Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/347

Rh other Christian temperance organizations are fighting the same battles in Japan as in America. The old religions never made any attempt to check the tobacco, liquor, and social evils; they seemed to assume such to be inevitable. Even now the leadership in these social and moral reforms is almost solely in the hands of Christians. By their untiring efforts the public sentiment against these evils is rapidly growing, and various organizations, by public meetings and pages of literature, are trying to lift the people out of these "habits." A bill prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors was made a law by the Diet, and one prohibiting the sale of liquor to minors is being pushed. By the indefatigable labors of a Methodist missionary, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Salvation Army, some 14,000 girls have been enabled to free themselves from their slavery in the brothels; some of these wicked resorts had to close up; and public sentiment was so vehemently aroused against this evil that the number of visitors to houses of ill-fame considerably decreased. And it is Christian teaching that has disestablished concubinage and is constantly working to purify the family life of Japan.

The Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor, the Scripture Union, and the Evangelical Alliance are other examples of interdenominational institutions which are doing much to minimize sectarianism and remind Japanese Christians that, in