May 13.
Tus National Christian Conference after being in session in the Town Hall for nine days, has ended its labours. Reports of the proceedings have appeared in owr columns from day to gay and it is now possible to gauge, in some measure, the value of its work tua to see the trend of its influence on the future of the missionary movement in China. The outstanding feature has been, as we forecast in an article on the subject when the cohn ference opened, the emergence of Chinese leadership in they movement for the Christianization of China. In 1910 there was held a World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh under the presidency of Dr. John RB. Mott, General Secretary of the Y.M.C.A. of America. Many of the ablest leaders of Christian thought in ' Europe and. the United States were present at that conference but the personality of the chairman dominated the assembly in a manner as striking as ib was beneficial. In 1913 a series of conferences was held in China; again Dr. Mott was president and again his- influence was markedly in evidence. Dr. Mott is a delegate to the conference just held in our midst but beyond a powerful address delivered in the Town Hall on Thursday evening last week his influence in the conference has not been apparent.
There has only been one small breeze to ripple the even tenour of the proceedings. On the opening day the rules of order to be followed in the conduct of business were discussed before the election of the chairman of the Conference proper. Bishop Graves, who is chairman of the committee of arrangements, occupied the chair at this pre liminary meeting. The Chinese delegates showed themselves very restive during this discussion but after the election of Dr. C. Y. Cheng to the chair things ran with notable smoothness. It was evident that the foreign, no less than the Chinese, delegates felt that a Conference of the Chinese Church held in China should be under the presidency of a Chinese.. It must be said that in the meetings which have been held since its inauguration the Chinese leaders in the Conference have measured up to the height of their opportunity. The chairman guides: the deliberations of the gathering with dignity and ability.. The Chinese who present papers do not need to fear comparison with the foreign missionaries who undertake the same task. Their English is as faultless og their Chinese and the subject matter is direct and very much to the point. They ring their own - contribution to the solution of every problem and it is nearly always something quite unexpected by the Western mind. [t is quite evident that the Chinese claim that the leadership of the Church should pass into their hands is perfectly reasonable and that, not only is it not being resisted, but is being expedited in every way possible by their foreign colleagues.
Next to Chinese leadership the most important point discussed was the improvement of the social condition of those employed in large factories with especial reference to the interests of women and children. On Wednesday Miss Agatha Harrison of the Y.W.C.A. presented an eloquent plea for the enactment of regulations governing the employment of these defenceless classes. She showed that children of very immature years were often employed for periods of more than twelve hours at a time for seven days a week often without even a pause for meals. She pleaded earnestly that the exploitation of the labour of women and child-ven, which was a feature of the industrial revolution in the West, should not be allowed to be reproduced throughout the whole of China. Miss Harrison was able to announce that she had discussed this question with such leading employers of labour in Shanghai as Sir Edward Pearce, Mr. Brooke-Smith, Mr. C. Arnhold and Mr. Okada. They were heartily in favour of such reforms as would safeguard the lives and welfare of the women and child workers for whose sake Miss Harrison pleaded. Mr. C. C. Nieh, the chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, also spoke at this meeting and assured the conference that he kept in touch with all movements in Europe and America which aimed at the improvement of the Jot of manual workers. He believed that whatever tended to raise the standard of the lives of the labourers was for the good of the employer and contended that the benefits the eniployer secured from the industry should be shared with his employees. This irom a man who employs thousands of workers was much appreciated by those, to whom Mr. Nieh was speaking. Ultimately the conference endorsed the following standards for industrial labour: (1) No employment of children under twelve years of age; (2) one day's rest in seven; (3) hours of labour to be limited. Sanitary conditions to be improved and safety devices to be installed. These seem very reasonable requirements and if the National Christian Conference can expedite the grant of the Magna Charta to Chinese workers, it will not only have justified its existence but will have marked a mile-stone in the progress of reform in China.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.