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 THE WAR RELIEF FUND OF THE 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH 
 
 THE 
 
 REASON 
 
 WHY 
 
 TO BE ADMINISTERED BY THE 
 BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 
 ISO FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
 
THE REASON WHY 
 
 ^ 
 
 A Statement Regarding the War Relief Fund of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Beginnings 
 
 Soon after the outbreak of the War the 
 Board of Foreign Missions was deluged with 
 calls of distress from all parts of the world, 
 and especially from the countries of Europe. 
 
 The Board had available the balance of its 
 customary Emergency Fund, but this would 
 suffice only for the ordinary emergencies aris¬ 
 ing during a normal year. This fund was 
 manifestly inadequate for such a world up¬ 
 heaval. Hence the call for a ^^Methodist War 
 Belief Fund” was issued by the Board in the 
 early stages of the War. 
 
 On November 2, 1914, the Board of Bishops 
 published to the Church their endorsement 
 of this appeal and made supplementary recom¬ 
 mendations as to the plan. 
 
 The Itemized Budget 
 
 The General Committee of Foreign Mis¬ 
 sions, comprising the Bishops, a ministerial 
 and a lay representative from each of the fif¬ 
 teen General Conference Districts, and fifteen 
 representatives elected by the Board of Foreign 
 Missions, adopted on November 10th a budget 
 and an appeal calling for a Fund aggregating 
 $225,500 for the relief of distress and to meet 
 the world-wide emergency. 
 
 This total was not the result of a haphazard 
 guess nor a general estimate. The Standing 
 Committees on the several countries went 
 carefully over the situation in the divisions 
 committed to them and submitted independent 
 
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reports. The items as approved by the General 
 Committee are as follows: 
 
 Germany . $42,500 
 
 Austria-Hungary . 7,500 
 
 Switzerland . 2,000 
 
 Scandinavia . 10,000 
 
 Finland . 2,000 
 
 Russia . 5,000 
 
 Bulgaria . 3,000 
 
 Prance . 15,000 
 
 Italy . 5,000 
 
 Belgium . 18,000 
 
 Total for Europe.$110,000 
 
 South America . $12,000 
 
 Africa . 25,000 
 
 Eastern Asia . 22,500 
 
 Southern Asia. 53,000 
 
 Mexico . 3,000 
 
 Total for Other Lands.$115,500 
 
 Grand Total .$225,500 
 
 Its Purpose 
 
 With regard to the purpose of this Fund the 
 General Committee recorded itself as follows: 
 ^^No part of the War Relief Fund will be used 
 for the regular work of the Board. It stands 
 alone to meet a crisis—^to save from the 
 emergency of disaster people and churches 
 whose servants we are in the Gospel of our 
 compassionate Lord.” 
 
 It is not possible within the limits of this 
 pamphlet to enter into the details of the 
 emergencies that have arisen throughout all 
 the mission fields occupied by the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. Where further informa¬ 
 tion is desired the Corresponding Secretaries 
 will gladly answer inquiries. 
 
 It may occasion surprise to some that coun¬ 
 tries not actually engaged in war should be 
 included in measures for War Relief. Some of 
 the circumstances which led the General Com¬ 
 mittee to its decision are clearly set forth in 
 the following paragraphs under ^‘WAR CON¬ 
 DITIONS.” 
 
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For Instance 
 
 Dr. B. M. Tipple of Rome writes to the 
 Board from Udine, just across the Austrian 
 frontier in Italy—^^Yesterday I counted at the 
 station about two hundred refugees who were 
 just in from Russia and the Balkans. What a 
 sight they were! Mothers with children in 
 arms; fathers with lines of suffering and 
 anxiety furrowed deep in their faces; old folks, 
 bent and feeble, from whose eyes the fire of 
 courage and hope had passed. A sort of dull, 
 dumb stupor possessed them. What will they 
 do in these coming winter days? How will 
 they eat ? Where will they find shelter ? There 
 they were huddled together in that cold, barren 
 station, sheep without a shepherd, poor, pre¬ 
 cious people without a country. It is calcu¬ 
 lated that there are now in Italy five hundred 
 thousand of these homeless people, to be cared 
 for—by whom 
 
 WAR CONDITIONS 
 
 Germany and Austria-Hungary 
 
 In Germany and Austria-Hungary the 
 Methodist churches are very largely deprived 
 of their regular pastors, while the churches 
 themselves continue in a larger tide of life 
 than before the War. Arrangements must be 
 made for the carrying on of services, for the 
 support of the absent preachers’ families, and 
 for all the expenses that gather about churches 
 as living institutions. 
 
