What is the Matter A lmost from her earliest days Mexico has been in one of three conditions: On the edge of bloodshed. In the middle of bloodshed. Just out of bloodshed. Sometimes these three conditions have actually overlapped. Political factions in power, political factions out of power, bandits, insurgent chiefs, all have profited by the resultant chaotic condition. The effect on the race has been marked. Little attention has been paid to education. Little effort has been made to develop the great natural wealth of the country. National dignity has been very largely overdevel- oped — to the point where it is oversensitiveness. An enormously large, undeveloped, easily reached market lies directly at our southern border. M exico has much that we need, and we have much that Mexico needs. Mexico needs encouragement of every sort from the United States. with Mexico ? Mexico’s Greatest MEXICO'S 15 MILLION 12 MILLION ILLITERATE I GNORANCE and superstition are twins. They travel side by side, and in their wake are misery, privation, and stagnation. Few obstacles to progress are so hard to overcome. Their grip on the greater part of Mexico’s fifteen million people is strong. On the street may be seen professional letter-writers. One is pictured in the circle. Their clientele is large — eighty per cent, of the population, or twelve million souls. This vast army of men, women and children is dependent on others for all news. Is it any wonder that the masses are easily stirred up by the slippery tongues of wily orators? Twenty per cent., or three million Mexicans, are literate. This does not mean that three million are educated. That number can read and write. In these three million are many noble, highly educated people. There are also many renegades, foreigners and adventurers. In the last analysis, therefore, the good influence of the educated class upon the uneducated class needs to be greatly increased. Need of the people are lliterate ! 5 MILLION LITERATE Methodism Cannot Ignore This Challenge ! I Mexico’s Second T his man plows as his great-grandfather did, while a few miles to the north, on our side of the border, another man plows a hundred times as fast. Not until Mexico has introduced modern methods in ALL lines of industry will she emerge from the go-as-you-please-all-is-well state that causes the distress and hunger felt throughout the land. Wake up, American business man, wake up! Greatest Need The Condition of a Country's Industry Is a Gauge of the Nation's Life N ot all of our 62 day schools are conducting classes. Some of the property is lying idle since it was damaged in the recent troubles which have swept over the country. If all goes well, this school, which was ransacked and damaged in November, 1914, by a band of fanatics, will re-open. During the months it has been closed, primary, secondary, and commercial training have been denied many eager applicants. Where we have 62 day-school classes, 620 would not care for the need. Schools are appreciated by the Mexicans and crowded to overflowing. And with every one we open there is awakened in the minds of more Mexicans the necessity for schools. Each new school brings that day nearer when the Mexican government, whatever it may be, will be forced to supply adequate education. Last year we had twenty boarding pupils at Puebla Institute— the school’s capacity. Here we provide primary, secondary, normal and theological education. MEXICO'S MEDICAL NEEDS! The part YOU R church has This is Dr. SALMANS’ hOSPITAL GU AN AJ UATO M 'X M \ I "T Institutions would not suffice ! What Nethodism has MEXICO'S MEDICAL NEEDS! done for Mexico’s health W E have been brought up to believe that the cities of the East, ravaged by cholera and bubonic plague, are the most unhealthy centers in the world. But the number of annual deaths per thousand inhabitants is greater in Mexico City than it is in Madras or Cairo. Eight thousand one hundred children under five years of age die every year in Mexico’s capital. Each year more than 11,500 people die from preventable causes. done for Mexico's Health What Methodism has dorw Under the old Catholic regime his vision would be limited to ceaseless toil which netted him nothing. I N contrast with the usual apathetic look in the eyes of the Mexican peasant, this lay worker faces life with an intelligent outlook. In Mexico Methodists have a total of 103 churches, chapels, parsonages, and homes. Many of them are little rural churches like this one. They are outposts on the frontiers of Christianity, where pastor and members have sometimes risked death at the hands of the fanatics. Religion^ O UR city workers labor under a handicap. To escape unstable conditions in the rural districts, many thousands of refugees flock to the cities, where they are easily accessible to the missionary. The beauty-loving Mexicans, living