater respect.

In all efforts proposed for the evangelization
of America the city must be given an important
place; for, since it is becoming an acknowledged
fact that the Stars and Stripes cover the most
valuable missionary field in the world, it must
be conceded that our great municipalities are Municipalities
the battle grounds upon which the campaign is our Battle
largely to be fought and the ultimate victory ^^ou^ids
gained.

Lyman Abbott has well said, ''On the one
hand the city stands for all that is evil; a city
that is full of devils, foul and corrupting; and

309

Methodism and the Republic

For What
tlie City
Stands

What the
City Holds

on the other hand the city stands for all that is
noble, full of the glory of God and shining with
a clear and brilliant light. But if we think a
little more carefully we shall see that the city
has in all parts of the world represented both
these aspects. It has been the worst and it has
been the best. Every city has been a Babylon
and every city has been a New Jerusalem, and it
has always been a question whether the Babylon
would extirpate the New Jerusalem, or the Nev/
Jerusalem would extirpate the Babylon. It has
been so in the past and it is so in the present.
The greatest corruption, the greatest vice, the
greatest crime are to be found in a great city.
The greatest philanthropy, the greatest purity,
the most aggressive noble courage are to be
found in the great city. San Francisco, St.
Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, New
York, Boston and Brooklyn are full of devils,
and also full of the glory of God." In them
are the men and women who are to constitute
a band of disciples sufficient for getting the Gos-
pel to all people; the wealth that is necessary
to furnish the resources for support; the news-
papers that can reach multitudes and influence
them for Christianity; the educational institu-
tions that can be used to help our young to relig-
ious doings; the places of entertainment that
may be utilized to uphold standards of morality,
and the great population composed of those who
by their toil, words and votes are to largely deter-
mine the future character of the Nation. With
this all allied under the Home Missionary ban-
ner, the Republic may soon belong to our God

310

Methodism and the Cities

and His Son, and from it will go to other lands
a large company whose purpose will be to con-
quer the world for Christ.

The Awakening

It is comparatively a few years since Metho-
dism awoke to the religious conditions, needs and
opportunities in American cities, and began to
give serious heed to the Christianizing of the
heathen at home. It did not observe the advance
of Romanism, foreignism, worldliness and Alarming
wickedness until many Christian churches were ^^^^ses
depleted, congregations weakened, customs
changed and institutions endangered. But once
aroused it has become enthusiastic in spirit, ag-
gressive in effort and strong in its call for city
evangelization.

In 1891 Horace Benton, an active and hon-
ored member of Cleveland Methodism, called
together a number of laymen from other places ^, National
for the purpose of inaugurating a forward move- Evangelization
ment in our denomination for the Christianizing union Bom
of the rapidly growing large American cities.
As a result of their prayers, consultations, con-
tributions and aggressiveness a City Evangeli-
zation Union was organized at Pittsburg, Pa.,
in 1892, and representatives of it went from city
to city urging Bishops, Presiding Elders, Pas-
tors, Laymen and Editors to unite with them in
organizing societies in their several cities, to co-
operate in the work they had undertaken. A
prompt response was the result, and very soon
Allegheny, Baltimore, Boston, Brooklyn, Buffalo,

311

Methodism and the Republic

Conventions

Expenditures

Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Jersey-
City, Kansas City, New York, Philadelphia,
Pittsburg, Providence, Rochester, San Fran-
cisco and others were united in city campaigns
for Christ, humanity and Methodism, and some
of them were led by preachers whose entire time
was given to their respective unions. Every
year a convention was held, and to it came work-
ers who reported the fields as studied by them,
giving accounts of new methods, stating results
and making suggestions for larger undertak-
ings.

The success of the movement made it neces-
sary to so increase the income that more labor-
ers might be placed in the field and provision
made for taking care of the harvests gathered.
This led to an appeal to the General Missionary
Committee for assistance, and that body in
1904 appropriated directly to thirty-eight cit-
ies, none having a population of less than
40,000, the sum of $45,000 ; in 1905 to fifty cities
$50,000 ; in 1906 to fifty-six cities $55,000 and in
1907 to fifty-eight cities $65,300. This, added
to the amoimt secured from local sources, the
Woman's Home Missionary Society and the
Epworth League, also from other young peo-
ple's organizations, would make a total expen-
diture for religious and humanitarian work
in American cities of about $375,000. The fol-
lowing cities are on the list of those among
whom this money was distributed in 1908:
Akron, Allegheny, Altoona, Baltimore, Boston,
Buffalo, Butte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland,
Columbus, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Duluth,

312

Methodism and the Cities

Elizabeth, Fall River, Honolulu, Jersey City,
Kansas City, Lincoln, Los Angeles, Lowell, Mil-
waukee, Minneapolis, New Castle, New Haven,
New York, Newark, Oakland, Omaha, Paterson,
Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Pa., Pittsburg, Kan.,
Portland, Providence, Pueblo, Richmond,
Rochester, Reading, St. Louis, St. Paul, San
Francisco, Scranton, Seattle, Sioux City, Spo-
kane, Syracuse, Tacoma, Toledo, Utica, Wash-
ington, Wilkes-Barre and YoungstowTi.

Since the Board of Home Missions and Church
Extension, hy the authority of the General Con-
ference Commission on the Consolidation of
Benevolences, is to do all work hitherto done by
the Missionary Society in the United States of
America and its insular possessions, all appro-
priations for American city work must now be
made by the General Committee of that organi-
zation.

The Board of Church Extension was also re-
quested to lend a helping hand to those doing
city church extension work, and that body
promptly pledged its co-operation, and has since
given timely help to church building. Thus we
have a picture of an organization with its watch-
word, ' ' America for Christ, ' ' in centers of popu-
lation, gathering under its banner the officials
and local workers in City Evangelization So-
cieties, Woman's Home Missionary Societies,
Epworth Leagues and other young people's
organizations and Sunday schools, giving its
blessing, extending financial aid and asking for
combined effort in winning the city for Christ.

The New
Order

A Strong
Leadership

313

Methodism and the Republic

Churches
Fundamental

Small
Beginnings

The Work

As we go from city to city and observe the
religious activities in operation under the direc-
tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, we con-
clude that something is being done wisely and
efficiently to win these strategic centers for
Christ. Our judgment has been formed from a
study of the f ollowings lines of work :

1. Providing Churches. — In all efforts to
Christianize a city, church buildings are required.
They are the sheltering, training and strength-
imparting places for the followers of our Lord,
and in them the people gather, become identified
with Christianity, learn the things a Christian
ought to know and are equipped for the contest
against sin, unbelief, religious indifference,
worldliness, sorrow and death.

It is gratifying to know that while much
money is being spent for libraries and places of
amusement, and millions for saloons, that a
great deal is being used to provide people with
houses of worship. Under the Church Ex-
tension plan new neighborhoods which have
been built up by enterprising financiers, and
made convenient to home seekers by electric con-
veyances, are visited, and where conditions are
promising sites are purchased, and thus begin-
nings are made for church buildings.

In one city a denominational leader went into
one such place as described and rented a room
in which on the following Sabbath a Bible
school was organized with two scholars, and a
religious service begun in the evening. In a little
while thereafter, by the aid of the Board of

314

Methodism and the Cities

Church Extension, a piece of ground was se-
cured and on it a substantial house of worship
erected. At that place we now have property
valued at over $50,000, a church membership of
400 and a Sabbath school of 600.

In other instances churches are found to be
so heavily burdened with debt that while they
are located in sections where regular church
work is greatly needed, their energetic pastors
and people are exhausted in getting funds with
which to meet payments of interest. To many
of these the Board of Home Missions and Church Detts
Extension comes and by an inspirational gift disappear
encourages and enthuses the congregation to pay
off the mortgage. We know of a church in
a large city that for years was religiously in-
capacitated by a large debt until a donation was
promised conditionally by the Board of Church
Extension. The pastor and official board ac-
cepted the condition and went to work. In
three years the amount of money required, which
seemed impossible to get in any other way, was
in hand and the debt paid. Immediately the
altars were crowded with penitents, the mem-
bership largely increased and congregations
filled the house.