 Meanwhile the sustaining membership is 
 largely in the army. Many of the bread¬ 
 winners of the congregation and membership 
 have been killed, leaving distressed widows and 
 orphans. Others have returned wounded, 
 maimed, unfit for war, and equally unfit to 
 resume their normal occupations. 
 
 The great indebtedness on church property, 
 whose interest must be met if the churches 
 are to survive at all, has been a great burden 
 at the best; now it is intolerable. In many 
 cases the properties are threatened; the 
 
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churches are in danger of being lost to the 
 denomination. 
 
 Tkance 
 
 In France great pressure is upon the young 
 Methodist Church to undertake relief measures 
 both for its own membership and for the 
 neighborhood. If we are to secure the good 
 will of the people for the future and to prove 
 that we are a worthy addition to the religious 
 forces of the republic, we must show our¬ 
 selves friendly and helpful at this time. There 
 is need to open a small orphanage and to 
 undertake other measures of immediate relief. 
 
 Belgium 
 
 We have no direct mission work in Belgium, 
 but our people are greatly stirred over the 
 calamities of this stricken land. Here is the 
 acute center of disease, hunger, all manner of 
 suffering and deep distress. There must be 
 expenditures, through channels to be selected 
 by the Board, not for the creation of a mission 
 but for the Christlike exercise of the great 
 compassion that fills our people^s hearts. 
 
 Italy 
 
 While Italy is not at war the church suffers 
 from the mobilization of the army, and the 
 return to Italy of hundreds of thousands of 
 poor Italians who have been working in Ger¬ 
 many, Austria-Hungary, and France. Many 
 of our Italian pastors are in the army, while 
 their families are left behind, and substitutes 
 must be secured for the carrying on of the 
 regular work of the churches. The cost of 
 living is excessive, and the interest rates on 
 the Mission's large loans have been increased. 
 
 Scandinavia 
 
 A partial mobilization exists in Scandinavia 
 and the wheels of commerce have almost en¬ 
 tirely stopped. Scandinavian carrying trade, 
 a large source of income, is increasingly 
 threatened, and there is the almost total 
 
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collapse of ordinary financial plans. The 
 great Jerusalem Church in Denmark, and the 
 people in the churches of all Scandinavia, 
 must have special relief. 
 
 Eussia 
 
 Our Eussia Mission, though not large, holds 
 fine potentialities and is placed where there 
 is great opportunity for relief work amongst 
 tens of thousands of Eussians and Finns. Our 
 new property is now being used as a hospital, 
 while the number of people in acute distress 
 is increasing. 
 
 Bulgaeia 
 
 The people of Bulgaria, so recently afflicted 
 by their own war, are living in a state of con¬ 
 stant uncertainty. They are hoping and pray¬ 
 ing that they may not be drawn into this 
 European maelstrom. Their connections with 
 the outside world are practically severed. The 
 country is under military rule and a mora¬ 
 torium has been established to meet the finan¬ 
 cial crisis. Dr. Count writes: revival such 
 
 as Bulgaria has not hitherto experienced is 
 now in progress. People are uniting with the 
 Church every Sunday.’^ 
 
 Stvitzeeland 
 
 The Swiss army is mobilized, the churches 
 stripped of both preachers and sustaining 
 members, while trade, so largely dependent 
 upon great bodies of tourists, is stationary. 
 Switzerland, ordinarily a prosperous land and 
 exceedingly thrifty, is financially at a stand¬ 
 still. 
 
 ISToeth Afeica 
 
 North Africa is really a hinterland of 
 Europe and matters here are very acute. The 
 one important factor in the case is the pres¬ 
 ence of the American missionaries. It may 
 be fairly said that the cause of Christ is visibly 
 represented by them, and by them alone, to 
 
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the Moslem mind in this most critical hour. 
 The rates of exchange have risen high, and 
 the distress from poverty is exceedingly great. 
 
