ON THE TRAIL OF THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY
By WILLIAM T. ELLIS
This Distinguished American Journalist is Traveling Around the World for
the Purpose of Investigating the American Foreign Missionary fron^,
a Purely Disinterested. Secular and Non-Sectarian Standpoint.
Illustrated with Drawings and from Photographs.
Ominous Muttering
Now Heard in India
L_
V
Calcutta. India.—It is serious ig
norance of the world's big news to be
unaware tlrat there is at present in
India a widespread sentiment of re
sentment, if not actual revolt, against
Great Britain, which may at any time
find sporadic expression in revolu
tion. Great Britain, with the self-con
fidence of the strong, does not seem
to be paying much attention to the
matter, although some persons, re
calling that this year marks the fiftieth
anniversary of the mutiny, are nerv
ously calling public attention to cer
tain disturbing signs.
Anyone who gets as close to the na
tives as the missionary does—which is
far closer than any other white man—
knows that the foremost subject of
thought and agitation among them is
what they consider their wrongs at
the hands of the government. They
claim that they are being dealt with
in high-handed and oppressive fash
ion; that they are denied anything ap
proaching a proper measure of self
government; that the public offices
are open to them in a decreasing de
gree. and that, in short, India is being
ruled for the welfare of Great Britain,
and not of India.
The “India for the Indians” Cry.
Notv a fair-minded observer cannot
by any means agree with all of the
positions of the Indian agitators; nor
can he withhold a great deal of ad
miration for the fairness and disin
terestedness of the British officials.
Nevertheless, he is bound to recognize
the seriousness, not to say ominous
ness, of this “Swadeshi” or "India
for the Indians" agitation. Without
putting much credence in the talk of
r
this caste system, with its unbridg
abie divisions, no foreign power could
long control this nation of three hun
dred millions of people. This same
spirit of ‘ karma-kismet” fate, which
leads a man to dull acceptance of his
lot, rather than to a cherishing of the
spirit of self-improvement and ambi
tion which marks the westerner,
keeps back the nation from develop
ment, so that its golden age is in the
past. The greatest need of India is
simply men.
As is well known, the converts of
the missionaries have been chiefly
from the lowest classes—those who
are below caste, in fact, the outcasts, j
the sweepers. Having nothing to lose I
by accepting Christianity, thousands j
of these have embraced the gospel; |
and they are to-day entering the |
Christian church in large numbers, j
The motives of many are doubtless j
mixed, but they at least afford the !
missionary material on which to j
work. The material is not of the best, '
but it is human. Here, as in all
heathen lands, it is to be borne in \
mind that the missionary is really
aftei his converts’ grandchildren; no
missionary known to me expects to
see a completely transformed and
Christianized people come out of raw
heathendom.
So he bears with the short-comings
of his Christians. He laboriously tries
to set them on their feet, and though
they fall a hundred times from the
ideals of self-respect and self-support,
coming to him with the bland assur
ance, “You are my father and my
mother; please help me,” he does not
lose heart. For he has ever before his
Burning the Bodies of Plague Victims in India.
a national uprising against the white
man's rule, (as one precaution, the
native troops have never been per
mitted to serve artillery since the
mutiny) it cannot be denied that the
deep-flowing, ever-increasing and
widely-manifested tide of India's na
tional sentiment is worthy of most
serious consideration.
In every city of the empire the
“Swadeshi” signs may be seen in
abundance on the stores.of tradesmen
who have pledged themselves to deal
in India-made wares exclusively. This
commercial and industrial side of the
“Swadeshi” movement has a direct re
lation to the industrial teaching in
■mission schools. The native papers
are full of “Swadeshi” talk; and it is
not wholly absent from the praise
worthy national missionary organiza
tion which Indians have organized, the
object being to further the evangeli
zation by native Christians alone, un
aided by foreigners. Furthermore, one
frequently runs across “Swadeshi”
mass meetings; I found one under
way in College square here, with hun
dreds of students listening eagerly to
the impassioned speeches. It was
rather surprising that the Y. M. C. A.
student leaders were able to gather a
crowd, fully half as large, only 50
yards away.
