Review of the Book

William E. Macklin, A Devoted and Heroic Life
by Edith Eberle

Joseph Dana Miller

[Reprinted from Land and Freedom, January-February 1937]

Joseph Dana Miller was during this period Editor of Land and Freedom. Many of the editorials published were unsigned. It is therefore possible that Miller was not the author of this article, although the content is thought to be consistent with his own perspectives as Editor.

Here we have the life of Rev. W. E. Macklin, who carried to China a dual message of redemption, Christianity and the social gospel of Henry George. This story of a great life is attractively told. Not so much is given here as might appropriately have been devoted to the latter. We do not believe that the author of this biography completely recognizes its importance. But Dr. Macklin assuredly does. He knows, too, if his biographer does not, how intimately the two messages are related.

But with a life as busy as Dr. Macklin's has been it is difficult for a biographer brought newly to the task to properly appraise his varied activities. Dr. Macklin's career is fascinating preaching, lecturing, writing through all the years. His influence permeated far. He brought not only the dual message of which we have spoken, but his own personality, his love for a people crushed under an economic despotism far deeper than any we know. And the Chinese, high and low, listened to him and learned to love him.

Dr. Macklin was born near London, Ontario, of Irish ancestry on his father's side. Miss Eberle tells the story of his youth. He was popular among the young men of his acquaintance but he would not drink with them. As doctor and missionary he did not depend for his strength upon artificial stimulants, and though never physically hardy he was able to pursue long and arduous labors, animated by enthusiastic impulse and a rare devotion. He was essentially a pioneer and found in his desire to blaze new paths the spiritual urge that drove him forward.

We learn much of China from Miss Eberle, and something of Sun Yat Sen. Dr. Macklin informs us that Sun was in favor of the Single Tax before he met him. Dr. Macklin says he was a fine looking man, with a cordial expression. His endorsement of Henry George will be found in his "Principles for the People." He was elected president of the Chinese Republic in 1911.

In 1922 there came a second crisis in Nanking on which occasion Dr. Macklin rendered heroic service to the city. It is a matter of record that the Republican leaders of the new China profited by Dr. Macklin's advice and learned to respect his kindly wisdom. He saw an ancient civilization in process of transition and the transformation that swept the vast empire. In that transformation he helped, and it is doubtful if anywhere in China or elsewhere there is a man whose knowledge of this great transformation is so intimate and whose acquaintance with the conservative as well as the radical elements is so universal.

Dr. Macklin was married to the sister of Mrs. Garst, wife of a missionary to Japan, and well known Georgeist. Lieutenant DeLany cousin of Mrs. Macklin, was second officer on Admiral Dewey's flag ship, the Olympia, at the battle of Manila. We met DeLany on his visit to New York. He was a member of the Manhattan Single Tax Club. Dr. Macklin thinks he is still in New York.

Forty years spent in China is the record during which Dr. Macklin ministered to the ills of his patients, their spiritual and bodily ills. Fearlessly he went about, his life frequently in danger, and won for himself the title of "Hero of Nanking," which Miss Eberle calls him. And he turned the intense hatred of the natives against foreigners to love for himself, and this gradually mitigated the racial animosity of the Chinese toward the missionaries in general. His success was marked and his fame became widely known. He was showered with medals, this modest servant of the Master, self-forgetting, self-effacing.

Here is the isolated reference to his Single Tax work made by his biographer:

"All who know of Dr. Macklin know of his advocacy of the Single Tax. He always believed in it and then one day a book by Henry George, Progress and Poverty, fell into his hands, and he was thenceforth completely swayed by the idea. The earth is the Lord's, he explains. Natural resources are God's gift to all people, the land and all that lies therein belong to all. That which is upon the land belongs to the people that built it. Man-made things are man's property and should be free of tax. Therefore let there be a Single Tax, a tax on land values only, a tax so heavy that no one can afford to hold land in speculation or in idleness. ..."Why do you not talk about your work in China?" some one inquired, confused by his discussion of land and taxes, you have such interesting experiences to tell." "How can I talk to people about my work and the needs in China," he replied, with something of pathos in his voice, "unless I tell them also about the remedy for China's economic ills?"

Miss Eberle writes on page 159 of Dr. Macklin in the days of the seiges, quoting one of the missionaries as follows:

"I tell you it is no wonder that the people of Nanking love him as they do. ...He took his life in his hands several times to save the city. He had a great opportunity and handled it as a great man. If you could see the thankfulness beaming out of the eyes of such men as the civil governor and other officials, you would realize how these people almost worship Macklin."

It is incredible that Dr. Macklin with all his infinite labors could have found time to translate into Chinese so many standard works. An incomplete list was furnished the biographer by Dr. Macklin and include "The Dutch Republic," "History of Switzerland," "Life of Jefferson," Schiller. "Life of Gustavus Adolphus," "Progress and Poverty," "Protection or Free Trade?" "Dove's Theory of Human Progression," "Spencer's Social Statics," "History of Ancient Religions," "Intoxicating Drinks and Drugs in all Lands and Times," "Caird's Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion," "History of Ancient Religions," "Excavations in Bible Lands," and many others. Surely an accomplishment.

Dr. and Mrs. Macklin live in San Gabriel, California. Here in picturesque surroundings is "The House that Love Built," as Mrs. Macklin delights to call it. And here we leave them in the rest they have so nobly earned.