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for generations. They were objections shared quite generally by sister conferences.

Intensive studies and lengthy reports to conference were made in order to keep intact the traditional brotherhood practice` of caring for widows and needy families. However, the experience of the Ohio Conference has been similar to that of the entire Mennonite Church. As farming declined and as fewer people were living directly from the land, it became more and more difficult for the brotherhood to care for its members in need by traditional ways of congregational assistance.

Gradually throughout the Mennonite Church brotherly aid organizations developed and eventually these have become the means whereby many of the Ohio church members have provided for each other in times of need. These brotherly aid organizations usually have low costs and are also patronized because of their brotherhood aspects.

Ohio Conference members are now served largely by the organization, Mennonite Mutual Aid, which was established in 1945 by Mennonite General Conference as an Indiana corporation, sponsored by the Mennonite General Conference. Among its services are plans for sharing hospitalization costs, surgical, burial, and survivors' aid. Subsidiary organizations provide coverage for various kinds of automobile accidents. The Ohio Mennonite churches are represented in these organizations at the level of directorship and thousands of members benefit by their services.

World War 11 and New Fields of Service

The years of World War II differed from World War I in
many ways for the Ohio and Eastern Mennonite churches. The
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 provided for alternative
service by conscientious objectors, and some of the lessons learned
by both church and state from World War I were not forgotten.
By and large the American public accepted the status and role of
conscientious objectors to war, and the willingness to render alternate service at no pay was respected. Local communities, with
few exceptions, were not hostile to the conscientious objectors who
resided in their midst and who engaged in some kind of service.
Young men who were drafted and who took the position of
nonparticipation in war were assigned to work camps under civilian
government agencies such as Soil Conservation Service, Forest