In still another instance there is a locality
with no house of worship. The trolleys are there
and so are factories, stores, dwellings and a
schoolhouse. People are rapidly moving in. The
saloonist is getting ready to begin the business of
drunkard making. The church planter becomes
aroused. He goes into that neighborhood, an-
nounces the opening of a Sunday school, class

315

Methodism and the Republic

meeting, prayer meeting and preaching service.
The children gather, church members come, the
people attend, men and women are converted
and a society is organized. The Sunday-school
lessons are taught, hymns are sung, testimonies
given, a sermon preached. A frame chapel takes
the place of the dwelling house, and the church
prospers.

Then the Board of Church Extension, in an-
swer to an appeal, makes a donation of an
amount varying from $250 to $1,000, and a
church is planted that holds that section for
Christ and Methodism.

In a large city in New York State we recently
Large aided in dedicating a $54,000 property that

Returns grew in this way out of a $500 donation from the

Board of Church Extension.

In all sections of the country large sums of
money are being spent in this way, and much
more needs to be done and can be when our
people become conscious of the opportunity at
their doors.

Evangelism

In addition to the regular church work con-
ducted under the direction of the pastors many
evangelistic movements are inaugurated and ag-
gressively pushed by Methodism in our cities.

1. House-to-House Evangelism. — There are
many homes out of which the inmates do not
come to places of worship, and to these go dea-
conesses in the employ of the Woman's Home
Missionary Society and kindred organizations.
They take a message of salvation to the poor,
sick, maimed and unfortunate in alley tene-

316

Methodism and the Cities

ments, in boulevard mansions, in hospitals and
prisons and in any other place where abides a
saddened heart that needs a Christ-given word.
We are hoping to have such evangelists so nu-
merous that it will be necessary only to make
known the cause and the worker will be there.

2. Street Evangelism. — There are seasons of
the year when the streets are crowded with per-
sons who for one reason or another do not at-
tend religious services, and it is well to know
that while many of our people are at the sea-
shore or mountains and out in the country, and
while others are worshipping together in beauti-
ful buildings, yet the highway folk are getting
the Gospel. For them, largely under the leader-
ship of Epworth Leagues and other young peo-
ple 's societies, passer-by meetings are held in the ^he Gospel
cool of the evening. In some places a speaker in Highways
accompanied by singers will stand on a church
step to which the people are attracted and where
they hear about righteousness and its blessings,
sin and its cursings. In other places a public
street corner is utilized for halting the people
long enough to give them a religious lesson in
song, testimony and exhortation; and in a few
cities a wagon containing speakers, singers and
musical instruments is driven to a crowded thor-
oughfare where the music draws a congregation ;
the appeal leads some to raise their hand for
prayer, and the timely hand-shaking draws many
persons to Jesus. Such evangelism wiU be more
and more carried on when the Board of Home
Missions and Church Extension shall have more
missionaries and money to do the work that

317

Methodism and the Republic

brought so many victories to early Methodism
and carried joy to so many hearts and homes,
and is so effective now.

3. Tent Meetings. — In a city population there
are those who will not enter ecclesiastical struc-
tures; some not at any time and others at cer-
tain periods of the year, and for these Metho-
dism can be found industriously at work, using
a tent as a gathering place, and this in addition
to co-operation in Union Tent Meetings. In
some places a canvas is spread on a vacant lot
in a non-church-going neighborhood where the
residents are invited for a religious hour, and
frequently women and men representing the
Christian hard toilcrs of the community, with their chil-
Enterprise dreu, are seen gladly entering and listening to
the sweet songs and earnest exhortations of the
workers.

In one city we saw a sufficient number of
adults and youth converted and brought into
the Church membership during one summer
to justify a denominational organization that is
now housed in a substantial church edifice. In
other places the tent has been pitched on a lawn
in a church-going neighborhood, and a Methodist
preacher ministers to hundreds who would not
otherwise have been brought under the influence
of Christianity.

In recent years this form of evangelism has
been used by our Church to get the Gospel to
great crowds that by trolley or on foot go to the
large parks on the Sabbath day, and we know
of one place where this has resulted in great
good, and at a comparatively small cost, since the

318

Preaching
from a
Music

Methodism and the Cities

financial expenditure is limited to newspaper
advertising; all the workers being volunteers.
The preacher in charge of a nearby church and
his young people's organization secured the per-
mission of the authorities for the music pavilion,
in front of w^hich are accommodations to seat Pavilion
3,000. Here, on Sunday afternoons during July
and August at four o'clock, an hour that would
not give church members an excuse for remaining
away from their regular place of worship, in-
teresting and instructive religious services are
held. The minister is assisted by Bishops, secre-
taries, editors. Presiding Elders, pastors and
laymen and a strong choir. Thousands gladly
come to this gathering, and a number of sinners
have been converted, while backsliders were re-
claimed and Christians enthused. During 1907
this movement was more successful than ever.
We commend this to other cities as being worthy
of imitation.

Missionary Work

About 1,300,000 persons from foreign lands
came into the United States during 1907 and
made America their home, thus increasing the
already very large foreign population on
American soil. They seem to be especially
attracted to our cities, since the proportion
of foreign-born inhabitants is more than twice
as great in them as in the whole country. In
New York, out of every 100 persons 80 are
foreign bom or children of foreign parents; in
Philadelphia, 51; Brooklyn, 67; Chicago, 87;
Boston, 63; St. Louis, 78; Cincinnati, 60; San

319

Methodism and the Republic

Like a
Poreign
Land

Practical
Christian
Teaching

Francisco, 78; Cleveland, 80; Buffalo, 71; Pitts-
burg, 61; Newark, 63; Detroit, 84; Milwaukee,
84; New Orleans, 57; Jersey City, 70; Louis-
ville, 53; Providence, 52; and Baltimore, 35.

Thus well has one said, ''To live in one of
these foreign communities is actually to live on
foreign soil. The thoughts, feelings and tradi-
tions which belong to the mental life of the
colony are often entirely alien to an American,
and the newspapers, the literature, the ideas, the
passions, the things which agitate the commu-
nity are unknown to us except in fragments.*'
By this the land of the Stars and Stripes be-
comes one of the world's great missionary fields,
and the Methodist Episcopal Church is realizing
this and seeking to Christianize it :

1. By humanitarian institutions, in which are
the kindergarten, where the children of the
strangers within our gates are trained in things
that acquaint them with Christian sympathy,
and in which by kindly hands and sweetened
tongues the little ones from the sweat-shop are
greeted by representatives of the Lord Jesus
Christ ; cooking schools, in which they are taught
to prepare a meal without getting it from the
refuse barrel; soap and water hours, in which
they are shown the advantages of cleanliness of
person and garments, and taught how to cleanse
the body, laundry clothing and iron garments;
sewing schools, where the value of needles and
thread is taught ; reading schools, where the love
for good books and interest in current events
are stimulated; manual training sessions, where
boys' hands are schooled in the primary work

320

Methodism aud the Cities

of what may mean a trade and a good income
in the days further on; mothers' conferences,
where women are urged to follow the example of
Priscilla in housekeeping and in the training of
children; also entertainment nights, where the
best music and lectures that may be obtained
are furnished free of charge or for a nominal
price of admission.

2. Patriotic Gatherings. — In these our friends

from across the sea are instructed in American contributing
history, American characters, American customs citizenship
and American songs. We have seen in one city
over 800 Italians in a gathering where they sang
with much enthusiasm, ''My Country, 'Tis of
Thee," and in another 250 Chinese, 150 Jap-
anese and 75 Koreans with a number of Ameri-
cans, together lustily singing that same National
song.

3. Religious Services. — These are composed of
Bible schools, young people's meetings. Chris-
tian conferences, prayer meetings and preaching
services. In these the inhabitants of Austria,
Bohemia, China, Hungary, Japan, Italy, Poland,
Russia and other foreign quarters are instructed
in the Scriptures, drilled in religious work, en-
couraged concerning temptations, trials and du-
ties, and taught privileges, obligations and pos-
sibilities of the Christian life. For them build-
ings are rented, halls leased and churches
erected. To help them missionaries, teachers,
musicians and house visitors are employed. To
do this the Board of Home Missions and Church
Extension made appropriations for 1908 as
follows :

Ministering
to Men's
Souls

321

Methodism and the Republic

Welsh $400

Swedish 35,100

Norwegian and Danish 24,260

German 42,525

French 5,200

Spanish 44,200

Chinese 14,840

Japanese and Korean 23,250

Bohemian and Hungarian 14,335

Italian 16,325

Portuguese 2,070

Finnish 4,035

Foreign populations 7,200

American Indians 9,457

White, English-speaking 299,653

Colored, English-speaking 48,425

Special city appropriations 65,300

Total $656,575

A large proportion of this was spent in Ameri-
can cities. We are not doing all that we should,
but the above shows that we are at least laying
foundations, inaugurating movements and estab-
lishiDg methods which when understood by our
membership-at-large we are sure will produce a
co-operation that will enable us to meet the de-
mands with an enlarged and more efficient
equipment.

