Review of Revieics, 117106. 



Leading Articles. 



55 



THE REUNION OF CHRISTENDOM. 



Last February, says th.- Biblioihcca Sacra of 

 April, there met at Dayton, Ohio, a general council 

 composed of over two hundred delegates officially 

 appointed by the Congregational, United Brethren, 

 and Methodist Protestant Churches for the purpose 

 of effecting an organic union of these bodies. It was 

 the result of negotiations which have been in pro- 

 gress for several years. As shown by the latest sta- 

 tistics, the Congregational I ody consists of 667,951 

 members, 6127 ministers, and 5979 churches. The 

 United Brethren consists of 259,272 members, i960 

 ministers, and 3927 churclies ; the Methodist Pro- 

 testants of 183,894 members, 155 1 ministers, 2242 

 churches. It will, thus, be seen that the combined 

 church will consist of 1.111,117 members, 9638 

 ministers, and 12,148 churches. The objects of the 

 Union are : — 



To secure tbe co-ordin.ition and unification of the three 

 bodies in evangelistic, educational, and missionary work. 



To prevent the unnecessary multiplication of churches; 

 to unite weak churches of the same neisrhhourhood wher- 

 ever it 13 practicahle, and to invite .and encourage the 

 afEliation with this council of other Christian "bodies 

 cherishing a kindred faith and purpose. 



In accordance with these principles the local churches 

 are to lie left free to conduct their worship and business 

 as their pre-sent customs provide. 



It is suggested tliat so far as may be the churches in 

 separate districts be united in district conferences, whicli 

 shall provide tor fellowship and care of the churches con- 

 nected with them. 



SCHOOL DOCTORS IN GERMANY. 



In the World's Work Mr. W. H. Dawson describes 

 the system, begun in 1889, of having school doctors 

 to examine children in Germany, Leipzig taking the 

 lead. There must now be some 600 of these doctoi 

 at work. In Wiesbaden the school authorities hav 

 drawn up a set of regulations so excellent that M 

 Dawson thinks they might ser\-e as models to the r^t 

 of the world. It is with the Wiesbaden system, 

 therefore, that he deals in detail. 



A thorough medical examination is made of everv 

 child going to school, to see whether permanent 

 medical oversight is needed, or a modified course of 

 instniction, or even exemption from certain classes, 

 such as gymnastics or singing. The health certificate 

 recognises three degrees of physical and three of 

 mental efficiency. 



A child's general constitution may be " good " — 

 i.e.. \vhen the health is absolutely perfect — 

 "medium," or "bad." Its mental constitution is 

 "normal." "backward," or "defective." Twice a 

 year the height and weight of each child are taken 

 by the teachers, and sometimes the measurement of 

 the chest as well ; and children are thoroughly re- 

 examined when in their third, fifth and eighth school 

 years. 



It will be asked. Do not parents resent this as 

 meddling? Mr. Dawson replies: — • 



tfniversal experience shows that, thanks to the discretion 

 with which the school authorities and the School Doctors 

 go alwut their work, parental opposition is extremely rare 

 and even initial prejudice is only half-hearted where it is 



found at all. The vast majority of parents heartily wel- 

 come the School Doctor's advice and help, and not merely 

 facilitate the periodicat examinations, but carry out faith- 

 fully the directions given. 



The most important part of the School Doctor's 

 work is detecting weaknesses which, if not attended 

 to, might have caused permanent injury. In Berlin, 

 where School Doctors were introduced only in 1902, 

 12.3 per cent of children notified for admission into 

 primary schools were put back as unfitted for the 

 time for school work. The reasons were, first, phy- 

 sical weakness ; second, recent serious illness ; third, 

 delicate constitution; and, finally, insufficient deve- 

 loimient and tuberculosis. Last year 34.562 newly 

 registered children were examined, and nearly 3000 

 (8.5 per cent.) put back, over 7000 having been 

 jilaced under oversight. Defective sight and general 

 weakness were the causes. The School Doctor's re- 

 port states that most children in the early stages of 

 tuberculosis attend school without parent or teacher 

 having any suspicion of the disease. 



School Doctors in Germany are not overpaid. As 

 a rule the payment is in proportion to the number of 

 classes attended, one class usually containing fifty 

 children. In most towns the payment is from 10/- 

 to 25/- per call per year; but sometimes the rates are 

 as low as 3/- per class. On the other hand, in one 

 case they rise to ^Q^ 6/-. Mannheim has a School 

 Doctor who gives up his whole time to the work, for 

 which he is paid ^^500 a year. The number of such 

 doctors is still, of course, relatively small. 



THE NEW CANADIAN TARIFF. 



Mr. Ed. Porritt, who has had the rare good for- 

 of accompanying the Canadian Tariff Commis- 

 sion on its recent journeys through the Dominion, 

 prints his obserwrtions and expectations in the North 

 American Review for April. Mr. Porritt says: — 



There will be some agreeable surprises for Great Britain 

 in the preferential clauses of the new tariff: and, oonse- 

 tiuently. a new and keen interest will be awakened in Great 

 Britain in the extended trade opportunities which are soon 

 to bo offered in Canada. These clauses may have also 

 some surprises for American ports and American railways 

 — surprises which will be disturbing to some of these Ameri- 

 can interests. The Protective policy of Canada is to l>e 

 permanent. Tlie Government, when it came into power, 

 could not face the responsibility of the demoralisation in 

 finance, business and industry, which must have ensued 

 had they abandoned the Protective system built up by the 

 Tories between 1879 and 1896. The tariff inquiry has" also 

 established the fact that reciprocity with the United States 

 is a dead issue in Canada. 



The hearings before the Tariff Commission have since 

 then proved manifestly and abundantly that the British 

 pi-eference is immensely popular all over rural Canada. 

 With the support of rural Canada behind it. and urging 

 it forward as_ a Government was never before urged for- 

 ward in any line of policy, t.lie Laurier Government iu the 

 new tariff will do all that is pr.aoticable to bring Canada 

 and tireat Britain into still closer trade relationship. 



The Canadian manufacturers, however, detest the pre- 

 ference, and, in attacking it, they consciously or uncon- 

 sciously struck heavily and disastrously at Mr. Chamber- 

 lain's idea of inter-Iraperial trade: and no one who 

 travelled with the Ooramission, and day after day sat out 

 its sessions, as was m.v great privilege, nor anyone who 

 will undertake the tremendous task of reading throutrh 

 the transcript of the notes of the Commission, can come to 

 any other conclusion than that the tariff hearings have 

 demonstrated that Mr. Chamberlain's scheme is an impoa- 

 8ihilit.v. 



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