m. If- MitK, Linking Nations NATIONAL BOARD of the YOUNG WOMENS CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 600 LEXINGTON AVENUE NEW YORK 1916 Linking Up tke Nat ions A Sketcli of the Work Directed by tke Foreign Secretaries Financed ty the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Associations of the United States. Xke ^A^orld s Young ^Women s Ckristian Association THE YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION Is the most interna- tional, most inclusive in faith, broadest in scope and most democratic or- ganization of women ift the world. It Is an affiliation of national. groups, through which the work of the Young Women's Christian Associations is done. Its headquarters are in London. The World's Association is a clearing house and council of reference in all matters affecting Association work in two or more countries. The World's Committee is composed of 74 members, representing 23 different countries. This committee takes the initiative in opening work in unorganized nations. The resident executive committee of the World's Association is British. The general secretary is an American. Eighteen countries With organized national work have part in the World's Association, and scattered branches are found in twenty-two additional countries. Every four years is held a conference of World's Associations. The last con- ference was in Stockholin, Sweden, June 10-18, 1914. The membership of the World's Association is 780,000. The membership in the United States is 348,149. The number of branches is about 8,000. Five National Committees are assisting (through the secretaries sent out by their foreign departments) the extension of Association work in Asia, Africa and South America. Great Britain supplies 32 secretaries; Canada, 2; United States, 38; Australasia, 2; Sweden, 1. 2 United. States In the United States, the Young Women's Christian Association is under the direction of a National Board of thirty members, resident in New York City, and a numher of non-resident members who represent the eleven fields into which the Association of the country is divided. The number of city Associations is 250, of student Associations 732, of county Associations, 17, of town Associations, 1-. The total being 1,000 organizations. During 1915 there were held fifteen summer conferences, with an enrollment of 4,592, representing 538 colleges and 223 cities and 17 counties. The budget of the national work is $490,000, of which $48,487 is assigned for foreign work. The foreign department supports thirty-eight secretaries in non-self-sup- porting countries. Secretaries are appointed to a foreign post on request from the national committee of that country. They are directed in their work abroad by the national committee of the country to which they go. Members of the Foreign Department: Miss Maude Daeniker Mrs. R. A. Dorman Mrs. John French Mrs. Thomas S. Gladding Miss Gertrude MacArthur Miss Anna McClintock Mrs. Frederick Mead Miss Margaret Mead Mrs. John R. Mott Miss Annie Reynolds Mrs. Finley J. Shepard Mrs. Augustus B. Wadsworth Mrs. James Augustus Webb, Junior Miss Margaret Burton Miss Susan Clute Miss Bertha Conde Miss Caroline B. Dow Miss Clarissa H. Spencer Miss Harriet Taylor 8 Japan The modern development of Japan, while distinctly material, has resulted also in an ever-increasing spiritual hunger and thirst, which becomes more and more evident. The Industrial enterprises of Japan during the past fifteen years have en- rolled a half million of women, who are unprovided with safeguards against the physical and spiritual menace of unwonted industry, either by training or by law. For five years Osaka, Kyota, and Sendai have been waiting for organiza- tion and secretaries. The call has come from the united Christian workers of these great cities. During the past few years thousands of Japanese women have been emi- grating to the United States. Two hundred per month is the record of the past year. These women, the so-called picture-brides, come from country districts, and are unprepared for the complex life of our country. The Japanese Asso- ciation plans for cooperative care of these women before leaving Japan and on their arrival in America. The Japanese National Committee directs its work in an area about half the size of California, but with a population of half that of the United States. Of the women, 35,000 are Protestant Christians. Twenty-four Associations form the national body, twenty of these are stu- dent branches. The total membership for Japan is 2,673. The student confer- ence for 1915 was attended by 184 delegates. 4 THE NEW TOKYO BUILDING Tokyo Tokyo continues to the popular student center for Japan, and thousands of girl students claim the interest of the Christian forces of the city. The ma- jority of men students in the Imperial University write themselves as agnostic, and this is true of women as of men. The Tokyo Association occupies, with the national offices, a new building completed in December, 1915, at a cost of $26,000, including land and furnish- ings. This was the gift of friends in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Japan. The building includes a gymnasium, used also as an audience hall, accommodating 300 persons, large parlors, library, dining room, household sci- ence kitchen, class rooms, offices, and a dormitory for sixteen girls. In. addition to this building, the Tokyo Association directs two student hos- tels, enrolling undergraduate students from more than half of the government schools of the city. Neighborhood House is the Association settlement, whose