The camp-meeting of the Ontario Conference was held in Toronto, June 20 to July 1. The camp was pitched in a cluster of trees about three miles from the city. The electric street railway running from Toronto to Toronto Junction passed the grounds, making the camp convenient of access. About forty tents were pitched, and the neatness and order with which camp arrangements were carried out made a favorable impression upon those who attended.
The newspaper press of Toronto was especially helpful, every leading paper of the city sending its representative to the grounds. All descriptions of the meetings and reports were of the friendliest character, and by this means our work in Ontario was made known to many thousands.
While the attendance of the general public was not large, there was a fair interest from without, and on both Sundays of the meeting we were all thankful for good congregations of people who were evidently thoroughly interested. The attendance of our own people at the meeting was about two hundred, perhaps somewhat more than this toward the close. I believe all came seeking a blessing, and the Lord did not disappoint any. Personally, I never had a better time in any given ten days, and I think this will be the testimony of all who were present during the meeting.
The constitution of the Conference was amended, making all members of the church present at a Conference meeting, delegates to the Conference in session. Simple as such action may be, it made all present feel that they were decidedly a part of the business proceedings, and responsible for all that was done. None were spectators, but all were sharers in the responsibilities and the blessings. And in truth it was a blessing to have a part in the business meetings, which were held every morning during the Conference. The business sessions were as thoroughly spiritual as any of the meetings, and were every day the best possible preparation for the afternoon services, which were especially given to Bible study and instruction.
The brethren are planning as vigorous a campaign for the summer as the finances and the working force will permit, and all the people were of one accord in pledging themselves to stand by with their prayers and means. Ontario is a splendid province, and its people are of the sturdy British colonial stock. All felt that the camp-meeting was giving a new impetus to the work, and both laborers and people expect greater things from God, and will attempt greater things for Him in the year to come.
Elder Daniels was present the first three days of the meeting, and Brethren D. W. Reavis and W. H. Edwards were with us during most of the closing week. Elder J. W. Collie was elected president of the Conference, and receives the heartiest co-operation of his fellow workers and of all the people, as he takes up his duties. Associated with him on the Conference Committee are Brethren Dryer, Watson, Robinson, and McCormick. The ministerial workers in the field are Elders Collie, Starr, Ballenger, Dryer, Howe, Simpson, and Spear, with a number of Bible workers and other helpers. This is a small force for so large and important a field, but all expect to see the numbers increase.
It seemed best to close the public effort with the camp-meeting, but the brethren plan to hold a tent-meeting nearer the heart of the city as soon as a tent for the purpose can be obtained from the manufacturers. When this effort is begun, there is every indication that many who became interested during the camp-meeting will attend. The last Sunday afternoon and evening the Sabbath question was presented, and when Brother Collie called for the Sunday evening congregation to express itself as to a continuation of the meeting at a later time, there was a most hearty vote for more meetings.
The people desire to hear the truth, and it is evident that a good work will yet be done in Toronto itself. I think all of us who were merely visitors at the meeting felt some regret at having478to leave so good a field. That is the grand thing about this world we live in; wherever we go, we find the people so ready to be helped that we would like to stop in every place. As in a simple way all studied together concerning the wondrous grace of God which is in Christ Jesus the Lord, all were made to rejoice in the saving power of His love. Burdens rolled away, and courage filled every heart.
Tuesday afternoon almost the whole congregation, as one person, moved forward in the consecration service. Parents laid off the burden of common every-day sinning, and little children, almost to babyhood, asked that they might be prayed for. It was the same work that we hear of in all the camp-meetings, and is simply another indication of the fact that everywhere the Lord is moving this people onto higher ground. W. A. SPICER.
News Notes
— A $100,000 fire occurred at Enid, O. T., the 14th inst.
— In New York City the number of deaths from heat alone, from June 29 to July 6, was 989.
— Heat and drought in the southwestern part of the United States are destroying fruit and other crops.
— The democrats of Ohio have nominated Col. James Kilbourne for governor. Their platform repudiates Bryanism.