 Africa 
 
 For the remainder of Africa we are from 
 day to day awaiting with bated breath, not 
 knowing what calamities may be overtaking 
 the lands from the invasion of European 
 forces, and still worse, from native outbreaks. 
 Prices have doubled and trebled; rates of ex¬ 
 change are high; our missionaries are seriously 
 perplexed. 
 
 South America 
 
 South America is almost prostrated. Self- 
 support and government subventions have been 
 so suddenly threatened with arrest that our 
 schools are in danger, and the carrying on of 
 the Mission on anything like the scale on 
 which it moves in normal times is most diffi¬ 
 cult. Eates of interest have become very high, 
 exchange is troublesome and expensive and 
 prices have advanced almost out of reason. 
 
 India 
 
 India has four factors entering into war 
 difficulties. First: the Government has begun 
 to withdraw portions of the grants made to 
 our schools for educational purposes. The 
 whole school system of Methodism has begun 
 to sujffer, and is threatened with still larger 
 perplexity from further withdrawal or lessen¬ 
 ing of government grants. Second: the rise 
 in prices is marked and the tendency is still 
 upward. Third: the loss in exchange is very 
 considerable; immediately after the war broke 
 out, it ran as high as 16 per cent. Fourth: 
 the local resources are necessarily cramped. 
 So large is the volume of our work in India, 
 and so considerable the factors of local finance, 
 that financial dislocation promises the utmost 
 confusion tmless special relief is afforded. 
 
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Malaysia 
 
 Malaysia is more dependent than any of our 
 foreign fields on local resources, for it has 
 achieved a large degree of self-support. This 
 makes the interruption of trade and the short¬ 
 age of government help in the schools a most 
 serious matter. Exchange has risen and prices 
 have doubled. 
 
 Philippine Islands 
 
 While unrelated to the war in a direct way, 
 the Philippine Islands feel the effects acutely. 
 There has been a marked increase of prices 
 with such a cessation of commercial activity 
 as entails both suffering upon the people and 
 deep concern upon the missionaries. 
 
 Japan 
 
 Japan, engaged in war itself, has seen a 
 marked cessation of business activities and 
 considerable rise in prices. Besides, the 
 Church in Japan is in the midst of a great 
 three years^ evangelistic movement which was 
 being largely financed by the Japanese them¬ 
 selves. This most hopeful movement has 
 given promise of affecting the nation as never 
 before. The War throws this out of gear, and 
 makes in addition to the other causes named 
 a necessity for at least temporary relief. 
 
 China 
 
 China both governmentally and commer¬ 
 cially is greatly embarrassed. Much of the 
 noble work of the Methodist Church in that 
 great republic is cut off from local resources 
 which were being most admirably gathered in. 
 Prices have risen and exchange is high. 
 
 Koeea 
 
 Korea, the most distressed mission field of 
 all Eastern Asia, suffers from the same causes 
 as China. Increase of rates of exchange, stag¬ 
 nation of business, rise in prices—all this at 
 
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a time when the tide of religious interest 
 returns to a signally high level. 
 
 Mexico 
 
 The situation in Mexico is worse than at 
 any time since the present revolutionary dis¬ 
 turbance began. Many of the channels of 
 export and import between Mexico and 
 Europe have been closed. The fact of Euro¬ 
 pean war has made some of the Mexicans feel 
 that the United States would under no cir¬ 
 cumstances interfere in Mexico. The with¬ 
 drawal of our troops may accentuate this feel¬ 
 ing. 
 
 With government still unsettled, railroads 
 dismantled, and ordinary business concerns 
 idle, the commercial situation is very depress¬ 
 ing. Within the past few months one of our 
 preachers narrowly escaped death at the hands 
 of a firing squad; another was imprisoned on 
 the false charge of compelling his pupils to 
 salute the American flag; accusations of in¬ 
 cendiarism were made against a third; two of 
 our ministers have been robbed of all they 
 possess, and one of our local preachers has 
 been shot. The work of our Church in Mexico 
 has gone ahead, but it has done so in the face 
 of fearful obstacles. 
 
