THE YEAR ONE OF THE SECOND CENTURY OF METHODIST FOREIGN MISSIONS FROM REPORT OF THE CORRESPONDING SECRETARIES BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH FRANK MASON NORTH S. EARL TAYLOR PRINTED AND SENT TO PASTORS BY ORDER EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS The Abbott Press New York The WorlcFwide Circle of Service of the Board of Foreign Missions 1,120 missionaries are maintained, 525 men and 595 women, a consecrated, trained, efficient body of men and women of whom the church is gratefully proud. On the various fields there are 14,430 native workers, in¬ cluding 1,559 ordained native preachers, 6,199 unordained native preachers, 3,010 other male workers, and 3,662 native female workers. Over half a million members and probationers in the Methodist Episcopal Church in foreign fields—235,530 full members and 269,601 probationers. In addition there are 132,263 baptized children, making a Christian community of 637,000. In 1919 there were 59,000 baptisms. The Board supports 12 Universities or Colleges, strategic¬ ally located to supply and train Christian leadership—having 135 teachers and 2,373 students. Sixty-five Theological and Bible Schools are supported, with 206 leaders and 1,786 students. Of these several are union institutions. One hundred and two High Schools with 1,102 teachers and attendance of over 15,700 students. Over 100,000 child¬ ren are under instruction in 2,726 elementary schools. More than 9,000 Sunday Schools give religious training to 405,000 children. There are 2,750 churches and chapels, estimated in value at more than $9,000,000. 1,664 parsonages and homes esti¬ mated in value at $2,724,898. Twenty-two publishing houses and presses are maintained, producing books and millions of pieces of Christian literature in more than a score of languages. Twenty-six hospitals are conducted. Surprising and heartening is the devotion and consecra¬ tion of this rising church in foreign lands, as shown in its contributions for the support and spread of the gospel. In 1919, $1,849,026 was contributed by the Methodist Episcopal Churches in foreign mission fields. 3 Financial Conditions at the Turn of the Year Procedure: The fiscal year of the Board of Foreign Missions ends October 31st. The condition of the treasury is reported to the Board at its Annual Meeting which is held soon after that date. The fiscal year in the foreign fields is usually the calendar year. Appropriations to the fields made by the Board at its Annual Meeting become effective for the ensu¬ ing field fiscal year. Last Year: At its Annual Meeting November 19-22, 1920, the treasurer reported to the Board for the first full Centenary year receipts (including $85,136 from legacies, lapsed annui¬ ties and interest on permanent funds) $6,166,989. While this amount was nearly three times greater than that received in any year previous to the Centenary period, it was but 63 per cent., of the total pledges for foreign missions, on which the program of expansion had been based. Out of this income the appropriations made at the previous annual meeting, $5,352,973, had been met, $812,160 had been paid on advances, chiefly for property investment in the mission fields in connection with the Centenary program and in anticipa¬ tion of the income expected and pledged, and $1,856 were carried forward as a balance on current account. The Current Year: The appropriations made by the Board at its last Annual Meeting were in amount the same as the receipts of the year then ending, as stated above, $6,166,989. Of this $600,000 were assigned to reduction of advances, $5,143,062 to field operations and $423,927 to expenses of administration (in¬ cluding in that general term both executive and home cultivation activities).* The budget for expenses as finally fixed by the Executive Committee (see next paragraph) is six and five-tenths per cent., which, in fact, is about equally divided between the executive and cultivation work. Further Adjustments: Since the adjournment of the Board’s Annual Meeting, by action of the Executive Committee and the general officers of the Board, through adjustments of appropriations, reduc¬ tions have been made in both home and field current budgets for the year, looking to the further payment of advances in the amount of approximately $700,000. Thus, even if the * (Note —Under the General Conference rules governing the Board’s procedure, the Board cannot appropriate in any one year an amount greater than the receipts of the previous year. Five months of the Centenary period were included in the year ending October 31, 1919. The surplus above expenditures which resulted, was applied, by action at the Annual Meeting December 5-8, 1919, to the payment of the Board’s share of the expenses of Centenary promotion and to losses in exchange.) 5 churches should provide for the Board’s work a sum no greater than that of last year, at least $1,300,000 should be available for the reduction of the obligations incurred by the advances made in confident expectation of the receipt of Centenary funds. Budgets and Advances: At the beginning of the year 1911-1912, the treasurer’s report showed that the current expenditures had at that date exceeded the current receipts by $121,382. This created a debt on the current account. During the past eight years both income and appropriations have annually increased, this debt has been extinguished and no year has closed with a deficit in the current budgeted operations of the Board. Nevertheless, obligations have been incurred in connection with the ever-expanding program, chiefly in relief work and by loans and advances for projects in the foreign fields, which would have been fully cared for if, instead of receiving sixty-three per cent, of the amount subscribed for foreign missions, the full Centenary expectation had been realized. Obligations—Analysis and Process: The obligations at the close of the fiscal year which pertain to the regular work of the Board were as follows: 1. Centenary and pre-Centenary advances on property account . $1,557,485 This will be reduced even if income no greater than that of last year is received, by at least $1,300,000. 2. Loss on Exchange . $483,372 This may be lessened by credits from favorable ex¬ change in both India and China where the losses have been chiefly incurred. Later, if not extinguished in this way, the amount must be provided in appropria¬ tions. 3. Advances on home properties . $416,931 These properties,—Wallace Lodge, Attleboro Sani¬ tarium, Mountain Lake Park, and Benson Springs,— were Centenary gifts and have a large asset value. Their actual missionary value a competent commission is now determining. The amount of these advances is amply covered by securities, designated annuities, and the equities in the properties. 4. Balance due on Columbus Celebration . $367,276 This is the Board’s proportion of what is actually a Centenary Cultivation expense. More than two-thirds of the amount is provided for in the appropriations for the current year. By the Board’s action three-fourths of all undesignated amounts received this year above the actual appropriations (Note —The difference between seventy-two per cent, stated by the treasurer of the Committee on Conservation and Advance to be the proportion received on Centenary pledges this year and sixty-three per cent, for the Board of Foreign Missions, as here given, lies in the deductions made for the apportionments of the other Boards and the costs of the work of the Council of Boards of Benevolence and its Committees, which are taken from the totals before division is made between the Home and Foreign Mission Boards.) 