Feeding the Hungry, P. C. Hiebert, 1929

924 BETWEEN THE AMERICAN MENNONITE RELIEF AND THE RUSSIAN SOCIALIST FEDERATIVE SOVIET REPUBEIC Moscow, Russia May 28, 1924 TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE COMMISSION OF FOREIGN RELIEF PRESIDIUM CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE UNION OF SOCIALIST SOVIET REPUBLICS. The American Mennonite Relief has brought fifty trac- tor outfits into Russia to assist in the reconstruction of the APPENDIX 463 agricultural life; it is devoting a fund of five to seven thou- sand dollars to provide horses for needy farmers at a mini- mum cost and on favorable terms; it is arranging to use a sum up to twenty-six thousand dollars in the form of a seed loan to poor farmers who do not have seed of their own sufficient to sow two dessjatines; it is operating clinics for the treatment of malaria sufferers in regions where the dis- ease is seriously affecting the welfare of the community; it is supplying food stuffs to the value of more than fifteen thousand dollars to such institutions as children’s homes, hospitals, schools, etc., and for general feeding where the conditions demand it. To carry on this work the following conditions are mu- tually agreed upon by the American Mennonite Relief and the Commission of Foreign Relief Presidium Central Ex- ecutive Committee. 1. The American Mennonite Relief (A.M.R.) may bring into Russia, in agreement with the Commission of Foreign Relief, Presidium Central Executive Committee, SSSR, such foreign personnel as the A.M.R. finds necessary for its work. The number will not exceed five. 2. On request of the American Mennonite Relief all facilities will be extended for the entry into and exit from Russia of its foreign personnel, and they will be free to travel in Russia on official duties. They shall be provided with certificates of identity as relief workers. 3. The American Mennonite Relief shall have full free- dom to effect the necessary organization to carry on its work, and to select its Russian and other local personnel, complying with the Labor laws of the SSSR. The salaries of the same shall not be required to exceed those paid by government institutions. The Russian and local personnel shall be accorded the same privileges, benefits and exemp- tions as those granted to employees of government institu- tions. 4. The American Mennonite Relief may carry on its operations in the areas where it has been working. If found desirable new districts for work may be chosen by mutual agreement with the Commission of Foreign Relief. The A.M.R. will not take over the administration of institutions of any kind. 5. All relief, reconstruction and agriculture supplies as enumerated in the Special Decree of the Council of Peoples 464 FEEDING THE HUNGRY Commissars and the Central Executive Committee, of SSSR, dated February 29th, 1924, shall be free from import cus- toms and excises. 6. All American Mennonite Relief supplies of what- ever nature, except those procured in Russia,