activities include a kindergarten of forty-five poor children, a Sunday school numbering up to 150, a bi-weekly parents' meeting, English classes and music. Travelers' Aid cared for 130 girls last year, housing them in the Trav- elers' Aid home, and placing 180 girls in positions during the past two years. Fifteen Bible classes, four English, three gymnasium, one cooking, and one flower arrangement class meet weekly. REACHING THE MOTHERS THROUGH THE CHILDREN 6 Yokok ama Eight thousand Japanese women are engaged in the shops, offices and other industries of this most important port of Nippon. Owing to the demand of employers and employees, the Association began an indigenous work in this city to provide, especially for the young women of superior ability, protection and educational facilities. A building has been rented, with both .Japanese and American secretaries in charge. Here an increasing number make use of the reading, lunch and rest rooms provided. English conversation and reading classes, Instruction in foreign etiquette, typewriting, piano and machine sewing are given, and Bible classes are multi- plying. A Sunday school is conducted by some of the members for children of the neighborhood and those of families of jinriksha men and janitors. The location of the Association in Yokohama is advantageous for the es- tablishment of a bureau In co-operation with the .Japanese authorities for giv- ing advice and help to women emigrants and to provide them witii literature explaining conditions into which they are going. It is planned also to establish, an American home in the port with an American woman at its head to demon- strate our customs, care of children, dress, the use of tables and beds, to which these Japanese women are wholly strangers. REST AND LUNCH ROOMS 7 India, Burma and Ceylon Those three names of parts of the British Empire of the Bast include many peoples of many customs and languages. Officially, English is generally em- ployed, but Indian women are little acquainted with its use. There are, however, in addition to the Indian peoples, important communi- ties of British people resident in India and a large number of Anglo-Indians of mixed Indian and European ancestry. Until recently the work of the Associa,- tion was planned almost exclusively for the latter two classes. "With the development of schools for girls and the universal sentiment among Indian men that their women must come into modern advantages, the vernacular, or work among purely Indian women, is gaining rapid headway. The Indian National Council supervises the work of 158 Associations, sixty- three city, sixty-five student, and thirty vernacular branches, with a member- ship of about 10,000. Scattered members in lonely stations have the care of the national office. In addition to the national secretary and a national office secretary, there Is need of several traveling student secretaries. The Sixth National Conference was held in Bombay in December of last year. It was attended by ninety-seven delegates from twenty-three Associa- tions. Student conferences are also held. The members, exclusive of student and vernacular members, contribute annually one rupee ($0.331 1/3) each toward the support of the national budget. Bombay Bombay is one of the oldest Associations in India and the first to own its Association building. The women of this city have been more progressive than those of many other cities owing to the large number of Parsees, whose women are allowed the greatest freedom of any of India's women. It was in Bombay that the great national Social Congress of 3,000 Hindus met, 1,000 of the delegates being Indian women. The problems of the confer- ence were largely those of women, caste, remarriage of widows, wedding dowers. The building of the Association combines offices and class rooms and home life for eighty-four residents. The membership of the five branches of the city is 801. Eleven weekly Bible classes enroll 297. The holiday home accommo- dates 130 yearly. The educational work includes commercial branches, cooking, first aid, home nursing, dressmaking, physical training, chorus work and the study of Hin- dustani. Special war relief work has been done in connection with the Associa- tion, and assistance given to the wives and children of those who are gone to the front as well as to the wives of interned prisoners. Here the offices of American women were most acceptable. A vernacular branch of 200 Marathi members has made by hand several dozen garments for the soldiers, they being too poor to own sewing machines. A MARATHI PICNIC 9 Madras > A STUDENT GARDEN PARTY It is always summer weather in sun-baked Madras, but the winters are ex- ceedingly pleasant. Numbered with its population are 3,000 Anglo-Indians. For twenty-one years the Association has had its work in the various sec- tions of its much-scattered area. Madras has a city and a student secretary from America. The latter has charge of several student branches as. well as the hostels for Indian students and one for medical girls. The city worker directs the central branch, with its hostels for business girls, and the various vernacular branches. The boarding home had eighty-eight boarders for the past year and a tran- sient list of 180 guests. The student department conducts numbers of Bible classes, a mission study class, as well as rallies and all-day parties for various groups of students. An explorer's club has been popular. 