6 will be applied on advances and other obligations. An increase of even twenty per cent, over last year’s receipts would enable the Board to maintain and even expand its work, and at the same time liquidate every obligation in¬ curred in its promotion of the Centenary program for foreign missions whether expenses, loss in exchange or advances to the fields. A Special Problem: The Interchurch underwriting has been paid from funds borrowed in the banks. The amount of $1,050,000 includes $300,000 assumed by the Board for the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society. Like the Boards and Societies of our own and other churches, this Board has counted this total amount an obligation and was the first of the large Boards to meet it. The amount is considered as a suspense account item and measures are being taken to relieve our current account of any present embarrassment from it by arranging for a long time loan by which it may be carried until such time as the agreements with the Interchurch and the other underwriting agencies may be fulfilled. It is a most unwel¬ come, as it has been a most unexpected, financial burden. It is the earnest purpose of the Board to find ways of carrying it so as to avoid embarrassment to the current program and to plan for its liquidation without involving the Centenary offerings. If it is found that this cannot be done the Board and its officers will deal in utmost candor with the church whose representatives they are. Enforced Banking: The gifts of the church reach the Board’s treasury chiefly at the time of the Spring and Fall Conferences. Remittances to the fields for the maintenance budgets of the missions must be made monthly. For intervals of four or five months twice each year, between the Spring and Fall Conference sessions, in the absence of adequate regular payments direct from the churches, the Board has no recourse but to borrow from the banks. Add to this current requirement, which is not the choice of the Board but is forced upon it by the financial methods of the whole church, first, the obligations already referred to and, second, the acute banking conditions at the end of 1920 and the beginning of 1921 and the Board’s urgent appeal for the immediate and adequate payment of the Centenary pledges will seem not a cry of alarm, which it is not, but a challenge to duty, which it surely is. “ The End of the Matter”: Every existing financial problem can be promptly solved and the adequate Centenary program for foreign missions can be achieved if the church will give the Board its share of one hundred per cent, of the church’s Centenary pledge. F. M. N. 7 The Year One of the Second Century of Methodist Foreign Missions." W E bring to you a brief statement concerning the year one of the second century of Methodist Missions. It is the first complete year of the Centenary five-year period. The inexorable pro¬ cession of the months has brought our dreams, our plans, our successes to the test of Time. We still anticipate, for other years are coming. We may not cease to plan, for new occasions and new tasks await the Church. But that which now concerns us chiefly is realization. In these notes of an Around the World Inspection only a selection of facts and events can find place from the wealth of material assembled by the members of the foreign admin¬ istration staff, for whose fidelity, wide information and un¬ selfish co-operation, the Corresponding Secretaries welcome this opportunity to make grateful acknowledgment. In pre¬ paring the following review of the field work Secretaries T. S. Donohugh, Ralph A. Ward, Harry Farmer, A. B. Moss, and E. F. Lee have made most valuable suggestions. I.—BRIEF NOTES OF THE WORLD JOURNEY- SECOND MISSIONARY CENTURY—YEAR ONE. The trip will be taken not by trade routes but, as to latitude and longitude, zigzag. The inspected fields will appear in the order in which the Methodist Episcopal Church began work in them. In each of these main divisions are different races, nations, states, forms of government, languages, institutions, types of work, and, for us, the amazing story of that move¬ ment of the Spirit of God which through the decades past has brought into contact with this human life in its indescrib¬ able variety, the interpretation of the Gospel which we as Christians and Methodists know and teach. AFRICA (Excluding North Africa). The new Missionary Century found in Africa, for Meth¬ odism, the original mission in Liberia, with a history of seventy-seven years, and four others (excluding North Africa)—Angola, our western approach to the mysterious peoples and problems of the Great Continent, Rhodesia, on the high plateau, in British territory on the East Coast, * Because of the absence of Secretary Taylor on health leave, Secretary North is alone responsible for the form and contents of this report. 8 Inhambane, in Portuguese territory in the lowlands of the East Coast, and the Belgian Congo, a brave attempt of brave people to establish a Christian power house in the very centre of the Continent, the lower Belgian Congo,—under four different governments, in four varieties of climate, with transit methods from jungle trekking to the modern railroad, committed to every type of missionary service,—industrial, medical, educational, social, evangelistic—and peoples rang¬ ing from the savagery of the cannibal to the culture of the European. The Mission force in the five Conferences did not, in 1919, exceed fifty. The record thus far in 1920 of reinforce¬ ments either on the field, on their way, or about to sail, stands at thirty-nine, among whom are two doctors, eight trained nurses, one civil engineer and two graduates in agriculture. In addition to the house purchased in Johannes¬ burg, to include which the Inhambane work was extended early in the year, three new houses have been authorized in that Conference, where bad housing has been from the beginning a menace to the health and efficiency of the missionaries. The Hospital in Inhambane, started before the Centenary, is now completed and is the centre of an extraordinary medical work. In Old Umtali, Rhodesia, preliminary costs for a hospital which will require twenty- five thousand dollars to complete have been provided, and construction will start as soon as the architect-engineer reaches the field. Plans are being drawn for a ten thousand dollar hospital in Kapanga, in the lower Belgian Congo, which will be the only institution of its kind in the whole stretch of country dependent upon our Mission from Kambove, in the Congo, to Loanda, in Angola, a region crossed by Livingstone in one of his marvelous journeys. In this broad reach from Loanda eastward, set aside for Methodism by the dreams and prayers of William Taylor and staked out again by Bishop Johnson in his remarkable trek early this year, at least two new stations are planned, three hundred miles apart, by which the work on the Coast and that in the interior will be brought into contact. This will be done as soon as men can be spared and resources released for it. Adequately manned and equipped it will be the second line across Africa to repel the Mohammedan progress southward, the first being that re¬ markable group of missions which occupy the basin of the Congo from mouth to source. In Portuguese East Africa new territory is open for occupation from both our centres on the East Coast, Rhodesia and Inhambane. Almost at random other projects in the program may be set down: 9 In Liberia the Cox Memorial Institute will open on the St. Paul River at the site of the old White Plains and DeCoursey Missions. This will be one of the major projects to which Bishop Clair will give his attention on reaching the field early in 1921. Mrs. Camphor, who has returned to Liberia since the death of Bishop Camphor only two days after the close of our last Annual Meeting, has acted as treasurer and will continue to do so on the field. She will also open a school for girls for which there has been a great demand. An 8,000 acre property has been secured in Angola, at Quessua, for about $1,500, and definite proposals are under way to develop an agricultural and industrial institute at this point, perhaps the most healthful available for our mission work in that field. J. M. Springer, pioneer in this work in the Congo and founder of the Mission itself, is again on the field. Our Board is co-operating in a most important study of educa¬ tional needs and conditions in this Central African field. LATIN-AMERICA. Latin-America is a term inclusive almost to the point of peril. When Methodist work started in Argentina in 1836, the future of the great republics was not even guessed at. But two generations later liberal counsels pre¬ vailed in shaping the Centenary program and most effective direction of the field and resources from the home church have started many enterprises and have drawn the plans and specifications for a large constructive program. The East Coast. On the East Coast, where substantial properties are essential to prestige and permanence, Centenary funds have been most timely. The Ward School in Buenos Aires is developing rapidly beyond the limitations of a commercial school, it approaches the broader scope of a college. Twenty thousand dollars have been spent upon it. A new campus is being purchased and in the near future one hundred and fifty thousand dollars will be needed for new buildings. Through all the years there has been no missionary home in Buenos Aires. Thirty thousand dollars have been invested in land, on which homes are to be erected. The Bible Training School in Buenos Aires, faithfully main¬ tained, but stunted and inadequate, is now being developed on a fifty thousand dollar basis. Eastern South America has been woefully undermanned. At least three additional families should be sent out during 1921. Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, is developing very rapidly and we 10 should purchase a new campus for our Boys School at once, which will cost at least $50,000, and then as soon as possible provide $150,000 for a new building. The Swift and Armour people have great packing houses and employ an army of men and women. In the packing house district, known as the Cerro, we have opened a Pan- American Institute, which is established to meet the needs of the people by social and community methods. Money has been required for rent and staff and the demand will increase until adequate buildings are secured, for which provision is made in the Centenary surveys and which will be undertaken when the Church makes good its pledges. In Buenos Aires, the First Church has raised $100,000, and a large part of this is now waiting our appropriation. The church is ready to go ahead with its program of rebuilding the central plant, as well as completing the Orphanage and operating on a larger scale the farm at Mercedes as soon as the money from the church here is in sight. On the West Coast we have the inheritance of the schools founded by William Taylor, a fine but costly asset for the evangelical program. Chile. The work is more than fifty years old. During the Centenary period heavy advances have been cleared away but other commitments on the program have been made and must be promptly provided for. Our large schools in Iquique, Santiago and Concepcion must have new buildings and equipment if they are to hold their influence and become really great missionary institutions. In Santiago additional land is needed and a new building for our First Church. We join the Presbyterians in a Normal School in Valparaiso and for the building twenty thousand dollars must be ready when our partners are ready. We have in Chile fifty congregations with scarcely one building worthy the name of a church. It is planned with the co-operation of the people to put up five to ten chapels or small churches annually during the five years of the Centenary. The dispensary opened in Santiago is proving a great success and out of it should grow speedily the first Methodist hospital in South America—indeed the first hospital under evangelical auspices. The Bunster farm presents its prob¬ lems. It is a great investment and is yielding large results. Still it must be paid for and the advances upon it are to be met. The Training School for Boys will be pressed to larger realization as soon as funds are available. The Centenary in Chile has started much and completed little— time and the rest of the funds are the prime requisite. 11 Bolivia. The revolution seems not to have disturbed our schools at the capital, La Paz and Cochabamba. The officials point to our schools with pride, but without modern school build¬ ings our best efforts fall short and the morale and prestige are with great difficulty maintained. Land has been secured but, to hold our increasing clientele, suitable buildings must be provided. Delay here imperils our future influence. We have in our hands the training of the leaders of the people, if only equipment can be provided and staff maintained. As in Chile, heavy outstanding obligations have been cleared, but with the rubbish away, foundations must be laid and the structures of the larger enterprise erected. Churches in both cities are required and homes—at least five—for our missionaries. Peru. In Lima the site for a great hospital has been purchased. The Anglo-American Committee, which is in co-operation, has already raised a large sum toward the building. Metho¬ dism here must make good in an operation the total cost of which is estimated to be two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, though payment may be made over a period of years. In both Lima and Callao buildings are needed for our High Schools; in the latter city, land, long desired, has now been purchased. In Huancayo most satisfactory progress has been made and evangelistic opportunities open on every hand. Some have been met but at least three additional missionary families are needed and for them it will be necessary to procure homes, as rents are exorbitant. The year has greatly broadened the work in Peru and the stir of promise is in the hearts of our missionaries and our people. Panama. Come northward to Panama. Costa Rica has expanded in work and needs. It requires thirty thousand dollars for the salaries of missionaries, teachers and native preachers and otherwise to support our evangelistic and educational work. This means increase of force and forces. We have an important work at David and because we are the only American Mission working in Panama close relations are developing between our workers and the Union churches on the Canal Zone. With a central building in Panama City—a plant that would cost twelve to fifteen thousand dollars—in which a social service program might be set up, a large work could be done both for Panama City and Balboa, which is connected with it through the Canal Zone. 12 Mexico. In Mexico the resources available have added to the equipment and inspired the workers. Transfers between our Church and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, require funds at once to meet the differences in values and for reconstruction in properties coming to us in Mexico City. Partial payments have been made on projects of the Centenary and additional amounts are now required— such as the large building in Puebla, the Santa Julia Church in Mexico City, the Boys’ School in Pachuca, the Guanajuato Hospital, the property for the Boys’ School in Queretaro. New possibilities open in Mexico. The complete program is being framed by skillful hands and in a progressive spirit. The Centenary has already registered success in spite of difficulties and resources for the broader policy must not be lacking. EUROPE AND NORTH AFRICA. “Emergency” has for two years been the word for Europe. The measures for relief have commanded our forces and our funds. The appeal for suffering Europe was a part of the Centenary propaganda. When the way for action was open in August, 1919, your Executives acted. They knew what the Church desired and what the people overseas needed. The story has been told. It need not be repeated here. Money and supplies were sent to Finland, the three Scandinavian countries, to Copenhagen for Russia, Poland and the Baltic Provinces, to Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Roumania, France, Italy the Near East, in amount approaching a million of dollars. In part this was designated gifts, the larger part was advanced in the confidence that the great Church which had responded with subscriptions would send also the cash. Besides the relief of suffering, this prompt giving on the part of a great Church in America has served to maintain what little remains of friendly feeling on the part of the peoples of Europe for the people of the United States. Still other appeals are coming but the treasury is not only empty but unable, because of other demands, to make fresh ventures in overseas relief. But beyond this relief problem has been, from the very first days of the Centenary, the purpose of an enlarged program for Europe—reconstructive because of the devasta¬ tion of war, contructive because of the opportunities of peace. Before the war the Board’s appropriation to all Europe did not exceed two hundred thousand dollars a year, recognized and declared to be inadequate but all that, in view of the absence of actual surveys, could at that 13 time be included. The special sum of two million and a half for the first year assigned to this Board and at least that much for each of the four succeeding years, designated for War Emergency and Reconstruction, opened the way for a worth while program. Commitments well within the anticipated income were made; some have been covered by the income of the past year but more are carried as an advance since the available funds are but sixty-three per cent, of the total pledged income for 1920. The condition of exchange in all of the countries, but notably in Finland, Germany, Austria, France and Italy, offered special ad¬ vantages to property investment and the future will show that some extraordinary sites and buildings have been secured in the program of the past year. By action of the last General Conference our European work followed the famous example of Gaul, as described by Caesar in the first and easiest sentence in his Com¬ mentaries,—and fell into three parts. Copenhagen Area. In the north our Scandinavian people have been inspired to large ideals and generous giving. They also, and quite properly, have large expectations of co-operation from America. They are quite ready to provide dollar for dollar up to at least five hundred thousand dollars for each country! With the Centenary income anywhere near the