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any section of the country where the church is conceded to be an instrument of social evolution, and where, if she is to continue in the front rank, she must apply the inductive method of science to find out what is to be done and who should do it, and, to the production of social service, the syndicate methods of modern commerce.

to co-operation in care. When a case of sickness is severe and complicated, a consultation of phy. sicians is necessary; social diagnosis is almost sure to lead to socializing co-operation.

The future of the Federation of Churches in New York City is to induce social diagnosis in all assembly districts of the city, and, following this, socializing co-operation. We hope to create Auxiliary "B" in the Nineteenth Assembly District, then to go to the East Side. Gradually we shall cover the island with these auxiliaries, locally administered, co-operative sub Federations. It may be the twentieth century before the Fifteenth Assembly District is submitted to another house-tohouse investigation. But just as a periodic cen. sus is necessary for the State, a periodic census is necessary for the Church, and the Federation's work in Auxiliary "A," now economic merely, will some day be again directive. Our last canvass has shown that the tenement people live nearly three years, on an average, in the same quarters, and a recanvass of the Fifteenth Assembly District in 1900 A.D. will suffice to enable its churches to work in the light, and have helpful fellowship one with another. So in directive, economic, dynamic work-its directive studies periodically made, in rotation, in the assembly districts of the city; its economic features constant; its dynamics, growing out of directive study, sometimes leading to the transfer of an existing, rather than the installation of a new, agency-the Federation sees before it a work which will honor Him who desires His disciples to co-operate, and who will sorrow less over this city if they do.

One-third of the Nineteenth Assembly District's population lives in the part of it canvassedfifteen blocks out of 125. There are twenty-one churches in the district, but only two in the part of it containing one-third of the population, and these two, one of which is the only independent church from Forty-second Street to Sixty-seventh Street, in a population of 60,000, are housed in property assessed for but $40,000, while the remainder of the district's churches are assessed for $1,016,000. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the district canvassed shows the results, in its population's social characteristics, of the inadequacy of local evangelical effort, and of the social sequestration of uplifting agencies. Out of 4,800 families there are 786 that have no church home-a population as large as that of many Western towns to which New York churches of several denominations send missionary offerings; and there are 1,353 families that have no church members. There are three blocks with over one hundred families apiece without a church home, and the average per block is nearly fifty. The percentage of children out of Sunday-school from three to seven years of age, and from eight to sixteen, is larger in the case of almost every nationality than the percentage out of public school; and yet over one-fifth of the children from eight to sixteen years are out of public school, and more than four-fifths from three to seven years of age.

The church relations of families in specific houses show that methods of work hitherto in use will not meet the situation. In one house four pastors visit thirteen families, but there are six other families that do not go to any church. In an adjacent house three pastors visit nine families, but there are six other families in that house, of three other denominations, which have no church home. Similar conditions prevail in scores of houses, and it would be impossible for any church or denomination to go through the 398 dwellings visited to look up the people. The right solution of the problem is to assign all the dwellings in a specific block to a single church, with all its families, and to make the church an agent, not merely of evangelization, but of education, good citizenship, and all else.

The present article has not concerned itself minutely with the educational, religious, housing, and economic statistics accumulated in the Federation's last canvass. These may be consulted in its report, a book of over 100 pages, securable by addressing the writer at No. II Broadway. Sufficient facts have been here set forth, however, to prove that co-operation in investigation, save in exceptional communities, is almost sure to lead

The Northfield Conference

The Conference of Christian Workers, for which Mr. Moody's institutions at East Northfield, Mass., are the rallying-point, has been, as usual, largely attended this year from July 29 to August 16, and conducted at the rate, generally, of six meetings a day. The co-operation of churches in the Connecticut Valley has contributed much to it, and able speakers from abroad have been in attendance. Two British clergymen, the Revs. G. H. C. MacGregor and G. C. Morgan, have preached from day to day as representatives of the Keswick teaching." Keswick, in the Lake District of England, has given its name to a circle of Christian people of various churches, whose conferences on the subject of sanctification are annually held there. Bishop Newman preached on Sunday, August 1, setting forth the realization of salvation through the incarnation of Christ in the heart as restoring the Edenic harmony of the will of man with God. The Rev. R. E. Bisbee, of Chicopee, in the course of a series of sermons on the problems of to-day, declared that Edward Bellamy's new book, "Equality," was to do incalculable good. Mr. Sankey, as heretofore, was the master of song. Mr. Moody set at rest the press rumors that he was to retire from his labors,

never more abundant than now. His Northfield training-school for women of twenty years and upward (not the same as the Northfield Seminary, which fits young women for college), with students from all over the Union, has just completed its seventh year.

