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    "source_title": "Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926)",
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    "title": "MISSIONS",
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    "verified_text": "the developments of outstanding interest in missionary work since roro have been the new spirit of independence in the churches in the mission field, the growth of the spirit of co-operation, and the new educational demands on missionary schools. the first of these tendencies led to con- siderable transfers of authority from the missions to the churches established by them. ‘the indigenous church rather than the foreign organisation became increasingly responstble for the direction of christian activities. in the face of the rising spirit of nationalism, evident in so many quarters, it became essential that christianity should as little as possible bear the character of a foreign religion. national christian councils—the impulse of the world missionary conference held in 1910 quickly extended itself to the mission field. a visit to asia by the chairman of its con- tinuation committee, dr. john r. mott, in 1913-4 led to the formation in india, china and japan of bodies representative (with one or two exceptions in the case of japan and china) of all the christian forces other than roman catholicism. these, by a process of evolution, became national christian councils, and in china and india, in particular, became an active and in- fluential force. while in their beginning missionary initiative played a considerable part, leadership passed increasingly into the hands of chinese and indians, who formed in 1925 half or more than half of the members of the councils in their respective countries. a national christian convention held in shanghai in 1922 and attended by chinese christians and missionaries of alt denominations from every part of china, afforded striking evidence of the reality, strength and indigenous character of the christian movement in china. it was presided over with remarkable ability by a chinese christian, dr. cheng ching-yi, and other chinese christians took part in guiding the proceedings. 934 a corresponding growth of co-operation took place among the missionary societies within their own various political bound- aries. the conference of missionary societies in great britain and ireland, mecting for the first time in 1911, united all the principal missionary societies in the united kingdom and ireland and led to a marked growth in mutual understanding and fellowship and in practical co-operation in many directions. the foreign missions conference of north america (including the united states and canada), while of older date, made no- table progress on similar lines. national missionary organisa- tions were also formed in the scandinavian countries, in holland and in switzerland, the german missions-ausschuss being of older date. internationally, the continuation committee ap- pointed by the world missionary conference gave place to the international missionary council, the members of which are appointed by the different national missionary organisations. education.—everywhere in the mission field the position of christian schools was affected by the rapid extension of govern- ment systems of education. the missionary socicties recognised that they had to do with an entircly new situation, and endcav- oured to meet it by a thorough examination of the new condi- tions and the demands made by them. in rgtg—20 an education commission was sent to india to investigate the problems of rural education and issued a report entitled willage education in india, which exercised a considerable influence on missionary opinion and policy. two years later a strong commission under the chairmanship of the late dr. e. d. burton, president of chicago university, visited china and produced a valuable report entitled christian education in china. in 1921 and 1924 an education commission, under the joint auspices of the missionary societies and the phelps-stokes fund, visited, first, west and south africa and then east africa, and its two reports, education in africa and education tn east africa, were recog- nised not only in missionary but in government circles as furnishing much needed guidance in regard to the kind of educa- tion best suited to africa. effective co-operation in education between missions and government in the british colonies in africa was furthered by the appointment by the british secre- tary of state for the colonies in 1923 of a permanent advisory committee on native education in tropical africa, and the setting up in most of the colonies of similar advisory bodies on which the missions are represented. the world war led to the cessation of the work of german missions in most of the territories under the control of the allied powers, but in the british empire in 1925 the restrictions were being relaxed and german missionaries had begun to return to their former fields. in the world missionary ailas