322

THE WOMAN'S HOME MISSION-
ARY SOCIETY

martha van marter, editor woman s home

missions"

The Woman's Home Missionary Society of
the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized
in Cincinnati, Ohio, in July, 1880, and entered
at once upon its truly Christian work of uplift-
ing and Christianizing the homes of our land.

After twenty-eight years of vigorous life, it
can point today to a membership of about a Notable
110,000 adults and young women, while nearly History
30,000 children are enrolled under its banner.
During this time it has accumulated over
$1,000,000 worth of property, consisting prin-
cipally of Industrial Homes and Schools, Train-
ing Schools for Missionaries and Deaconesses,
Children's Homes, Immigrant Girls' Homes and
Deaconesses' Homes. What its heavenly assets
may be, no human reckoning can compute.

The leaders of the new organization had their
attention first directed to the hundreds of thou-
sands of young colored women in the South, j^ Began
who, although endowed with freedom as the re- with the
suit of the Civil War, were yet apparently fast ^°"^^
bound in the chains of ignorance, poverty and
degradation. The first effort of the young Soci-
ety was to put levers under these helpless lives,
by means of which they might be lifted out of

323

Help

Methodism and the Republic

their low conditions. Model homes were estab-
lished at various points, in which not only a
good every-day working education might be ac-
quired, but a knowledge of the home-making
industries as well, which are so essential to the
development of Christian home life.

No sooner had the word gone forth that a
Home Missionary Society had been organized in
our denomination, than calls for help began to

S^?^ ^°^ pour in from all parts of our land. Any linger-
ing questions in the minds of the founders of
the Society as to the need for such work were
speedily dissipated by these urgent representa-
tions from ministers of the Gospel, Christian
educators and others, as to the desperate need
in their localities. Utah, the home of Mormon-
ism, even then becoming a menace, was laid
upon the conscience of the Society. The Indian
woman in her smoky tepee won womanly pity
and consideration, and the Spanish-speaking
people of our great Southwest made pitiful ap-

various peal for the gospel of truth and purity. Alaska,

ice-bound and pagan, and not yet entered by the
gospel of Methodism, won an early hearing, and
the immigrants at our great national ports of
entry appealed not in vain to the young Society
(none too warmly welcomed) and yet assured
that it was following the voice of God in listen-
ing to these pathetic pleas.

The Society's declared aim to co-operate with
other societies and agencies of the Church in
educational and missionary work, led at an early
day to the forwarding of the difficult w^ork of
the Church on the great frontiers, through the

324

Fields

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

medium of missionary supplies. A systematic

plan was developed by means of which the needs

of the preachers in the destitute districts could Helping the

be ascertained through the Presiding Elders Preachers

and met, at least in part. The work of this

Bureau extends also to the mission homes and

schools, making it possible for many children

and young women to remain in these schools

by having their clothing provided.

A succession of noble women have carried for-
ward this work of sisterly love for the last quar-
ter of a century. Mrs. J. L. Whetstone, of Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, one of the founders of the Society,
was the first secretary of the Bureau of Supplies.
She developed it into a great work, but was
obliged to be relieved of it to carry on her work
in other directions. Mrs. Mary T. Lodge, of
Indianapolis, Ind., became her efficient suc-
cessor, and after five years resigned, owing to
her health. In 1892 Mrs. James Dale, of Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, a woman of great heart, took this
Bureau upon her hands and lavished upon it
the devotion of her remaining life. She visited
the mission conferences many times, and as the
grateful preachers gathered about her and
poured out their thanks, she felt that she stood
in the midst of her own family, and rejoiced in
the opportunity given her. When, after nine
years of loyal service, she "fell on sleep," Mrs.
H. C. Jennings, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was ap-
pointed as her successor, and still remains the
faithful, diligent and sympathetic worker in
this most interesting field. Sixtj^-five confer-
ences were last year upon the roll of the Bui-eaii

325

Noble
Leaders

Methodism and the Republic

for mission supplies ; and the number of families
assisted is conservatively estimated at 1,000.
The number of second-hand garments sent out
during the year exceeded 76,000 at the last re-
port, and the amount in cash value expended
upon boxes and barrels was in excess of $55,000.
During that year twenty-five new fur coats
Work were added to the large number already owned

by The Woman's Home Missionary Society,
which are loaned from year to year to the min-
isters in the cold Northwest. The oft-repeated
benediction, *'God bless The Woman's Home
Missionary Societ}?-," pronounced by thousands
of Methodist preachers and their heroic wives, is
a sufficient return for all the love and labor and
sacrifice lavished upon this department of the
work.

The first missionaries sent to labor among the
colored women and children of the South began
by house-to-house visitation. This was soon fol-
lowed up by small day schools. Sewing and
cooking classes were also formed wherever prac-
ticable, and religious instruction was always
faithfully given. The mission teachers co-oper-
The Plan atcd with the pastors of the small mission
Unfolding churches in every x>ossible way; and within two
years the idea of the Model Industrial Home was
evolved. The first such Home was opened at
South Atlanta, Ga., in the fall of 1883. It now
bears the name of Dr. E. 0. Thayer, who first
agitated the establishment of Homes of this
character, and who, on becoming president of
Clarke University, Atlanta, Ga., presented his
thought with such success that it was adopted

326

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

by The Woman's Home Missionary Society.
Miss Flora Mitchell, of Boston, Mass., was ap-
pointed the first superintendent of *' Thayer
Home," where she still remains. A cultured,
Christian woman, of many gifts and graces. Miss
Mitchell labored many years in an isolation
scarcely to be conceived of, giving herself
wholly to the constantly advancing work with a
real love and devotion. She has her reward in
the hundreds of educated Christian women of
the colored race who delight to rise up and call
her blessed. Many of them have become teachers
among their own people, wives of ministers, law-
yers and doctors; while nearly all are real fac-
tors in the uplift of their race.

Other Homes founded upon this general plan
were established, in many instances on the
grounds of the Freedman's Aid Society. The
girls board in the Industrial Home, receive
academic training in the Freedman 's Aid School,
while in return the young women of the Freed-
man's Aid School receive industrial training
in the Home. So greatly has this work in the
South been blessed and prospered that the So-
ciety now has twenty-four Homes and schools
in the South, including five for the Mountain
Whites; and it is estimated that from fifteen to
twenty thousand young women have, during
these years, passed through the classes in these
Homes, nearly all of whom have gone out to a
higher grade of work in the world than would
have been possible otherwise. It may be added
that so vital has been the spiritual life in the
Homes, that very few young women who have

327

The Uplift
of a Eace

An Army of
G-raduates

Methodism and the Republic

The Bearing
of a New
Womanliood

Bead this,
for Example

spent any length of time under these influences
have remained unconverted.

The training given in the Industrial Homes
has grown steadily in value and efficiency.
Scientific instruction is given in the cooking
schools and in the sewing schools, while the most
thorough and careful supervision is exercised
over the minor details of home making. Care of
the sick is systematically taught in many of the
Homes; a good working knowledge of music is
given to young women who develop ability in
this direction; the culture of flowers is encour-
aged, and in every way the young women are
trained to become elevating and refining influ-
ences in their own communities. At the annual
meeting of the Board of Managers, there are al-
ways displayed exhibits of work done by these
young women of the Homes, which would do
credit to those trained in our best schools in
millinery, dressmaking, embroidery, etc,

A. single instance of the value of such training
may he given. A young girl of seventeen, one
of a family of five sisters, and children of a
degraded mother who had saved her young
daughters from a knowledge of her degradation,
was received into one of the Homes of the So-
ciety. She was soon converted, and a strong de-
sire awoke in her mind that the sister next in
age should receive like advantages. This was
also made possible through the beneficiary, or
scholarship system, by which individuals or
auxiliaries of the Society undertake the care of
girls in the Home who are not able to pay their
own way. Both of these sisters showed unusual

