CHAPTER XI.
AMERICANS IN TURKEY, THEIR WORK AND INFLUENCE.
The American missionaries in the Turkish Empire are brought into the discussion of almost every question that arises in that land. Especially is this true at present, in connection with the Armenian problem. So many wild and contradictory statements are made in regard to them, and the Protestant communities which are the direct results of their labors, that the mind of the public is more or less confused on the subject. The missionaries, and the many thousands who have gladly followed their leadership in intellectual, moral, and religious reform, are an important, though not a noisy or conspicuous element. For this reason, as well as on account of popular ignorance and hostile misrepresentation, they cannot be overlooked in any fair and adequate survey of the situation. The writer has long been familiar with this phase of the subject, and has a large mass of evidence and statistics at his command. But he is not connected with any of the various missionary societies involved, and is alone responsible for the statements made in this or any other part of the volume.
It is very important to note that charges against the missionaries, of disloyalty to the Sultan, have never been sustained for a moment, and that investigation has shown them to be obedient to the laws, and opposed to revolutionary sentiments upon the part of any of the subjects of the Empire. The highest officials have repeatedly borne public testimony to the valuable services of the Americans in educational, literary, medical and philanthropic lines. Even H. I. M. Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid has graciously given expression to his confidence in Americans as being free from any political designs, such as all Europeans are supposed to entertain.
Many are not aware of the great work already accomplished by American missionaries during the past seventy years in the Ottoman Empire, nor of the vast influence they have exerted, both directly and indirectly. They have been in many departments the pioneers of civilization. They have stuck to their posts, obscure or prominent, in peace or in war, in famine, plague and persecution. Pashas and diplomats and generals have sought their aid without fear of being misled or betrayed. But the messengers of the Cross have never been swerved from what they consider a “higher calling”—to instruct the ignorant, young and old, to counsel and reclaim the erring, to attend the sick and imprisoned, and to comfort the broken-hearted. To support these general statements, the reader must pardon a few statistics compiled from the latest official tables, showing the direct results of American missionary effort in Turkey.
STATISTICS OF AMERICAN MISSIONS IN TURKEY.[[70]]
The following figures, with the exception of the Press statistics, represent the work of the American Board (Congregational) and of the Presbyterian Board taken together.
The Congregational proportion constitutes about three fourths and the Presbyterian one fourth in all these figures, the work of the latter society being confined to Syria and Mosul.
| THE FORCE. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laborers. | |||||
| Foreign missionaries | 223 | ||||
| Native pastors, preachers, teachers, etc. | 1,094 | ||||
| Total force of laborers | 1,317 | ||||
| American missionaries to Turkey since 1821 | 550 | ||||
| Plant. | |||||
| Value of property held by Americans, exclusive of churches, schools, etc., erected in the names of native subjects, with foreign aid, for which statistics are not available | $2,500,000 | ||||
| Annual Expenditure. | |||||
| Appropriations from America | $225,000 | ||||
| From native sources | 60,000 | ||||
| Total expenditure annually | $285,000 | ||||
| Total American expenditure from the first, at least | $10,000,000 | ||||
| THE RESULTS. | |||||
| Religious. | |||||
| Churches organized | 155 | ||||
| Other stated preaching places | 281 | ||||
| Total number of preaching places | 436 | ||||
| Communicants (received on confession of faith) | 13,528 | ||||
| Members of Protestant civil communities (adherents) | 60,000 | ||||
| Average Sunday congregations | 40,000 | ||||
| Sunday-school membership | 35,000 | ||||
| Educational. | |||||
| Colleges well equipped, for both sexes | 5 | students | |||
| Theological seminaries | 6 | 4,085 | |||
| High-schools for boys | 80 | ||||
| Boarding-schools for girls | |||||
| Common schools for both sexes | 530 | 23,315 | |||
| Total schools of all grades | 621 | Students | 27,400 | ||
There are six American institutions in Turkey incorporated under the laws of the United States, and controlled by trustees in that land.