published in march 1925, the numbers of missionaries were given as follows: ordained missionaries from the united states and canada 3,713; from great britain 2,058; from other countries 1,515; laymen, united states and canada, 1,963; great britain 947; other countries 407; unmarried women, united states and canada, 4,703; great britain 2,593; other countries 1,116. it may be interesting to compare the 1925 figures with those for 1907, though these were from another source: the total number of communicant members was 3,614,154 in 1925 as contrasted with 1,817,450 in 1907, while the total christian community was returned as 8,342,378 as compared with 4,361,138. the total number under instruction in all types of mission schools was 2,440,148 as compared with 1,302,905. ‘the total income of the protestant missionary societies was given as {14,958,102 (of which the united states contributed {9,736,084 and great britain £2,869,353) as compared with £4,473,933 in 1907. the foregoing figures reveal a remarkable increase in the propor- tionate share of north america in missionary effort. roman catholic missions.—the figures for roman catholic missions for the year 1908 may be compared with those for 1923 published at the vatican exhibition, rome, the earlier ones being shown within parentheses: european priests 8,617 (7,933); native priests 4,005 (5,837); lay helpers 4,018 (5,270); sisters 24,102 (21,320); catechists and teachers 65,641 (catechists 24,524); number of catholics 12,964,147 (native membership mississippi only, 7,441,215); catechumens 1,534,446 (1,517,909); students and children in schools 1,800,000 (906,000); schools 22,358 (24,000); churches and centres 110,932 (71,000). the world war was the cause of a considerable decrease in the number of missionaries, since the various services claimed many of them and a large proportion of these were killed. the possessions of the allied powers being closed to german missionaries in the years immediately following the war, the former fields of ger- man societics thus affected were in nearly all cases transferred to other congregations while fresh fields were found for the expelled societics. a regrouping of roman catholic missions thus took place on a considerable scale. an important encyclical (maximum ilfud) dealing with mis- sionary work was issued by pope benedict xv. in 1919, in which extended directions were given for the conduct of missionary work, exaggerated expressions of nationalism were severely con- demned, and great emphasis was jaid on the importance of developing a native clergy. the first native bishop was to be consecrated in japan in 1925. considerable changes took place in organisation in europe. the headquarters of the society for the propagation of the iaith, the great collecting society of the roman catholic church, were transfcrred from lyons to rome and put expressly under papal auspices, while its governing body was made fully inter- national, two other organisations which were established on an international basis under papal direction are the society of st. peter for the training of a native clergy in mission lands and the missionary clergy union, which in 1925 had a membership of 105,000 priests. a notable development after the war was a wider distribution of missionary support among different coun- tries; the pre-eminence of france being no longer so marked as it was. increased support for missions was forthcoming in ireland, holland, belgium, switzerland, spain and italy, and there was also a revival of missionary interest in portugal, bohemia, hungary and poland. the financial contributions of the united states grew remarkably and in 1925 exceeded those of any other country, though the number of american mission- aries was considerably below that of a good many other coun- trices. advantage was taken of the presence of many pilgrims in rome during the holy year of 1925 to organise a great mission- ary exhibition in the grounds of the vatican. (j. h. 0.) mississippi (sce 18.599).—in 1920 the total population was 1,790,618, being a decrease of 6,496 from the figures for 1910. the negro population was 935,154, or 52% of the total, as com- pared with 1,009,487, or 56:2° % of the total in 1910. the foreign born whites in 1920 numbered 8,or9. the density was 38-6 per square mile. the urban population (in places of over 2,500) was 13'4%. the six cities having a population of over 12,000 in 1920, in comparison with the figures of 1910, and their estimated population as on july 1 1925 were:— increase july 1 1925 i-stimate 24,312 23,698 meridian jackson. vicksburg . hattiesburg laurel natchez 23:399 22,817 18,072 13,270 13,037 12,608 14,034 15,513 13,070 agriculture —in 1925 the number of farms in the state was 257,228, of which 107,095 were operated by whites and 150,043 by negroes. ‘there was a decrease both in the number of farms and the farm acreage as compared with 1920, when there were 272,101 farms embracing an acreage of 18,196,972. farm values also declined during the same period, the tota] value of farm land and buildings being $459,936,535 1n 1925 as compared with $789,896,778 in 1920, giving an average value per farm of $1,788 in 1925, and $2,903 in 1920. the average size of the farms also clecreased from 66:9 in 1920 to 62-4 in 1925. cotton continues the most important crop but the acreage of cotton decreased from 2,948,387 in 1919 to 2,936,766 in t924. the livestock on the farms on jan. 1 1925 comprised 141,952 mississippi river horses, 330,080 mules, 938,024 cattle and 729,165 swine, having a total value of $62,858,000. manufactures.