The oriental dearly loves intrigue
and agitation; especially is this true I
of the Bengali "babus,” or educated i
Bengalis, who are foremost in the ■
“Swadeshi” movement. The Bengali, !
contemptuously declares the Briton,
is an idle, boastful talker, and neither
a fighter nor a worker. My own in- |
quiries developed the repeated assur
ance, on the part of informed persons,
that the "Swadeshi” movement has
not, to any perceptible degree, at
least, extended to the villages, which !
contain £0 per cent, of the native pop
ulation. Bearing in mind the undoubt
ed Christian revival which is to be
found in some parts of India, and the
potency of this new national move
ment. it is evident that mission work
here is bound to take an added inter
est during the next few years.
Makrhg Men of Outcasts.
Whatever tends to put the stamina
of manhood into this people con
tributes indirectly to the missionary
undertaking. For the first and last
factor of Indian life is the caste sys
tem, which dooms the majority of the
people to a lot^steemed lower than !
that of the cow. If it were not for !
eyes the spectacle of outcasts who
have been made over into noble men ;
and women by the power of the
Christian religion.
How Sons Excel Fathers.
Undoubtedly the missionaries are
transforming their people. One of the
-Methodist missionaries at Lucknow
pointed out to me a young man be
longing to their church, the youngest
of three sons, whose father never
earned more than eight rupees a
month in his life. All the boys are
products of the Methodist school. One
of them is secretary to the governor,
and all are in government employ,
winning their places in competitive i
examination; and the salary c. the
most poorly paid is 150 rupees a
month, or 19 times that of his father
This is the sort of thing that is being
accomplished all over India.
The schools of India are the crown-1
ing glory of mission work; they are
the mills of which manhood and
'■omanhood is the finished product
Of a few of them I shall speak more
in detail next week, in my final article
upon India. They are a distinct and
powerful contribution to the forces
which are creating a modern national
consciousness in India.
One phase of missions to which the
government contributes its support,
financial and otherwise, is the indus
trial school work. The Indian is
proverbially unprogressive and unin
ventive; the mission schools are teach- |
ing the manual arts and in modern i
fashion, so that new enterprises for !
the winning of the livelihood are be- j
ing created and old ones revived.
For the Christians, be it understood,
are practically a caste by themselves
in most places. They are cast off by
their families, friends and co-religion
ists; and it is necessary that some
means of livelihood, not dependent !
upon neighborhood favor, be taught
them. Thus industrial training has a
most practical re:ation to missionary
success; since not ail, nor, in these
days of great ingathering, a very
large percentage of the native Chris
tians can be employed by the mission
aries in any capacity.
The powerful social leverage which
is exerted by female education in a
land where women are kept “behind
the curtain," is almost incompre
hensible to one accustomed to the
liberty of the west, and to the equality
of the sexes. The missionaries have
far-sightedly set to work to make the
very springs of India society Chrli
tian.
Physical hardships are more numer
ous for missionaries in India than for
those in any oriental land. I came to
India in the hot season; some mis
sionaries were cruel enough to gloat
over this fact, for most travelers see
India only in its delightful “cool” sea
son, and then wonder why anybody
should complain of the climate. The
missionaries have my sympathy; peo
ple who work as they do in a tempera
ture ranging up to 150 degrees are not
out for a pleasant time. Trying to ac
company them on their rounds nearly
finished me; hereafter I prefer to read
about their labors in a book.
Accustomed though the American
be to the plague as an occasional hor
ror which merely peeps in at one of
our seaports, it is not congenial to go
ranging about the native quarters of
cities where the deaths from plague
number more than 200 a day. Yet
there lies the missionary’s lot. and he
will explain that very few white per
sons die from plague, although chol
era exacts a heavy toll. Nobody
seems to know just what the plague
is; even the natives have come to a
hazy realization of the fact that it
is transmitted by some sort of dirt
germ. Therefore, during plague sea
son, many natives may be seen wear
ing shoes and sandals, to avoid cuts
on their feet through which the plague
might enter.
