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Vol. 97. No. 44. RICHMOND, VA. NOVEMBER 1, 1922 Depression in business has been felt throughout the country for the past year. But from all accounts this condition is steadily changing for the better. A short time ago there were vast numbers of unemployed, in ad dition to those on strike. Now it is reported that there are very few wage earners who are not at work, and in some quarters there is said to be a shortage of labor. The South is com ing in for its share in the revival of business. The railroads are ordering new engines and cars and other equipment at a rate which has been unknown for some time. Building opera tions are forging ahead at a rapid rate. Not counting any operation, which cost less than $10,000, the buildings contracted for in the South during the first nine months of this year will cost $735,000,000. These are some of the evidences of returning prosperity. Along with the business depression came a decided falling off in gifts to the benevolences of the Church. This has been shown in all departments of the Church's work, but especially in connection with Home and Foreign Missions. These two branches of the work are being seriously inter fered with because of the falling off of their receipts. It is earnestly hoped that God's peo ple, with their faces turned toward the increas ing prosperity promised in the future, will not only make up all deficiencies of the past, but will give so liberally that the great demands of the work shall be provided for. Let God's people render unto God of their increase, and He will bless them even more largely than ever. ALIEN POPULATION constitutes one of the great problems of this country. Few people in the South realize just how serious it is in some sections of the country, for the South has a very small proportion of foreign stock. The foreigners in all the Soufhcrn States constitute only 8 per cent of its popu lation, according to Government statistics, while in the rest of the country the percentage is more than 48. Rhode Island is the most foreign with 69 per cent, followed closely by Massachusetts with 66 and New York with 62 per cent. New York City has more than 75 per cent of foreigners and Chicago has 72 per cent. But it will not always be true that the South will have such a small percentage of those who know little of its ideals and prin ciples. Foreigners are the cause of many of the serious problems which confront our coun try in connection with labor and social rela tions, and the liest way to solve these problems is to give these people, who come largely from non-religious countries, the gospel as it is held by our Church .and other evangelical churches. This work many of the city churches are doing very well, but there is a great deal more of it to be done in mining and manufac turing communities that can be done only by the Home Mission agencies of the Church. Un der the direction of our Atlanta Committee the gospel is being preached in ten different languages in the South. But it has been able to make only a limited start in this great work. We have a specially fine opportunity to do this work now. While the number of foreigners is comparatively limited, it is far easier to reach and influence them individually than it will be when the number is greatly increased. The Church has a great privilege in doing this work, which is a great responsibility that God has laid upon it. AMERICANS are a pleasure loving people, and it is well that they are and that they can secure to a large extent what they need. One evidence of this love of^pleasuie is t'je 20,000,000 people who spend each week $8,000, 000 to see moving pictures. The movirg pic ture is one of the most wonderful inventions of the age and it ought to be ont of the best, but it has fallen largely into the hands of those who have low^ideals and are only after the dollars that can be made out of the business. But it is gratifying to learn that a decided improvement is being made in the pictures that are being presented to the public. It is to be hoped that this will continue until no picture shall be shown on a screen that will be injurious to the morals of those who see it. STABILITY of government or of business is dependent upon the character of the people. Where the character of the majority of the people is built upon the fundamental principles of right, there need be little fear of any serious trouble. This country has recently passed through some very trying experiences in the coal strikes, the railroad strikes and the general business depression, but the people did not go into hysteria. Those not immediately involved in the strikes went quietly on with their work and their business. There have been losses, of course, but they have been very small compared with what might have been ex pected, and now the country is in good condi tion to go ahead and recover all that it has lost. Ilad it not been for the sturdy, conserva tive character of the great majority of the peo ple the country could never have weathered the storm as it did, and be in such good condi tion to sail out on the sea of prosperity which stretches out before it. This sturdiness of character grows out of the fact that the prin ciples of religion are gaining more and more influence in the lives of the people. Episcopalians of the High Church order are rejoicing over what they seem to consider a great victory that they have won. The Living Church, an Episcopal paper, speaks of it as "the most momentous chapter in ec clesiastical history in a thousand years, scarcely ? excepting the chapters of the Reformation per iod." When we road that we wondered what great event had taken place. As we read on it seemed more a case of the mountain laboring and bringing forth a mouse. The High Church party in the. Church of England has for years been making love to the Roman Catholic Church, but all the consolation it got was an invitation to join that churoh. More recently this party has been making love to the Greek Church, whose headquarters are at Constanti nople. The Living Church gives this as the ex planation of its rejoicing: "After centuries pf questioning, the validity of the Anglican epis copate and priesthood is established by the Patriarchal See of the most ancient branch of the historic Catholic Church. The schism of a thousand years' standing bids fair to be healed in our day, and the healing process is almost complete." The Episcopal Church in all of its branches has always made a great deal of the "historic episcopate," claiming that the ordination of their priests and bishops had come down in unbroken succession from the days of the Apostles. This could only have come through the Roman Catholic Church, and that Church has never admitted the validity of the Anglican ordination. But that does not mat ter now, as the Greek Church, which claims to l>e the original church and older than the Romish Church, says that Anglican ordination is valid. It is hard to understand how that church is willing to give credit to the Romisli Churcli for transmitting the validity of ordina tion to another church, when these two churches have been fighting and anathematizing each other ever since the division which separated them in the early centuries. And after all, what does the opinion of the Greek Church amount to as to whether or not priests and bishops of the Church of England have been properly ordained? No one who is at all fa miliar with the Greek Church would think of considering it orthodox from the Protestant standpoint. In its teaching and practice it has often been described as "baptized paganism." But, if the High Church, Anglicans and Epis copalians can get any comfort out of it, they are welcome to it PERFUMERY in the East and the Near East is very much prized. Of the three presents brought to the infant Saviour by the Wise Men of the East two were of perfumery. From the fact that they were brought as gifts to a king, and that they were classed with gold, we would conclude that they were costly. Oue of the most costly perfumeries that we know of today is the attar of roses. Bulgaria is pre eminently the home of this costly product. In 1913 there were 19,500 acres devoted to the cultivation of roses for this purpose, and the attar produced amounted to 6,800 pounds. That is, it took all of the roses grown in a whole sum mer on three acres of ground to produce one pound, or one pint of the attar. When we add to the cost of raising the roses that of gathering them and extracting their sweetness from them, it is not surprising that perfume is costly When we think of the sweetness as well as the beauty of the rose, how striking it is that the Saviour is called the Rose of Sharon. Cancer is one of the great curses of this country. During last year 180,000 per sons died in this country from this disease or considerably more than twice as many of our soldiers as were killed or died from wounds or disease in all of the great war. It itf said that many eases of this disease can be cured, if taken in tltrte. The trouble is that many people from one cause or another conceal the disease. Any thing suggesting the coming of the disease should be given medie&l attention at once. The week November 12-2lf has been set apart for a special educational campaign on the preventive measures that may .lie used.