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Proofreading Team.
Transcriber's Note: In order to maintain appropriate line length, sometables have been transposed, i.e. rows are columns and vice versa.
1920
This book, written by Mr. Allen, bears both our names because we studiedthe material together, and settled what should be included and whatexcluded. We discussed and disputed, and finally found ourselves incomplete agreement. We therefore decided to issue the book in our jointnames, on the understanding that I should be allowed to disclaim thecredit for writing it. But the book would never have been written at allsave for the inspiration and help of Mr. S.J.W. Clark, who, in histravels in nearly every mission field, has brought an unusually acutemind, trained by a long business experience, to bear upon missionproblems, and has done more hard thinking on the question of survey thanany man we know.
Let anyone who doubts the need for survey study the present distributionof missionary forces. He will find little evidence of any plan ormethod. In one region of the world there are about four hundred andfifty missionaries to a population of three millions, while in anotherarea with more than double the number of people, there are only abouttwenty missionaries.
After travelling in the latter region I asked one of the senior workerswhat in his opinion would be a large enough foreign staff, and heindicated quite a moderate addition to the existing force. Suppose I hadsuggested a total of a hundred missionaries, he would have declared thenumber far too large. Perhaps he was too modest in his demands.Conditions in one area differ from those in another. But such a widedifference in distribution and in demands makes the need of survey toascertain facts and conditions absolutely imperative, especially when weremember that to the force of four hundred and fifty in the territorywith the smaller population, missionaries will probably continue to beadded and unevangelised regions will have to wait.
After surveying one of the better staffed divisions of the missionfield, a missionary declared that not more missionaries were needed, buta more effective use of the force at work; and fortunately in thatparticular field central direction is beginning to secure that end. Butusually there is no central direction and no comparison of plans betweenneighbouring missions on the field, although several missions may belocated in the same town or city; and two Mission Houses in London maybe almost next door neighbours, and may have missions in the same cityin the Far East, and may yet be entirely ignorant of each other's plansfor work in that city. They might be rival businesses guarding tradesecrets! Hence it is not strange that when late in the day a survey of acity in China is made in which there are about two hundred missionaries,it is found that not one of them is giving full time to evangelisticwork! Across the city of Tokyo a line could be drawn west of which allthe foreign workers live, while east of it there are nine hundred andsixty thousand people