— The steamer “Erik” left North Sydney, Nova Scotia, the 17th inst., to search for Perry, the American polar explorer.
— From St. John’s, Newfoundland, comes the news of the “sinking” of the Gloucester fishing vessel “Winona,” off the Grand Banks, and the loss of eighteen of her crew.
— The Chinese government has filed a claim for $500,000 indemnity against the United States, “on account of alleged outrageous treatment of Chinese at Butte, Montana, in 1886.”
— As the result of the collision of an Alton passenger train from Chicago, and a live-stock train, near Norton, Mo., the 10th inst., seventeen persons were killed, and over forty injured.
— It is reported from Washington that the War Department recently received an official copy of the constitution of “the republic of Cuba.” It might be asked, in this connection, What is a republic, anyway?
— Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India, informs London, by telegram, that “the rainfall in Bombay, the Deccan, the Central Provinces, Eastern Bengal, Burma, and Assam, has been generally sufficient for agricultural purposes.”
— Chinese dispatches state that “Pu Chun, the heir apparent, and other members of Prince Yuan’s family have gone to join the prince on the borders of Mongolia, where reports indicate that he is preparing a new movement against the foreigners.”
— On the 12th inst., M. Santos-Dumont, the Brazilian aëronaut, “successfully sailed his steering balloon, operated by a motor, from Saint Cloud across Paris, around the Eiffel Tower, and back to Saint Cloud, at an average speed of forty kilometers an hour.”
— In a recent speech in the Spanish Senate, the Duke of Tetuan, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs, declared that “the Liberals were responsible for the war with the United States and the recall of Weyler at a critical time, and that the present government could not be considered a guarantee for the integrity of the country.”
— Railroad statistics for the year ending June 30, 1900, show that there were at that time, in the United States, 193,345.78 miles of single-track railway, and “that 1,017,653 persons were employed by the railways, that 576,865,230 passengers were carried by them during the year, that the aggregate number of persons killed in consequence of railroad accidents was 7,865, and the number injured 50,320; 2,550 of those killed and 39,643 of the injured were employees of the roads.”
— Governor Allen, of Porto Rico, sailed from San Juan, for New York, the 13th inst. He has no intention of returning, so he says.
— Great damage has been done to crops in the Western States, by the hot wave. It is said that “the Kansas corn crop is virtually destroyed.”
— The farmers of northwestern Ohio report that they have harvested “the heaviest crops of hay and wheat ever raised in that section of the State.”
— Prince Chun, younger brother of Emperor Kwang-Su, is on his way to Berlin to “formally apologize for the murder of Baron von Ketteler.”
— The American Anti-Cigarette League, with a membership of nearly 300,000, began its first international convention in Buffalo, N. Y., the 11th inst.
— Of the German soldiers returning home from China, it is said that scores are being returned “as military prisoners, either for crime or for cowardice.”
— Dispatches state that “the drought in Kansas, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa has damaged crops to the extent of hundreds of millions of dollars.”
— C. D. Graham made a successful trip through the Whirlpool Rapids, Niagara Falls, the 14th inst., “in a barrel of his own construction.” This is said to be his fifth trip.
— Dispatches state that the Russian civil administration at Niu Chuang, China, has just “issued a proclamation declaring that the port had been annexed by Russia.”
— South African dispatches state that the British have captured, near Lindley, Piet Steyn, brother of ex-president Steyn, and twenty-eight other Boers. The ex-president himself barely escaped.
— Statistics show that “there are in Great Britain, connected with Wesleyan Methodism, 19,956 lay preachers, as against 2,152 ministers,” many of whom are said to be “very poor, so far as this world’s goods are concerned.”
— The servant girls of Chicago organized, the 11th inst., a union to be called the Working Women’s Protective Association of America. It is the first union of its kind in the country, and is “backed by the organized labor of the city.”
— July 14 was celebrated throughout France, it being the anniversary of the capture of the Bastille. Personal observation leads us to believe that the average Frenchman, in his celebration of the 14th of July, is more patriotic and enthusiastic than is the American in his celebration of the Fourth.
— “The extent to which gambling is indulged in England,” says the Northwestern Christian Advocate, “is shown by the statement that $100,000,000 a year is spent on this vice, of which $50,000,000 comes from the pockets of the working classes. This fascinating vice seems to be spreading everywhere. In the United States it is growing rapidly, and numbers among its victims many women.”
— An exchange states that on the night of July 10 “more than a hundred followers of John Alexander Dowie went to Evanston [Ill.] to extol Dowieism and ‘Zion’ through street-preaching. All attempts on the part of Evanston city officials to dissuade them from their purpose were unavailing, and all requests that they should leave town were disregarded, even after mob tendencies developed in the street. Disorder became so rampant that, as a last resort, in order to clear the streets and maintain order, the fire company was ordered out, and the hose turned on Dowieites and mob alike. The crowd scattered, and many of the drenched elders and deaconesses of the Dowie party were arrested, and taken to the police station for safe-keeping. Dr. Dowie, before promulgating his Zion propaganda in Chicago in the early nineties, was a resident of Evanston.”
— One of our exchanges, the Northwestern Christian Advocate, says that “the enormous consolidation of capital in the United States Steel corporation, known familiarly as the ‘billion-dollar steel trust,’ seems about to be paralleled by an equally significant labor move, President Shaffer, of the Amalgamated Association, having ordered a strike in all the United States Steel Corporation mills, the strike to go into effect this week. This order was issued after a week spent by representatives of the union workmen and of the corporation, in attempts to arbitrate differences. The final break in amicable relationships came, not on refusal on the part of the corporation to pay the union wage-scale, but on the corporation’s refusal to employ only union men. If the strike becomes effective throughout the steel corporation’s factories and industrial concerns, it will doubtless be the greatest strike known in American history.”479
— The Chicago post-office receipts for the past year were nearly $8,000,000.
— The American Cereal Company will increase its capital stock from $3,400,000 to $10,000,000.
— By the first of September a trust will doubtless have been formed, to control the output of bituminous coal.
— The United States revenue war tax collections from June 13, 1898, to May 31, 1901, amounted to $310,053,363.
— The Italian government has informed the State Department of the United States that it pays no export bounty on sugar.
— According to the British Blue Book on India, 18,390,000 pounds sterling were expended in relief of famine in that land during the years 1899, 1900.
— An exchange says that “the Seventh-day Adventists have decided to take their children out of the public schools and establish parochial schools.”
— Andrew Carnegie is now Doctor of Laws, by virtue of a degree recently received from Glasgow University, Scotland, in connection with the celebration of its 450th anniversary.
— The white union salmon fishermen on the Fraser River, British Columbia, recently captured sixteen Japanese fishermen, and “marooned” them on “an island whose location they will not reveal.”
— The present population of Scotland is 4,471,957, an increase of 446,310 inhabitants since the census taken ten years ago. This is the first time that Scotland’s population has exceeded that of Ireland.
— Recently a notice was posted in a church in West Kensington, London, advertising the sale of five pews, which possessed certain “advantages,” one of which was that “the contribution box is not passed to them.”
— Berlin dispatches state that the German government has adopted “the single tariff system in respect to all commercial treaties,” its decision to that effect having been communicated to Great Britain and this country.
— Mr. Wilson, United States Secretary of Agriculture, predicts that within ten years the United States will produce all of its own sugar, and that “any one of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, or Nebraska could produce from beets all the sugar needed in the United States.”
— The New York Observer observes that “four hundred human lives, $75,000,000, and 200 ships have been lost in fruitless efforts to find the north pole. And yet there are people who criticise the spending by the Christian churches of a few millions in missionary exploration or world-wide evangelization.”
— According to reports from London, many English publishers will open branch houses in the United States. Some will even transfer their headquarters to this country, leaving but a branch office in England. All this simply because many English books published in London find in the United States their best market.
— The report of the United States Bureau of Navigation shows that “during the eleven months preceding June 1, 1,024 steam and sail vessels of 359,789 gross tons, were built in the United States. Of this number, 640 were constructed on the Atlantic and the Gulf, 135 on the Pacific, 93 on the Great Lakes, and 156 on the Western rivers. The gross tonnage of the period mentioned is thirty per cent more than for the same period of last year.”
— There has been organized, at Lewiston, Me., what is called the Co-operative Association of America, or “a trust for the people.” This organization “proposes to furnish employment to members of the association, who are termed ‘co-workers.’ A deposit of $300 constitutes co-workership.” Among the things provided for are a market, grocery and general wholesale business, etc. Of course, we do not vouch for the association, not knowing anything further about it.
— Allowing a period of forty-three years for the payment of the Chinese indemnity, the total sum to be paid by China (interest included) would thus amount to 890,000,000 taels, or $639,020,000. The payment of the principal is to begin the fourth year. It is the desire of the Chinese, however, to complete the payment of the indemnity in a shorter time than the forty-three years decided upon by the foreign ministers at Peking. Through an error on the part of those making up the claims, China, in her hasty acceptance of the figures, has agreed to pay 35,000,000 taels, or $24,500,000, more than the total indemnity demanded by the Powers.
— A petition has been sent to the French Chamber of Deputies, “calling attention to the American Steel Trust, which threatens disorganization of the French metal industry, and calling for reprisals.”
— It is proposed to take a census of the Philippine Islands “as soon as quiet is restored.” The new census will doubtless reveal a much smaller population than that which existed under Spanish rule, as this country has been more successful in exterminating the natives.
— According to the Maryland Bureau of Statistics, there were packed in that State, in the year 1900, 33,600,000 cans of tomatoes, of an average of three pounds each; 11,400,000 cans of corn, of two pounds each; 11,200,000 cans of peas, of two pounds each; and 19,200,000 cans of peaches, of three pounds each. The value of total pack of fruit and vegetables for the year amounted to about $15,000,000.
Dakota Conference.
The Dakota Conference met on Seney Island, Sioux Falls, June 12–24. Considering that we had rainy weather during the greater part of the meeting, the attendance was good. The president’s address was hopeful and encouraging. He said that the Dakotas are an ever-broadening field, the country as a whole being new. The frontier, and the sparsely settled regions bordering thereon, are receiving from the East and from almost every country in the world many immigrants. The population of the Dakotas increased fully one third during the last three years. Therefore in Dakota we have the opportunity of preaching the Third Angel’s Message to persons of almost every nation.
Our finances are in good condition. The tithe for the past year was much more than for the year before, notwithstanding the crop failure in North Dakota. That our Conference is keeping pace with the onward moves that belong to the Third Angel’s Message is evidenced by the reorganization of the Conference in all its branches. The Tract and Missionary Society and the Sabbath-school Association were made departments of the Conference. The Sabbath-school work, the church school work, and the young people’s work were grouped into one department—the Sabbath- and Church-school Department.
The business of the Conference was brought before the delegations by an advisory committee of nineteen members. Fourteen of these were selected by the Conference from the floor, the other five were the Conference Committee. This Advisory Committee created six sub-committees. Forty-three recommendations and resolutions were brought in, all of which, except one, received favorable action by the Conference. Ten recommendations were made for the Missionary Department, covering tract work, the circulating of health literature, canvassers and their work, the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” etc. Nine recommendations were made for the Sabbath-school, Church School, and Young People’s Department, covering their organization, selection of Sabbath-school teachers, Sabbath-school Institutes, etc. One man, a field secretary, was placed in charge of the department, as a Conference laborer, and asked to spend his whole time working for the same. Twenty-three recommendations were made for the Conference, covering reorganization, work for the churches, raising of funds for more extensive work on old lines, and the opening of new lines of work. The support of L. M. Crowther in Trinidad was continued. Four new churches were received,—three in North Dakota, and one in South Dakota.
We have in the Conference fifty-two churches,—thirty-three in South Dakota, and nineteen in North Dakota,—one thousand, eight hundred and twenty-four members, counting isolated Sabbath-keepers.
We begin the year with twenty-nine laborers,—ten ministers, seven licentiates, and twelve who have missionary license. Elder W. T. Millman, who has been our Conference president for three years, goes to his old home in Missouri. Elder N. W. Allee, of Tennessee, takes his place as president here. Two others of our laborers were called to labor in other fields—Elders H. R. Johnson and August Anderson. Their places are taken by O. P. Norderhus and A. E. Christian. Two of our brethren, Lars Nielson and August Anderson, were ordained to the gospel ministry by prayer and the laying on of hands.
We were favored with the following-named laborers and visitors from without our Conference: Luther Warren, N. P. Nelson and wife and his son, Dr. Nelson, from Europe, who is at present visiting with his parents; Drs. David Paulson and A. N. Loper; Elders C. W. Flaiz; Profs. M. W. Newton and C. C. Lewis; H. Shultz; O. E. Cummings, Canvassing Agent of the Northwestern Union Conference. We were glad to have with us Elder N. P. Nelson and his wife. Brother Nelson is president of the Nebraska Conference. He was president of the Dakota Conference for six years, from 1892-1898. These esteemed laborers hold no small place in the hearts of the brethren of the Dakota Conference.
Dr. Paulson made special and effective efforts among the young people. Professor Newton, with his stereopticon views, showed us through Union College, and many places of interest in our work in Europe. O. E. Cummings made special effort in behalf of the sale of books and literature on health questions. This effort was supported by an immediate canvass of the audience for the mid-summer number of Good Health, 4,250 copies of which were sold, more than a score taking one hundred copies or more each.
Luther Warren’s meeting with those who were brought into the truth under his labors in the Dakota Conference will long be remembered for its soul-inspiring influence, a veritable feast, a family reunion.
The future is bright for the Dakotas.
UTAH CAMP-MEETING.
By W. A. Alway
The Utah camp-meeting will be held at Bountiful. The nearest railroad station is Woods Cross.
W. A. ALWAY.
NEBRASKA CAMP-MEETING.
By N. P. Nelson
It has been decided to hold the Nebraska State camp-meeting in Lincoln, instead of Seward, as the interest in Lincoln seems to demand that the meeting be held there this year. So please notice the change in the camp-meeting appointment.
N. P. NELSON.
ILLINOIS CONFERENCE ASSOCIATION.
By N. W. Kauble
The Illinois Conference Association of Seventh-day Adventists will hold its annual meeting in connection with the camp-meeting at Kankakee, Ill., August 23 to Sept. 2. First meeting of the Association will be called at 9 A. M., August 26.
N. W. KAUBLE, Pres.
ADDRESS
The permanent address of Elder J. H. Rogers is changed from Beresford, S. D., to 300 Fourth and Cedar Sts., Yankton, S. D.
The Offering of July 6.
By S. H. Lane
We are pleased to report that our brethren and sisters throughout the field took a lively interest in the collection which was taken July 6 for the aid of the Christiania publishing house. Most of the churches, it is supposed, have sent their donation direct to the State treasurer of the tract society, while some churches and quite a number of individuals have sent theirs direct to Brother H. M. Mitchell, Battle Creek, Mich., Treasurer of the General Conference and Foreign Mission Board. The amount received up to date, July 18, since July 6, is a little more than $2,400. This includes the donation of the Battle Creek church, and what has been sent in by near-by churches and through the mails, and a little more than $600 received from Minnesota. One good brother and his aged father, living in New Hampshire, sent $55. An old, tried friend of the cause in Illinois sent $100; and smaller amounts are constantly coming in. We trust that by this time every church in the land has sent its contribution either to the headquarters at Battle Creek or to the treasurer of the State tract society. If so, doubtless the State tract societies will soon remit to Brother Mitchell. We hope so, as the money raised is needed. We are glad that a spirit of liberality is coming in among our people, so much so that every solicitation meets with a response from some tried and true friend of the Third Angel’s Message. The opportunity to give is still open.
Calls come often, and we are glad to report that as money comes in, our debts are being diminished. The debts on our colleges and academies are growing less. Our publishing houses and sanitariums are also canceling debt. The debt of the denomination held by the General Conference Association is not increasing, and if the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons” is pressed everywhere, the money received through these sales will materially lessen the great school debt.
Freewill offerings and money received through wills, also donations from the sale of real estate, are materially lessening our debts, and we believe that the time will come when the denomination will be entirely out of debt; but before we can see this day, we must sacrifice and give our means as the Lord may direct. Should any feel, at any time, a spirit to make a freewill offering, the money will be gladly received, and appropriated to that branch of the work which the giver may designate. A strict account of everything received is kept, and the money is applied to the object for which the donor gave it.
We shall be glad to hear from any who may wish to make freewill offerings, or who may be willing to loan the General Conference Association, without interest, which indeed would be a great help. The foreign fields always require money, and the time is here when money is needed very much to build up the work in the Southern field; and especially at the present time money is needed for the work in the British Isles, for but little has been done in that field compared with its importance. We trust the spirit of liberality which has been manifested, will continue until it shall wax exceeding great. The liberal soul shall be made fat. We trust the blessing of the Lord will attend the work more abundantly in the future than it has in the past.
S. H. LANE.
BUSINESS NOTICES.
Brief business notices and “wants” will be published in this department, subject to the discretion of the publishers. A charge of one dollar for one insertion of four lines or less, and of twenty-five cents for every line over four, will be made, though in the case of the poor who wish employment, the charge may be remitted. Persons unknown to the managers of the publishing house must furnish good references.
WANTED.— Small family, with team and tools, to farm on shares (60 acres). Address Mrs. Libbie Johnson, Colon, Mich.
WANTED.— A first-class practical electrician to work in connection with one of our sanitariums. Address Medical Missionary Board, Battle Creek, Mich.
WANTED.— A lady and a gentleman nurse, also a hygienic cook. Write, stating experience and other particulars, to the Hygienic Health Retreat, Montrose, Colo.
FOR SALE.— Any one wishing to buy property in College View, or to exchange Battle Creek or Des Moines property for a fine fruit farm of 100 acres in southeastern Nebraska, write to John M. Morrison, College View, Neb.
WANTED.— A competent man to cook in Gospel Help Mission, Philadelphia. Preferably unmarried, and having a burden for rescue mission work. Write to Dr. W. L. Winner, 115 South Sixteenth St., Philadelphia, Pa.
WANTED.— Young woman of good reputation, Seventh-day Adventist or otherwise, with healthy physique, to live in family indefinitely. Housework not hard; family of four. Correspond with Mrs. Geo. B. Murphy, 81 Kirby St., Battle Creek, Mich.
PUBLICATIONS WANTED.
N. B.—Attention has been repeatedly called to the necessity of having papers properly wrapped. Do not roll or wrap too small. Cover papers well, so that they will be clean when received. Some have paid double the postage necessary, and others have expressed literature when it would have been cheaper to send by mail, at four ounces for one cent.
The following persons desire late, clean copies of our publications, postpaid:—
Mrs. M. L. Wissner, Alvin, Tex.
H. W. Reed, Oneida Mission, Wis.
Mr. W. O. Fuller, Millersburg, Ky.
Mrs. J. F. Woods, 322 S. Detroit St., Warsaw, Ind.
J. G. Wilson, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., large supply regularly.
M. N. Sanders, 547 Niagara St., Eau Claire, Wis., Signs, Review, Youth’s Instructor, health journals, and tracts.
Sarah M. Lowell, Hunter, N. D., invalid, and isolated in radius of thirty miles, one dozen copies publications regularly.
Mrs. K. A. Guerrier, Monticello, Me., REVIEW, Signs, Sentinel, Little Friend, tracts on Sabbath question.