Presbyterian Growth

From the just published summary of Statistical Reports of the Presbyterian Church (North) we find that during the last six years the number of churches has increased from 7,208 to 7,631, of communicants from 830,179 to 960,911, and of the Sunday-school membership from 894,628 to 1,024,462. Fourteen new Presbyteries and two new Synods have been formed, and the number of ministers has advanced from 6,331 to 7,129. There has been a decrease in the total of contributions for congregational and benevolent purposes from $14,298,271 to $13,298,067. In the collections for home missions, however, there has been an increase from $998,101 to $1,042,768. The year 1894 shows the largest number of members added on examination, viz, 74,826, and 1897 the smallest, viz., 57,011. The largest total of contributions appears in 1893, viz., $14,916,311.

The Brotherhood of the Kingdom Marlborough, New York, one of the prettiest villages on the Hudson, in the vineyard district above the Highlands, has been for some years the annual resort of the "Brotherhood of the Kingdom," a group of Christian Socialists, including some well-known pastors and laymen. Its Conference (August 2-6) was attended by members of some six denominations, whose discussions included the individual, civic, economic, ethical, and religious aspects of the progress of the kingdom of God among men. Those present came from numerous points between the seaboard and Michigan. The villa of Mrs. William R. Williams, of New York, with a spacious tent adjacent, on a broad, tree-studded hilltop overlooking the Hudson Valley, furnished an inspiring meeting-place. Open-air prayer-meetings at twilight pronounced from day to day the evening benediction. An outgrowth of the Brotherhood was reported in the establishment of several branches in Great Britain through the efforts of Mr. Richard Heath, of Rugby, England. The following resolutions relating to the resignation of President Andrews were unanimously adopted: As men watchful of the interests of higher education and of social and religious progress, and solicitous for the cause of the academic liberty of investigation and of teaching, we, the Brotherhood of the Kingdom, would record the following convictions:

While the legal right of the governing bodies of our universities to remove any employed by them for cause that seems to be sufficient is above debate, the moral justification of such action may in each case rightly be demanded, not only by all persons directly connected with the institution, but by the people at large as well, whose interests are vitally concerned and whose trustees in a very real sense these administrators are. Certain self

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Hawaii and Reciprocity

To the Editors of The Outlook:

You have printed the statement that "the balance of trade against the United States and in favor of Hawaii is about eight millions of dollars," giving this as a reason why the reciprocity treaty has worked disadvantageously to the United States, and, incidentally, for the islands' being undesirable for annexation. I send you herewith a careful statement of the Hon. Lorin A. Thurs

I

ton, formerly Minister Resident at Washington,
a Hawaiian-born son of a missionary, and pre-
eminent as an authority on matters Hawaiian.
have yet to see a contradiction of the statistics
which Mr. Thurston sets forth as showing that
the treaty of reciprocity has been financially bene-
ficial to the United States. If his figures are not
misleading-and I have full confidence in them-
he shows that the $8,000,000 surplus (difference
between exports and imports) is very largely
accounted for in items which directly inure to the
interests of Americans. The amount of American

shipping engaged; the amount of employment
that is furnished in San Francisco to the Ameri-
can workmen; the amount of commissions dis-
bursed to the American merchants, the amount
to American agents for insurance, and a variety
of other items, go to reduce the eight millions so
that there is comparatively a small margin which
is net to the planter on the islands. It is cer-
tainly only fair in an argument, if the islands are to
be charged with the eight millions, for them also
to be credited with the offset.

The question of annexation may be too large
a matter to be discussed in this communication.
Permit me to say, however, that the majority of
Presidents of the United States of late years, also
the Secretaries of State under these different ad
ministrations, are on record as favoring closer
relations, or, in other words, annexation. It is
also true that almost every naval officer of rank
and experience is also on record as favoring the
same plan.

The question of a large extraordinary outlay by the United States for fortifications in case of annexation is an entirely mistaken one, and is used only by those who are unacquainted with the geographical conditions. The ports of Honolulu and Pearl Harbor could be fortified and kept ready for service at no great expense. These are the only real ports for safety for all the year around that would be necessary to be fortified, beyond two or three places where shore batteries might be erected, like Hilo on the island of Hawaii, Kahului on Maui, and one place on the island of Kauai. None of these latter would require any large outlay for fortifications and no permanent force of occupancy beyond that nec

essary for the ordinary care of the material. A foreign power seeking to attack the island to injure property might land forces along the coast of Hawaii and take the satisfaction of burning mill property and cane-fields, and the same on the other islands, but this would simply be the same destruction of property to which our coast of the United States, both eastern and western, would be subject to in case of war.