Snakes are a real peril in India,
some 50,000 persons dying annually
from snake bite. A certain missionary
upon whom 1 called had a native
nurse for each of his two little chil
dren; perhaps he thought I looked as
If I regarded this as a missionary ex
travagance, for he explained that they
dare not trust a child outdoors for a
minute alone because of the danger
from snakes. Altogether, missionary
work in India is not an Edoenic ex
perience—especially since at some
place the missionaries labor for years
without a convert. One British vet
eran has had only three converts in
15 years. At Benares the three strong
missions average only two or three
accessions a year.
(.Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
REAL ESTATE MAN'S DREAM.
Buys Last Lot on Most Crowded Spot
on Earth, But Hasn’t Collateral.
“Speaking about the phenomenal
value of real estate In the crowded
parts of Manhattan island,” said the
real estate man. "I had a dream last
night of a place where land was so
valuable that it made land here seem
like acreage property.
"This place was on an isthmus be
tween the two hemispheres, a narrow
strip of land that was the most crowd
ed spot on earth. There was just one
street along through this isthmus, and
all creation that passed from one hem
isphere to the other had to pass along
this thoroughfare.
“Sure, this was a place to do busi
ness, if there ever was one, and by
gracious there was a vacant lot on the
great isthmus thoroughfare, just one
vacant lot, with a sign stuck up: ‘For
Sale, to Close an Estate. Inquire of
So-and-So.'
“And of course, I sort of saunters
into the office indicated on the sign
right away, and I says to the man
there:
“What are you asking for that lot
down there at 22?” And he says:
“ ‘A million dollars a front foot.’
“ 'How much is there of it?’ I asked
him. and he says:
“ ‘Seventy feet,' and I says:
“ ‘Well, I’ll take it,’ just like that,
because I knew it was a bargain;
ncver’d been offered at that price in
the world, I knew, except to close an
estate, and the only wonder to me was
that somebody hadn't snapped it up
before I came along.
“So I bought the only vacant lot on
the great itsthmus thoroughfare, and
the man said he'd have the papers
made out right away and I could drop
in at 9 o'clock the next morning and
pay the money and he'd hand over the
deed; and then I went out and stood
on the sidewalk and saw those wond
erful multitudes of all the peoples of
the earth, passing in those amazing
processions; crowds that made the
people passing on Broadway and
Fifth avenue. New York, seem like a
lines of stragglers working their way
out along to some county fair; and
then I goes down to that vacant lot
at 22, my lot, and stands there and
sees ’em go by from there, and pats
myself on the back and says to myself:
“ ‘Well, son, thank goodness, you’ve
finally hit up on something that you’re
going to make something on; large
money.’
Auu i was cuiigiciiujimug inyseir
like that, watching the people go by,
when all of a sudden it struck me that
24 hours was a pretty short time for
me to raise $70,000,000 in, with me a
good ways from home; for this was a
cash sale, you understand, cash on de
livery of the deed, and I knew per
fectly well that I’d find a string of
men waiting in the office in the morn
ing, any one of them ready to snap
this bargain if 1 wasn't there with the
money, and I suppose it must have
been worrying over how I was going
to get the $70,000,000 together in that
time that woke me up.”—New York
Sun. _
The cattle industry of the state of
Tamlipas is coming to the front. One
stockman and commission man alone,
Bartolo Rodriguez, shipped 48,000
head last year to Cuba and Yucatan,
which amounted to $1,500,000. He
has a fine ranch near the City of
Tampico called Monte Alto, with 300
head of cows and bulls, costing about
$500 a head, imported from the United
States and Switzerland. Careful es
timate made by the shippers to the
north of Tampico places the total
number of cattle and horses In that
area at 2,000,000.—Mexican Herald.
