In response to the question, “How about liberty for the Mohammedan to become a Christian?” he replied, “That is an impossibility in the nature of the case. When one has once accepted Islam and become a follower of the Prophet he cannot change. There is no power on earth that can change him. Whatever he may say or claim cannot alter the fact that he is a Moslem still and must always be such. It is, therefore, an absurdity to say that a Moslem has the privilege of changing his religion, for to do so is beyond his power.” For the last forty years the actions of the official and influential Turks have borne out this theory of religious liberty in the Ottoman empire. Every Moslem showing interest in Christian things takes his life in his hands. No protection can be afforded him against the false charges that begin at once to multiply. His only safety lies in flight. XXV. THE MACEDONIAN QUESTION MR. G. B. RAVNDAL, until recently United States consul at Beirut, Syria, is an intelligent and sympathetic witness of the progress of events in that part of the Turkish empire. He writes, with special reference to the commercial aspects of missionary advance, that “the Syria of to-day cannot be compared with the Syria of twenty-five years ago. Education is working wonders, raising the standard of living, multiplying and diversifying the requirements of the people, developing the natural resources of the country, and increasing the purchasing capacity of the individual. Illiteracy is on the wane, independent thought is in the ascendant. We have printing-presses, railroads, carriage-roads, bridges, postal and telegraph routes. Trade is increasing in volume and variety, and the United States is getting a larger and larger share of it. Our country, owing primarily to the efforts of our missionaries, is near and dear to a large portion of the population, not only of this country, but of the entire Levant—nay, even of Persia and the Sudan. Through our college (at Beirut), with its School of Commerce and museums, through the mission press, the industrial academy, and the experimental farm, missionaries have become ambassadors of American trade, and as the foreign commerce of the Levant swells into larger proportions—it is yet in its infancy—the United States is getting a surer foothold in the near East.” He also speaks of his gratification in witnessing the increasing introduction of American machinery into Syria, such as reaping, threshing, and milling machines, and expresses his confidence that “Western Asia will before long become a market for our agricultural, irrigation, and other machinery, which no manufacturer at home will despise or ignore.” He refers to the School of Commerce recently established in connection with the American College at Beirut, with its students drawn from a widely