10 Calcutta MISSION BOARDING SCHOOL GIRLS This is the largest city on the eastern coast of India. The population is 1,000,000. Two Associations buildings have been erected, one ol' which is a boarding home. The Calcutta Association was organized in 1878, and includes city, student and vernacular departments. The Bible classes and meetings held in the three departments in 1915 brought together weekly or monthly during the year about 605 members, or about one-half the membership, which numbers 1,274. The home has an average daily residence of forty-six, with 248 visitors yearly. The family consists of teachers, typists, telephone operators, shop assist- ants and nurses waiting for posts. The educational department has an enrollment of 492 young women in thir- ty-four classes, also a commercial school with an enrollment of eighty-three students. The student department comprises ten branches in colleges and schools, a teachers' guild and graduate union, with a total membership of 435. The vernacular department includes work amongst both Bengali and Tamil women, in nine branches. 11 Lakore The Lahore Association has its home in a building supplied by America in memory of Miss Rebecca Morse, first secretary of the foreign department. The home contains a large gymnasium and room for twenty-five permanent residents and seven transient guests. The membership of Lahore Association is 431, ninety-eight of whom are studfents. The educational work has the financial support of the government, and in 1915 a number of candidates sent in papers to the local Punjab government drawing masters' examinations and to the London Chamber of Commerce examiners. Miss Annie 0. Lamb, who attended the National Training School in the United States, herself an Anglo-Indian, trained in the government schools, directs the commercial studies as well as classes in dressmaking, millinery and painting. The concerts, lectures, social gatherings and Bible study of the Associa- tion are a much appreciated part of the life in Lahore. MORSi; HALL 12 Singapore This Island, near the Equator, has a main ijopulatlon of Malays, Chinese, Indians and British. There is also a large Eurasian group. Each race has its peculiar problems, as well as separate schools, distinct customs and cherished religious beliefs. The Young Women's Christian Associa- tion has had a place in this varied life for many years, and after occupying rented quarters, has lately purchased a home, which is already crowded to its full capacity. Gov- ernment has granted the- use of adjoining land as a recreation ground. The Association has a good educational department, including home nursing and First Aid. It has also a commercial depart- ment, "With shorthand and typewriting. A SOCIAL HOUR lil-X l-ATH THK PALMS Bible class work is very strong, and in August, 1915, a house party for Chinese members was held. The program included Bible study, intercession and hymn singing. Spare time each day was spent in making bags for the hospitals in Alexandria, and sea bathing proved a delightful recreation. Over thirty members and children were in residence, and sixty other visitors came for a day. This house party was followed by a most successful party for Chinese mem- bers and friends at the Association. The other event of recent importance was the presentation of a flag by Lady Evelyn Young, wife of the governor, to the Association, and the awarding of prizes to the successful contestant in the First Aid contest. Our Association secretary recently made a single-handed study of the so- cial conditions of Singapore, with such effect that the governor of the colony has ordered sweeping reforms among the British and Malay population. 13 Ckina NEW PHYSICAL r.ll'K l AUGHT BY A CHINESE GIRL The work of the National Committee in China is developing rapidly in student and city centers. Three cities are organized, with two others ready for work as soon as secre- taries can be supplied. Forty-four student branches are active in Christian and non-Christian schools. During 1915 six summer conferences were held; two in North China, one for Yangtze Valley, one in Hangchow, one in Poochow, and the Training Con- ference in Canton. The total attendance was approximately 600. One result has been the beginning of what corresponds to our Bight-Week Club work in this country. There were a number of non-Christians in attendance, some of whom accepted Christianity at the conferences, while others were much impressed with Christian teaching. A national training school for physical directors has been lately opened. The recent May fete drew a crowd of more than 1,000 Chinese ladies inter- ested in doing things in a modern way. 14 Tientsin The Tientsin Association liad its birth at tlie time of the great revolution of 1911. In 1913 the Association was formally organized, with a membership of 26. In 1915, after a membership campaign conducted by the members, 318 new members were enrolled. The total membership now is 424. Of the membership, nearly 300 are non-Christian. Through Bible classes, special meetings and sum- mer conferences fifty-one have decided for the Christian life. Aside from paying all local e.Kpenses, money has been put aside looking to the purchase of a building site and the erection of a building. Tiiree Chinese secretaries, two of whom were related to Christianity through the Association, are now in charge of work for the one hundred girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty-two, now members of the Association, and as leaders in social and Bible study work. Tientsin is essentially a students' city, with schools everywhere, the most up to date in the nation. The first student branch in a government school was organized in the Tientsin Normal