in the shadow of handsome Roman Catholic cathedrals, find it difficult to respect a religion which worships in a building no more beautiful or impres- sive than this one. There are in Mexico 143 native preachers and workers. The present constitution limits the ministerial activities of the foreign missionary. He cannot preach or administer the sacraments. This condition throws more responsibility upon the national workers. The salvation of Mexico depends largely upon them. N O one longer doubts the necessity or desirability of a Pan-American solidarity. South America is very much nearer being ready for this than many of us here in North America realize. All North America is ready except Mexico. As a matter of fact Mexico is the least committed to such a program. No force in this country can so well spread the ideals of democracy as the American Protestant Churches. YOUR Church has a great hold among the people, but its program is too narrow. The people of Mexico are in great need. They need many different things. Things which we have in abundance. The definite policy of the Board of Foreign Missions of YOUR church is always to aid such peoples no matter where they may be. The Mexican people are our neighbors. Civilization teaches that neighbors should be helpful one to the other. Mexico is not sufficiently strong to solve her own problems. We — North Americans — should be concerned over the kind of neighbors we have. In national life, as in private life, the influence of a neighbor is great. But a bad neighbor has more influence over a good neighbor than nil INI should Treble Our Efforts a good neighbor over a bad one, unless the good neighbor is careful to put his best foot forward and keep it there. Has North America always done that? She has invested in Mexico one billion of dollars, and her dividends are distrust, distrust, and distrust. The people of the United States must influence the Mexican people if the two countries are to come closer together. The logical vehicle through which this change should come is the Church. YOUR church is already firmly intrenched, but its program is cramped. Much has been said, much has been written, about the possibility of an armed force successfully invading the United States. We are not alarmists, and we do not expect that our country ever will be invaded, but we, and all the rest of the world, know that THE EASIEST WAY TO ENTER THIS COUNTRY IS THROUGH MEXICO. The obvious thing to do for the safety of both nations is to weld a friendship with Mexico that shall be like hoops of steel; to forge links of fine sympathy which will stand against the gnawing of insidious propaganda. The Church is one of the strongest links. We can Build 5000 these T his church building stands like a beacon in a field of darkness. The force behind it means EDUCATION HEALTH SALVATION I 'HIS cathedral stands for a system under which the majority of M exican children have grown up illiterate and amid squalid surroundings. With little knowledge of curative or preventive medicine and with little understanding of salvation. These dummies are supposed to represent Judas. On the Saturday of Holy Week the figures are either hung on poles or crosses or blown up by fireworks which are tied to the bodies A Grip of Steel Idolatrous Superstition Paying a vow, traveling perhaps for miles on her knees D O you know the statue “The Laocoon”? It represents a group ' of people struggling in hideous and futile agony in the coils of serpents. Mexico has been largely in that condition — helpless. The undisputed power that Rome exercised for four hundred years left Mexico in a pitiable plight. The Catholic Church has dabbled in Mexican politics, always on the side of autocrats, oppressors, even foreign invaders. The church opposed public education. The church prevented the circulation of the Bible. The treatment that a copy of the Scriptures sometimes receives The ROAD TO A SIDE from education, moral development and culture, Mexico needs an opportunity to labor. Immensely rich naturally, ^ ^ and in need of merchandise which the civilized peoples of the world use daily for the most ordinary comforts, Mexico might easily work herself out of her poverty. But she has neither the knowledge nor the initiative to do it by herself. The Mexican must be taught. NATIONAL CONTENTMENT I ABOR has not come into its own. Generally speaking, the hours are long. Sanitary conditions are fearful and wages ^ are low. Under the Carranza government a serious effort has been made to better this situation. Now is the time for North American business to grasp this opportunity — not simply to make money, but to be the pioneers in showing a stricken people the road to national contentment. The factories, the mills, and the mines cry aloud for scientific management. Welfare work for the laborer is the force that will put joy into the heart of Mexico. T \ T \ T \ T V W J \ T \ T \ T\ T\ T \ T \ T \ T\ ^T^TSTS:T^T-!