The value of the national property on the islands, it should be mentioned, is probably $2 for every $1 indebtedness-certainly this is not an impecunious nation, but abundantly able to care for the expenses of all the internal government. GORHAM D. GILMAN,

Hawaiian Consul-General for the New England States.
Boston, Mass.

[Our editorial statement regarding the costli ness of admitting Hawaiian imports free referred exclusively to sugar. We import from the islands upwards of 400,000,000 pounds of sugar annually, and remit a tax of nearly 2 cents a pound. Our treasury thus loses $8,000,000 a year, which our taxpayers give as a bounty to the Hawaiian sugar-producers. The Hawaiians give us no corresponding concession.-THE EDITORS.]

A Plea for the Sparrow

To the Editors of The Outlook:

I have just read with much pleasure the article "Wild Life in Town," by Mr. Charles M. Skinner, in the last number of The Outlook, July 31. The Outlook is noted for fair play, and I want to say a word for the sparrow. In the first place, the sparrow does not drive away the song-birds from the city. The city is responsible for that. The sparrow is the city bird par excellence. The city has become his habitat. It is a clear case of survival of the fittest. I live in a town of ten thousand inhabitants, my house is near a large farm, and we have all and as many song-birds as we ever had, and sparrows ad libitum. Before the sparrow came, a lady could not walk Boston Common without caterpillars dropping on her; to-day the insects are much scarcer. But we cannot blame the sparrow, because he cannot eat them all. The sparrow does not eat as many in proportion as when he first came. He was an immigrant then, but now, with more generations behind him than any descendant of the Pilgrims, he is the purest American of anything not indigenous to the soil. Is it not about time we stopped the childish vanity of claiming everything as American if it turns out good, and disclaiming what we don't like by tracing a remote European ancestry? We talk of the American trottinghorse, and yet the horse is not indigenous. We talk of the American explorer Stanley, who is a

Welshman, and the American artist Mr. Boughton, who is an Englishman. One more criticism. Darwin thought the earthworm important enough to write a book about it. Mr. Skinner says no place is without earthworms. Now, I want to say that there are no earthworms where there are no settlements of men. Forty years ago you might have dug all day in the Saginaw Valley and you could not find an earthworm; to-day one spadeful of earth has enough for a day's fishing. When I lived at St. Ignace, people used to send to Petosky, thirty miles away, and buy angleworms because you could not find them in a new settlement; and in southern Michigan you could not find them far away from the farm-house. The earthworm follows man, never goes before him. This may seem like hypercriticism, but it is just such small facts taken notice of that wrote the "Origin of Species "and" The Descent of Man." W. G. PUDDEFOOT.

Cottage City, Mass.

For a Good Navy

To the Editors of The Outlook:

I have, if I mistake not, read editorials in The Outlook very seriously deprecating such things as the development of our navy and the perfecting of our harbor defenses, on the twofold ground that they are (1) expensive and (2) unnecessaryunnecessary because it is for the interests of the country to be at peace. Personally I have not agreed with this position on the part of The Outlook, and I therefore take the liberty of calling attention to a passage from the "Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant," Vol. II., pp. 547,548. Grant, I believe, is universally allowed to have been a great advocate for peace; and his judgment both of men and measures in military matters, as is shown by his book, was wonderfully direct and clear-sighted.

He says in the passage referred to:

To maintain peace in the future it is necessary to be prepared for war. There can scarcely be a possible chance of a conflict, such as the last one, occurring among our own people again; but, growing as we are in population, wealth, and military power, we may become the envy of nations which led us in all these particulars only a few years ago; and unless we are prepared for it we may be in danger of a combined movement being some day made to crush us out. Now, scarcely twenty years after the war, we seem to have forgotten the lessons it taught, and are going on as if in the greatest security, without the power to resist an invasion by the fleets of fourth-rate European powers for a time, until we could prepare for them.

We should have a good navy, and our seacoast defenses should be put in the finest possible condition. Neither of these cost much when it is considered where the money goes, and what we get in return. Money expended in a fine navy not only adds to our security and tends to prevent war in the future, but is very material aid to our commerce with foreign nations in the meantime. Money spent upon seacoast defenses is spent among our own people, and all goes back again among the people. The work accomplished, too, like that of the navy, gives us a feeling of security.

There is a large number of people in this country, who by no means deserve the name of Jin

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gone into many libraries (our own, for example), and
needs to be contradicted.
R. DE W. MALLARY.

Lenox, Mass.

[The following comments on the above quotations from the book in question have been kindly furnished us by the Rev. E. E. Strong, D.D., of Boston. In publishing them we wish that wherever the book has gone they might go also.-THE EDITORS.]

