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STATISTICS AND CHARTS 535schedules over an extended period, to make possible a studyof tendencies, of resources, of needs and of the best waysof meeting those needs. Statistics may be made of as greatvalue to the statesmanship of missions as is the reconnaissance service to an army.It has been apparent to those who havestudied statistics of missions in China thatMfe tons 115 inChinawe have never till recently had returns ofsufficient uniformity to be fairly comparable.This has lessened our ability to draw information of valuefrom the work of others, or even to secure that maximum ofresult in our own work which ought, humanly speaking, tobe the result of the efforts expended. With the adoptionquite generally of the uniform schedules we are in a fairway to progress in this matter. It has been a source ofgreat encouragement that during the past year more than ascore of missions have agreed to use in all their work theforms suggested by the China Continuation Committee. Themost notable action is probably that of the Chung HimSheng Kung Hui, or Anglican Communion in China, whichhas officially adopted these schedules, with additions adaptedto its own requirements. The China Inland Mission hasadded to its returns this year from each .station factsrelative to educational and other work which makes theirfigures comparable with those of other societies.For whatever of value there may be in theIndebtedness tostatistical returns included in the four sheetsSecretaries in the pocket and graphically presented in aseries of charts, we are largely indebted tothe faithful, painstaking, and often unpopular work of thenearly three hundred statistical and mission secretaries whohave assisted in their collection. They have involved complicated correspondence with missionaries in nearly athousand stations, the study and compilation of the returnsand the patient unravelling of inconsistencies and obscurities.With the increase of the number of those who hold thesepositions more or less permanently and so are able to bringexperience and training to the task, the accuracy and valueof the returns is greatly enhanced.