328

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

aptitude with the needle. Both became experi-
enced dressmakers and earnest Christians; and
returning to their poor cabin, the only home
they had known, speedily effected a change. A
house was secured in a nearby village to
which the mother and younger sisters were
taken, and a small dressmaking establishment
opened. The younger girls were placed in school,
and following the example of the older sisters,
the mother and children attended church and
Sunday school, one by one in turn yielding to
the refining influences of a clean, pure life.
Thus a family has been saved, and who can see
where the fruitage from good seed sown with
the small expenditure of about $50 per annum
for the care of the first of these sisters who en-
tered the school, will yet end? A great blessing
has attended the work of these Home schools,
and too much cannot be said in their behalf. As
a rule the teachers become enthusiastic, and
labor con amove for the affectionate, warm-
hearted, capable young girls so seriously handi-
capped at the outset of their lives through no
fault of their o^vn, and with the best of results.
An ardent friend and promoter of The
Woman's Home Missionary Society was the
sainted Bishop Wiley. As the supervising
Bishop of Utah in 1881, he urged the young So-
ciety to open work in behalf of Mormon women
and children. The Bureau for Mormons was
accordingly formed with Mrs. Angle F. Newman
as secretary. Mrs. Newman, who had already
given years of effort for the overthrow of
Mormonism, took up the work with enthusiasm,

329

Where so
Little Does
Much

Helping
Mormon
Women

Methodism and the Republic

First

Building

Enterprise

and during the years of her service was the
means of awakening profound interest by* her
eloquent and convincing appeals in behalf of
the degraded womanhood of Utah. She served
as Bureau secretary from the beginning until
1885, when the detail of the work of the Bureau
passed into the capable hands of Mrs. S. W.
Thompson, of Delaware, Ohio, who in turn was
succeeded by Mrs. R. W. P. Golf, of Philadel-
phia, Pa., who for several years gave splendid
consecrated service to this department, and then
* ' she was not, for God took her. ' ' In 1894 Mrs.
B. S. Potter, of Illinois, brought to this difficult
and delicate work her line gifts of organization
and public speaking, and to which she has since
given her wisest and best thought in addition to
large personal supervision of her field.

The first building enterprise undertaken by
The Woman's Home Missionary Society was the
erection of a Home in Salt Lake City, which was
completed in 1883. This was designed to serve
as a boarding department for Salt Lake Semi-
nary. After a few years it became a Deaconesses'
Home, and so continued until within the last
two years the growth of the work necessitated
a change to a larger and more commodious
building.

The Society now has fifteen workers at nine or
ten points in Utah. The \YOvk of the Davis Dea-
conesses' Home in Salt Lake City is one of much
interest and importance; and here, as at other
places, missionaries and deaconesses conduct
schools, assisting in the work of the church and
Sunday school, visiting from house to house when-

330

Children in the Japanese Home, San Francisco A New Mexican Navajo Boy

Girls in the George O. Robinson Home, San Juan

McKinley Day School, San Juan A Porto Rican Home

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

ever possible, and in every way seeking the up-
building of the community through the children.
Too much cannot be said of the faith and conse-
cration of the noble women who go out to labor in
the Mormon villages, where, surrounded by peo-
ple of a strange faith, they receive no sjTnpathy
and but slight co-operation, though in many in-
stances the parents are glad to have the children
enjoy school advantages under well-trained
teachers, trusting that the minds of the children
may not be diverted from Mormon teachings.
In the larger towns, and especially in Salt Lake
City, there are resident Gentiles, and thus not
all are wholly isolated from congenial compan-
ionship. The General Missionary Superintend-
ent of the missions of the Church in Utah, speaks
in the highest terms of the devotion and helpful-
ness of these noble women who are seeking to
plant the Cross of Christ in hard and unpromis-
ing soil, while hopefully trusting God to give the
increase.

In the vast empire of the West, mission work
is being steadily carried forward in behalf of
Indian women and children at seven points. In
Oklahoma, Kansas, Washington and California
the devoted missionaries of this Society labor
among these untaught children of the Father.
At Stickney Memorial Home, L^mden, Wash.,
about fifty Indian children and youth of both
sexes are being trained in Christian ways. Quiet,
gentle children, they respond readily to the
touch of love and seem to prove the truth of the
saying, ''There are no heathen among children."
If the Church of Christ felt its obligation in any

3S1

Heroic
Consecration

Among the
Indians

Mexican
Girls

Methodism and the Republic >

adequate degree to win these young Indians to
Christ, the day would not be far distant when
there would be no heathen red men in our land,
because, in the day of opportunity, the children
were sought and won !

At Mayette, Kan., almost within sound of the
church-going bells of Topeka, live the Potta-
watomie Indians, who during these many years
have carried on their pagan practices, un-
reached by the Gospel. Now The Woman's Home
Missionary Society has entered the imworked
field, and with Christian song and teaching and
living is seeking to claim these wandering ones
for our Christ. At Pawnee and White Eagle,
Okla., and Upper Lake, Cal., there are success-
ful missions; while in New Mexico a noble work
has been carried on during many years at Dulce
and Farmington, largely among the Navajo
Indians.

Early in its history The Woman's Home Mis-
sionary Society established work for the Span-
ish-speaking people of the Southwest. Mrs. Jen-
nie Fowler Willing was the first secretary of
this Bureau, and in 1887 arranged for the open-
ing of work in Albuquerque, N. M. In 1890
Mrs. Anna Kent, of East Orange, N. J., suc-
ceeded Mrs. Willing, and since that time she has
faithfully labored in behalf of the brown-faced,
bright-eyed girls of Spanish extraction, who
have won not only her interest but her heart. At
large personal expense of time and means, Mrs.
Kent has from time to time visited her field and
now is enjoying somewhat of the fruits of her
labor. Between three and four hundred girls

332

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

from all parts of New Mexico and Arizona have
been trained in Harwood Industrial School, and
from many neat and Christian homes comes the
testimony, ''I am what I am because I was a
pupil in Harwood Industrial School." The So- j^^^^^^^
ciety owns an excellent building at this point, industrial
which has been enlarged from time to time and school
is now capable of accommodating seventy-five
pupils. The domestic industries are taught, and
in addition two young women conduct the school
which is carried on in the Home. The teachers
assist largely in the work of the church in Albu-
querque, and the school there, which is in every
sense a Christian Home, is eagerly sought by
Catholics as well as Protestants, for their chil-
dren. Many girls who have passed through this
Home are married and are making excellent
wives and mothers, shining as lights in their
owTi communities; a number of them as wives
of 3^oung preachers, and still others are teachers
among their omti people.

A mission school under this Bureau was
opened in December, 1906, in Tucson, Ariz.,
where there is a wide open door, and already
more girls are knocking for admittance than
can possibly be accommodated. The Society
owns a desirable plot for building, and it awaits should he
only the necessary funds for the erection of an
Industrial Home large enough to accommodate
the many girls who eagerly reach out toward
this door of opportunity. Says Mrs. Kent:
** These girls will make the mothers of the by
and by. On them depends the future of the
Southwest. Neglected, they become a menace to

333

Aided Now

Methodism and the Republic

In Far Off

Alaska

One

Lighthouse
in a

Thousand
Miles

pure living. Given the chance to learn, they re-
spond like the tropical flowers and create safe
and pure, as well as patriotic, home life. Where
is the steward to whom the Lord has committed
treasure? Will he or she not consult at once
with Mrs. Anna Kent, 60 South Clinton Street,
East Orange, N. J.?''

Work for Spanish-speaking girls is also car-
ried on at Los Angeles, Southern California,
where the Frances De Pauw Industrial School is
training about fifty bright-eyed Spanish girls.
This branch of the work is under the care of a
committee on the Pacific Coast.

