USA > Pennsylvania > Change and challenge: a history of the Church of the Brethren in the southern district of Pennsylvania, 1940-1972 > Part 18
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After the Heifer Project was begun by the Church of the Brethren, immediate shipments were not permitted to Europe or to Asia. Some of the earliest shipments were made to Puerto Rico and to Jamaica. A num- ber of young people volunteered their services as "seagoing cowboys". Some older people also volunteered. In May, 1945, E. J. Meyers, of York, shipped out with fifty head of cattle. The Castaner Hospital received seven of these dairy animals. E. J. Meyers reported to several congrega- tions concerning his experiences.56
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On February 27, 1959, M. Guy West, pastor of the First Church of York, sailed from Baltimore, Maryland on a four days' trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico. He fed and watered ten dairy cattle which were being shipped for the community development project at Castaner. The milk was needed to provide nourishment for the patients at the hospital. M. Guy West was sent as a representative of the Heifer Project Inc. to present the cattle as a gift from the Church of the Brethren to the people of Puerto Rico.
A project which began with a few conscientious objectors and dedi- cated doctors57 grew appreciably. In 1964, more than 100 persons were being treated each day at the hospital. The jibaro ("hill-billies") were becoming land-owners and home-owners under the Social Program Ad- ministration. A Church of the Brethren was established on the island. In 1972, it had a membership of more than eighty persons. The entire region has become a model for similar projects in other parts of Puerto Rico. All of this has been accomplished by a generation of dedicated Christian effort on the part of youth and adults as they worked to build Christian community.
HUNGER CANNOT WAIT
A world of deep distress and hunger confronted the American people at the close of World War II. For three years prior to the close of the war numerous church agencies tried in vain to change the government's adamant policy of providing no food to starving European enemy nations.58 Newspapers and magazines debated the merits of feeding or not feeding the enemy.59 The Annual Conference, meeting in Huntingdon, Pennsyl- vania, appealed for a reversal of this policy60 The actual change did not come until late in 1945.
At the close of the war, the church faced a world of contradictions. Never had there been so many hungry people in the world at one time. At the same time the American nation had more wealth and resources than it ever had. Never were American food resources greater, and yet Americans were wasting nearly one-fourth of their food supplies.61 Never did the world have greater opportunity to display friendship and under- standing, and yet it seldom had more class warfare, nationalism or racial- ism.62 With such problems before it, the church found it was living in an age of tremendous challenges.
One of these challenges was starvation abroad. The first step was to ship food and medical supplies to assure sheer biological survival for thousands. For the first time in the world's history, a victor nation began to assume responsibility for the relief and rehabilitation of a defeated nation. Christian people were stirred in conscience to join in this material aid ministry. In a sense, the church was returning to the spirit of origi- nal Christianity as it fed the hungry, cared for the sick and protected the poor and dispossessed.63 Earlier in the century, the Christian Churches had surrendered this kind of ministry to secular agencies.
An early chairman of the Brethren Service Committee was Andrew W. Cordier, later the Executive Assistant to the United Nation's Secretary. As chairman of the committee he helped to establish the policy that relief and rehabilitation shall be available to anyone in need. The com- mittee also felt that any recipient of help should share any benefits he received from the gift. Each gift was accompanied by a statement which said simply: "Given in the name of Jesus Christ".
Jesse D. Reber, a former pastor of the Southern District, was ap- pointed by the Church World Service to conduct campaigns for material aid and other overseas gifts. M. R. Zigler was sent abroad late in 1946
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to determine the areas of greatest need. Both of these Brethren made themselves available to speak in district congregations. When M. R. Zigler toured the district, he frequently warned that America, once the great hope of the world, was in grave danger of becoming the most hated nation on the earth. He described America as "an oasis of plenty in a desert of want".