RAMMING 'HOME N PNOcJHCTILM IN J1 T£N
INCH. HMANPH-RRING GLIM «
o
o
Now that the American battleship
fleet is well on its way to the Pacific,
leaving the Atlantic coast practically
without any warships for its protec
tion, the question naturally arises in
the minds of a great many people as
to what would happen if foreign com
plications should suddenly arise with
some of the European powers? Would
the big cities along the coast—Boston,
New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
and other cities—be at the mercy of a
hostile fleet. Only a few years back,
during the Spanish-American war,
when the American fleets were or
dered to Cuban waters in the course
of the Spanish-American war, some
persons were troubled because the
shore resorts of the country were suf
fered to be left to the mercy of what
proved to be the well-nigh harmless
Spanish fleet. Apparently they as
sumed that it was essential to the
success of the enemy that it should
shell summer hotels with a great ex
penditure of powder. And now once
again an American fleet, comprising
a large proportion of the vjss.els of
the Atlantic squadrons, has left the
eastern coast of the country for a pe
riod of several months. No war is
now in progress, but the “radioplane,”
swifter than thought in its flight, pos
sessed of the power to lift ships from
their watery ways and transport them
thousands of miles through the air,
has yet to be invented. “What would
happen to New York or Boston or Bal
timore or Washington should war
break out unexpectedly? Are these
ports amply protected?” asks the man
in the street.
The war department makes little
noise about the condition of the coast
defenses. Such activity as one sees
about the fortifications reveals little.
The sun spreads a flood of gold upon
the soft, grassy covering of their
sloping sides, and, somehow, one does
not think of them as impregnable fort
resses. Such guns as one sees look
innocuous enough. They do not seem
as formidable as one imagines they
ought to look. In fact, however, these
fortresses are mailed fists with a vel
vet covering. Army officers assert
that no hostile war vessel could reach
the upper bay of New York harbor if
it could be seen. It would be annihi
lated before it reached the Narrows.
Gunnery has shared in the modern
tendency to specialize and to become
highly scientific in its practice. Gun
ners are now specialists. A battery
is a highly organized mechanism
working almost automatically. In the
old days the men who fired the guns
used to see what they fired at. To
day, with guns capable of throwing
a thousand-pound shell as far as ihe
eye can see 'on a clear day. the men
who discharge the guns no longer
necessarily see the object which is to
be struck by the giant hail they re
lease. Until the shot is fired the gun
itself cannot be seen above the para
pet. Hitting the target has become al
most an exact science. By mechanical
means the striking of a target has be
come so nearly an infallibility that
the tugs which tow the floating tar
gets are separated from them by only
600 feet of line. The men upon the
tugs have no more expectation of be
ing struck than if they were a mile
behind the gun. They never have
been struck, although the different
batteries have frequent practice. The
song of the shell to the men on the
tug is not like the song of the Lorelei,
for death does not follow in its wake.
To be sure, like motoring, one has to
become accustomed to face what
seems like impending death. Faith in
the gunner, as in the chauffeur, and
in the gun, as in the motor car, is an
essential.
vvnat is aone Dy me guns in some
of our forts is illustrated by what has
recently been accomplished at two of
the forts along the Atlantic coast. At
Boston recently a target four and a
half miles from the fort and taoving
along the horizon at the rate of five
miles an hour was struck by every
shot fired from a ten-inch battery in
less than four minutes, the number of
shots being six. The following day a
battery of 12-inch guns performed the
same feat, bunching the shots more
close:y than did the ten-inch guns.
The shots of both batteries were so
close together at the target that they
might have been inclosed in a reo
tangle ten by 20 feet.
Battery Parrot, Capt. Kilborn, at
Fortress Monroe, recently was called
upon to fire at a moving target an un
known distance away. Actually it was
about three and one-half miles away.
Pyramidal in shape, it looked as it
moved across the water about as a
leg-o’-mutton sail on a skiff would ap
pear at a distance of four miles.
Every shot was a hit, and the fourth
and last destroyed the target. The
entire round was fired -in one minute
and nine seconds.