^TVTVT1TVT\T\ TV TV^n.'^T'^Ta.T3>.-^T^\^T'^T.V\^-<^T;^X^'T^t^X^Ta>.TS^T^T^-^^T.VT3kT£ What we propose to do M ethodism proposes to show Mexico that the religion of the living Christ is a constructive one. ‘That it builds up. That it means race progress. That it leads to national health — strong children. Methodism proposes to teach the ideals of true democracy; to spread broadcast the great humanitarian principles which have stood the test of two thousand years. Methodism proposes to teach the little children; cleanse them in body, mind, and soul; and place them on so sound a footing that in spite of the barriers built around them by their forebears, their progress will be continuous. Methodism proposes to instill in the people wi th whom she comes in contact a national consciousness without which Mexico will never emerge from her present twilight. The task is tremendous, but we face it with confi- dence. We have the will, the way, and the man power. YOU have the money. ^th the Centenary Gift MEXICO -THE GREAT U NTIL America declared war, in April, 1917, the conflict in Europe was just a war— differing- from its predecessors only in size. When, however. President Wilson announced to the world America’s reasons for entering the combat, there crystallized in the minds of all the Allies the ideal of true Democracy. We were engaged in a righteous war, one in which greed and national aggrandizement never figured. Germany was but a pawn in the scheme of things as laid out in America’s great World Emancipation Plan. In spots the world is an unfit place in which to live. Man everywhere must be made to recognize man’s equality— his right to come and go and do as he pleases as long as he observes the common laws of humanity. America has set this conscience standard for the world! World Betterment is the new cry and every movement, everywhere, which aims to speed this attainment will take on added emphasis. Weak peoples, little peoples, far-away peoples and oppressed peoples are to have their day. We, — a people enjoying the blessings of freedom and democracy, — along with our Allies, have decreed that the Spirit of Democracy must be given an opportunity to take root wherever the need exists. The world WAR -YOUR MONEY must be made a better place. It was to accomplish that purpose that we drew the sword. And that we shall succeed in our crusade we are feeding three-fifths of Europe, relieving distress and suffering in France and Belgium and in Asia Minor. It is for that reason, also, that the Missionary program for the world must go on. The fester-spots on the family of nations must be cured. The Foreign Missionary Movement of the Methodist Church of America is one hundred years old ! The anniversary comes at a critical time in Church history. Everywhere people are raising the question, “Has Christianity failed ?’’ Christianity has NOT failed! It was the Spirit of Christ that cried out to Germany “STOP!” It was the Spirit of Christ that compelled the Central Powers to lay down their arms and acknowledge defeat! It is the Spirit of Christ that will bring freedom- political, economic and religious freedom— to all the peoples of the world! It is the Spirit of Christ that will fill the coffers of the Centenary Missionary chests to overflowing that brotherly love and peace and helpfulness and true democracy may be spread broadcast throughout the world. Hungry Men,)X^men,an -k ACTION Qo if JOHN T. STONE says: S HALL America’s activities in this new day of peace be solely commercial? Shall the word go forth again, all around the earth, that, after all, America is at bottom only a nation of money-gatherers? If America is to prove by her deeds that she is sincere in her many declarations of unselfish concern for weaker and backward peoples and nations, and if America herself is to be saved from the unworthy role of mere merchandising and material exploita- tion in Asia, and Africa, and Latin America, then the Christian Church of America must be ready, Jii/Zy ready, to send forth her mis- sionaries in numbers sufficient and with equipment adequate, man for man, to those of the merchant, the manufacturer, the engineer, the prospector and the banker. “A Foreign Missionary Program that will be equal to the after-the-war opportunities and obligations of America must be set in motion with the whole power of the Church back of it, at once.'" r f . ... / . f- i i GRAPHIC SERIES ‘Prepared by WORLD OUTLOOK for the CENTENARY COMMISSION OF THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 111 Fifth Avenue New York City The Graphic Series embraces books on the following countries NORTH AFRICA CHINA • JAPAN • KOREA CENTRAL AFRICA MEXICO * MALAYSIA PHILIPPINES SOUTH AMERICA INDIA Copyright, 1919, by World Outlook