School. Seven teachers from government schools united with the church in 1915. RECKPTIOX LINE AT A GARDEN PARTY 15 Sliangkai Shanghai is the leading city of China, with a population of 1,500,000 Chinese and 18,000 Westerners. The Shanghai Association is the oldest in China. Its educational depart- ment is directed by a competent staff of Chinese teachers, and includes English conversation, typewriting, home science, Chinese and western cooking, drawing and gymnasium classes. Its budget is $2,225 yearly, raised from local sources. In a city where carriages and street cars are common, mass meetings for women are possible, and thousands attend special lectures. Eight neighborhood Bible classes are held, and each educational group has its Bible study class, and Sunday vesper services, attended largely by non- Christian women, are popular. The Association is at present located in a block of Chinese buildings, erected especially for its use and that of the National Committee, and the Training School for physical education. A recreation ground adjoins the houses. Under the Shanghai board is conducted the first supervised playground in China. The grounds are made available by the Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Nieh, who give their garden for this purpose twice weekly. A committee of Chinese ladies has the play in charge. 16 SOME MKMBERS OF, THE SHANGHAI CITY BOARD Canton Organized by Chinese ladies, tlie Canton Association is one of tiie most live in China. Tlie board has called two Chinese secretaries, one of whom was trained in the National Training School. Associated with them are three Amer- ican secretaries for this largest, most densely populated city of China. The headquarters of the Association are on the fifth floor of a modern office building on the river side. Pour other centers are essential to the proper de- velopment of the Association. A recent membership campaign increased the number of paid-up members from 58 to 218, 130 of whom are Christian. The present visible activities include: two hours a day class in English group meeting to play volley ball and drink tea; Sunday socials — indoor and out; a normal class in Christian fundamentals; Bible classes in Christian schools, and two neighborhood Bible classes; a series of lectures in five dis- tricts of the city; a Sunday vesper service reaching an attendance of 125. TRAINING CONFERENCE 18 Peking and Foockow These two cities, one the national capital, one the capital of a foremost province, have been waiting more than five years for organization. Peking is at present a center of language study, and four secretaries are In residence learning Mandarin. Three times the northern conference has gathered in the western hills just outside Peking, and its influence is being felt in the student life of the city. There are already two student Associations in mission schools, and much gen- eral interest is manifest among Chinese ladies. The northern capital is the Wellesley center for China, and it is here that Wellesley has supplied two secretaries, who will, on the completion of required language study, organize an Association, the nucleus of which they are gath- ering about them as they study. Foochow was the city that enterta:ined the first student conference held in China in 1907. In 1913, 500 government school girls signed on for Bible study, and sec- retaries were sent to do all that was possible without knowledge of the language. Last year a second student conference, attended by 115 delegates repre- senting 14 schools and 13 cities of the province, was held. The city still waits organization, toward which steps are under way. Through the Association of Detroit, funds are in hand to build a residence for secretaries in Foochow, which will also be a center for initial work, in the immediate future. 19 Turkey Before war's avalanche in Turkey, there were thirty Associations in the Turkish Empire, in city and schools. The membership was Protestant, Gregorian and Greek Orthodox. A General Committee lor Association work in the Turkish Empire has been organized, with a view to unified Bible and mission texts, a common magazine and a joint financial appeal. To-day the schools are dismantled and the students scattered, cities are de- pleted, and many of our members have died, or have been sent into desert exile, or immured in harems. Most heroic service has been performed by Miss Gage, our one secretary in Turkey, in war relief and In weary travel to Intercede for the safety of the girls in Marsovan. Her pleading being in vain, she with their principal, followed the girls into exile from place to place until after repeated effort those who remained were granted the privilege of safe return to Mar- sovan. Miss Gage is now In Constanti- nople, where she and the joint gen- eral committee for the Young Women's and the Young Men's Christian Associations are giving valuable aid in caring for such needj' people as remain in that city. What the future holds for the Turkish Association no one can pre- dict. Experience has shown that after each great combat women have had new social and educa- tional freedom. May this be the CONSTANTINOPLE future for these persecuted women. 