amount of the subscriptions it might be possible to meet this expectation. At two-thirds, it cannot be done. Among the outstanding features of the work in the Copenhagen Area may be mentioned the acquisition of a fine central headquarters building in Kristiania, Norway. This will provide an opportunity for a wide range of activity in this important city. The Central Church in Bergen,. Norway, has been so strengthened that it can go forward toward a broad ministry of evangelization, religious educa¬ tion and social service. The emphasis on the latter will be in the form of assistance to sailors. The Jerusalems Church in Copenhagen advances to new victories in its broad Christian service which not only touches the life of Copen¬ hagen and its 800,000 population but also has become a notable centre in which large activity in the form of war relief has been carried forward. Orphanage and deaconess work has received special attention throughout this area, especially in Finland. Plans are now being formulated for the establishment of a central Theological Seminary which will serve these four Scandinavian countries. The present program calls for its location in the city of Stockholm. This will provide the advantages of a modern city and is 14 also, the geographic centre of this area, it being a possible day’s journey. To this work Bishop Bast is giving utmost care. Zurich Area. Naturally Bishop Nuelsen has had many difficult prob¬ lems to face in the task of reorganization and reconstruction in Central Europe. The opportunity which has been opened to our workers as a result of Methodist Relief activities, presents a task with which our thin line of workers is unable to cope adequately. Most substantial work has been done in the form of relief. This has been supplemented by an emphasis upon work for children which looks toward per¬ manence in institutional foundations. The response to the evangelical appeal of our pastors throughout Germany and Austria and now in the Baltic States, has been very marked. The Martin Missions Institute, our Theological School in Frankfort, was re-opened last year under trying condi¬ tions. It was possible to secure fuel for only one class room; this condition has been relieved by a special grant by the Board. The school is taking on renewed strength this year under the presidency of Dr. F. H. Otto Melle. It now has thirty bright, alert candidates for the ministry in the student body. Vienna today offers one of the great opportunities for service in Europe. Our Sunday Schools and churches are so crowded that many people know there is no use in trying to get seats. Negotiations are now in progress for the purchase of the Palace Hotel on Mariahilferstrasse. This is on a main thoroughfare, less than ten minutes’ walk from the central railroad station, and will provide adequate space for a general religious and social service program in which special emphasis can be placed upon hostels for young women and young men. Paris Area. Reports indicate that Bishop Blake is already bringing to this field a keenness of analysis and an efficiency in administration which bespeak large achievement in the near future. He reports that our orphanage work in France is the most outstanding feature. The farm school and orphanage in Charvieu are practically completed and work is already well under way. The rebuilt hotel at Chateau Thierry is receiving much commendation from French residents of Chateau Thierry and also from American visitors. A center for student work has been secured in Paris within a few minutes’ walk of the Sorbonne on one side and five or six minutes’ walk from the French Protestant 15 Theological Faculty on the other. This will make possible the training of our own personnel and also the development of a much needed student work. In Italy the project of major importance is the Collegio. One of the departments has already been transferred to the new site and work has been begun in one of the build¬ ings purchased with the land. It will soon be possible to have the large central building available so that this com¬ manding project will lend itself to a steady development. The orphanage work in Naples has already attracted much favorable interest. Reports indicate that a most efficient relief and social service program is in operation at Trent in Northern Italy. Here the emphasis is upon assistance to war widows and orphans. Bishop Blake, Mr. Frank E. Baker and Associate Secre¬ tary Lee recently conducted negotiations with both the Servian and Albanian Governments in reference to the de¬ velopment of school projects. Negotiations are pending with the Government of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes relative to the development of a farm and trade school for young men and young women. This is one of the greatest needs in the rebuilding of this sturdy people and is in the form of permanent constructive war relief. The time has passed for large emphasis for emergency relief in this section. The door for us is wide open in Albania. A request comes from the Government inviting us to enter this field for educational work in such a way that it will be possible to make a decided contribution to the idealism of this new nation which is emerging from five centuries of Turkish repression. It is believed a very definite call has been sounded to us to go into this country and to carry to these people an interpretation of a Christianized social order. In this brief review there is no attempt to touch con¬ ditions in the reorganized work in Bulgaria, to describe the development of the schools in Spain, to characterize the progress in North Africa, to appraise the sturdy advance in Switzerland, or to give adequate place to other phases of the ever widening service which Methodism through this Board is rendering to Europe. That service has now ex¬ tended over seventy years. The beginning of a new era stirs our hearts with a strange confidence in the early fruitage of the new enterprise to which, through the Centen¬ ary, the church has set its hand. CHINA. The first effect of the Centenary in China has been to strengthen existing work, not to launch experiments or expand largely. It has been to prepare our working force for the Centenary advance. 16 I. Offsetting War Losses. (a) Exchange. The war made serious curtailments. Formerly $100 American money brought $200 and sometimes $230 Chinese money. The war developed a premium on silver. Chinese currency Is silver money. Therefore Chinese dollars in¬ creased in value in the markets of the world. American contributions bought fewer Chinese dollars and for a long period have done less than half their former work. So serious was the result that in some parts of the country the current work of 1919 was less than in 1917. Naturally this operating budget had to receive first attention from Centen¬ ary funds. (b) Increased Costs. The war increased prices. Living costs and the cost of building jumped an average of 25 per cent, for all China. For this one factor alone there must be added 25 per cent, to the former annual receipts, if we were to go forward at our former volume of work without providing for any advance. Transportation costs* increased 100 per cent. A company of as fine recruits as ever went to any field have gone to China this year. Staff additions have been a first claim on Centenary funds. Yet it has cost twice as much to get them to the field and our force still is not up to its Centenary strength for this date. II. Offsetting Losses During the Centenary Campaign. The Centenary campaign in America curtailed China’s income during that period. A condition had developed under which the American budget of some of the China confer¬ ences was more than half derived from special gifts secured through the direct personal appeal of missionaries, and the China bishops who had a large and responsive hearing in the United States. In compliance with the wishes of the Centenary Administration, China folks ceased their normal campaigning for special gift increases. Their budget suffered accordingly. Advances. made to China during the years to offset this deficit have had to be met from China’s share of Centenary receipts in 1920. III. Increased Operating Budget. The appropriations of this year have greatly increased the efficiency of our missionary staff. For many years funds were insufficient to equip our men on the field. Several resigned simply because they were given no work¬ ing budget. The appropriations of 1920 have greatly im¬ proved this condition. 