When American troops entered Berlin in 1945, they found only one in ten factories standing. There was no mail, no telephone, no transpor- tation and no currency. Electric power plants were leveled. As soon as overseas agencies were established the appeals came to the district for candles and candle stubs in order to aid the millions who were without lighting in various sections of Europe. The United Church Center at New Windsor, Maryland appealed to housewives, farmers and millers to collect feed bags and print flour bags. These were sent to New Windsor, baled, and shipped overseas to satisfy the great need for clothing and bedding.
The food needs in Europe were urgent. Newspapers in Italy were saying: "Hunger Cannot Wait". The average calorie intake of many people in the American Zone in Germany was down to 1180 calories per day. Contemporary estimates placed the number of homeless and hungry in Europe at 140,000,000. In China and in Southeast Asia another 138,- 500,000 were destitute and hungry.64
Churches used their spare rooms to store canned goods until "the New Windsor truck" arrived. Other groups collected many varieties of seeds for European gardens and farmlands in war-devastated zones.65 Reports came from Germany that the approaching winter of 1946-1947 would be dreadful for thousands of children. One-third of the children in Berlin were threatened with tuberculosis; most were without adequate clothing, heating or housing.
In October, 1946, the Presbyterian monthly magazine, Social Progress, advocated "sacrificial meals" patterned after the menus familiar to dis- tressed countries. The Brethren Service Committee suggested the use of such meals to dramatize the need abroad. A suggested Belgian meal, for example, was one cup of vegetable soup, two ounces of vegetables, one half ounce of meat and one slice of bread. Some congregations asked their membership at sit together in a fellowship meal as they ate mush and milk with butter. Others ate a special cereal provided by the New Wind- sor Center for overseas consumption. In this fashion the church became familiar with the oppressive needs of other people.
Many churches of the district viewed a film entitled, "Seeds of Destiny", in order to become aware of the plight of Europe's children. These uprooted, homeless young people moved through the rubble heaps of former cities as they searched for food and anything else of value. They formed themselves into wandering, oftentimes destructive, gangs. The waste of conquering armies turned much of Europe into a breeding ground of pestilence and hate. One European minister on a visit to America described the plight of the young in these words:
"Does God clothe only the lilies of the field and feed the sparrows in the sky, but not the little children?"66
Church leaders and Christian people knew that nations of Europe needed help in order to help themselves. Although direct emergency grants of food and clothing and tools were necessary at first, a plan was devised to follow this relief ministry with the means of rehabilitation. The plan was to give tools to people so they could do their own work and their own planning. To reestablish production was better than to distribute supplies endlessly. Rehabilitation as a goal was seen to be less injurious to the self-respect of a people than was outright relief.67
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New and different appeals came to the district churches in 1947 and 1948. A soap processing plant was opened at Nappanee, Indiana, for the production of soaps from frying fats and butcher's lard. Five gallon cans were distributed to churches in order to help them with the collection of used lards. One woman gave the used fats for processing into soap be- cause she feared the fat might otherwise be used in the production of munitions.
Aware that Europe's distressed people had religious and cultural needs, congregations began to collect usable magazines for overseas libraries and churches. Such magazines as Journal of Religion, Religion in Life, Theology Today, and The Christian Century were gathered. There were additional appeals for ministers' robes to assist the churches of Europe in restoring their services to people. The Church of the Brethren cooper- ated in a determined effort to restore Europe's spiritual interests and values.
It was easier to clear away the bricks and the twisted steel than it was to clear minds of twisted beliefs. The churches of America were dealing with a people whose contacts with the world-at-large had been restricted for a generation. It was not simple to aid these people in shedding the pernicious philosophy of the Third Reich and to find their way back into the traditions of western culture. Many people had to spend much time in hunting for potatoes and bread and did not have the leisure to indulge in the dreaming and planning required for the rebuild- ing of a nation.
Relief goods continued to stream into New Windsor in 1947. The peak of activity was reached in the month of July when 566,000 lbs. of goods were handled. July 15, 1947 was the peak processing day when 29,467 lbs. of goods were shipped.
One of the great united efforts with which district churches cooper- ated was the One Great Hour of Sharing. The program was conceived on a grand scale to enlist 75,000 American Churches in the overseas relief program. On March 26, 1949, a one-hour radio broadcast brought Ameri- cans into one community as the world's sufferings and needs were por- trayed. On Sunday, March 27, 1949, all of the people of the American community were urged to gather in their churches and synagogues to dedicate their gifts to the world's needy. More than $3,000,000 was raised on this first venture. Immediately, steps were taken to continue the program on an annual basis.
Members of the Southern District became involved in efforts to find food for the hungry. The District Brethren Service Committee asked for sacrificial giving. Norman F. Reber, an editor of Pennsylvania Farmer magazine, appealed to farm people for support for the Food-For-Peace program. "War on hunger" he wrote, "whether by private donation or by government action, is a fitting way to thank God for our surpluses and to prove our compassion for the needy of the world."68
LIVING GIFTS
The idea of giving heifers to needy farm families of Europe was born in the fertile mind of Dan West. He was in Spain in 1937-1938, adminis- tering relief to peoples ravaged by the Spanish Civil War. Under the auspices of the Society of Friends he was doling out mixtures of powdered milk and water to hungry children in the surroundings of a verdant pas- ture. His deep concern for children deepened within him the conviction the best relief for everyone is helping each person to help himself. He dared to dream of sending cattle for people to supply themselves with fresh milk daily.69 This plan was discussed for a number of years before it became a reality.
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Heifers For Relief was a creative substitute for dole. It was meant to encourage people to help themselves. It was destined to expand into a new kind of ministry. It was a way of sharing which would at once discourage dependency and preserve the dignity of the individual. This idea was born in the mind of a man who was both mystical and practical.70
In 1944, Dan West wrote a letter to the President of the United States in which he shared some of his concerns about the hungry in Europe. Throughout the appeal, his deepest concern was for children:
"Because I know that you respect the bases of civilized life, I appeal to you again to lend your weight in saving the children. If we were determined to kill them, starvation is the most cruel way. If we were determined to save them, feeding them is the prime requisite. I feel sure that some day you will favor feeding them. The sooner you do come to work for them the more lives will be saved. Because I can still see their gaunt faces in Spain after six years, I want them fed in the name of the Master. It can be done. Cordially Yours, Dan West."71
The plan of shipping cattle and other animals overseas was discussed, tried and found eminently successful. At the beginning, there were re- stricted shipments because of war-time regulations. Representatives of the 1944 Annual Conference heard that 1,000 animals had been readied for shipments. Many peoples of many nations heard of the plan and expressed interest in receiving such animals as soon as shipments would be permitted.72 Early shipments were made to Belgium, Puerto Rico and Jamaica. In June, 1945, a shipment of six Brown Swiss sires was made to Greece.73 The pace of shipment increased and countries around the world began to benefit by these living gifts.
The promoters of Heifer Project suggested to UNRRA that the Church of the Brethren would provide seagoing hustlers to herd and care for the animals at sea if the organization would provide ships for the cattle. The organization agreed to provide the ships and to pay $75 per month for the services of such workers. Some C.P.S. men were used as cattle attendants in some of the early stock shipments to Europe. 74
Young men, volunteering for the cattle boats, needed draft board releases and birth certificates. New Windsor provided living quarters and board for men as they waited their shipping orders from Baltimore. Here they also waited for their medical reports and their merchant marine status clearances. The uncertainty of sailing dates required the workers to wait as long as several weeks at a time.
The Gospel Messenger reported that nearly half of those volunteering to act as cattle attendants were members of the Disciples of Christ Church. M. R. Zigler reported these volunteers came from diverse back- grounds: ministers, teachers, students, farmers, conscientious objectors and veterans. By the spring of 1947, 7,412 persons had made voyages with the cattle. The Church of the Brethren contributed 511 of these "seagoing cowboys".75 By 1950, sixty-five animals at one time were being shipped abroad in specially-designed ships.
Lowell Landis, of York, made several trips on these cattle boats. He used his photographic skills to bring a message to district people con- cerning his experiences. The records of the 1940s indicate he was in several churches of the Southern District. He was also a guest of the First Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1946-1947).
Heifer Project was the kind of ministry which required the coopera- tion of many groups of people. The staff, the budget field men, the workers, the "seagoing cowboys" numbered in the thousands. Assistance came when other denominations offered their contributions and their workers. In 1945-1946, for example, the Evangelical and Reformed
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Church, the Catholic Rural Life Conference, the Mennonite Central Com- mittee and the Northern Baptist Convention supported the program.76 After a few years of supervision by the Church of the Brethren, the project was incorporated and became independent of the denomination. The Church of the Brethren continued to support the project to the extent of $5,000 per year.77
In defense of this action, Dan West wrote the following letter to a national magazine about the Heifer Project Inc .:
"This project does not belong to the Church of the Brethren. It started there, but there are other groups, including Catholics, on the committee . .. We Christians have the duty to transcend denomina- tional values as well as national ones. In the Heifer Project and elsewhere we are beginning to do that."78
The Heifer Project had become so successful largely because "heifers have no denominational loyalty".79
The idea of Heifer Project caught the imagination of many groups. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in Rome in- quired about the principle as a method of ministering to underdeveloped lands. The offer of a living gift has the advantage of breaking down some of the suspicions and fears which exist in parts of the world. Arnold Toynbee felt the giving of animals by Heifer Project Inc. helped to break a long-standing cultural barrier in Hokkaido, Japan. Descendants of generations of rice farmers were converted into dairy farmers by these gifts. This change aided the northern Japanese island to become a pro- gressive and productive part of the nation.80
Brethren Service has from the beginning been much more than a relief and rehabilitation agency. It is a Christian witness! Goods and animals have always been given in the name of Christ. Heifer Project Inc. involves the recipient in an act of witnessing by passing on the benefits of the gift. It serves as an endless chain of neighborliness. Each person receiving livestock or poultry must promise to give the first-born offspring to someone else in need. One important side effect of this dis- tribution of livestock to the world has been the improvement of the live- stock strains by the introduction of superior breeding stock.81
Don Snider once observed of this program:
"This is a great testimony and talked of the length and breadth of this land. Two hundred years from now it will be regarded as more sensible than all the tanks we are now sending to Europe."82
Toyihiko Kagawa said of the two thousand goats which had been delivered to Japan in 1948: "Their presence is illuminating the missionary message".
THE DISTRICT AND THE DRAFT
A war-weariness settled upon the spirits of the American people. They lived too long with headlines announcing conflict and catastrophe. Under the pressure of the war years, even the edge of Christian faith was dulled. This was reflected in a letter from one Brethren pastor to an- other in the year 1944.
John D. Metzler wrote a letter to Edward K. Ziegler in which he reflected the mood among Brethren ministers:
"Four or five months ago, while traveling among the churches in one of our state districts, I was very much impressed with the strains which were being borne by our pastors. There is a great deal of loneliness. There is a strain on us to depart from our Scrip- tural position, especially during these times of war stress. One pastor was almost made to wonder whether it was worthwhile to hold true or whether it might not be better to give up all our convictions and go along with the crowd in the present war situation."83
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The history of the past three decades has been one of constant threat. It was once customary to describe the period as "the age of anxiety". In the face of real or imagined threats, the nation was sub- ject to nearly continuous conscription. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Secretary of War discussed the feasibility of peacetime conscrip- tion even before the war ended. The president's advisors warned that the idea was unpopular in the nation. The president moved ahead with his plans in spite of the report.84 As the nation moved from total war into a Cold War period, it also moved into a continuous conscription era. No less than ten times in the past thirty years, the United States Congress has acted on some Selective Service program (1940-1970).
At first, the Congresses moved cautiously in passing conscription laws. By the mid-1950s, the legislators were bolder and began to extend the draft by four-year periods. The Cold War was a strong influence in extending the draft.