20 SoutK America The Congress on Christian Work in Latin America, held in February, 1916, at Panama, emphasized the need for work among women in South America. The Young Women's Christian Association is already at work in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro, while invitations have come from other of South America's great cities for organization and secretaries. Buenos Aires has a population of one and one-half million, and is the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. It is an influential commercial center, and it is also very important educationally. The Young Women's Christian Association seeks to create for the young women of Buenos Aires a physical and moral environment that shall meet the needs of their cosmopolitan life. It has two departments, one for English-speaking members (382), and the other, the Argentine department (191), with a total membership of 573. The employment bureau and boarding home are two important agencies. The employment secretary had 1,359 interviews during the past year. The total number received in the home (September, 1914-15) was 584, of whom 143 were residents and 441 temporary boarders. The nationalities repre- sented were sixteen in number — British, French, Belgian, Dutch, Danish, Swed- ish, Swiss, German, Austrian, Argentine, Brazilian, Uruguayan, Chilean, Span- ish, Mexican, American. Bible classes, cooking, first aid, lectures and a department of legal advice are among the activities. The number of lunches served during one year was 19,061; to Argentines, 17,673; to others, 1,388. CHRISTIAN' FKI.LOWSHIP STUDYING ENGLISH 21 Otker Countries Affiliated "Witli Tke World's Liommittee Africa Flourishing Associations are to be found in Cairo and Alexandria, with homes and student branches. There are smaller Associations in Tunis and Port Said, an Association in Nairobi for European girls, and three Associations in West Africa for native girls. In South Africa there is a National Council, witli a number of well-developed city Associations for white girls, and a growing native and colored department. Australasia Australasia, including Australia and New Zealand, has eighteen city As- sociations, with strong work in the largest centers under a national council. An American secretary. Miss Helen F. Barnes, is its executive. There is a recently developed training school for secretaries and special work for girls. Austria-Hungary The Associations in these two countries are organized under separate Na- tional Committees. Associations exist in the smaller towns, but the strongest work is done in Vienna and Budapest, where there are homes for girls. Canada Canada, like the United States, has student and city departments, and a .promising immigration work, under the Dominion Council, its national com- mittee. Denmark Generally distributed but strong in proportion to the total population, the work in Denmark has a large place. A training course for workers was recently held. France The northern Associations, under the care of the French National Com- mittee, are almost entirely cut off from communication since the war. Much war relief has been done by valiant members throughout the country and by Associations not in the war zone, notably by the British-American Association in Paris. 22 Germany Next to America in numbers — over 200,000 — the German National Commit- tee has heavy responsibility. Special attention is being given to war relief, in- cluding the care of German refugee girls. German Association magazines, and there is one for each kind of member, have the largest circulation of any of our Association organs. Great Britain and Ireland Association work for women originated first in England in 1855. The Na- tional Council has seventeen departments of work. The membership is nearly 100,000. Recent developments include clubs of girls in military training centers, work for Belgian refugees, and for girls employed in munition factories. Holland and Switzerland The Association movement in these countries consists largely of weekly or fortnightly meetings of small branches of devoted Christian girls. The National Committee in Holland is developing girls' work, A strong Association exists in Geneva. Italy and Portugal The work for these two countries is organized under separate national com- mittees, having much the same problems. Italy has several homes and a re- cently organized Girl Guide movement. Much war relief work is being done. The Associations in Portugal are still in their beginnings. Norway and Sweden Associations exist in many towns in Scandinavia, the strongest being in such cities as Christiarda, Gotenberg and Stockholm. There is a national com- mittee in Sweden. Interest in missions and in work for factory girls is strong. Russia and Finland There are a number of Associations in the two countries, that in Russia being largely among German-speaking people. Excellent work being done, espe- cially in Helsingfors, Petrograd and Moscow. Very few Slavs have been reached in Russia, and the war has seriously interfered with Association activities. The Finnish National Committee has put special emphasis on summer camps for school girls and country girls. Work is also found in Greece, Malta, the West Indies and elsewhere. 23 American Secretaries on tlie Foreign Field INDIA Beatrice Cron Florence Denison Martha Downey Leia Guitner (on leave) Florence Bradley Lang (on furlough) Margery Melcher Laura Radford (on furlough) Mary E. Rutherford Alice Shields Martha C. Whealdon Myra Withers JAPAN Mary C. Baker Ruth Emerson Margaret Matthew Mary Page Ruth Ragan SOUTH AMERICA Persis M. Breed Irene Sheppard Elisa Cortez CHINA Jessie K. Angell Freeda Boss Harriet Boutelle Grace L. Coppock Helen Bond Crane (on leave) Lily K. Haass Helen Harshaw Katharine P. King Abby Shaw Mayhew Sophie H. Most Ruth Paxson (on furlough) Jean Paxton Edith Sawyer Theresa Sev«rin Harriet M. Smith Henrietta Thomson Catherine Vance Jane Ward Edith May Wells (on furlough) TURKEY Prances C. Gage 24