Page:Christian Science War Time Activities.djvu/37

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CHRISTIAN SCIENCE IN THE WAR

From that date a continuous and steady flow of voluntary offerings poured into the office of the Treasurer of The Mother Church with the desire of bringing some measure of relief to the countries of the world where war was working its devastations. With the declaration of war by the United States the needs were brought much closer home and the establishment of the Christian Science Camp Welfare Committee called for ample funds to maintain and support its activities.

In November, 1917, the Manager of this committee started on a tour of the United States for the purpose of organizing State Committees who should have jurisdiction over the work within their borders and who should aid in raising funds for the maintenance of the activity.

In January, 1918, a Camp Welfare account was opened by the Treasurer of The Mother Church.

Christian Scientists in some of the states had already subscribed thousands of dollars for work among the enlisted men in their own neighborhoods. It soon became evident, however, that such a distribution of the financial burden was neither feasible nor just. Such a state as South Carolina, for instance, had three national army cantonments within its borders while a state like Minnesota had none. Moreover, there was a much larger percentage of Christian Scientists in some states than in others, so that it was decided very early in the development of the Camp Welfare activities to have a fund administered by The Mother Church to which each state would send its contributions for the support of the committee. Each State Committee had a Financial Secretary in charge of this work and through the fund each state

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