the material together, and settled what should be included and what
excluded. We discussed and disputed, and finally found ourselves in
complete agreement. We therefore decided to issue the book in our joint
names, on the understanding that I should be allowed to disclaim the
credit for writing it. But the book would never have been written at all
save for the inspiration and help of Mr. S.J.W. Clark, who, in his
travels in nearly every mission field, has brought an unusually acute
mind, trained by a long business experience, to bear upon mission
problems, and has done more hard thinking on the question of survey than
any man we know.

Let anyone who doubts the need for survey study the present distribution
of missionary forces. He will find little evidence of any plan or
method. In one region of the world there are about four hundred and
fifty missionaries to a population of three millions, while in another
area with more than double the number of people, there are only about
twenty missionaries.

After travelling in the latter region I asked one of the senior workers
what in his opinion would be a large enough foreign staff, and he
indicated quite a moderate addition to the existing force. Suppose I had
suggested a total of a hundred missionaries, he would have declared the
number far too large. Perhaps he was too modest in his demands.
Conditions in one area differ from those in another. But such a wide
difference in distribution and in demands makes the need of survey to
ascertain facts and conditions absolutely imperative, especially when we
remember that to the force of four hundred and fifty in the territory
with the smaller population, missionaries will probably continue to be
added and unevangelised regions will have to wait.