Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

Mennonite Relief Commission because of their special fitness for the work. It 426 FEEDING THE HUNGRY has also been possible to raise a considerable reserve fund as stipulated in article four of the constitution of the American Mennonite Relief Commission. These funds as yet are retained by the treasurers of the codperating Re- lief Commissions, but ready to be turned over to the Central Organization as soon as a greater common work should be undertaken. Further it should be noted that connections have been established with the American Red Cross at Washington, D. C., which assure us opportunity of advantageous cooperation whenever an emergency should arise. Until the time of this writing it has not been found expedient to discontinue the work of the Mennonite Cen- tral Committee, which accounts for the fact that the Per- manent American Mennonite Relief Commission has not been more actively functioning. Among the various rea- sons from within and from without for continuation, we should mention the following. In the first place it seemed advantageous to continue the work of the generally known Mennonite Central Committee because of the attitude of some of the larger groups of Mennonites. Some of these at this time appeared not generally ready to enter into more binding relations with other groups because needs and obligations in their individual fields of service seemed to occupy their full capacity in a work of such scope and nature, that it could be quite efficiently undertaken and handled without calling into activity the larger organiza- tion. Consequently they saw no immediate necessity for a change in the organization. On the other hand the Mennonite Central Committee realized that the situation of their common work did not make it advisable to disband at this time in favor of a new organization, which would perhaps not be in as favor- able a position to bring to successful conclusion the work at hand as the existing Committee. The Mennonite Cen- EFFECTS AND AFTER EFFECTS 427 tral Committee has undertaken the publishing and the sale of this report, which necessitates the continuation of an intact organization because of the funds and the work involved; and again the committee saw no immediate presing reason for the transition, but rather an advantage to continue at present, because an organization that has been functioning for some time and is as a result gen- erally well known, would have a better chance of surviving a longer period of inactivity than any new organization which might be effected at this juncture. It was therefore agreed that the Mennonite Central Committee should continue, carry on its work to a final satisfactory conclusion, publish and distribute general in- formation about the great work of relief that the Men- nonites unitedly have done in Europe and especially Rus- sia during the last ten years, and be prepared to call into life the proposed American