SOUTH AMERICA. South America has never been consid-J ered very fruitful soil for moral reforms! but now Uruguay is joining in the fight® against strong drink. Women are work ing hard to make the country dry. Realiz ing that it would be difficult, if not impos sible, to obtain complete success at once, and that the movement requires a starting point, they are asking for a law closing saloons and wine shops on Sundays and holidays. PHILIPPINES. One has but to visit the Philippines to realize the progress made since they were released from the rule of the friars. The out-look for Protestant missions has become much more encouraging of late because of the attitude taken towards them by many of the most prominent men in the Islands. At the recent annual meeting of the Evangelical Union of the Philippines, the President of the Senate said “We wel come your missionary enterprise most sin cerely. ' We desire for it the largest pos sible development and expansion, believing it makes for a more virile race and for an advanced type among Filipinos.” This is the land where twenty years ago the Bible was an unknown book to the people and where there was no religious liberty. : i f.' YJ Under the provisions of a bill recently introduced in the Philippine legislature, all Filipinos who have four or more children will be entitled to government assistance in their education. It is further provided that Filipino students receiving government aid will serve the government for one-half as long a time as they have studied at gov ernment expense, receiving during this time a salary of one-half the regular remuner ation of the positions they take.
■PANAMA. 1 The importance of Panama to the com- Imercial world only emphasizes its import- lance as a strategic religious center. Its Ismail population is more than balanced by ¡the fact that people from all parts of the world there are influenced in their relig ious and moral life. The Western Coast of South America and all Central America is being brought more and more into con tact with Panama. Practically all the sol diers of the United States Army sooner or later see service on the Isthmus. Civilian employees of the Canal Zone come and go frequently. This makes the religious work difficult, but multiplies its importance. It impels the attention of the Christian world to the awful vice conditions existing on the Isthmus, and challenges the help of all. The conditions are about the worst in any part of Latin America, and the terrible dens of vice are more largely patronized by Americans than by any others. JAPAN. The Kumai (Congregationalist) churches of Japan have their own Japanese mis sionaries in Korea, who have enrolled 20,000 Koreans in their body. Now they are sending the evangelist Mr. Kimura, to the Marshall Islands to do evangelistic work among the Japanese soldiers and sailors at present garrisoning this quandom German colony. CHINA. Kutien, China, chronicles wide quicken- ings of interest among neighboring towns. One circuit, where six years ago we had neither pastor or membership, now offers $550 to build a school and $500 for a church. Another circuit, Sek-se-du, offers $500 and land for a church. Most signifi cant of all is a promise of $500 from one man not yet a Christian, an official in the
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker