The Columbus dispatch. (Columbus, Miss.) 19??-1922, 1919-05-21
THE SPIRIT Or THE
CENTENARY DRIVE.

NEW YORK, May l1.-Wltn their
goal $4,000. 900 for human better
ment. the greatest amount any de-
nomination ever attempted to raise
in the history of the world. Meth
odist Episcopal churches throughout
the United States began last Sum
day q spectacular one-week inten-
sive financial drive.
They are trying to achieve the
financial objects OF their Missionary
Centenary by employing all the
methods of a liberty loan campaign
newspaper advertising and pub
licity, billboards, special pamphlets,
dinners and the rivalry between To-
calities and individual churches.
each striving to show an oversub-
scription.
The country has been divided and
! subdivided into areas, conferences,
districts and sub-districts and the
individual churches are also organ
4 lied into several units. To each di-
4 vision, down to the individual
churches, definite quota has been
/ assigned.
That the drive is bound to be a
signal success is the deduction
/ drawn by leaders at centenary head
quarters here from food of letters
and kilograms showing about two
/ fhoucopd ohurchac alraadv b,va nv
ceeded their allotment and are push
ing on for 100 per cent oversub-
/ scription
Teams of workers carefully or
! ganized and drilled by c. S. Ward,
campaign manager for many recent
A war fund activities, will present the
centenary message to every member
of every church this week. In each
city the teams will meet together
4 once a day for luncheon or dinner,
exchange reports and get new in
!. spiration from speeches and music.
The movement is founded on the
belief that the world today is at
one of the crucial points of it's his
tory, and that the war has wakened
mankind. but left it confused and
likely to follow false prophets, and
that remarkable opportunity for
the play of either good or evil forces
/. is open in every land. In this crisis
the leaders of the movement declare
| OF ell n ST.
stand and make unusual efforts to
. supply guidance.
But the work to be undertaken
with the centenary fund will be
largely of most practical charac-
ter. Among the multitude of enter
EpriAes decided upon are the adoption
of twelve French towns on the Cha
teau-Thierry battlefield for recon
struction, series of recreation CEN
tiers. like the Y. NJ. c. A. huts but of
more permanent nature in war
torn France and Italy, hospitals for
the cannibal tribes Nm Africa and
Mohammedans of Malaysia, a large
agricultural station to teach Amer
lean methods of farming in South
ern Italy and an even larger insti-
tuition of the same character in
Chile; community churches in many
American cities and an intensified
ton of all the activities to improve
the tone OF American life, so as to
make the United States the "model
Christian nation"
An interesting feature of the drive
is the attempt to enlist one million
Y Methodists as tithers, or persons
who promise to give one-tenth of
their income to help their fellow
men SO far, well over 1876 900 men,
women and young folks have signed
this pledge and the good cards have
poured into the centenary offices
here so fast that the tabulation is
far behind.
Fifty-three thousand young men
and women are being recruited from
colleges and schools. This army
corps will be especially trained to
serve in the enterprises of the
church as enlarged by the centenary.
On the intelligence and personality
of the leaders developed, according
to the heads of the centenary, will
depend the success of the movement
as much as on the amount of money
raised
The Methodist Episcopal Church,
South. will raise $35,OO0,0OO of the
$I4O,0OO,0O0 fund and the Method
list Episcopal Church (the northern
organization) sos. 100000 OF the
sum to be raised by the latter, $685.
100000 will be devoted to war
emergency and reconstruction work,
including the sending of the Meth
odist relief ship" to Europe, while
the two boards of home and foreign
missions will receive S40,0O0,000