The Canvassing Work in the Philippines by W. E. Lanier

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 11, 1916

The Canvassing Work in the Philippines

By W. E. Lanier

It is remarkable how God is blessing the work in this part of his vineyard. This is certainly true with reference to the literature work. Our hearts are made to rejoice as we see the progress that is being made by our native brethren.

A little more than two years ago we sent out several young men to sell “Thoughts on Daniel,” in Tagalog; and almost from the beginning they had good success. In less than a year some of them were taking orders to the value of $100 a week, and others did correspondingly well. This was done in territory where the average wage is from forty to fifty cents a day. To our American canvassers, this may seem large, yet it is so here. And our deliveries here average about as good as they do in the States. It is true that the padres (priests) sometimes warn their flock, and thus cause us some trouble; yet we have not had a great deal of trouble from that source.

We have made a small beginning in three other languages—the Cebuan, the Panayano, and the Ilocano. The books used in these three last-mentioned languages are small, corresponding in price to our English juvenile books. But some of our boys are doing remarkably well with these. I shall take the liberty of quoting from letters written by two of our newest canvassers, from our newest field, and with our smallest book. These letters were written to Brother Hay, who is in charge of that mission station. They are as follows:—

“We are now far away from our city, spreading the printed page to the people. My work here is much better than last week. I have raised the bounteous sum of 54.80 pesos [$27.40]. . . .

“We have founded the Canvassers’ Institute, in which every Sabbath we have a meeting, and one of us discusses a topic of the Bible. I am the secretary-treasurer of the Canvassers’ Institute. And in the two meetings we have had, I raised .45 peso donations. This will be for the Vigan Sabbath school’s benefit.

“I cannot give you statements referring to the experience I had during the week. I reserve them. I will relate them when I arrive at Vigan.

“I close my letter and pray God to dwell among us.

“Yours in the Lord’s gospel work, “JUAN.”

Juan is a young Ilocano boy, who has been living with Brother Hay while attending the English school.

Manuel writes:—

“I am glad to state that we, the colporteurs, have very good orders. We thank God, for he puts his hand on us at every time we need him. Every morning we have morning devotions, and we feel in our hearts that Jesus is dwelling in us. He is leading us. . . .

“I am glad also to tell you that we have a society named the Canvassers’ Institute. The purpose of this institute is to strengthen our faith and to serve the Lord as closely as possible. The last two Sabbaths we had Sabbath school, being three members. The first Sabbath we had the donations of twenty cents and the next of fifteen cents. . . . We have also regulations, and if any of us neglects to obey these regulations, he is punished. Now, Brother Hay, we are trying hard to control ourselves.”

There was another letter from Domingo, but I did not get it. But these give some idea of the devotion of our canvassers here. Brother Hay wrote that these boys are so young that when he sent them out he felt as if he were sending out children. But praise God, they are proving men in faith. In his last two deliveries, Juan delivered one hundred per cent of his orders. Manuel delivered an average of ninety-five per cent in his last two deliveries. Domingo’s delivery was good, but not quite so good as the others.

I might tell you something of the results of the literature work, but I will reserve them for some future time. We now have about thirty canvassers, besides paper workers. W. E. LANIER.