The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1921, Page 55

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The Lutheran Pioneer. 55

‘for the 38 graduates of our two normal schools there
were 108 calls. You see, it is still true: The harvest
is plenteous, but the laborers are few!

An Overcrowpep Scuoorn. — At Chikore, East
Central Africa, two hundred miles from a railway
and in the heart.of the forest, is a mission-school
so largely attended that most of the classes have to
be held outside the building. After the morning
session all the boys are required to work in the field.
The hoes are placed on the ground, a signal is given,
and the boys rush in and grab the hoes. 'This is not
due to the boys’ eagerness for work, but each boy
scrambles to get the smallest hoe. Many of the
pupils come direct from heathen kraals. F. J. L.

The ‘‘Monument of Gratitude’’
at Wheat Ridge.

Excellent progress is being made in the construe-
tion of the new home of the Sanitarium. God
willing, the dedication will take place in August.
Erected at a cost approximating $250,000, it will,
when completed, afford accommodations for more
than 150 victims of the “Great White Plague.” The
building is fireproof throughout, modern in every
respect, and arranged according to the best approved
scientific plan for tubercular treatment.

There are many other places for the treatment
of consumptives. What distinguishes Wheat Ridge
from all of these is the fact that here the soul is
the object of primary consideration. ‘The spiritually
depressing effects of tuberculosis are counteracted by
a cheerful Christian atmosphere, by regular preach-
ing of the strengthening Word of God, and by the
constant attendance of a chaplain.

The Sanitarium is an undertaking that deserves
the support of every Christian. It is both a mis-
sionary and a charitable institution. It tenders
relief to a class of sufferers that stand peculiarly in
need of not only physical, but also spiritual ministry.
It is the concrete evidence of Christian faith working

by Christian love. It is an effective medium through °

which to serve our needy fellow-men.
About $90,000 are still necessary in order that

the new building may stand free and clear of debt. -

Determined efforts are being made to raise the re-
quired sum by either contributions or pledges before
the day of dedication. If every one of the thousands
who are now being approached directly with the
appeal for Wheat Ridge will make but a small sacri-
fice, the goal will easily be attained. There was

a lime when we were wont to recite impressively :
“Little drops of water, little grains of sand,” ete.
The same principle applies in this case.

The Walther League with its more than 30,000
members is devoting itself whole-heartedly to the
task of raising what still is needed. ‘Wherever pos-
sible the personal appeal is brought directly to the
individual society. This method is working out
splendidly. Our young people are again proving
themselves to be willing and cheerful to support,
and to give for, a cause whose merits are demon-
strated to them. ‘Through them chiefly the large
sum that has already been raised has been secured.
They. are once more putting their shoulders to the
wheel to see through, this splendid undertaking.

May God bless their efforts and the work of the
Evangelical Lutheran Sanitarium at Wheat Ridge,
Colorado !

a

A Sacred Debt Unpaid.

On the western sidé of the South American con-
tinent, comprising most of Ecuador, Peru, and Bo-
livia, there is an area of land half as large as our
own country that is in virtual heathenism, though
the Christian white man came there four hundred
years ago. When the white man first came to this
portion of South America, he found there an em-

_pire of gold. In one of the large temples of this

Inca Empire every single implement was made of

* pure gold. ‘This highly organized empire had miles

upon miles of improved roads and many well-con-
structed aqueducts to carry the crystal water down
from the mountains to the -inhabited portions of
the land. So plentiful was gold among these people
in those early days that they were able to give more
than $15,000,000 worth of gold to ransom one of
their emperors from the Spanish conquerors. This
ransom filled a whole large room, and it took the
conquerors a whole month to melt:down the metal.
But sad to say, after they had received the gold,
the cruel robbers killed the Inca after all! It has
been reckoned that the total value of all the treasure
taken by the white men from these poor people
reached high up into the billions. And what is still
worse, the Spanish conquerors destroyed nine-tenths
of the native people in war and in the mines within
a hundred years after they came.

- Only about 7,000,000 destitute Indians are left
of what was once a great and prosperous people.
Neither the State nor the Church is taking proper
care of them. ‘Though probably most have been