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 A DIRECT WORD FOR THOSE WHO ‘‘WANT TO KNOW” 
 
 From the Foreign Mission Fields as of March 1st, 1920 
 
 By FRANK MASON NORTH 
 
 THE NEW FINANCIAL STATUS. 
 
 The Centenary was a great achievement. What is it achieving in the foreign fields 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church? 
 
 The income for the year ending October 31st, 1919, was increased by the Cen¬ 
 tenary offerings which became effective as such July 1st, 1919, to a total of $5,352,973, 
 approximately 175 per cent, more than the total income of the previous year. From this 
 total income all the obligations, regular and special, to the fields were covered, a serious 
 situation due to the condition of foreign exchange in India and China was met, and the 
 entire cost to the Foreign Board of the Promotion of the Centenary ivas paid. 
 
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 THE PROGRAM FOR 1920. 
 
 The Board at its Annual Meeting in December made actual appropriations of 
 $5,352,973, the same amount as that received the previous year, it being forbidden, by a 
 rule in its constitution, to appropriate in any one year more than the amount received the 
 year before. Since, however, the total expected under the Centenary offerings for the 
 year is $10,500,000, the Board gave power to the Executive Committee to authorize the 
 Treasurer to make advances of an additional amount to each field up to a total of $5,147,027, 
 such authorizations to be made upon the basis of representation from the fields as to 
 specific preferred projects in the field program and upon the condition that funds are 
 available or in sight. The several mission fields therefore are making their plans upon 
 the basis oi the total expected income of $10,500,000 for the year 1920, and any failure to 
 realize that amount would create most serious disappointment and confusion. 
 
 HOW ARE THE FUNDS BEING USED? 
 
 First: As a preventive of disaster the Centenary has been already a most brilliant 
 success. 
 
 The Board was never in a more secure and sound condition than when it ap¬ 
 proached the hundredth anniversary of Methodist foreign missions. It had for six years 
 created no deficit, had added somewhat each year to its appropriations to the fields, had 
 kept its administrative and cultivation expenses at a low percentage of the total receipts, 
 and at the end of that time had liquidated the debt of over $121,000 with which the period 
 began. The missionaries on the field had been increased by from seventy-five to one 
 hundred and the membership of the foreign churches had gained over twenty per cent. 
 
 This was all true. But, while Centenary enthusiasm was rising, exchange in India 
 and China was falling. Today it requires a dollar and thirty cents in India, and more 
 than two dollars in China, to do what one dollar would do three years ago. Transporta¬ 
 tion costs are from one-half to three-fourths more and necessaries of life in most of the 
 
fields have increased relatively more than in America, while the margin in missionary 
 income is less than in the corresponding station here. The aggregate of these insistent 
 demands ran up to many hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
 
 We did not know it, but the Centenary was timed to meet the most serious 
 financial crisis our Missionary Society and its successor, The Board of Foreign Missions, 
 have ever known. 
 
 Second: The docket of the mission fields was crowded with unfinished business. 
 Institutions had been projected, land bought and partly paid for, material gathered for 
 foundations not yet laid, buildings planned and built but in part, codperation tentatively 
 agreed to, but ineffective for lack of funds, work outlined and untouched because of inade¬ 
 quate staff, wide fields fenced, but fallow, awaiting the plow and the worker, everywhere 
 a vital, expectant, progressive company of devoted missionaries, steady at their posts, 
 ready for advance, and waiting, waiting for supplies and reenforcements from the Home 
 ase. 
 
 Here was a great system of organized service—halted in mid-action. The Centenary 
 is filling the channels, is pouring water on the wheels, is putting in the foundations and 
 lifting the walls, and everywhere valiant, devoted, patient missionaries are finding their 
 dreams coming true. 
 
 As a force for conservation and completion the Centenary is indeed a great 
 achievement. 
 
