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Presbyterian chnrch. At noon, there was a banquet
at one of the hotels, in connection with a
celebration of the 50th year ot the National Reform
Movement. The Monday afternoon meetings
were occupied, the one with Public Education,
the other with Mormonism. The Tuesday conferences
were on Prison Reform and on Immigration.
There were several Mormon missionaries
at the Monday meeting, and they were allowed to
voice their objections to the effort for an Anti-
Polygamy -Constitutional Amendment as unnecessary.
The daily press thus reports the incident;
"A unanimous adoption ol the resolution had
been declared by the chairman ol the session
when Mr. Stewart asked ipermission to speak.
Granted permission, he declared his church's representatives
had voted against the resolution because,
he said, such an amendment to the Constitution
was unnecessary. He stated that polygamy
was no longer practiced or taught by members
ol the Church ol tbe Latter Day Saints. 1
urge that the lair-minded people in attendance
here be not influenced by .prejudiced testimony,
I beg that they investigate for themselves."
He" was answered by Dr. W. M. Paden of Utah,
and by a representative of the Re-organized Mormon
Church as to the persistence in polygamy
since the admission ol Utah as a State.
The addresses ol .Monday evening in Exposition
Hall were on Eugenics and the State, by
Prol, Klein Smid, ol the Indiana Relormatory at
Jefflersonville; and on The New Chinese Republic,
by Mr. Chew, of San Francisco, who spoke at
Portland. The formal addresses on Prison Reform
at the Tuesday Sectional Conference in the First
Presbyterian church were lollowed by short addresses
by several near-by workers, natives of
foreign countries. The closing meeting on that
evening in the Exposition Hall was addressed
on "The State and the Criminal" and on the "Conservation
01 Humanity," a Temperance address by
Mr poling of Ohio, in which the use of the ballot
was strongly .pressed. The General Superintendent,
Rev. J. S. Martin, spoke on A National Propaganda.
At the noon banquet, Rev. Dr. Henry H.
George, Dr. John Prugh of Butler, and Rev. W. A.
Campbell of New Wilmington, ol the early days
of 18C3, spoke. Some comment was made on
Tuesday afternoon in the Second church, that the
subject ot Temperance had not been given more
prominence, giant evil that it is. As usual, the
daily press magnified the incident, which was
given as follows;
"In the general discussion which followed the
scheduled addresses the Rev. Dr. H. H. George of
Beaver Falls, Pa., whose wife is the President
of the Pennsylvania Woman's Christian Temperance
Union, rose to his feet. Mrs. George had
just completed a brief address in which she had
declared tbe liquor traffic to be the worst evil
which the country had, asserting that prisons existed
as a result of it. Dr. George made a similar
statement and said:
" 'The greatest reform this country could
make would be the abolition of the liquor
traffic. I do not see why the National Reform
AsEociation did not make the fight
against that evil the paramount subject for
discussion at both this and the international
convention in Portland. By doing away with
the saloon you would do away with the need
of prisons. Kansas has illustrated that, lor
she has no open saloons, and lew prisons.
The abolition of the saloon throu.ghout the
h-md is tbP |irr-eminent reform.
THE CHRISTIAN NATION. Vol. 59.
"As Dr. George sat down the Rev. W. A.
Campbell, of New Wilmington, Pa., rose to his
feet and declared:
" 'I think it would be best to look to a
preventive, rather than a cure. It we would
do away with, the thing which makes prisons
necessary, we would not need a cure.'
"As Jlr. Cam-pbell sat down. Dr. Martin, who
had been seated in the rear of the room, walked
to the front and exclaimed;
" 'I rise in defense of the National Reform
Association. I will admit that the liquor
traffic is one ol the country's great evils,
and I want to explain why the Association
has not given it a definite place on the program.
It is because we believe in leaving
this fight in the hands of the Anti-Saloon
League, the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union and such organizations that are meant
for that definite .purpose.'