Gradually the nation adapted itself to the requirements of a war economy. A huge permanent military establishment evolved and many millions of workers became dependent on this industrial-military complex. This influence has been impressed on the Southern District of Pennsyl- vania in many ways. The United States Government purchased fertile farming land near Mechanicsburg in order to develop a Naval Ordinance plant (1943). Fort Ritchie was constructed beneath a mountain near Waynesboro, Pennsylvania for the storage of government records. The Letterkenny Depot at Chambersburg, with its "tank farms" and storage centers for armaments, grew to its present 20,000 acres. It is one of the very large army depots in the nation. The city of York has relied heavily upon government contracts to keep its industries busy. Our Annual Conference appealed to Brethren to examine their consciences with regard to direct and indirect involvement in such defense industries.85
Donald Royer, in a study of the Brethren attitude toward peace con- victions, saw these attitudes changing. Prior to World War I, the heart of the Brethren peace position was conscientious objection to war. Since World War II, the Brethren lost their protesting witness and adopted the role of service, relief and rehabilitation. "With this positive witness there has come something we may not have anticipated . . . An increasing num- ber of Brethren are saying in the case of war they would increase their giving to Brethren Service, but they would also buy war bonds and work in defense factories if needed."86
Many people have seen the draft as an anachronism. As early as 1964, a minority report to the House on military manpower indicated voluntary enlistment was a possible approach to manpower procurement.87 The opposition to conscription had become so intense that both presiden- tial candidates in 1964 promised to reevaluate the draft and to eliminate it as soon as possible. The literature of mid-century abounded with articles showing the H-bomb had brought America to a new age in which "the old notions of war, of security and of sovereignty are gone".88
Moderator A Stauffer Curry, at the 1955 Annual Conference, warned that the Church of the Brethren was caught in the cross-currents of the world's maddest armaments race and the increasing sense of war's futil- ity.89 Other public speakers were resorting to the legend of Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and was punished for it.90 Churchmen be- yond the Historic Peace Churches began to express their opposition to war, particularly to the Vietnam crisis. The Christian peace movement around the world became organized ecumenically and was no longer con- fined to the Peace Churches.91
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The cooperation between churches around the world over the past quarter century has been an important factor in the growing opposition to the war system. This increasing universal opposition has contributed to an agreement on the horrors of war. By 1968, more than fifty religious bodies in the United States had taken official positions in support of the conscientious objector.92 The Christian Churches, during and following World War II, began to develop a prophetic consciousness which caused them to speak with greater freedom than ever before in the twentieth century. The church began to realize it had members on both sides of a line of battle.
As one of the historic peace groups, the Church of the Brethren con- sistently expressed its opposition to war. It maintained this position in peacetime and war-time. Generally, the church has not adhered to the absolutist position. It has rather taken the view it can cooperate with government in constructive programs in order to make a contribution in creative citizenship.93 This fact caused the Southern District Standing Committee members to report that they have seen an inconsistency in the church's declaration against the nation's participation in the Viet- nam War and earlier statements which permitted members to participate in war at the leading of their own consciences.94
The Church of the Brethren has called upon its members to pursue such vocations as will not compromise their peace testimonies. It has exhorted its members to express opposition to their legislators concerning the nation's resort to un-Christian measures such as atomic warfare, the armaments race or the manufacture of the hydrogen bomb.95 The church in conference has admitted it cannot legislate for the conscience of any of its members, but it heartily encouraged its members to seek enlight- ened consciences concerning the war system.96 The church also officially acknowledges it will not break fellowship with members who feel "con- scientiously obligated to render full military service".97
On June 19, 1948, the United States Congress enacted a much-altered stop-gap Draft Act. The Annual Conference was in session at Colorado Springs. Representatives of the conference heard young people, under the leadership of Don Snider, make impassioned and insistent pleas from the floor of the conference for the inauguration of a Volunteer Program for youth. The Asheville Conference (1942) endorsed the principle of Volunteer Service. In 1947, after strenuous works camps and an exciting peace institute, five of the youth volunteered to work in peace caravans. This was the beginning of the desire for some form of Volunteer Service.
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