One of the firing tests is called
“fire command.” In this test the gun
ners are expected to change the fire
from one target to another of the
three in the string as directed and hit
it without changing the speed of the
tire. The targets are supposed to rep
resent the vitals of a warship. This
mythical vessel is considered to have
a freeboard, or height out of water, of
24 feet. In estimating the hits, yie
basis is that of a representative bat
tleship. A shot which does not actual
ly hit the target, but which would have
pierced a vessel had it been where the
target was. is counted a hit. Officers
on the tug towing the targets work
out the score by means of the "range
rake.” This is an implement which
looks like a garden rake with a short
handle. The spaces between the
teeth each represent a given number
of yards. When a shot strikes the
officers sight along the handle and
note how many spaces to the right or
left of the center the shot hit.
A gunner of the old school would
turn gray if he had suddenly to adapt
himself to the new methods in the
face of the enemy. Hairline tele
scopes, surveying instruments, barom
eters, thermometers, anemometers,
weather vanes, tide gauges and stop
watches are required to secure the
requisite results. The accuracy of the
fire is obtained only by taking into
consideration such details as the curv
ature of the earth, the speed of the
target or the hostile warship, the
range or distance of the object
from the gun, the pressure or
density of the air. the speed and direc
tion of the wind, the temperature and
age of the powder when placed in the
gun, the height of the tide at the mo
ment of firing the shot and the ‘'drift"
of the projectile. There can be no
guesswork in securing such artistic
results as making hits with successive
shots.
The effect of all of these factors
in the combination under all possible
conditions has been worked out by
experiments and computations and the
result utilized in devising apparatus
which automatically registers the in
formation which is essential at such
a speed that half a dozen half-ton
shots can be thrown into a ship from a
single battery in the space of less
than four minutes. The ‘'drift" of the
shot is the distance to the right
which a revolving projectile from a
rifled gun will go in the course of a
given distance. The range and the
point where a vessel will be at. the
moment a shot could reach it are reck
| oned in actual practice at least once
in every 20 seconds. The establish
ment of 20 seconds as the interval
when a fresh survey shall be taken is
based upon the fact that no boat could
change its speed or its course suffi
ciently in that space of time to affect
the probability of a shot hitting it.
Receives Praise Prom Roosevelt.
Senator Henry Clay Hansbrough of
North Dakota is one of the few sena
tors who have received praise from
President Roosevelt directly. After
the passage of the denatured alcohol
bill last session, an act which meant
a great deal to the farmers, and for
which the senator waged a persistent
fight, the president sent a personal
letter commending him and inclosed
the pen with which the bill was
signed.
Available Substitute for Tin.
Aluminum is regarded as probably
the most available substitute for tin
in the great majority of uses to which
that metal is put, owing to the diminu
tion in the price of aluminum, the
practically limitless supply of the raw
material, and the favorable physical
properties of the metal. As the pro
duction of aluminum is cheapened so
will the uses for it increase. The de
mand steadily keeps ahead of the
supply.
Royal Visitors’ Tips.
Some London papers say that cus
tom fixes *250 a day as the amount
to be paid in tips by royal visitors
at Windsor castle. This amount is
frequently exceeded, according to
these newspaper authorities, and one
of them states that Kaiser Wilhelm's
recent short stay with King Edward
cost him *10,000 in gratuities to ser
vants.
NEBRASKA IN BRIEF
NEWS NOTES OF INTEREST FROM
VARIOUS SECTIONS.
ALL SUBJECTS TOUCHED UPON
Religious, Social, Agricultural, Polit
ical and Other Matters Given
Due Consideration.
Fairbury did about $200,000 worth
of building in 1907.
A fire in Edgar destroyed $10,000
to $12,000 worth of property.
Evangelist Scofield is conducting a
series of meetings in Beatrice.
All Hastings stores, by mutual
agreement, now close at 6 o’clock.
During 1907 there was collected in
Platte county $150 for hunters’
licenses.
After seven years’ work. Dennis Fle
harty, deputy city attorney of Lin
coln, has resigned.