17 IV. New Missionaries. A first Centenary step has been to get new missionaries to the field. Through the Centenary, the church had pledged an advance. Missionary reinforcements were a requisite for making the financial increases effective. It takes from three to five years to develop a producing missionary on the field. The appropriations for 1920 have provided 40 new missionaries. V. The Building Program. A number of minor building operations have gone forward in 1920. The appropriations, however, have made very little provision for building operations. As a single illustration may be cited the lack of funds for the four union universities in which Methodism has a share. In China Christian educa¬ tion has long been our most powerful evangelistic approach. The China-wide study of the field in 1919-1920 by hundreds of our Methodist leaders showed that 51 per cent, of our budget is planned for educational work. We are in a great struggle to establish with other denominations these universities. They are central for our educational system. They are vital to our whole program. They are to set Christian standards for government schools and the leader¬ ship of New China in a day of social dissolution and menacing moral chaos. The Centenary was to strengthen these institutions. But to have given the share of Centen¬ ary funds due them on the basis of their ratio in the Centenary askings would have left little and in some con¬ ferences nothing for expanding current work along other lines. We have had to borrow from our educational system enough to provide the current budget of other work. This is perilous to our program of evangelism at its foundation, namely, the training of its leadership. We have sent out new missionaries but have been unable to provide houses for them to live in. During the first months some of these people have boarded at language school centers. Accommodations even there are so over¬ crowded that several have been deprived of this essential school preparation, and have gone directly to inland stations. We have been unable to prepare houses where these new people are to live next year. Sections of the field are saying “Do not send us more new missionaries unless you send money for their residences.” The increase in cost of living, the cost for returning work to its pre-war basis, the preparation of new mission¬ aries for the staff necessary to carry out the Centenary in the field—all these things have demanded the use of so large a share of the appropriations that the Centenary 18 achievements which the church wishes to see in terms of new churches and equipped hospitals and new schools have scarcely begun. The margin of shrinkage from the Centen¬ ary program would have been a clear cut provision for this advance. There was no other claim upon it. The shortage has made impossible in China a thing the church most wants to hear about. VI. Developing the Centenary as a Movement in China. The challenge of the Chinese church and the advance expected by the American church lies largely in the building program, which is scarcely touched. The West China Con¬ ference oversubscribed its Centenary goal for building projects before the Centenary was subscribed in America. Chinese money is paid in and the membership is now im¬ patiently awaiting the time when Centenary funds will be available from this country. The deteriorating moral effect of the hitherto trusted American church seen as failing to carry out its pledge is a genuine menace to the young church in non-Christian lands. In the Hinghua Conference the Chinese likewise matched the pledge of us Americans. Appropriations for 1920 have been insufficient for their building program. Chinese had gone forward in utter confidence that the American section of the church would make good its promise. Several church buildings were erected so far as Chinese money would carry them. Walls have been left without roofs, and half com¬ pleted churches have stood idle awaiting the arrival of Centenary funds from America. In the face of famine conditions we have just received word from our North China Conference that by definite vote of the Chinese themselves they propose a goal of 20 per cent, increase in self-support during this year over last year. Centenary as a contagious, spiritual, prophetic move¬ ment is coming to China. JAPAN AND KOREA. Japan is without question the most aggressive nation in the Orient, and her name is not to be despised within the roll of progressive peoples. A marvelous opportunity is presented here to assist in fashioning for the Lord’s King¬ dom the civilization of a people highly self-conscious politi¬ cally, and whole-heartedly industrial and commercial. In ecclesiastical affairs, the Methodist missionaries find themselves allied with the Japan Methodist Church. Co¬ operation with this church is cordial and efficient. During the past two years probably no other oriental country has known quite as violent a sky-rocketing of prices for essential commodities and materials as has Japan. Our 19 task there—and equally so in Korea—has been complicated by an inevitable and extraordinary increase in the costs of the Mission’s running - expenses. It was necessary to advance the salary amounts paid to all grades of workers to largely increased figures simply to continue to them a decent living. Yet, despite the closely limited funds at our disposal, a number of definite Centenary projects have been launched. The missionary staff has been increased, although not by the numbers called for in the full Centenary program. A number of chapels and churches have been erected, a good share of the cost in these enterprises having been locally provided. In the heart of the shipbuilding section at Naga¬ saki, improvements have been made on the tract already secured, and the erection of a well-equipped industrial church should be one of the first projects carried in 1921. Some additional support and equipment has been granted both to Aoyama Gakuin and to Chinzei Gakuin, but the normal development of both schools has been and will be seriously retarded through our inability to meet the full program approved for them. Helpful as has been the achievement of the . year, we are not contributing our full share to the Christianization of Japan while property for churches is unpurchased, while needed schools are unbuilt, while a well-organized evangelis¬ tic movement cannot be ordered. And the speedy bringing of Japan to Christ may well mean more for the peace and happiness of the world than even we dream. The missionary in Korea there finds his problem terri¬ fically difficult by the fact that, rightly or wrongly, the mass of the people are in virtual rebellion against a foreign dictatorship, and that the Christian community has been visited with dire persecution under the suspicion of foment¬ ing revolution. Across all our districts and in many of our churches the work has been disrupted through imprisonment of preachers and leading laymen. One district superinten¬ dent said his district conference could have been held with better effect in the jail. Yet, as has been so often the case, the church has in¬ creased in numbers under persecution. The flame of spiritual revival has burned bright on all our altars. And the people have given astonishing sums toward their share of the erection of new churches under the Centenary program. Few things have bruised our hearts more sorely than to have to postpone and deny the houses of God to these faithful persecuted congregations when they have poured out their gifts, themselves within the fires. The burned seminary has been restored; a scattering few of churches and chapels erected, chiefly by designated 20 gifts; the Paichai School is nearing completion; and the letting of contracts for a series of schools and a dormitory has been ordered; but a host of pressing needs from 1920 must be postponed to 1921. The pathos of children with¬ out schools, the disappointment of congregations without churches, and the tragedy of unroofed walls as fears of the future are haunting. SOUTHERN ASIA. The situation in India is becoming of increasing delicacy. The rising tide of nationalism, in which both Hindus and Mohammedans are sharing, has been and is demanding new opportunity for self-expression, and also is showing resentment to foreign suggestion or control. The sensitive¬ ness of the Moslem world over the Turkish treaty presents a difficult problem for England. Many national leaders in India feel that all missionaries are associated with the Government because of their tendency to uphold British rule. It does not modify their thought in the matter that the British Government issues permits in these days only to those missionaries who will agree to support the Gov¬ ernment. Our missionaries to India, therefore, must be chosen from among those who are wise and tactful, and well prepared intellectually as well as spiritually, for the difficult part of mediators who may be helpful to both sides in this controversy, and who may be able to point the way