In 1885, at the annual meeting of the Board
of Managers, held in Philadelphia, a "Bureau
for Alaska'' was created, and Mrs. L. H. Dag-
gett, of Boston, Mass., was appointed secretary.
At this time the Methodist Episcopal Church
had not yet opened mission work in Alaska, and
The Woman's Home Missionary Society did
pioneer work, opening a Home and school at
Unalaska. Of this little mission a traveler
wrote, "It is a church in itself. Wherever we
go in western Alaska we hear of it." And an-
other said, "For 1,000 miles it is the only moral
lighthouse, the only place of Protestant wor-
ship." With varying fortunes the work pro-
gressed from year to year, but it was not until
1897 that Jesse Lee Home, a commodious build-
ing, was completed in Unalaska, under the per-
sonal supervision of Mrs. S. L. Beiler, at that
time secretary of the Bureau. After the
lamented death of Mrs. Beiler, Mrs. R. H.
Young, of Long Beach, Cal., was made secre-

334

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

tary, and to this work she has since given most
efficient service. At Jesse Lee Home about fifty
boys and girls are sheltered and admirably
trained and taught in Christian living. Some
are Aleuts, others Eskimos. The Aleuts are
difficult to reach religiously, as they have been
so long under the influence of the Greek Church,
but the Eskimos respond readily and make ex-
cellent Christians. Dr. and Mrs. P. W. Newhall
have been the faithful superintendents of this
work for several years past, and are now return-
ing to the States, owing to the inroads which
ten years of heroic toil in that isolated field have
made upon Mrs. Newhall's constitution. They
are succeeded by Dr. and Mrs. Spence, who have
already entered upon their work with the finest
prospect of success. It is necessary to have a
Christian physician in charge of this Home,
since there are no doctors in the place, or within
a great distance, and a small hospital has been
erected in connection with the Home, which is
a great blessing to the small community, and
even to the islands lying near.

Urgent calls have been coming of late years
to open a mission among the Eskimos, who are
eager seekers after light. After much diligent
inquiry the location decided upon was Sinuk,
about thirty miles from Nome. Sinuk is a small
Eskimo village, the only industry being hunting
and fishing. Mr. and Mrs. M. A. Sellon, of
Portland, Ore., offered themselves for this
v/ork, and during the past year have been carry-
ing it forward with great success. A Govern-
ment school was recently opened with Miss

335

Christlike
Service

Even the
Eskimos

Methodism and the Republic

A Herd of
Eeindeer

A Mother's
Heart for
Asia

Chinese
Girls

May Powell as teacher, a sister of Mrs. Sellon,
who spent the previous year in Jesse Lee Home.
A herd of reindeer has been loaned to this mis-
sion and it is hoped will prove not only profit-
able to the mission, but will afford a means of
subsistence to many Eskimos. Plans are being
made to teach the men carpenter work, gold min-
ing, etc., and the women sewing, mending and
home making. The religious services are largely
attended, and the children of the school are eager
to learn.

In 1893 The Woman's Home Missionary So-
ciety opened its hospitable doors to a sister or-
ganization, ''The Woman's Missionary Society
of the Oriental Bureau," established to work
among Asiatics on the Pacific Coast. A work
similar in character to that already established
was carried on under the new administration.
Two workers were employed, and the three lines
of effort — rescue work, children's schools and
daily visitation — were continued with vigor.
The Oriental Home in San Francisco received
Chinese children and j^oung women, and to it
was brought from time to time young girls saved
by our missionaries from a fate worse than
death. It became an asylum of refuge for many,
and the mission day school and Sunday school,
together with religious services and the house-to-
house visitation of a faithful missionary, accom-
plished untold good. So vigorous was the war-
fare carried on by our own and other Christian
missionaries against the system of child slavery
and the importation of young Chinese women
for the worst purposes, that in time the strong

336

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

hand of the law was reached forward to suppress
these evils. At the time of the great earthquake
and fire the Oriental Home was destroyed, and
since that time the work has been carried on in
rented quarters in Berkeley, Cal. A new Home gj^gj^gj. ^^^
will be erected on the old site at the earliest Hunted
possible date, and the truly Christian work of ^ives
providing shelter for hunted lives, and teaching
and training these sisters of the Orient, will con-
tinue so long as the need exists.

It became necessary in time to open a Home
for Japanese women and children, which was
done, near the Japanese church. Oriental
steamers were met and advice and temporary
assistance often given to the incoming girls and
women. Work similar in character to that car-
ried on in the Oriental Home is conducted here
under the superintendence of Miss Margarita
Lake, who for several years was the successful
superintendent of the Oriental Home, which is
now presided over by a capable and devoted
lady. Miss Carrie G. Davis.

Under the Bureau for Japanese and Corean Japanese
work, of which Mrs. Bishop Hamilton is secre- ^^^
tary, there is a delightful Home for Japanese
and Corean women, kno^vn as the Susannah
Wesley Home, in Honolulu. The mission prop-
erty consists of three houses containing fifty
rooms, which are admirably adapted to the three
lines of work, rescue, children's and women's
Homes. As yet the number of workers is not
sufficient to carry on the three lines of work, but
it is in a healthy condition and promises large
things for the future.

337

Methodism and the Republic

standing at
tbe Gates

A Thousand

Steamers

Met

* * The heathen at home ' ' are surely to be found
in Alaska and on the Pacific Coast. The work
of this Society in their behalf has been greatly
blessed, and all who are acquainted with it in
detail give hearty thanks to God for the love and
sacrifice which has led to its prosecution.

During the past year over a million immi-
grants landed at our various ports of entry.
Early in the life of the Society a missionary of
The Woman's Home Missionary Society was sta-
tioned at Castle Garden, New York City. To her
was committed the task of aiding immigrant girls
and women in every way possible. It was soon
found that to do this effectually, a Home was
needed, and the well-known "Immigrant Girls'
Home," at 9 State Street, New York, is the out-
come of the prayers, labors and sacrifices of the
Society at this point. During a single year from
seven to eight hundred young women are shel-
tered in the Home, some for a night only, others
for a longer period. Nearly a thousand steamers
are met during the year by our missionary, and
in addition to temporal aid, sympathy and direc-
tion, the newcomers are cheered and strength-
ened by the Christian faith and hope of the
workers in the Home.

For a number of years past a valuable work
for Immigrants has been maintained at 72 Mar-
ginal Street, .East Boston, Mass. In this ex-
cellent Home distinctive evangelistic work is
done, not only in the way of Gospel meetings for
immigrants, but also in evangelistic efforts put
forth for the people in the immediate neighbor-
hood. There is no question but that large num-

338

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

bers of young women have been saved from
human fiends through the agency of these Immi-
grant Girls' Homes.

At Philadelphia the work is carried on by a
deaconess v/ho meets the steamers, distributes
good reading matter, gives Bibles and Testa-
ments, counsels and assists in various ways, and,
if need be, provides lodgings for girls tempo-
rarily stranded. One of the wisest officials of
our Church deliberately says, that if The
Woman's Home Missionary Society existed only
for the work at our national ports of entry, its
being would be amply justified.

On the Pacific Coast, Chinese and Japanese
steamers are met by our missionaries, and many
an innocent girl decoyed to this country by false
representation has been saved through our
workers from a fate worse than death.

While a large part of the mission work under-
taken in cities is carried on by deaconesses work-
ing under the direction of The Woman's Home
Missionary Society, there are yet three distinct
city missions owned and operated by this
Society.

The E. E. Marcy Industrial Home, Chicago,
111., is situated in a neighborhood in which over
twenty languages are spoken, and upon whose
streets one may walk for blocks without meeting
a native American. In this Christian Settlement
Home the various lines of work prosecuted in
Settlements are carried on most successfully.
During a single year from twenty-five hundred
to three thousand children and youth pass
through the various classes taught in the Home.

339

TMs in Itself
Justifies the
Organization

Leaven
Among
Foreign
Peoples

Methodism and the Republic

For the Sick A Dispensary is conducted in which from three
to four thousand persons are treated in a single
year. The Kindergarten, the Mothers' Meeting,
the Sewing and Cooking Schools and the various
Clubs for boys and girls are carried on with
enthusiasm and success. A church, with a pas-
tor appointed by the conference, with its various
agencies for good, is an important part of this
mission. The nationalities most largely repre-
sented in this work are the Bohemian and the
Italian children, although many Jews of various
sorts are included in the numerous classes.

A third city mission work of interest and un-
told value, known as the Hull Street Settlement

Bo^stoa^*''*^*' and Medical Mission, is located in Boston, Mass.
Here, under one roof, are all the features of the
true Settlement, although the first and main de-
partment is the Medical Mission. This has a
clinic staff of thirteen doctors, a nurses' depart-
ment and a district work done by trained nurses.
During a single year nine thousand patients
have been treated at the clinics and nearly two
hundred operations performed; while the visits
made in homes mount up into the thousands.
The spiritual welfare of the beneficiaries of this
Settlement is made the leading thought of the
work, and the beneficent results are seen in
cormtless cases. The founder and former super-
intendent. Dr. Harriette J. Cooke, has been
these many years an angel of light and mercy
among the poor and wretched residents of the
miserable neighborhood in which she still finds
it her joy to live and labor.

