Shallow Conceptions by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Dec 19, 1911

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 38, No. 50.

Shallow Conceptions

By Editor

The Christian religion is itself educational, and has been the builder and fosterer of educational institutions. The sad thing is that Christian men have not held and controlled the institutions which Christianity has founded. Yale owes its existence to the Congregationalists; Princeton, to the Presbyterians; Chicago, to the Baptists. The University of California was once a denominational school—California College. Such are instances. These institutions have grown materially and in numbers far beyond the dreams of their founders; but the religious education is in the past. They are great worldly institutions now, with skeptical tendencies, to say the least. The College of California was opened as a religious school in 1880 with an enrolment of eight students. November 1, 1911, it had under systematic instruction in its various subdivisions almost 7,000 persons, nor does this include a large and increasing number who avail themselves of lecture courses and special instruction.

Shallow Conceptions.

One paper, in reporting the confessions of the McNamara brothers, said:

But out of all the crowded day's developments, that which stands out with compelling distinctness is the sacrifice which each of the McNamaras attempted to make for the other. Fiction holds no parallel to the extraordinary self-sacrificing devotion evinced by each brother for the other in this the supreme crisis of their lives. Sentiment of the truest and most tender character shines out in this the last chapter of a tragic story.

But why should they confess? The next sentence tells us:

No hope of escaping the penalty for their crimes actuated the two McNamaras.

We confess that we do not see the noble sentiment exalted by this newspaper. Two criminals come to that place where for weeks their lawyers have no hope, and they are brought by their counsel to see that there is no hope; knowing that they both are guilty, that this guilt will be proved, then they confess, and each wishes to save the other from what he knew was inevitable. We are not judging these men or any others; but on the face of this report, taken at its best, all such sacrifice and love does not reach the primer of Christianity. True brotherly love would have felt for the men working in the Times Building.

The Burden of War.

In the United States there are 1.86 soldiers to 1,000 population; in Japan 4.51 to 1,000; in England 8.44 to 1,000; in Germany 11.29 to 1,000; in Russia 11.68 to 1,000; in France 15.13 to 1,000. Russia spends 27 per cent of her total expenditures on her navy; Japan 27 per cent; France 26; United States 32; Germany 37; England 38.5. It is an awful burden for the navy alone. What would we think of a man in private life using from twenty-seven to thirty-eight per cent of his income in purchasing or building deadly weapons of war, and that in a time of profound peace?

One of the races of strong individuality in the world is the Jewish. They have mingled among other nationalities everywhere nearly, and preserved their racial characteristics; but the Jews in China, who twenty centuries ago formed a strong colony, have succumbed to the overpowering influence of the Chinese. William Edgar Geil, in his book "The Eighteen Capitals of China," tells us that there are only seven families remaining. Some had turned Buddhist, some Moslem; but they still eat no pork, nor worship idols, nor burn incense to their ancestors. This poor remnant is found in Kaifong.

It is reported that the tobacco users of the country are asking Dr. Wiley to go after the adulterators of cigars and tobacco, it being generally understood that there is much adulterating matter used in the manufacture of these goods. The genuine are bad enough, and all can be dispensed with in the interest of morals, health, and economy. Hence it would be better to give up the use of tobacco, and if all would do this the adulterations would have to stop.

Practically one hundred million dollars' worth of domestic merchandise from the United States was transported across the isthmuses of Panama and Tehuantepec in the fiscal year 1911 by way of the two railway lines connecting, in the one case, Panama on the Pacific with Colon on the Atlantic, and in the other, Salina Cruz, the Pacific terminal, and Tehuantepec with Puerto Mexico on the Atlantic. Traffic by way of Tehuantepec began January 1, 1907.

The town of Hancock, Michigan, has adopted the plan of having all the names of all her habitual drunkards posted in the various saloons of the city, and has appointed a man whose duty it is to see that the names are sought out and kept in place.