 Third: The mission world is new because of the funds of the Centenary. Little 
 ventures have developed into wide, wise, comprehensive programs. Expert study of China, 
 India, Latin-America, Africa and Europe, stimulated and supported by the Centenary, for 
 months has been going forward. We have had surveys, we are now getting blue prints. 
 In the program placed so vividly before the Church in the Centenary Campaign were new 
 institutions, colleges, schools, hospitals, orphanages, new services—literature, social influ¬ 
 ence, industrial training, physical betterment; a larger evangelism—better churches, Sunday 
 School organization, a system of itinerating; in everything, a stronger staff, greater effici¬ 
 ency, higher ideals. Rapidly these aims and ambitions of the hearts of faith are pressing 
 toward realization. These new projects must have freedom in time and space. There are 
 obstacles; they will not yield to sudden attack. There must be preparation; it may be hast¬ 
 ened, but not disregarded. We seek the product, but first the plan must be assured. Many 
 of the projects are already under way. More and still more, as the new day grows, will the 
 Church see the outlines of its purpose lifted against the far away horizons. 
 
 The Centenary achieves for the foreign fields prevention of disaster, completion of 
 the existing enterprise, but, far beyond this, the new constructive program which will give 
 among the peoples of the world a place of action for the Gospel of our Lord for a thousand 
 years. 
 
A MEMORANDUM OF FACTS FROM THE FIELDS. 
 
 This list of events and projects is not exhaustive. Some of the items are author¬ 
 ized, others are in process, still others are completed. All depend upon Centenary funds 
 and are based upon the confidence that the church will redeem with enthusiasm its pledges. 
 
 Europe 
 
 Relief Work: For eight months, money, food, clothing, shoes, medical supplies, 
 have been going forward for the relief of the suffering in the countries of Europe. The 
 chief objective has been the children and their mothers. This relief has reached Finland, 
 some Russian refugees, the Baltic provinces (Latvia, Esthonia, Lithuania, etc.), France, 
 Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, Jugo-Slavia. In its varied phases 
 it represents an outlay of approximately $600,000. 
 
 Northern Europe: The debts on our property in Finland have been paid, over 
 90,000 Finnish marks or about $39,000. A fine property worth twice the price has been 
 bought in Wiberg for $30,000. The three Scandinavia countries under the stimulus of the 
 deputation which visited them last summer have set up capital Centenary programs, asking 
 the Home Church to give them dollar for dollar for what they will raise. The Executive 
 Committee has agreed to do this up to the amount of $100,000 for each. This pledge is 
 being called for, as in the case of the purchase of property at Malmo and aid for most 
 worthy projects in other places. Provision is being made for cooperation in the Baltic 
 States as soon as proposals become concrete and are approved. 
 
 Central Europe: In France, the financial investment includes the following: Im¬ 
 provement of the orphanage properties at Charvieu and Ecully; the purchase of plots with 
 buildings for the social and evangelistic program, at Cannes, Toulon, Marseilles, Chateau 
 Thierry, Lyons, and at towns in the Savoy. Other important transactions are pending. To 
 care for the work of construction and of actual service, the staff has been increased. Special 
 grants have been made for the French Methodist Church, for the development of the plans of 
 the American Chapel in Paris, for the special social service training school of Rev. Paul 
 Doumerque, for relief of an orphanage at Bordeaux, for the proposed training school for 
 nurses at Lille, and for the reconstruction and relief program of the French Protestant 
 churches, our grant being made in connection with those of other American Evangelical 
 denominations. In addition to the special relief sent to our fellow Methodists in the Central 
 powers, one million marks have been provided and an equal amount promised for the pay¬ 
 ment of debts upon properties in Germany and special grants are pending for substantial 
 help in Austria and Hungary. The debt on the church at Varna, Bulgaria, has been met. In 
 Switzerland where it is believed Methodism must become more strongly entrenched in view 
 of both ecclesiastical and political adjustments a most important property for social and 
 philanthropic work has just been purchased. 
 