At the seventh annual meeting of The

340

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

A Deaconess
Bureau

Woman's Home Missionary Society, held in Bos-
ton, in 1888, formal action was taken by which a
Committee on Deaconesses' Work (later changed
into a Bureau), was created. By this action
the Society made itself responsible for the em-
ployment of deaconesses where practicable. Mrs.
Jane Bancroft Robinson (then Miss Bancroft)
was placed at the head of this work, and during
sixteen years of devoted service, brought it to
such a state of efficiency that a division of labor
was required. There is now in charge of the
Deaconesses' Department of The Woman's Home
Missionary Society a general superintendent,
Miss Henrietta A. Bancroft, five Deaconesses'
Bureaus with their respective secretaries, and a
Standing Committee of Training Schools, of
which Mrs. Robinson is the capable and gifted
head.

The Society has now five *'Rest" Homes, six
Hospitals, three National and three Conference
Training Schools, and property owned by the
various deaconesses' institutions of the Society
valued at nearly $700,000. The deaconesses
and probationers at the close of last year num-
bered five hundred and fourteen. These are scat-
tered over the country in homes, hospitals,
training schools and stations, and the work is
steadily growing both in numbers and efficiency.

The three National Training Schools are lo- National
cated respectively at Washington, D. C, for the
East; Kansas City, Mo., for the Middle West;
and San Francisco, CaL, for the Pacific Coast.

To the trained and consecrated deaconess is
entrusted a large part of the city work carried

341

Deaconess
Institutions

Training
Schools

Methodism and the Republic

What the
Deaconess
Does

Property
Values

on by The Woman's Home Missionary Society.
In churches and mission halls, in the homes of
the poor, with the little children teaching and
training them in Christian ways, by the bedside
of the sick, at railroad stations, meeting the un-
wary traveler, in the mining camps, among peo-
ple of strange speech, anywhere and everywhere,
she is found as an evangel of love and truth,
diligently laboring to hasten the coming of the
King. Churches have been established in tliG
dark quarters of more than one of our great
cities through the humble agency of the Kinder-
garten, the Mission Class, the Children's Clubs
and the Mothers ' Meetings, begun by the deacon-
esses and carried forward in faith and patience
to this larger issue. The deaconess work has
proved a strong arm throughout The Woman's
Home Missionary Society, and is going forward
to still greater and better things. With gifted
and consecrated leadership, it has already been
greatly used of God to win the hearts of Meth-
odist women to the need of Lletliodist work on
our own shores, and the blessing of God has
rested upon it in marked measure.

The real estate of The Woman's Home Mis-
sionary Society is valued at over $1,300,000. It
has endowments and other invested funds of
nearly $40,000. Its income in cash for the year
ending July 31, 1907, was $379,220. This does
not include moneys contributed for local work,
or cash supplies. During the past few years
the Society has been engaged, in addition to its
other activities, in raising what is known as
**The Silver Offering," which is devoted to

342

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

Do

Four
Grades

paying off the debt accumulated during previous
years. Already three-fourths of the debt of
$200,000 has been cleared away without the what women
regular income of this Society diminishing in
any degree. On the contrary, it has steadily in-
creased. It is earnestly hoped that the entire
amount will be completed before the close of the
fiscal year of 1908.

The membership of The Woman's Home Mis-
sionary Society consists of four grades: *'Moth- Memijership,
ers' Jewels"; the little ones of the Church up
to ten years of age become members of the So-
ciety by the payment of ten cents per annum.
''Home Guards," children from ten to fourteen,
have an annual membership fee of twenty-five
cents. ''The Queen Esther Circles" include
young people of fourteen and upwards, the mem-
bership dues being fifty cents per annum.
Adult members of the Society organized into
Auxiliaries pay membership fees of $1.10 per
annum; the "two cents a week and a prayer"
being slightly augmented in favor of the Con-
tingent Fund. By the payment of $20 at one
time, one is made a life member of the Society;
and by the payment of $100, one is made a life
patron of the Society. The Woman's Home Mis-
sionary Society appeals to the great Church,
of which two-thirds of its members are women,
for a larger membership, in order that it may our Members
do a larger and better work for the Master ; and ^°°^®"
in this behalf it appeals to the pastors for sym-
pathy and help in the organization of Auxiliary
Societies to carry on this great work.

A significant fact concerning the kind and

343

Two-thirda

Methodism and the Republic

Who is
Responsible?

Periodicals

A Study
Course

value of the work done by The Woman's Home
Missionary Society is this: that in almost every
Home established by the Society, a number of
applicants knocking at the doors of our institu-
tions is far in excess of the number that can be
admitted. In several instances there are wait-
ing lists of eager, hungry girls which outnum-
ber the applicants actually received. Thus,
year by year, worthy girls in large numbers are
turned back from perhaps the only hopeful out-
look in life because the Church of Christ does
not see and appreciate its opportunity !

The periodicals of the Society are Woman's
Home Missions and Children's Home Missions;
the subscription price of the former being thirty-
five cents, and of the latter twenty cents per
annum. Ten or more copies of the child's
paper will be sent to one address at the rate of
ten cents each.

The editor of both papers is Miss ]\Iartha Van
Marter, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York City, and
the publisher is Miss Mary Belle Evans, also of
150 Fifth Avenue, New York.

The demand for Leaflet literature is large and
constantly increasing. Miss Alice M. Guernsey,
of 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, is the editor
of Leaflets, and Miss M. E. Moorhouse, same ad-
dress, is the office secretary in charge, to whom
requests for literature should be sent.

An Interdenominational Course of Home Mis-
sionary Study, now in its sixth year, is enthusi-
astically pursued by the Auxiliaries of the So-
ciety, the book for the year 1907-8 being ''Citi-
zens of To-Morrow, ' ' by Miss Alice M. Guernsey,

344

The Woman's Home Missionary Society

of the Methodist Church, and the one for the
year 1908-9, ''On the Frontiers," by Miss Kath-
erine R. Crowell, of the Presbyterian Church.

Who can doubt that The Woman's Home Mis-
sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church was called into being by the good Provi-
dence of God for such a time as this in the his-
tory of our land? The ever broadening demand
for such service as can be rendered by The
Woman's Home Missionary Society of the
Church, the growing recognition and response of
the Church, and the numberless redeemed lives
and regenerated homes throughout the length
and breadth of our Nation, all bear testimony
that the little group of loyal and far-seeing
women who in 1880 pledged themselves to this
service, w^ere truly inspired by the Spirit of the
Lord.

The Society has been greatly blessed in its
leaders. Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes, the first
president, served loyally until called up higher
in the summer of 1889. Her mantle fell upon
her beloved associate, Mrs. John Davis, of Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, w^ho three years later followed
into the bright beyond. In the autumn of the
same year Mrs. Clinton B. Fisk, widely and
favorably kno^vn throughout the Church, was
chosen to fill this responsible position, and dur-
ing the fifteen years of her leadership has
proven herself a tower of strength to the cause
so dear to her heart.

The first corresponding secretary, Mrs. Eliz-
abeth Lownes Rust, during nearly twenty years
gave to the young Society a service as rare as it

345

Vindicates
its Call

Blessed
in its
Leaders

Methodism and the Republic

A Translated
Leader

Their

Names are
in Heaven

was broad and inspiring. To her tireless en-
thusiasm and devoted labor the Society in large
part owes its very existence. In October, 1899,
she entered upon the higher service, and in the
same month Mrs. Delia Lathrop Williams, of
Delaware, Ohio, was called to fill the place left
vacant. During the succeeding j^ears Mrs. Wil-
liams has shown herself in every way worthy to
be the successor of the great leader.

In November, 1883, Mrs. F. A. Aiken, of Cin-
cinnati, Ohio, was elected recording secretary,
and up to this date she still worthily holds the
position. A model recording secretary she is,
and her services to the Society are as they have
been during all years, invaluable. Mrs. George
0. Thompson, of Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1889 was
elected general treasurer of the Society, follow-
ing Mrs. Delia Lathrop Williams, who was called
to fill Mrs. Rust's position. A strong, patient,
accurate and faithful treasurer she has been, and
to her the Society owes a large meed of praise.

There are many others among the leaders of
this great organization, past and present, whom
the Society delights to honor, but their names
are written above. That The Woman's Home
Missionary Society has abundantly proved its
right to exist and its claim to the confidence of
the Church cannot be doubted. That it may go
on its glorious way so long as oppressed woman-
hood and childhood continue to call for sym-
pathy and relief, should be the prayer of all
true patriot and Christian hearts.

