THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD.
By EVELYN WRENCH.
THE fact that the Christians of India have increased more rapidly than the adherents of any other creed during the past decade may come as a surprise to many. In 1911 the number of native Christians was 3,876,000 ; in 1921 the total was 4,754,000, an increase of 878,000, or 22.7 per cent. Compared to the number of Hindus and Moslems, these figures may seem infinitesimal nevertheless, they are not without significance, and if the present rate of increase can be maintained during the present century, it is impossible to over-estimate their influence on the future of India. The Chicago Journal thus summarizes the Indian census figures :—
Hindus .. Moslems Buddhists Animists Christians Sikhs .. Jains Parsees Jews All others Total
• • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • •
• •
. . 216,724,000 08,735,000 11,571,000 9,775,000 4,7E4,000 3,239,000 1,179,000 102,000 22,000 2,831,000 318,942,000
This is how the Chicago Journal comments on the matter :- " Looking at the matter as coldly as a visitor from Mars might do, one can see that the best thing that could happen to India and, through India, to the world, would be conversion to some form—any form—of Christianity. While the caste system holds sway, and the population is divided into four main castes, several hundred subcastes, with a residuum of millions of people so far beyond the pale that their very touch is deemed pollution, there is small chance of real progress in India. Mohammedanism cuts this caste knot, but does so at the price of an aroused and vicious intolerance, and of running its converts into a blind alley where further progress is impossible. Christianity performs the same service without exacting any such price, and, in addition, links its converts to the peoples who, whatever their faults, have led the world's civilization for centuries. The missionary will do more to emancipate India than the agitator."
The somewhat confused political situation arising out of the elections in Australia and New Zealand has made it impossible to fix a definite date for the proposed Imperial Economic Conference, to which reference has already been made on this page of the Spectator. The negotiations, however, are proceeding, and there seems little doubt that the general idea of the Conference, at which the methods of developing the economic resources and trade of the Dominions will be discussed, will meet with approval. It seems probable that the representatives of the Dominion Governments will assemble in London in June or July.
All who are acquainted with the excellent work of the American University Union in Europe in establishing fresh contacts between the English-speaking peoples will learn with pleasure that Dr. George E. MacLean, its director, has just returned to London from a most successful visit to twelve of the leading universities in the United States, extending as far West as the State University of Nebraska. In a letter to the writer, Dr. MacLean remarks : " There is no question that the people generally, East and West, are feeling more friendly to Great Britain than before the War and that the friend- liness has increased since the Washington Conference."
It is impossible to over-estimate the value of the work of bodies such as the American University Union in linking up educationists on both sides of the Atlantic. The next step in the task of making the British and American peoples better acquainted would seem to be some kind of linking-up of the teachers in the secondary and elementary schools in both countries. Mrs. Alfred Lyttelton, as chairman of the Common Interests Com., mittee of the English-Speaking Union, has devoted much thought to this problem, and is attempting to establish an endowment fund which will enable an elementary school teacher from Great Britain to visit the United States during a holiday season each year.. This should be only the first of many such travelling- scholarships. For a variety of reasons, among which are better pay and that admirable transatlantic institution, the Sabbatical year, American teachers, as a whole, are much better acquainted with European conditions than are British teachers with American University and school life. If Mrs. Lyttelton's travelling- scholarship could ultimately develop into a kind of teachers' exchange, which would enable hundreds of British school-teachers to visit the United States yearly„ she and those associated with her would have accomplished a piece of work of lasting value.
Mr. William Dubilier, a pioneer in wireless-telephony, and inventor of several devices which have helped forward that science in America, has been visiting London and discussing the possibilities of broadcasting in 1950 with a correspondent of the Times. In the United States the " radio " set has become as much a household necessity as the gramophone. There are now, in America, more than 270 broadcasting stations, and over a million homes are equipped with wireless instru- ments. This is the vision which Mr. Dubilier has of wireless in America thirty years hence :— " It must become a great civilizing and educative influence, and the Carnegles of the next generation, instead of providing libraries and institutes, will endow big broadcasting stations,, which will put the finest music and other valuable things at tha disposal of millions. Famous singers and great orchestras will give concerts which may be heard over vast areas. Election candidates will reach a whole electorate in a day, instead of taking a month. Farmers will get daily reports on market prices and all the important news. By 1950, isolation should be a thing of the past."
The Tithes Peking correspondent reported last week the gratifying news that the British Chargé d'Affaires had informed the Chinese Government that Great Britain had decided in principle to devote her share of the Boxer indemnity " to expenditure mutually beneficial to both countries." The Entente Powers agreed in 1917 that China should be excused for five years from making any payments on account of the indemnity in recognition of her services to the Allies in declaring war on Germany. The five years' term expires on December 81st. The British share o f the indemnity, principal and interest, worked out at £147,000,000 spread over thirty-eight years, of which sum about a third has already been paid. The United States Congress has sanctioned the remission of the American share. Japan is about to do the same, and France has decided to devote her share to liquidating the debts of the Banque Industrielle in China. The Associated British Chambers of Commerce in China have urged the Government to forgo the indemnity and devote the proceeds to Chinese education, and the action of the British Charge d'Affaires at Peking is the result of these representations. The advantages of affording young Chinamen the opportunity of being educated in British Universities and of getting into touch with British life and thought are obvious. Britons in the Far East have long regretted that few Chinese students attend British Universities, whereas many resort to America and Japan. They believe that the remission of the Boxer indemnity will induce Young China to study in Great Britain or the Dominions.
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