clearly to the one solution of the problems of India and of the world—Jesus Christ. The transfer of important subjects, such as education, excise, and medical work, to Indian control presents new problems. The missionary must be prepared to allow and to encourage increasing leadership on the part of the edu¬ cated people of the land, and to give the fullest opportunity for self-expression in all lines of missionary activity, while guarding and guiding this expression so that it may be thoroughly Christian as well as Indian. The Lucknow Christian College has been one of the first to feel the effects of this new situation. The develop¬ ment of the Unitary University scheme in Lucknow makes it necessary for our mission to combine its high school and college in an Intermediate College. Our missionaries are adapting themselves loyally to the situation, with excellent results. The Government is now considering an increase of the grant for the new buildings, making it 309,000 Rupees, the largest amount which they have ever given. Such a grant is always based upon co-operation on our part, and $50,000 must be provided for this purpose before March, 21 1922, that the building of the new Science Blocks and the middle school may be assured. Other funds will be required for equipment, and for increased staff, and when these are provided, we should have one of the most effective institu¬ tions of its grade in all of India. Many of our missionaries in India are suffering nervously from the strain. In some cases, they have been without adequate provision for medical care or for sanitaria for rest and refreshment in the hot seasons. The Centenary program contains fairly liberal amounts for the development of our medical work, and the provision of proper homes in the hills for our people. But it has been impossible to make any advances in these directions due to the lack of money for authorization in 1920. The new Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Ajmere, which is so full of promise, and for which one of our missionaries made special preparation while in this country on furlough, taking back with him new equipment, is held up for lack of $20,000. A new high school, costing $15,000, has been built at Pauri in the mountains of North India, with liberal grants from the Government and funds advanced on the Centenary. A new hostel is also being erected at the same place. The Bishop Parker Memorial High School has been completed in Moradabad, at a cost of $53,000, a large amount of which was provided by the Government. One of our Methodist laymen is contributing $10,000 towards the $30,000 required by the Mission. A new boys’ school and training school is being developed at Sonepat, near Delhi, chiefly with gifts provided by some of our laymen. The total cost will be $33,000, and about half of this amount is in hand. New Mission bungalows have been constructed at Meerut and Cawnpore, and others have been purchased or completed through Centenary funds, at Suri in Bengal, Belgaum in South India, and Hardoi North India. Two new Mission houses have also been authorized for Burma. A splendid site has been secured in Rangoon for the boys’ school, at a cost of $42,000. $3,000 has been spent for land for the high school at Ghaziabad. $3,500 has been spent for a hostel for non-Christians, at Narsinghpur, Central Provinces. $6,700 has been provided for the rebuilding of the part of the Madras Publishing House which was destroyed by fire. $36,000 has been provided for the purchase of the Mission headquarters in Calcutta. The completed projects are as follows: The completed buildings are the Pauri and Moradabad High Schools, the Meerut house, the purchase of the Belgaum house, the purchase of land at Ghaziabad and 22 Sonepat. But, with the exception of the Belgaum house, the funds for these projects have been advanced and are being carried on the field. The same is also true of the purchase of land in Rangoon, the purchase of the property at Suri in the Bengal Conference. Other buildings that are now in process: Building of the Gracey Memorial Church at Sitapur, at a cost of $5,500. $24,000 has been provided towards the purchase of the Dharamtala Street property, Calcutta, and the balance will be furnished in this year’s appropriation. $3,500 has been furnished for the hostel for non-Christians in Narsinghpur, and the building is probably in process. A new house in Cawnpore. The new hostel at Pauri. New Mission house in Rangoon. New school building in Thongwa. New sanitarium at Kalaw, Burma—these three projects and the new Mission house in Thongwa to cost when completed $ 20 , 000 . The other projects provided for this year are as follows: The payment of $15,000 on the Lucknow College project. Payment of $12,000 or $14,000 on the Dharamtala Street property, Calcutta. Payment of about $10,000 on the Burma projects. $3,000 on the Suri property. $5,000 as our part of the magazine for non-Christians. The following plans and projects are held up because of lack of funds: The development of the situation at Sonepat. This requires $15,000 in addition to designated gifts. The Butler Memorial at Delhi. 25,000 Rs. have been spent for land, but there are no funds in hand for this nor for any other part of the project. 10,000 Rs. has been spent for land at Ghaz'iabad, but no funds have been received for the high school or other developments there. A second Mission house is needed in Nadiad before the physician who is so urgently needed can be sent out. Some of the conferences have secured funds locally for projects, in the confident expecta¬ tion of Centenary receipts. Northwest India has spent $60,000 in this way. North India advanced $40,000 for the Parker High School, on which only $10,000 has been paid. South India advanced 20,000 Rs. for the Madras Press, which has now been paid. Burma has advanced $42,000 for the property for the boys’ high school. SOUTHEASTERN ASIA. In the Philippine Islands self-support has been stressed and is steadily developing. The missionary staff has been slightly increased, but nowhere in proportion to what should be done. A number of chapels have been provided by 23 designated gifts, and a new dormitory provided at San Fernando. Medical work has been established at Aparri by the remodeling of the old mission house, and the erection of a hospital there should be an item early in 1921. Another hospital should be erected at Dagupan. One of the most pressing needs is the proper provision for the student group in Manila; the new church for that work should have been made pcfesible in 1920, but we were under the necessity of postponing it. The assignment of a resident bishop to Manila has brought joy to the staff in the Islands, and the problems that have seemed insoluble will doubtless be cleared speedily under his administration. In the Netherlands Indies Conference the program for developing medical work has been advanced in connection with the Dutch Government. It is expected that two new hospitals will be established in 1921—one at Sambas, the other at Bindjei. Arrangements have already been made for the outgoing of the doctors and nurses necessary to these plants. The educational program is progressing, but some very necessary units have been postponed from 1920 to 1921. Most thrilling is the pioneer work in the Asahan area that is developing under the direction of Mr. Oechsli. During 1920 Malaysia knew what was probably the most distressing situation that developed on any field. By a combination of circumstances, due to furloughs of some and the serious breaks in the health of other missionaries, there was a period of some months when there was no missionary in Singapore with more than two years of experience on the field. The rare devotion and extraordinary fidelity displayed by this group of young missionaries has been an inspiration to all of us. Within this Conference the primary project for immediate development is the Anglo-Cliinese College at Singapore. With the assured sympathy of Government, the further parcels of land necessary to a full development should be acquired, and the buildings erected. The difficulties in administration that have been encountered will be largely obviated by the established residence of a Bishop, the breaks that have occurred in the missionary staff will be strengthened by the speedy departure of recruits, but the normal development of work and projects within this strategic area and the labor of the Bishop and missionaries will be sadly handicapped without the full financial values under the Centenary program. 