346

INDEX

METHODISM AND THE
EEPUBLIC.

PAGE

Aggressive evangelism ... 9

Board of Church Exten-
sion 17

Board of Home Missions
and Church Extension. . 17

Church Extension, Birth of. 16

Church Extension Donation
Fund 18

Church Extension, Leaders
of 16

Church Extension Loan
Fund 19

Church Extension, Record
of 16

Christmas Conference .... 11

Immigrants, Importance of
v/ork among 18

Immigration and the Ee-
public 17

Methodism, Birth of 9

Methodist Conference
(First) 11

Methodism and the cities. . 20

Methodism, Growth of, Sta-
tistics 19

Methodism, Address of to
President Washington. . 12

Methodism and President
Lincoln 15

Quebec, English victory at,
Importance of 10

Quebec, Eesults of battle
and Methodism 10

Eeply of Lincoln to ad-
dress 16

Reply of Washington to
Methodist address 14

Woman 's Home Mission-
ary Society 19

OUR W^ORK AMONG THE
NEGROES IN THE SOUTH.

PAGE

Appreciation of work

by Southern whites 28

Board of Church Extension,

Contributions to 33

Church Home secure 31

Contribution of 30, 33

Examples of growth 30

Freedmen's Aid, Contribu-
tion to 33

Houston, Texas 32

Home Mission work among

(best foreign work) .... 34

Home field, A rich 25

Influence beyond our mein-

bership 27

Leaders among 27

Methodist Episcopal Church,
Work among organiza-
tions of 26

Property among negro Con-
ferences 33

Results of work among ... 26

Self-support 29

Statistics of work among. . 27

Washington Conference . . 30

Wylie University 32

OUR WHITE WORK IN THE
SOUTH.

Advantages of 35

Church Extension in white

work 41

Cities in the South 40

Education 38

Field of white work in

the South 36

Holston Conference in

the South 37

Laymen's work 37

347

Index

PAGE (

Methodist Advocate Jour-
nal in the South 38

Native Southerners in white
work 36

Eelative strength of white
work in the South 39

Eoom for white work in the
South 36

Ilural problems in the
South 40

Spirit of self-support .... 42

White work in 35

Work of individual
churches 39

THE NEW SOUTH.

Coal in 44

Cotton in 43

Crops in 43

Growth of railroads 45

Iron in South 44

Lumber in 45

Minerals in 45

Public schools 47

Eailroads in South 45

THE WEST.

Advantages in reaching im-
migrants 58

Bohemians and Christian-
ity 57

Churches and patriotism.. 56
Church Extension and the

West 55

Colleges and Christianity. 59
Distinguished immigrants . 59
Heroism of frontier work-
ers 61

Home Missions pay 55

Home Missions and the

Foreign Field 54

Immigration and the West. 57
Immigration and prosper-
ity 60

Influence of Missionaries. 53
Influence of western Chris-
tianity on immigrants. . 58

348

PAGE

Lapsed church members. . 59

Marvelous results 62

Methodist contribution to

the West 52

Opportunity for Home Mis-
sions 56

Opportunity in West 62

Patriotism and Home Mis-
sions 51

Prohibition and Home Mis-
sions 53

Railroad expansion 61

Room for people 60

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST.

Appeal of Indians for help. 66
Asia and Pacific Northwest. 72
Character of population. .. 71
Early exploration of North-
west 64

Extent of Pacific North-
west 70

Frustrated hopes of early

Missionaries 69

Hindus and the North-
west 73

Immigration and Railways. 70

Indians and the Bible ... 65
Indians searching for the

Bible 65

Japanese in Northwest. . . 72
Jason Lee and Indians ... 67
Magic growth and trans-
formation of Northwest.. 71
Methodists in Pacific

Northwest 75

Missionaries in Northwest. 76
Oregon, Washington and

Idaho 70

Pacific Coast as a Mission

field 77

Providence in Northwest . . 63
Race prejudice in North-
west 74

Story of Jason Lee 68

Index

METHODIST EPISCOPAL
CHURCH IN UTAH.

PAGE

Education and Mormonism. 89
Hindrances to progress

among Mormons 86

Home Missions and Church

Extension in Utah 96

Influence of Christianity on

Mormons 83

Influence of churches in

Utah 87

Lay Missionaries and Mor-
mons 93

Message to Mormons 84

Methodism and patriotism. 88

Mormonism 81

Mormonism and the Bible . 82

Mormon doctrines 82

Mormon Church, compact

organization 83

Mormons as neighbors ... 84
Our message to Mormons. . 90
Picked men only for Mis-
sionaries in Utah 94

Unwise denunciation of

Mormons 85

Test of Christianity in
the West 81

THE SOUTHWEST— LAND
OF OPPORTUNITY.

Areas of the Southwest. . . 98
Arizona and its resources,. 102
Climate of Arizona and

New Mexico 103

Discovery of gold 105

Future of Southwest 110

Immigration, 1907 106

Incident that changed his-
tory of the Southwest. . . 105
Magnificent distances .... 106
Methodism and the South-
west 106

Moral reforms in South-
west 110

New Mexico and its re-
sources 103

PAGE

Oldest American civiliza-
tion 99

Oldest city in the United

States 100

Penitentes in Southwest. . . 108
Protestant martyrs in

Southwest 108

Pastoral duties in South-
west Ill

Resources of Arizona 104

Resources in Southwest... 102
Spanish Mission in South-
west 101

Spanish rule in Southwest... 100
Spanish explorers in South-
west 102

The need of the Southwest.. 112
Two distinct lines of Home
Mission work 107

OUR CHURCH EXTENSION
WORK.

A. J. Kynett and 117

Annuitants amply pro-
tected 123

Expenses before it existed. 124
Houseless preaching fruit-
less 116

History of 116

How it began 116

How is the money obtained. 120

Its field 115

Loan Fund 120

Loan Fund plan 121

Summary of success 126

The Annuity Fund 122

The Board of Home Mis-
sions and Church Exten-
sion in evolution 119

The Secretaries 118

Wliat it is, what it is not . . 114

Who does it 118

NEW ENGLAND— A MIS-
SIONARY FIELD.

Causes of change in New
England 130

349

Index

PAGE

Foreign population in New
England 132

Immigration and New Eng-
land 131

Methodism in New Eng-
land 131

New New England 129

Old New England 129

Religious indifference in
New England 130

The task of Protestantism
in New England 133

THE NEW FRANCE OF
AMERICA.

Bishop Mallalieu and

French work 138

Canadian French in New

England 135

First work among the

French 137

French and American

churches 139

French in New England

cities 136

Needs of work among the

French 139

GREEKS AND POR-
TUGUESE.

Character of Portuguese
immigration 142

Character of Greek immi-
grants 147

Characteristics of modern
Greeks 145

Greek immigration 146

Greek population and Por-
tuguese 145

Portuguese population in the
United States 143

Portuguese immigration . . 142

Protestant work among
Portuguese 144

Protestant work among
Greeks 147

Scriptures and Greek .... 148

350

ITALIANS IN AMERICA.

PAGE

Abstemious 152

Ambitious 151

American citizens 164

Business instincts 165

Character of Italians .... 150

Carry back the Bible 156

Clean 154

Concerning, Ideas need re-
vision 154

Do our dirty work 156

From peasant stock 157

Industrious 150

Influence of Home Mis-
sions 170

Italian and Black Hand.. . 158
Italians and the South... 161
Italians and Roman Cath-
olics 163

Italians versus Priesthood. 167

Law abiding 158

Men predominate in church

membership 120

Mistaken for other foreign-
ers 155

Misrepresented 160

Natural-born gentlemen. . . 165

Natural-born Methodists. . 164

Protestant opportunity. . . . 169

Pure blooded 153

Real disposition of 159

Religious 166

Teachable 162

Thrifty 161

CHINESE WORK ON THE
PACIFIC COAST.

Anti-Chinese agitators. . . . 172

Benefit white labor 174

Benefit skilled labor 174

Chinese labor 172

Chinese assimilate 175

Christian work begun 178

Chinese not inferior people. 175

Converts 181-182

Evening schools 181

Enlargement of work.... 189

Index

PAGE

r. J. Masters' work 183

Importation of women and

girls 187

Intermarriage 176

Our need of them 177

Our treatment of them. . . 177

Other immigrants 177

Otis Gibson 179

Outlook of work among. .. 185

Methodist work among . . . 179

Numbers of in America . . . 178

Eescue Home 188

Eelation of Chinese and

Americans 171

Six Companies 173

Their worship 176

Women, Work among 186

Wages 173

JAPANESE HOME
MISSIONS.

