Heathen Idols Made in Philadelphia
It was recently discovered that an idol factory for the making of gods to be worshiped by the heathen, existed in the city of Philadelphia. The following facts with regard to this strange industry, and the extent to which “Christian” nations share in it, are given by the Chicago Record-Herald:— Heathen idols are made in Philadelphia. This fact recently became known. It was not the idol-maker who announced the fact; it was a Korean, a native of Seoul, who has lately come to America to purchase some Yankee-made gods. The Korean’s disclosure of the purpose of his visit has thrown the Philadelphia idol factory into disrepute. Bishops and missionaries have denounced it bitterly. Nevertheless, the manufacturer, a strange, strong-willed man, does not propose to give up making idols. For the heathen to bow down to Christian-made gods is not a new thing. Thousands of idols are turned out in Germany each year, and nearly all the outlandish little gods and fetishes that the Africans worship are the product of the enterprising English city of Birmingham. Frederic Poole, a missionary of Philadelphia, estimates that a good percentage of the world’s idols are made by Christian nations, and Dr. William P. Wilson, the head of the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, says that the idol-making trade of Germany is enormous.7 The Philadelphia idol factory is a wooden building of one story. Its owner is a German, and his trade used to be toy-making. He came from Germany to Philadelphia two years ago, and he says he took up the manufacture of idols because a friend of his, a resident of India, proved to him that there was a greater demand for idols than for toys, and that there was more money in the idol than in the toy business. Most of his trade is with India, and the principal idols he makes are Buddhas and Ganesas. He recently permitted some photographs to be made in his factory on condition that his name be not revealed. The more expensive idols, costing fifty or seventy-five dollars each, are made by hand; but cheaper ones are made by machinery, one machine being capable of turning out ten wooden idols at one time. The gods are sold in Korea, Japan, Siam, and India. “I send a good many idols to Korea,” the proprietor of the factory said to a visitor. “They buy Buddhas there. I make them little, cheap Buddhas out of wood. At the Korean temples, after prayers, each worshiper gives to the secretariat at the gate a piece of money, and receives in return a little god. It is these gods that I make. I also make gods for India.” The proprietor excused his participation in such a business on the ground that Buddhism inculcates good moral rules of conduct, and the idol served to turn the thoughts of the worshiper to these rules. It was not so bad, he said, as to send whisky and opium to the heathen; and in this statement he may have been right. The dealings of the world’s “Christian” nations with its heathen nations furnish many an illustration of the truth of the Scripture, “The love of money is the root of all evil.”