"Dr. Martin had no sooner stopped talking than
Mrs. E. W. Gormley, one of the leading workers
for prison reform in the State, said:
" 'This flghtagainst the liquor evil is one in
which all Christian people should engage. It
is something that is of the highest importance
in reform work. As long as you have
liquor you'll have iprisons. I have worked
among the prisons for many years and I
know.'
"Here the chairman. Attorney B. A. Baer ol
New Castle, Pa., interlered, declared that a motion
to adjourn was in order, and upon that motion
being made, the meeting was brought to a
close."
iBut no prominence was given to the Religious
Amendment ol the United States Constitution,
the object that called the Association into existence
filty years ago, and a great Cause. See
Psalm 2: 10-12; Psalm 110; and the later parables
of our Lord. So also the annual report ol
the National Christian Association commented
on the omission ol Anti-Secrecy in the Portland
program, great as is the evil of secret oathbound
Orders. But such an extensive program
embraces already what one of the Pittsburgh
editorials called a prodigy of reforms.
The newspaper comments were favorable, special
attention being given tc. the Prison Reform.
CFIINA AND THE CHURCHES.
By Rev. F. A. Steven.
The follotving article presents another z'ieiv
of present day conditions in China than that
usually given. But it is one much
needed.
and IOC commend its statements to the prayerful
consideration of our readers.
The recent appeal of the Chinese Government
to tbe Christian churches of China for
prayer in behalf of their country, its President
and its National Assembly^ for recognition
of the Republic by the Powers, and that
wise and able men might be found for official
positions, has attracted world-wide attention
and great hopefulness. Some writers have
suggested that this marks a definite acceptance
of Christianity as the National faith, and
others say that China will be Christian in a
few years.
I cannot share tbis confidence, and for the
follo\\ ing reasons:
The action of the Government of China
must be regarded as springing from
mixed
inotives, because, even if each of the men
m
high places was moved by single purpose,
[he men themselves are mixed, and Yuan Shi
Ivai, the President, must look at any such proposed
appeal from a diflFerent angle from that
which Li Yuan ITung, the Vice President, occupies,
to say nothing of the mental attitude
of Sun Yat Sen, AVu Ting Fang, and a number
of others who would presumably be consulted.
Without specific knowledge on the point,
one may be reasonably sure that an appeal
for sympathetic interest, and intercession with
the gods in which they believe, has in some
form or other, been addressed to Aloslems,
Confucianists, Buddhists and Taoists, whilst
the influential Jewish and Parsee communities
in the ports may also have been included. If
this were not done, large sections of the people
and even of the officials wiould be antagonized,
and this would be contrary to the principles
of equality and religious toleration pro
claimed by the new Republic.
Heathen nations have always desired to
conciliate every possible power of the unseen
world, and incidentally to make friends of
the peoples to whom these gods mean much.
So ancient conquerors were wont to steal the
idols of the conquered and give them a place
in their own pantheon.
And the people of
Athens in Paul's time, being anxious not to
ofTend any god by omitting him from their
list, or perhaps having an idea that there was
a Great One above the gods whom they knew
about, established an altar and ofifered worship
to the "Unknown God."
To take a modern
example, I saw—^at Alandalay in Burma—•
a fine Anglican Church, which had been built
b_\' the devout Buddhist King Alindoon some
sixty years ago. He had also built a Roman
Catholic Churdh, a Mohammedan Mosque and,
I believe, a Hindoo Temple, besides other
places of worship. He a'sked all these various
bodies to pray for him and for his dynasty,
even as he asked this service from the phongyees,
or monks, in the hundreds of Buddhist
shrines and monasteries which he erected
and supported.
If this step on the part of China's present
rulers, has in it a large element of political
w isdom, both in regard to Christian churches
within, and Christian nations without the Republic,
We need not be either surprised or offended.
It is almost impossible that it should
be otherwise. When we have made all allow-