 Southern Europe: The work opened in Spain includes two centers, schools in Seville 
 and Alicante. Only at the latter point has property been acquired, in cost about $15,000. 
 In Italy, the actual investments include the betterment of the Palazzo, the purchase of the 
 school property in the Via Garibaldi, of a property for the Bible Training School, extensive 
 additions to the remarkable site on Monte Mario, a villa near Naples for the Casa Materna, 
 the orphanage. In the north, a site in Genoa for church and community service, a new site 
 in Florence, available plots and buildings in Pistoia, Trent, and Gorizia, enlargement of the 
 orphanage property in Venice, and repairs to the badly damaged church in Udine. In most 
 of these cases partial payments have been made; in some cases cash for the total price has 
 been required. 
 
For the most part these enterprises in Europe are considered as belonging to the 
 program for War Emergency and Reconstruction and the costs are charged to that Fund, 
 without which no such significant service for conservation in Europe could have been 
 made. 
 
 North Africa 
 
 In the missionary appropriations, North Africa is classed with Europe. The pledged 
 funds which have made advance in Europe possible have given impulse and strength to our 
 work in North Africa. Without attempting to describe them, the projects are as follows: 
 purchase of an important property in Algiers (city) for native work; completion of pur¬ 
 chase of property for the Boys’ Hostel; in Kabylia, land at Fort National and a mission 
 center at El Maten, taken over from the French Methodists; at Constantine, completion of 
 purchase of two fine properties, a residence and a Boys’ Hostel; in Tunis, final payment on 
 the Boys’ Hostel and the purchase of a new center for evangelistic and social work in the 
 heart of the city; promotion of plans for Oran and for new work in Morocco. 
 
 Africa 
 
 The outstanding objectives in Africa at this writing are: the building and equip¬ 
 ment of three hospitals, one of which is nearly completed, in Rhodesia, Inhambane, and 
 the Belgian Congo; the erection of suitable houses for our missionaries in these three mis¬ 
 sions; the equipment, with buildings and staff, of the center at Johannesburg from which 
 to shepherd our constituency on the Rand; the purchase of a farm property between Eliza- 
 bethville and Kambove, as the site for the Institute which is planned for Central Africa; 
 one such Institute being planned for each conference; the development in real strength of 
 the schools, the college, and the Bible School in Liberia, in harmony with the plans of the 
 lamented Bishop Camphor; and the increase of staff and resources for all these fields which 
 in spite of the devotion of many decades are still in urgent need of the Church’s money and 
 men and prayers. 
 
 The Centenary has made reenforcements possible. Some are on their way; we need 
 more. Instructions and funds have gone forward for the building of hospitals and homes 
 and other investments. An expert study of educational conditions in the Congo is to be 
 made, in the promotion of which the Centenary permits our Board to participate. 
 
 In the more rapid summary which follows, it is in my mind that the Church is far 
 more familiar with the great fields concerned than with the new and little known work 
 already noted. In all these fields the processes outlined for the Centenary program are 
 going forward rapidly and resistlessly. 
 
 Japan and Korea 
 
 In Japan: strengthening staff and property interests at Aoyama for the great school 
 and college and the Theological school; purchase of property at Hakata for a strong church 
 center; building up the church and social institute at Akonoura, a shipping and industrial 
 community across the bay from Nagasaki; securing property at Maebara, Kyushu; develop¬ 
 ing the church and social settlement in Asakusa, Tokyo; placing missionaries once more in 
 Hirosaki and Hakodate, and pressing the evangelistic work. In Korea special advance is 
 checked by political conditions. We are prepared to press forward two new buildings for 
 Pai Chai, our boys’ school in Seoul, to build chapel and social center for Chosen Christian 
 College; to proyide new missionaries’ residences. The disaster to the home of Bishop and 
 Mrs. Welch, which was recently completely destroyed by fire, must be repaired, and the 
 
cost of rebuilding the Theological School which suffered in like manner a year or more 
 ago must be met in our partnership with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Import¬ 
 ant to the Korean Christians, who have subscribed most generously for the building of 
 the small churches which are in the Centenary program for their homeland is the pay¬ 
 ment of the pledges from the Home Base. The strong program for Korea will go forward 
 in its completeness as soon as political conditions permit. 
 