.T. H. Albers of Beatrice has left
town suddenly, and a lot of creditors
would like to know cf his where
abouts.
George D. Kerns, an old soldier, who
for many years lived in Pawnee coun
ty, died at the Soldiers' home in Leav
enworth.
The Citizens’ State bank of Shubert
has received a charter from the state
banking beard. It has a paid-up cap
ital stock of $10,000.
State Treasurer Brian has bought
$10,000 of Kearney county bonds bear
ing -1 per cent interest, optional after
ten years. The bonds are the last of
an issue of $SO,000.
i. a. nelson, one or me oldest sei
tlers of Garfield county and one of
the owners and platters of the origi
nal town of Burwell. dropped dead oil
the streets at Burwell.
The office of assistant division su
perintendent. for the district from
Grand Island to North Platte has been
abolished, and Superintendent Austin
Taylor is legislated out of office, as it
were.
The merchants of Fairburv all re
port one of the most successful busi
ness years during 1907 in their experi
ence. It is impossible to find a single
instance where there is not an ad
vance over last year's trade reported.
Deputy County Clerk Carrig of
Platte county has been employed late
ly in checking up the unpaid taxes for
the twenty-four years up to 1904 and
has found that the taxes unpaid for
those years amount to the little sum
of $212.28.
West Point and the surrounding
country has experienced a remarkable
growth in new buildings of the best
class during the year 1907. In the
business portion of the city many
new, solidly constructed buildings of
brick and stone have bpen erected.
The body of a man found hanging to
a haystack four miles north of Hast
ings has been identified as that of
John Ambrose of Tamora. and the
theory of murder is held by his
friends. The remains were identified
by Steve Walters of Doniphan, who
fomerly knew Ambrose when he
worked on a farm near Doniphan.
Judge H. D. Travis, who succeed;
Judge Paul Jessen of Nebraska City
on the bench of the Second judicial
district, will hold court during the
year 1908 as follows: Plattsmoutb.
February 24; jury. March 2; equity.
May 4, September 8, and jury, Octo
ber 5. Nebraska City, March 30; jury.
April 6; equity. June 1; jury, Novem
ber 16.
The to*al deposits of the Custer
county banks is almost $1,500,000 and
the cash reserve of these banks is
more than $500,000. The exact figures
show 41.4 per cent of the total de
posits to be held in cash at the time
the statements were made. There are
twenty banks in Custer county, of
which seventeen are state banks am!
three are national banks.
George Brierton, a farmer living in
Spring Branch. Stanton county, called
at the home of his neighbor. D. W.
Lycan, and proposed a rabbit hunt.
Mr. Lycan assented, and he and his
son equipped themselves and joined
him. In the course ot the nunt Brier
ton’s gun was exploded, the shot tak
ing effect, in the body at the waist.
He died in fifteen minutes.
A bold attempt was made to steal a
team of horses belonging to Charles
Korff. a drayman of Nebraska City.
About S a. m. Thornton Lee, who is in
the employ of Mr. Korff. stepped out
of his door and saw a man leading a
team of horses out of Korff's barn.
He yelled to him, asking him what he
was doing with the horses. The man
dropped the bridles and ran, making
good his escape.
The work on the deep well being
sunk by the Otoe Development com
pany is progressing rapidly and the
big drill is being sunk deeper into the
earth each day. Several times of
late traces of oil have been shown
and now the well being down where
it is dry and everything shows up in
the cores being taken out. evidence of
oil is visible and the stockholders are
jubilant over the outlook.
Stuart, the son of Rev. and Mrs. O.
L. Sarber of the Baptist church.Grand
Island, lies in a critical condition, the
result of being thrown from the fam
ily horse, his head striking a tele
phone pole and his right leg being
broken.
One of the most elaborate social
events of the season took place at
Mindeu, when forty plates were laid
by the Minden Bar association in
honor of the retirement from the
bench of Judge Ed L. Adams. Speeches
were made by all the members of the
local bar.