 A WoKLD Eevival 
 
 We are not herein sounding a note of pessim¬ 
 ism. The fields were never so ripe unto har¬ 
 vest. In all these lands there is a marked 
 turning toward God. The Church of God is 
 being challenged to heroic and fruitful en¬ 
 deavor as never before. We believe that the 
 same God who is moving the hearts of the 
 multitudes throughout the world will also lead 
 us out of our overwhelming and unprecedented 
 financial difiiculties. 
 
 WHY A METHODIST FUND ? 
 
 Why project a War Eelief Fund under the 
 auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church? 
 
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Why not contribute exclusively to the several 
 funds of a public character ? 
 
 BECAUSE the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church has in its organized life an effective 
 agency for collecting funds without additional 
 expense. 
 
 BECAUSE in the Board of Foreign Mis- 
 sions we have an experienced and official 
 medium for receiving and administering the 
 funds. 
 
 BECAUSE each Foreign Conference ha& 
 a standing Finance Committee which can 
 tabulate the needs and equitably distribute 
 the funds under the supervision of the res¬ 
 ident Bishop and the Superintendents of 
 Missions, as in France, Kussia, Austria, and 
 Bulgaria. 
 
 BECAUSE the missionaries of the Meth¬ 
 odist Episcopal Church constitute an organ¬ 
 ized army for the administering of financial 
 and spiritual relief. They are on the ground 
 and speak the language of the people. 
 
 BECAUSE the missionaries will be able 
 to conserve the fraternal relations thus estab¬ 
 lished for the further strengthening of the 
 Kingdom of Christ. 
 
 BECAUSE our Church has more work in 
 Europe and around the world than any other 
 American denomination. 
 
 BECAUSE this is the means whereby the 
 most effective relief can be brought to the needs 
 of our own fiock. 
 
 BECAUSE we stand on the threshold of 
 a world-wide revival of religion. Our people 
 must be heartened and helped and our prop¬ 
 erties saved from embarrassment or loss if we 
 would face the opportunities of to-morrow with 
 adequacy and power. Methodist work must be 
 safeguarded with Methodist funds. 
 
 Hence the conclusion of the General Com¬ 
 mittee: ^^Methodist people can best serve the 
 cause of their fellow Methodists and of Chris¬ 
 tianity at large by remitting their gifts for 
 special War Belief through the agency of their 
 own Church.^^ 
 
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THE EESPONSE 
 
 In the presence of this gigantic task the 
 pastors of the Methodist Episcopal Chnrch 
 are asked to devise means whereby the chil¬ 
 dren, the young people, the men^s and women’s 
 organizations and the entire membership of 
 their respective churches may be enlisted in 
 behalf of this War Eelief Fund. 
 
 Safeguakds 
 
 It should of course be clearly understood 
 that this is NOT THE EEGULAE OFFEE- 
 ING FOE THE BOAED OF FOEEIGN 
 MISSIONS, nor is any part of the Fund to 
 be used for its regular work. The offerings 
 of the congregations and of the Sunday School 
 should be especially safeguarded at this point. 
 Otherwise the regular income of the Board 
 will suffer. 
 
 Distribution of Funds 
 
 Money designated by donors for any country 
 outside of Europe will be distributed by our 
 representatives in that country. 
 
 In the respective European countries the 
 funds will be distributed through Methodist 
 District organizations and our local relief com¬ 
 mittees. 
 
 Undesignated funds received for War Ee¬ 
 lief will be assigned to various countries ac¬ 
 cording to the greatest need, by a committee 
 of the Board of Foreign Missions composed of 
 fifteen members. 
 
 Eemittances 
 
 Checks and money orders should be made 
 payable to George M. Fowles, Treasurer, and 
 forwarded to the Board of Foreign Missions, 
 150 Fifth Ave., New York City, specifying 
 that the money is for War Eelief. Suitable 
 acknowledgment will be made from this office 
 
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and a ^^Special Gift’^ voucher sent for the 
 amount. 
 
 THE BOAED OF FOKEIGN MISSIONS. 
 Luther B. Wilson, President, 
 
 S. Earl Taylor, 
 
 William F. Oldham, 
 
 Frank Mason North, 
 
 Corresponding Secretaries, 
 December, 1914. 
 
 Additional copies of this pamphlet, in small quantities, 
 can be had for the cost of postage, namely 2 cents 
 each, or 25 cents per hundred. 
 
 13 
 
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