24 II. MISSIONS AND WORLD MOVEMENTS. Thus we have touched at the Mission ports on many shores. It is indeed a zigzag journey. To Monrovia, Liberia, to Buenos Aires, to Hamburg, to Foochow, to Calcutta, to Yokohama, to Singapore, to Seoul, to Manila and—the flag! For our missionary thinking, we may briefly record certain clear impressions. ^1) Everywhere the people are seething with a new life; everywhere the spirit of democracy is thrusting its strength into the heart of things. It may be the opposition in the Japanese Parliament, the Korean revolutionists, the Chinese students on strike, the people of India accepting the tasks of self-government, the South American Republics guarding their freedom, Mexico seeking self-knowledge and self-control, Europe tossed and tried but still keen for the principles of liberty, still the deadly foe of autocracy. It is the same irrepressible spirit, which registers a new view¬ point and gives the Mission fields of the world new values and to the church new tasks. (2) In new force the individual measures his chances for his goal and seeks methods to attain it. The ambition for personal achievement is as definite in the pagan and heathen world as in our own. Tribal organization, family conventions, state and social obligations have not given way, but amid them the individual stands out and demands his right. We deal with peoples less docile, more curious, more assertive of opinion and purpose than in the earlier approach. The individual reacts against customs based upon race prejudice, sex distinctions, domestic traditions, hereditary government. In a word, personality emerges and with it our theory and practice of missions must reckon. (3) Knowledge reaches the peoples through agencies other than Christian Missions and culture does not wait for conversion. In India, China, Japan, South America, and Europe, we deal with intellectual equals, often with intellec¬ tual superiors. Western learning is the commonplace of education in Japan. Chinese students have taken back to their own circles in China from the western world the best our schools can give them. In nearly every land institutions with which we have nothing to do are informing or mis¬ informing the minds of youth and vitalizing the fibre of their thinking. Is it culture and then religion? In many instances it must be, else there is no chance for religion, for the culture is already there. But the program of the church is tested at the point where it must reckon with culture as well as deal with the immature and untrained. The truth and power of the Gospel must operate on high levels, resting 25 upon the impregnable principle that always, everywhere character and conduct must match. / (4) One further impression the world journey leaves. There is a new outlook upon the world, and in all nations some minds, few or many, are conscious of it. It has been called the international mind. It has learned not to limit interests or service by latitude and longitude. To it pigment does not make character and language does not mean insula¬ tion. Human rights are sacred and are the concern of all and the intercourse of nations has its reason and its manners as truly as does the intercourse of individual men. National sainthood comes not by the nation’s study of its own anatomy after the fashion of a reputed holy man of old, but by looking out upon the peoples and stretching out toward them the open hand. In spite of the ebbing of international goodwill, the real, if remote, purpose of multitudes is that international relations shall be Christianized. A recent writer has said: “The most heathen province in the world is not found in China or Africa, but in the great field of international relationships. This mighty realm of diplomacy, this great province of international relationships, is further removed from Christianity than the most heathen province in the most heathen country in the world. It has scarcely been touched by Christianity. Pagan ideals and pagan forces prevail here.” -— Let him take courage. This Christianization of inter¬ national relations is one of the accepted tasks of the mis¬ sionary purpose. A Scotch preacher in a sermon on the war and the sin of the world says: “The war was brought on by the sin of a Christendom which has limited Christ’s authority to private occasions and has excluded it in social and public affairs; the sin of a Christendom which has told Christ to mind his own business (which is the saving of souls) and to let society and the world alone.” It is a missionary principle not “to let society and the world alone,” and that principle works as truly toward the right relationship of states as it does toward the right relationship of men. For 1 confront the fact we must. In the spiritual realm alone can the true sanctions and strength of democracy be found. Except for the indwelling spirit personality spends its force and moves to self-destruction. Knowledge is true power only when God is in the heart of it. No diplomacy of premiers, no league or association of states, can win peace or restrain passion and transform the selfishness of men. Without the Gospel this is proven a hopeless world. Everywhere powerful forces are being released. They must be controlled or they will destroy. If we would light 26 our homes we must tame the storm. Is conduct to be directed? Then find the secret by which character is made. Christ alone is efficient there. The contrast between Chris¬ tianity and other religions does not lie primarily in what each does for the total state but what each does for men. Parallel columns will show both similarities and contrasts—but nowhere in the parallel is the real power of the Gospel matched—the release of the soul from self and sin—the inspiration of the human spirit by the Spirit of God. Whatever may be said of other mandates, here is one which comes from the throne of power. To the church that mandate is given—it has no racial or international limit—“Go ye and disciple all nations— That word from the mountainside never was so clear as it is today. Never before in the agitated world did the deeps so call to the deeps. Never was perfection more completely defined—or the human mind more confused as to the method of attaining it, never did humanity feel so much and understand so little, never was curiosity so bent on knowledge, or discontent so eager to find rest. The message of comfort for the few is the declaration of power for all. The Gospel never more needed inter¬ pretation in its intensity and its amplitude. Is it a time for counsels of ease? Shall we bivouac or shall we march? 27 III. MATTERS OF EXECUTIVE CONCERN. The International Mind. The issues of the Presidential election have reached further around the world than those of any election in the history of the United States. The readjustments in Europe and the new relationships established or hoped for in all latitudes and longitudes bore directly upon the economic condition of our own land and opened oppor¬ tunity for wide divergence of opinion concerning the relation of this country to the other countries of the world. One cannot question the reality of the new hope which came to the people of America, that somehow this nation might minister in the best things to every other people on the globe. Just what is connoted in the term the “international mind” it may be difficult to define. That something which might roughly be described by that term characterized the experience of the people of the United States for a few months after the signing of the armistice, few will deny. It was a profound missionary impulse with which our national leaders were dealing. The ideals which commanded the devotion of multitudes were those of the Gospel of Christ. Whatever judgment may be passed now or in the future upon the merits of the methods and policies involved, the heart of America quickened its beat with the vision of a world-wide service. American feeling in this mighty desire was an asset of inestimable value to the total missionary program. When, however, the prestige and power of this high moral and spiritual purpose was first threatened and then obscured by the agitations of political discussion and manoeuvering, a chill fell upon America’s missionary enthusiasm. The people in every land have felt that the cable which stretched between America and them had slackened, and throughout the world have known the sinking heart which must come when, in the storm, the rescuing ship veers, signals farewell and proceeds on her course. It is through these days and these cross purposes that the Board and the multitude of its supporters of its work throughout the church have been passing in these recent months. The General Conference. The meeting of the General Conference at Des Moines has had an important bearing on the work of this Board. In its careful examination of the procedure of the Boards and of the agencies created by them for the celebration of the 28 Centenary of Methodist Missions, its spirit was fine and its methods