"What is_fo be done about it" is the question of the day. The school is governed by a board of managers elected by the various mission and this board is directly responsible for the conduct of the stitution, as the election of the faculty and other instructions is in'their hands. It would seem to an outsider that the Presbyterians have not always seen that the. character of the Board was the determining factor in the complexion of the school. They have wasted much time and effort in attempting to erect proper safeguards. The plain truth is that a Conservative board will maintain a conservative school with or without a detailed statement, of doctrinal requirements, while if. the board be liberal all the statements in the world will not avail to make a school conservative. But this fact is recognized ab last and the Presbyterians are appealing to the cooperating missions to appoint to the board as their representatives only stich men as are in sympathy with the original basis of union; on the attitude of the replies to be received the fate of the Seminary rests.
Criticism is easy and at this stage will probably not do much good, but to a practically minded man it would seem" that-the missions have often times been singularly lacking in common sense when they elected representatives on this board; there hag been in many cases a complete ignoring of the plain fact that certain men, would be #rsqnw non grata io the ce-operate ing missions. For one' mission to elect a militant conservative wha will contend for every jot and tittle of the law, and for another' to elect an out-and-out liberal is to invite disaster.
That the Conservatives. in all the missions involved are a majority is hardly open to doubt. If they make themselves felt at this crisis, we will see Nanking Seminary firmly established as a lasting religious influence in China.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.