 China 
 
 The Centenary has made possible the adequate participation of the Methodist Epis¬ 
 copal Church in the four great union universities in China. Obligations have been assumed 
 for the necessary increases of staff, and for our share in capital investment for grounds 
 and buildings. The larger plans for land and buildings for the Anglo-Chinese College at 
 Foochow are already in process. The secondary schools in the several centers are shaping 
 their programs upon the bases of the Centenary, and requisitions for funds must be met. 
 The hospitals at Peking, Changli, Taian, Wuhu, Chungking, Chengtu, Nanking, and other 
 points,—union, cooperative, or entirely our own,—have programs which are working rapidly 
 toward large use of funds which Centenary income must supply. Only two or three weeks 
 since drafts for $40,000 from North China were honored. The China Medical Board coop¬ 
 erates dollar for dollar for the buildings, equipment, and staff at Wuhu. They are ready to 
 advance; we plan to go forward. A new Conference has been created of the Amoy-speak- 
 ing Chinese, formerly in the Hinghwa Conference. The funds to promote the schools and 
 churches are required and will be sent on. The rapid growth of work in Yenping Confer¬ 
 ence is stimulated by the Centenary pledges and the money is required. Institutional 
 churches are being developed at Foochow, Nanking, and Nanchang, and are planned for six 
 other cities. For Nanchang an appropriation of $20,000 has been made for the present 
 year. Certain phases of work hitherto maintained by special gifts come now for support 
 upon the Centenary funds. 
 
 China has a great program which is in large part the expansion of its regular work 
 and that expansion claims at once, aside from specific projects, the funds which the Church 
 has promised. The pressure of these needs and the response to them are not spectacular; 
 they are constant and become a routine of fine development which the Centenary has made 
 possible. Authorization has been given for the purchase of property in Shanghai where the 
 Bishop and a small colony of missionaries must have residences. $25,000 have been allo¬ 
 cated to the school for missionaries children as our share in the participation—a most 
 important enterprise. The promotion of literature is receiving a generous support. The 
 general education work is being promoted. 
 
 An expanding program in China is being even now developed, and the individual 
 projects which stand out more vividly in our imagination will from time to time appear 
 with their urgent appeal. 
 
 South Eastern Asia 
 
 The immediate projects in this great area, aside from the increase of staff which in 
 Malaysia and the Netherlands Indies, is imperative, are educational. For Singapore to 
 forward the Anglo-Chinese College for which $500,000 from the Home Base were placed 
 in the Centenary askings, requisition for one-tenth of that amount has been already made. 
 The secondary schools in the Straits Settlement are in greatest need of better equipment, 
 staff, and curricula and this all means money which must straightway be provided, if the 
 schools are to maintain their standing with the British Educational authorities. The staff 
 for evangelistic work among Mohammedans is being enlarged; missionaries being in prepa¬ 
 ration in this country to be sent out this year. In the Philippines, operations for schools and 
 hostels are pending and the project of a union college is urged. Already advances have 
 
been made to the Netherlands Indies for several pressing institutional needs and the program 
 for hospital expansion on a larger scale is now being developed. Soon concrete proposals 
 will be before us and they are sure to have in them the financial content. The plans call 
 for nine hospitals, one sanitarium and ten doctors. The Dutch Government will provide 
 three-fourths of the cost of hospitals and staff. 
 
 India 
 
 The Centenary made possible largely increased appropriations to India. These go 
 forward month by month. Special attention is being given to the mass movement areas 
 and to the Training Schools in connection with the village work. The new proposals in 
 educational policy for India mean unmistakably for the Methodist missions the develop¬ 
 ment of our schools to a point of unexcelled efficiency, both in standards of work and in 
 character of personnel. 
 