effective. Its survey of world conditions, both in its public statements and discussions and in its formal actions, was comprehensive and inspiring. The decisions which affected the interests of the foreign fields were, on the whole, generous and fore-looking. Its culminating act in increasing the number of bishops whose residence should be in foreign lands registered in a striking form the mighty purpose of a great church to serve the entire world and to promote the principles of the Gospel among all peoples and to challenge in every land the forces of error and of wrong by the message of a World Teacher and the power of a World Redeemer. Doubtless with no lessening of its high purpose, the General Conference decreed for the church, in matters of administration, a changed order. In this the Board of Foreign Missions, with other Boards of the church, is entering upon an untried path. What may be the outcome in ultimate results must wait for the record of future years. Your committees and officers have loyally entered into the new co-operation and will not fail sympath¬ etically to join in promoting the common program in the home church. You, however, who have in mind the multi¬ plied interests of Methodism’s program in every land outside of America will not fail to study processes and weigh results, since from you no legislation has lifted the responsi¬ bility for the maintenance and development of Methodism’s program in all the fields of the world. No new phase of legislation has taken this responsibility from you and you can not surrender that responsibility and still be true to your solemn trust. Enlarged Responsibility. This, the first full year of the five of the so-called Centen¬ ary period, has brought to the administrators of the work problems and tasks which it would be idle to attempt to describe. In 1917 the administration dealt with something over two millions of dollars. This year they have administered upon three times that amount. The accepted program of the Centenary outlined institutions and activities in every field which required fresh study, new methods, larger staff, different procedure. The new demand has been not only work that is fair but work that is excellent. The buildings must not be makeshifts, but models. The educators are not to be partly but adequately trained. The hospitals must be equipped and conducted upon modern methods. The teach¬ ing and preaching must not lose their spiritual fervor but must stand the test of standards more clearly discerned, both 29 by the church at home and the church in the field. The wiser care of the health of our missionaries, both when at work in their fields and at home on furlough; the selection of candidates; the equipment of institutions; the production of the literature for the mission lands and the creation of plans for cultivation, promotion and education in the home church have presented a wealth of opportunities for widely varied service. The opportunities for interdenominational co-operation in plans of clear outline and financial self-restraint have been met in friendly spirit and practical participation. The test of the practical values in the newer departments, the Medical and that of Education, Sunday Schools and Literature in the Foreign Field, has increased confidence in the largeness of the service which can be rendered through them to the Board’s effectiveness in dealing with some of the needs and opportunities hitherto practically untouched. The direct effectiveness of the Department of Personnel finds proof in the fact that during the year two hundred and eighty-three candidates for the fields have been sent out as missionaries or are now prepared to go. The problems of transportation have been largely solved and the processes involved have been simplified. To efficiency we have been able to add the grace of hospitality and while, doubtless, we sometimes fail, we seek earnestly to reveal in practical ways to mission¬ aries, candidates and other friends the heart sympathy and purpose which we hold to be the very center of our entire executive organization. The Financial Position. A final word will concern the financial position of the Board, both as to its home administration and its foreign enterprises. Every Mission is working to a program, a part of it fixed, a part of it tentative. The fixed program has been for the past year held at what has seemed to many a destructive minimum. With the necessary increase of sup¬ port of missionaries and native workers, of costs of trans¬ portation, of exchange requirements, of costs of materials of every kind, and with an expansion rigidly restricted to the absolute requirements for life and morale, that fixed minimum distribution has been almost disastrously insuffi¬ cient. The executive officers have advised that no increase in appropriations be made this coming year. Beyond this minimum of maintenance, stretches that program of com¬ pletion, expansion, and institutional development, which entered into the surveys and which were basic to the appeal 30 to the church and the subscriptions made by it. With utmost care in the handling of income and credit, the inadequate monthly returns from the Conferences require on a total budget of, say, five millions and a half of dollars, extra¬ ordinarily large use of the banks. That which tested the Board, in the days when income was reckoned from twelve hundred thousand to two millions of dollars, on the side of banking, comes to be a major problem when the average monthly outlay approaches $500,000. Here are conditions which are not created by your execu¬ tive officers, which have but slight bearing, if any, upon over¬ head costs. They have to do with the financial methods of the church in dealing with its vast organized service. The estimated expense of the administrative part of the work will fall slightly below the estimates of last year, about $423,000. This includes the item for increased rent, which will not be less than $20,000, and the item for interest, which is fixed at $50,000, and which would be reduced to a minimum were it not for the necessity of borrowing to meet the recurring requirements of the work. Any embarrassments on this side of the administration would have been cleared had the expectation of the most conservative among us been realized. It may be frankly confessed that no officer of the Board, none of those in touch with the church, even in some of its unhappy moments and localities, dreamed that upon an expectancy of twenty-three millions of dollars, sixteen millions only would be realized. With safe deductions and making allowance for the guarantee of full apportionments for all the other Boards and the provision of over a million dollars for the costs of the Conservation Commission, the amount divisible between the Board of Foreign Missions and the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension would have been upwards of nineteen millions of dollars. Instead, therefore, of receiving nine and a half millions of dollars for the program of the year, your Board has received less than two-thirds of that amount, and now faces the problem involved in an accepted scheme of procedure, which calls for actual annual funds of over nine millions of dollars, on the basis of six millions. It is but fair to say that had this splendid income been approached, from the standpoint of the income of four years ago, and had plans step by step been developed for the use of this amount, conditions which now prevail would not exist. As the matter stands, however, with the program based upon the pledge of a great church realized only up to two-thirds of the expected amount, the embarrassments of administration, both at the home base and in the extended fields, is beyond our power to express. The hours and days through which 31 we have been passing would bring the tragedy of despair to any but the heart of faith. And that heart of faith beats strong and steady. Out from the disappointments and the perplexities comes the far vision of the purpose of our Lord. If there be cloud, there is a clear voice which speaks from it if we will but hear. The world cannot escape from the guiding hand of its Master. That hand was pierced and it will not falter or fail. If our great church can but humble itself, understand the meaning of the cross, catch the vision of the tears of its Master and Redeemer, and from its knees rise to its new endeavor, a fresh morning of confidence and achieve¬ ment will open before it and its victories will be glorious because it triumphs by the power of Him who shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. Printed February, 1921 , and Sent to Pastors By Order of the Executive Committee, Board of Foreign Missions, Methodist Episcopal Church 150 Fifth Avenue, New York 32