—the value of the output from factories in- creased from $79,550,005 in r9orq4 and $114,083,861 in 1921 to $178,581,729 in 1923, mississippi then ranking 34th among the states in the value of manufactured products and 32nd in pumber of wage earners, the latter numbering 64,452. the capital in- vested in manufactures increased from $81,005,484 in i9gr4 1o $154,117,337 in 1920, and $197,746,987 in 1923. the chief manufactured articles are lumber and timber products, cotton- seed oil and cake, cotton goods, turpentine and rosin and. fer- tilisers. the chief manufacturing centres are meridian, jackson, greenville, columbus, laurel, hattiesburg, natchez and vicks- burg. the mineral production of the state is small, its total value in 1922 being $1,600,393, composed chiefly of clay prod- ucts, sand and gravel. education and charities—yigher education is taken care of by the university of mississippi at oxford, the mississippi state college for women at columbus and two agricultural and mechanical colleges. state normal schools are situated at hattiesburg and cleveland, in addition to which there are 175 public high schools and 6,800 elementary schools. separate schools are maintained for the white and coloured children. education is state supported, being free to all and compulsory between the ages of 7 ancl 16. the most important development in education was the establishment in 1908 of county agricultural high schools. every county may establish one for white children and one for negroes, or two counties may combine and create one set of schools for the two counties. these schools receive state aid on the basis of the number of boarding pupils. the total amount expended for education during the year 1923-4 was estimated at $17,837,000, including a state appropriation of $8,837,404. an industrial training school for delinquent and abandoned children was established at columbus in 1916, and there are also schools for the deaf and dumb and for the blind at jackson. administration and legislation —the constitution of 1890, enacted to ensure white supremacy, has been amended with the object of putting the government more within the direct control of the people. in 1916 the initiative and referendum were adopted by an amendment under which an initiative petition must be supported by 7,500 qualified electors, and a referendum petition by 6,000. any law bill resolution, constitutional amend- ment or any other legislative measure is a proper subject for such petition. the judiciary consists of the supreme court of six judges elected for eight years and circuit and chancery judges elected for four years. a majority of nine jurors may return a verdict in all civil cases in the circuit and chancery’courts. the legislature is elected for four years and mects in regular session biennially. all financial appropriations are made for two years. the torrens system of registration of land titles has been in force since 1915. in 1914 a state department of banking was created with a board of bank examiners consisting of three members elected for four years. bank cleposits are guaranteed by the state. a very comprehensive child labour law was passed in 1912. under its provisions no child under 12 may be employed in any mill or factory and no child under 16 may be employed for more than eight hours per day. no employee is permitted to work in any mill or factory more than 1o hours per day. the enforcement of this law is placed in the hands of the county health officer. in 1916 a pardon board of five members appointed by the governor was created for the purpose of advising on all petitions for pardons. all such petitions must be published for 30 days in the county where the crime was com- mitted. the board can act only in an advisory capacity, the governor being free to follow their advice or not as he may deem best. a state highway commission was also appointed in 1916. mississippi was the first state to ratify the eighteenth (pro- hibition) amendment, doing so jan. 8 1918. the legislature, however, refused to ratify the nineteenth (woman suffrage) amendment in 1919, and it took no action on the proposed twenticth amendment regarding child labour. 935 in 1926 the state was represented in the u.s. senate by hubert d. stephens and pat harrison. the following have been governors since 1910: edmund f. noel (dem.), 1908-12; earl leroy brewer (dem.), 1912-6; theodore g. bilbo (dem.), 1916-20; lee m. russell (dem.), 1920-4; harry l. whitfeld (dem.), 1924- .",
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