 In the total Centenary askings for India, $3,219,441 were set down for education. 
 Of this the sum of $1,554,951 is assigned to additional property and equipment, $717,490 
 for maintenance and $947,000 for endowment. The program, which is now being set 
 in motion, includes the opening of many additional village schools, the building of hundreds 
 of houses for Christian teachers who are to be sent out into the villages, the erection of 
 additional missionary residences for the staff that will be required, the increased plant 
 and equipment for primary and secondary education, the replacing of Hindu and Moham¬ 
 medan teachers by Christian men, the founding of scholarships for Christian students. To 
 all this must be added a satisfactory policy and provision for the very complex work of 
 the industrial institutions. 
 
 Under the executive leadership of Dr. B. T. Badley, Indian Methodism is promoting 
 a great Centenary program to culminate in the fall of 1921. This the Home Base Cen¬ 
 tenary is stimulating with funds and counsel. The extraordinary work of E. Stanley Jones 
 among the high-class Hindus and Mohammedans is maintained by Centenary funds. The 
 slowly but surely developing centers at Delhi and Ghaziabad look to the Centenary for 
 early financing. In Burma new school property has been bought. The Madras press build¬ 
 ings partly destroyed by fire must be restored so that with the press at Lucknow a Chris¬ 
 tian Literature program, properly endowed, may be set up as a permanent force among these 
 people of many languages and dialects. School property at Lahore is long overdue. 
 The appeal for new missionaries is insistent. We are sending them as fast as we can get 
 them. When the revised budgets, made up on the basis of the actual appropriations, 
 appear, it will be more clear than now just what are the preferences in special projects; 
 that they will be listed up to the full provision of appropriation and authorization no one 
 doubts. At the Home Base we must be prepared for them and that means, not pledges, 
 not surveys, but- Funds. 
 
 Latin-America 
 
 There is Costa Rica, our latest mission field, ready for new land and school build¬ 
 ing. Panama is putting on a larger and more effective program. In Mexico we must 
 meet the requisition for the Union Theological School property in Mexico City, for the 
 properties taken over from the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for the new properties 
 at Guanajuato, and Queretara, and other investments authorized for which payment is 
 or is soon to be due. There is the new medical work in Mexico City. Five new mission¬ 
 aries are to go out this year. The South American projects are familiar; the property and 
 equipment for schools in La Paz and Cochabamba, in Lima and Iquique, in Santiago and 
 
Concepcion, the Bunster Farm of 3,700 acres, with its great industrial possibilities in train¬ 
 ing Chilean peons in modern agricultural methods, the educational projects in the Argentine 
 and Uruguay, “the social institution” in Montevideo, the larger agricultural enterprise at 
 Mercedes, the general plan for Medical work, including five hospitals for one of which in La 
 Paz property has already been purchased; and the proposal for presses and literature, some 
 of them to be developed in cooperation with other denominations, the new mission to the 
 Indians, and the tentative program for re-entering Ecuador for which the first appro¬ 
 priation has been made. These are no longer dreams; they are a part of the program of 
 progress in South America, and, though, but two months of 1920 have gone by, the enthus¬ 
 iasm in the leadership of South America for ready funds is pronounced and immediate. 
 If that enthusiasm is honored, the Board’s treasury must be supplied promptly and 
 generously. 
 
 Here, then, for the foreign fields of our Church is the meaning, in present day 
 terms, of the Centenary achievement. Christendom in its history since the first century 
 has not known a greater movement. Under its sweep the foreign mission enterprise for 
 the Methodist Church ceases to be a venture and becomes a program. We are in the first 
 months of that program. To push it forward to success will require inexorable patience, 
 undaunted courage, the joy of self-sacrifice, faith that rests upon an Eternal Strength, 
 and the unshaken confidence of the Church in itself and in its Divine Leader. But, if we 
 will, all these are ours! 
 

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