Page 94 - GFA – A Different Drumbeat
P. 94
GFA – A Different Drumbeat 94
grain in the autumn harvest. You must know that in the districts lying at a high
altitude, and this was the case with most of the districts in which we operated, the
summer harvest is not very large and it is the autumn crops which supply the main
food stocks of those parts. Without fear of contradiction I can say that the splendid
promise for the autumn harvest in so many of the districts in which we worked, was
largely due to the efforts described above.
And now to deal with the financial side of the undertaking. Many persons have
been interested to learn how we managed to get our funds up from Tientsin to
Kansuh. It is one thing to have half a million dollars lying in the Bank at Tientsin and
another thing to get that half million two thousand miles inland without any of the
banking facilities such as we understand them. Fortunately we were able to sell our
cheques directly to the merchants, and sell them at a premium which resulted in a
clear gain to us of some seventeen thousand dollars. This surplus covered all our
overhead expenses so that the donors to the funds can be satisfied that every cash
they donated went into the stomachs or on to the backs of the suffering poor in
Kansuh. Despite the fact that we had to move very large sums of money in actual
silver, by pack mule, through many robber infested areas, not one single cash was
lost. One pack mule will carry three thousand dollars.
From all classes of society, official, business, private, rebel and brigand we
received considerate sympathetic assistance. Whenever we came into touch with
the brigand forces, once we were able to establish direct contact, we received
immunity from further molestation. When the city of Tsinchow fell to a large body of
anti-Government forces early in May, the whole city was looted clean and many
thousands were killed. At that time we had the sum of five thousand three hundred
dollars lying in the city, which to all intents seemed irrecoverably lost. However I sent
a personal letter to the Moslem leader of that horde, reminding him of the friendship
which I had had with his father and brother and representing our loss of trust funds.
That man personally exerted himself and was not content until he received from me
the notification that the money had been refunded. When Anting was attacked and
taken in August we lost one thousand one hundred dollars. This also was recovered
within a week.
Of fellow workers who laboured with us one could say much in the way of
appreciation but they would not like it. I will mention however the special help give by
Messrs. Wood, Hayward, Holton, Griebenow, Simpson, Koenigswald, Tornvall and
Swenson. I would also bear testimony to the loyalty and devotion of many of our
Chinese helpers. It is not easy to stick to your position of trust and keep the work
going when an army of brigands, numbering thousands, is advancing directly on you.
In one instance a band of four hundred such passed within almost hailing distance of
one of our centres and yet the work went forward uninterrupted even though a clash
occurred with Government forces and fighting ensued within sight of our offices. On
another occasion when it was necessary for me to enter a city which was under fire
grain in the autumn harvest. You must know that in the districts lying at a high
altitude, and this was the case with most of the districts in which we operated, the
summer harvest is not very large and it is the autumn crops which supply the main
food stocks of those parts. Without fear of contradiction I can say that the splendid
promise for the autumn harvest in so many of the districts in which we worked, was
largely due to the efforts described above.
And now to deal with the financial side of the undertaking. Many persons have
been interested to learn how we managed to get our funds up from Tientsin to
Kansuh. It is one thing to have half a million dollars lying in the Bank at Tientsin and
another thing to get that half million two thousand miles inland without any of the
banking facilities such as we understand them. Fortunately we were able to sell our
cheques directly to the merchants, and sell them at a premium which resulted in a
clear gain to us of some seventeen thousand dollars. This surplus covered all our
overhead expenses so that the donors to the funds can be satisfied that every cash
they donated went into the stomachs or on to the backs of the suffering poor in
Kansuh. Despite the fact that we had to move very large sums of money in actual
silver, by pack mule, through many robber infested areas, not one single cash was
lost. One pack mule will carry three thousand dollars.
From all classes of society, official, business, private, rebel and brigand we
received considerate sympathetic assistance. Whenever we came into touch with
the brigand forces, once we were able to establish direct contact, we received
immunity from further molestation. When the city of Tsinchow fell to a large body of
anti-Government forces early in May, the whole city was looted clean and many
thousands were killed. At that time we had the sum of five thousand three hundred
dollars lying in the city, which to all intents seemed irrecoverably lost. However I sent
a personal letter to the Moslem leader of that horde, reminding him of the friendship
which I had had with his father and brother and representing our loss of trust funds.
That man personally exerted himself and was not content until he received from me
the notification that the money had been refunded. When Anting was attacked and
taken in August we lost one thousand one hundred dollars. This also was recovered
within a week.
Of fellow workers who laboured with us one could say much in the way of
appreciation but they would not like it. I will mention however the special help give by
Messrs. Wood, Hayward, Holton, Griebenow, Simpson, Koenigswald, Tornvall and
Swenson. I would also bear testimony to the loyalty and devotion of many of our
Chinese helpers. It is not easy to stick to your position of trust and keep the work
going when an army of brigands, numbering thousands, is advancing directly on you.
In one instance a band of four hundred such passed within almost hailing distance of
one of our centres and yet the work went forward uninterrupted even though a clash
occurred with Government forces and fighting ensued within sight of our offices. On
another occasion when it was necessary for me to enter a city which was under fire