The book refers to West Africa alone, as its title would imply. The author has seen just the worst section of Africa, so far as relates to Christian missions. For some reason, I know not just what, missionary work has not prospered in that section of the continent as in the east or south or central portions. The Church Missionary Society has, indeed, an excellent mission along the Niger River, and no one who has kept track of its work there can honestly deny that it has had a vast and beneficent influence in the reformation of

numberless towns and villages within its field; but along the Gold Coast the liquor traffic has wrought ruin. To judge of missions in Africa by the section from Sierra Leone to the mouth of the Congo would be like describing the Christian civilization of New York City by what may be seen on the East Side. The work which Moffat and Livingstone began in South Africa is bearing glorious fruit in that region. The French mission in Basutoland, our own in Natal, the Scotch missions on Lake Nyassa, the Universities' mission on the East Coast, and, above all, the work of the Church Missionary Society at Uganda, ought all to be put in the balance against the alleged failures on the West Coast, when missions in Africa are under discussion. Yet, as to this West Coast, the statements quoted from Miss Kingsley's book are most of them grossly untrue; . g., the charge that "the missionary parties have greatly exaggerated both the evil and the extent of the liquor traffic." The evidence in regard to the demoralization caused by this traffic has not come chiefly from missionaries. Joseph Thomson, the well-known African explorer, gave in the "Contemporary Review" for March, 1890, details which were more conclusive and had a far wider influence than anything missionaries ever said. The speeches at the Brussels Conference (not by missionaries) and the action of that Conference are sufficient evidence that there has been no exaggeration in this matter. The London "Times" has depicted the extent and curse of the gin traffic in the most scathing terms. It is ludicrous to affirm that the missionaries have exaggerated these matters in order to stir up "subscribers at home."

Some of the statements which Mr. Mallary quotes from the volume may be true, though doubtless they are flings, apparently in a bad spirit. That a chief murderer was formerly a Sunday-school teacher in Sierra Leone may be true. Guiteau was once regarded as a good Christian;

and no doubt there are many men now in jail in the United States who have been church members. The quality of the liquor sent to West Africa may be learned from its price. It is so cheap that it cannot possibly be pure. I am told here in Boston that only the vilest stuff is exported to Africa.

I think the utterance of this lady, that "polygamy is not an unmixed evil for the African," will aid those who read the book to judge somewhat as to the character and temper of the author. If she thinks that the harem of a West African is a good thing for him, we get an inkling as to what she considers good.

I suppose that all our mission boards-our American Presbyterian, the English and Wesleyan and Church Missionary Societies-would say that the West Coast of Africa is, in some respects, the most difficult and unremunerative fieid in which they work. But they are not without encouragements. To say that they are accomplishing nothing is wholly false. Amid many lights and shadows they are working heroically and hopefully for the elevation of the African.

Notes and Queries

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS.-It is seldom possible to answer any inquiry in the next issue after its receipt. Those who find expected answers late in coming will, we hope, bear in mind the impediments arising from the constant pressure of many subjects upon our limited space. Communications should always bear the writer's name and address.

Kindly answer the following: 1. How is the phrase "second coming of Christ" interpreted by modern the ology? 2. What is the attitude of the higher Biblical criticism concerning the authorship of the Fourth Gospel, the First Epistle of John, and of the Apocalypse?

3. Am I not correct in thinking it to be this: That the

Apocalypse was written in its present form by St. John,
one of the twelve Apostles; that the Fourth Gospel
and the First Epistle of John in their present form are
elaborate treatises of the same unknown writer, who was
probably one of St. John's disciples, who had, as his out.
line subject matter, papyri which this Apostle had
written as memoranda? 4. From a perusal of the recent
editorial entitled "Resident Forces," and of other simi-
lar ones, I am led to believe that the "New Theology"
denies the supernatural. Can one deny the supernatural
and continue to believe in an unseen spiritual world of
spiritual laws and force, distinct from the natural? Or
does the New Theology teach, as the editorial referred to
implies, that the natural world and the spiritual world
are identical, that spiritual laws are the same as natural
laws, and that what are sometimes spoken of as natural
forces, moral forces, and spiritual forces are simply dif
ferent phases of one and the same Great Resident Force?
If I am right, does not the New Theology teach idealism?
This seems to be the only alternative, aside from mate-
rialism and pantheism, which the editorial denies to be
A. W. A.
its teachings.

1. So far as "orthodox "opinion, in its modern varieties, deals with this, it is divided between a coming in visible form at a time still future, and a coming in spirit that has been and still is in progress, as the Spirit of Christ gains ascendency in the world. 2. It is undetermined, though the point that the Apocalypse is not by the same

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