Bishop M. C. Harris 203

Baptisms among 208

Chinese relation to Japan-
ese Mission 190

Chinese Missionaries .... 190
Early Japanese immigra-
tion 194

Evangelization of Japanese

in America 194

Edward James 192

1' i r s t organization of

churches 200

Immigration to Hawaii . . . 195
Immigration of the better

class 209

Japanese in America .... 194
Japanese discrimination
against Japanese in Cali-
fornia 197

Japanese assimilate our

civilization 197

Japanese and Christianity. 199

Japanese at Seattle 207

Japanese students in Amer-
ica 198

PAGE

Opposition to 196

Opportunities for expan-
sion in work 212

Present problems 203

Pacific Japanese Mission

established 202

Rebuilding San Francisco

urgent 205

San Francisco earthquake.. 204

Statistics of 196

Statistics of work in

United States 208

Training School at San

Francisco 201

Women for work among

them 209

Work among homes 2ii

Work among Japanese

women 211

PORTO RICO.

Area and population .... 216

Church building 224

Church for Americans, San

Juan 225

Climate 214

Culabra church 218

Color line 223

Discovery 214

Eagerness of people to hear

Gospel 222

Government 219

Health of workers 228

Illiteracy 216

Minerals 215

Methodism 218

Methodist Church, Vieques. 220
Methodist property in .... 225
Methodist Missionary cen-
ters 221

Methodist Sunday schools. 222

New projects 227

Orphanage— G. O. Robin-
son 226

Protestantism 217

Printing press 228

ReUgion 216

351

Index

PAGE

Eapid growth of Meth-
odism 223

Self-support 224

Sister churches 228

Success of Methodism 220

Soil 215

Training School 228

Wages 216

AVhat money will do in... 227

Women's work in 225

Vieques church 219

HAWAII -STEATEGIC
POSITION.

Agricultural products .... 231

Debt to Missionaries 234

Immigration in 236

Japanese Methodist Mis-
sionary (first) 236

Japanese work (history) . 237
Japanese — Agazaua, con-
verted liquor dealer . , . 239

Koreans in 240

Korean converts like early

Methodists 243

Leper settlement 235

Methodism planted 237

Missionary, History of . . . . 231

Missionary property 245

Membership 245

Organization of Missions . . 244
Other religious agencies . . 235
Eeflex influence of Mis-
sions in 246

Eeligious experiences of

Koreans 241-242

Eeligious reputation 233

Eomanism in 234

Tabu system 232

Tabu system ended 232

Woman's Home Missionary

Society in 244

Work for Americans in. . 238

GEEMAN METHODISM.

Benefits of European Ger-
man Methodism 262

352

PAGE
Cause of early German im-
migrants 250

Charitable institutions

among 267

Co -laborers with William
Nast: Ahrens, William;
Bruneck, George ; Doer-
ing, C. H.; Jacoby, Lud-
wig S.; Kisling, J. H.;
Koeneke, Henry; Miller,
Adam; Sch mucker,
Peter; Swahlen, John .257-258
Early German immigrants. 248
Evangelical Association,

origin 251

European work among .... 262
Evangelistic efforts. Need

of am.ong 271

Founders of Germantown. 249

Germans 259

German Presiding Elders. 259
German Methodism in

1864 261

German Annual Confer-
ence, Formation 261

German language still

needed 272

History of progress 260

Hymn books 265

Influence of 268

Influence on American life. 269
Influence on Methodism . . 269
Institutions of learning. . . 266

Liberality of 264

Monumental service of

William Nast 256

Nast, William, Founder of

German Methodism .... 253
Nast begins German Meth-
odism 255

Periodicals 256

Present state of 263

Press 270

Problem of 272

Post Napoleon German

Methodism 252

Proportion of Germans to
population 271

Index

PAGE

Penn, William, and the Ger-
mans 250

Eeligious destitution, early
German immigrants .... 251

Eeligious experience of
William Nast 253-254

Eationalism and German
Methodists 252

Superannuates 264

Standards of 268

NOEWEGIAN AND DANISH
METHODISM.

Condition of Missions 1854. 280

Danish 274

Desirable immigrant 274

Discouragements of 282

Founders of Methodist Mis-
sions 277

Missions among 275

Members and residents... 274

Norwegians 274

Norwegian and Danish An-
nual Conference, Organi-
zation of 282

Peterson, Eev. O. P., a

Founder 277

A Missionary to Iowa. 279
Eeturned to Norway. 280

Present condition of 282

Publishing interests of 283

Present demand for Mis-
sions 277

Eevival among 279

Scandinavians 274

State church. Influence of

among 276

Temperance 275

Value of Missions of Amer-
ican Methodism 283

Willerup, Eev. C. F. (First

Pastor) 278

(Founder) 277

Eeturned to Norway.. 281

SWEDISH METHODISM—
FUTUEE OF.

PAGE

Adverse conditions 291

American environments, Ef-
fect of 291

Bethany Home 289

Bethel Ship 285

Book Concern 289

Early history of 285

Early churches 286

English preaching 295

Growth of Annual Con-
ferences 289-290

Immigration from 297

Immigration, Loss by 293

Institute for continued
work in Swedish tongue. 296

Literature 286

Loss of Swedish tongue... 292

Loss by intermarriage 293

Ministry and preachers

among 294

Organization of 284

Organization of First An-
nual Conference 288

Sandebundet 287

Some areas of work among. 290
Swedish preaching. Neces-
sity of 294

Theological Seminary .... 287
Theological Seminary,

Evanston 288

Widening opportunity . . . 298

PIEGAN INDIAN MISSION.

Allotments of land 309

Becoming citizens 302

Black Feet Eeservation de-
scribed 300

Chief 's advice 307

Children of 304

Education of 302

Effect of buffalo extermi-
nation 302

Estimate of white man .... 307

Funeral of 306

Government wardship ex-
plained 300

353

Index

PAGE

Government control benefi-
cent 303

Indians at work 301

Indian institution 304

Medicine Man, The 304

Methodism among them... 302

Eeservation defined 299

Temperance, Address of... 306
Work by Methodist Mis-
sion 308

METHODISM AND THE
CITIES.

Aim of chapter 309

Alarming changes 311

Debts, Payment of 315

Evangelism in 316

Expenditures in cities . . . 312
For what the city stands. . 310
Foreign communities in. . . 320
House to house evangelism. 316
Humanitarian institutions

in 320

Large returns on invest-
ment 316

Municipalities our battle

ground 309

Missionary work in 319

National City Evangeliza-
tion Union 311

New neighborhoods 315

New order of appropria-
tions 313

Preaching from music pa-
vilions 319

Patriotic gatherings 321

Providing churches 314

Eeligious services in 321

Small beginnings of work.. 314

Street evangelism 317

Table of appropriations.. 322

Tent meetings 318

What the city holds 310

Work, Lines of 314

354

WOMAN'S HOME MISSION-
ARY SOCIETY. PAGE

Alaska, Work in 334

Begun in South 323

Boston 338

Calls for help 324

Chinese girls 336

Chicago 339

Deaconess Bureau 341

Deaconess institutions .... 341
Deaconess National Train-
ing Schools 341

Deaconess, Work of 341

Dispensaries 340

Eskimos, Work among .... 335

Evolution of work 326

Fields, Various 324

Gospel of training in Home

of 328

History of 323

Harwood Industrial School. 333

Homes of 327

Home in Salt Lake 330

Immigrant homes 338

Indians 331

Japanese and Koreans . . . 337

Leaders of 325, 345

Los Angeles 334

Medical Mission 340

Membership, Grades of . . . 343

Mexican girls 332

Mormon women 329

]N egroes and 327

New York 338

Officers of 346

Pacific Coast 339

Periodicals of 344

Philadelphia 339

Ports, Work at 338

Pottawatomie Indians 332

Preachers and 325

Property, value 342

Reindeer, Herd of 336

Sample year 's work 326

Study, Course of 344

Tucson, Arizona Indian

Mission 333

Utah, Workers in 330

Womanhood, A new 328