Earlier text: Hydrophobia or Tuberculosis?Central America
By H. C. Goodrich
BELIZE, BRITISH HONDURAS.—I have been most deeply interested in the moving of the Review and Herald to Washington. The pouring out of the Spirit of God after that move seemed as real to me as though a wave of the sea had rolled over us. It seemed as if the remainder of the work was held out before us, and the end was in sight. I believe the Lord will bless his people now, as he did in the days of Jehoshaphat, when he said: “The battle is not yours, but God’s. Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” I have just heard the present week from French Harbor. There have been several weeks of very bad weather, so that no ships have come from the Bay Islands to Belize, and I had not heard a word from French Harbor since leaving there. I had cried to the Lord many times for the believers there, as they were nearly all new converts. Three of them took their stand in the last meeting I held there, and they were surrounded by bitter enemies and opposition. But in the four letters received from them yesterday, I learn that every one has remained firm, and others are inclined to join them. How good the Lord is! If the weather permits, I hope to visit them again next month. Captain —, whom I found two years ago “holding on to the faith,” now has the faith holding on to him. He writes: “‘Power for Witnessing’ is a most wonderful book to me. The more I read it, the more I feel that I must tell others what Christ has done for me.” He is a retired sea captain, with a good plantation, and has all he can do as a sail-maker; yet during the last year, with what time he could spare from his work, he sold nearly a hundred dollars’ worth of books at wholesale price. He feels now that he must give himself to the work of the message. He is a Scotchman, about sixty years of age, but the fire is getting into his bones, and he can not keep still. I have often prayed for a laborer for the Bay Islands; perhaps this is the one. He sends for quite a large order of books, and says he has come to the conclusion to work all he can for God. The Lord is good—so much better than we deserve! I do praise him for all his works. May we all be workers together with him. CANTON.— Only those who have gone through the experience can realize how trying it is to spend week after week and month after month preparing for active work. I had planned very differently when we first came to China, but many of my most cherished plans have been dashed to the ground. I am glad to say that my main purpose remains constant and fixed, amid all the changes and surprises that overtake me—that is, to master the language. I can now almost hear myself preaching the message in Chinese. I am coming to feel quite at home in the colloquial New Testament, which I am reading every day with my teacher. I have also begun regular Bible studies with our servant boy, who is beginning to show a little interest in17 the truths presented to him. Quite naturally, I have many talks with my teacher about the truth. And while he has not committed himself, I feel that his mind is deeply influenced by it. He has been a Christian for several years, and is a man of ability and experience. He is showing much interest in us and our work, and we are praying that some day he may give the advent message to his countrymen. We can only look to God, who called us, and who will also call others, into this great field which is surely ripe for the harvest. We are in great need of some faithful native helpers. Where shall we make our wants known, unless it be to the Lord of the harvest? I tell you, it is good to build on such resources. I set the first of March as the day when I shall begin public meetings for the Chinese here in Canton. I have spoken for a hall for that date, and from now until that time I shall pull hard to get my tones and words set right. I may as well close my eyes to all the world, and plunge into the midst of the stream. Every effort will make me stronger and more confident for the next. Mrs. Anderson continues her study of the language. She speaks it as well as I do, but is somewhat behind in reading. Our boy, Stanley, can not read any, of course, but when it comes to talking Chinese, he is far in advance of either of us. No doubt he will before very long speak like a native, and in many ways be a help to us. Brother and Sister Wilbur are steadily studying, and making fair progress. I can not forbear to write about Shanghai and Hongkong. They are the two chief ports in China; and although neither of them has a population of ten thousand Europeans, yet I am confident that a good, competent physician, with very little capital, could open treatment rooms in either of these places and do a good work. Besides, it would serve as a much-needed forwarding station for our workers located inland. We are praying that the Lord's work may triumph speedily. We are encouraged by the good things we read in our papers about the progress of the message throughout the world. We are of good courage, knowing that our God abideth faithful, and that he will never leave nor forsake us. BRIEG, SILESIA.— Since last September we have been laboring in Silesia, a province in Germany of fifty thousand inhabitants. We have never seen such a longing and hungering after truth as at the present time. Calls are coming to us from many places, but it is impossible to answer them all. Only one brother has helped us so far, but at our conference held in Dresden, in January, it was voted that two more should come to this needy field. During the last three months, ten souls have joined our church, and six others have begun to keep the Sabbath, and will soon be baptized. At present we are in Brieg, a city of twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Although we are meeting with much opposition, yet the Lord is greatly blessing. An evangelical preacher in this place is trying to stir up the whole city against us, but many are beginning to dislike him, because he is telling so many things about us that are not true. We are sure that many will have their eyes opened through his lectures. A few weeks ago I had a long talk with a Catholic priest who seems to be interested in the truth. He has attended some of our Sabbath meetings, and taken part in the Sabbath-school. He was ashamed when he found how little he knew about the Bible, and how well versed our lay members are in the Scriptures. May the Lord continue his work, and help this man to take a firm stand for the truth. We are of good courage in the Master's work, and rejoice in the soon coming of our Lord. MUALEVU.—After our good conference closed, we returned to Mualevu. The Lord gave us a smooth voyage. Our sleeping quarters were not the most pleasant. Mrs. Parker slept on top of a pile of boxes, as the cabin was filled with cargo. The other members of our party found resting-places where they could. Two nights on the trip the rain poured down in torrents, and as the Fijian sailors had no place to go, they filed into our cabin, and slept by our side. Mrs. Parker and Sister Read had their faces badly sunburned and blistered the last two days of the trip. Such are some of the experiences we find in sailing in Fiji. Our trip lasted nearly four days, and it was with glad hearts that we again stepped on old mother earth. Since our return we have been very busy. I have had a difficult case of inflammatory rheumatism to treat. As the individual could receive no help from the doctors, he came to me as the last resort. By the blessing of God, he is almost well. He is an influential man, and this experience will help us to enter one specially hard place in this field. We now have forty pounds collected for a boat, which is very necessary for this district, as we have thirty-three islands to visit. We need twenty pounds more, and are looking to the Lord to open some hearts to help us to this amount. We are very grateful to God for sending us such valuable help as he has in Sister Read. She has helped to lift the burdens that Mrs. Parker was carrying, and now the work moves easily. C. H. PARKER. Southern Jamaica
By F. Hall; A. N. Durrant
By the appointment of our conference, we moved to this place, and began holding meetings about the middle of January. The parish which was formerly called Vere, but has been recently annexed to a sister parish (Clarendon), and now bears the name Clarendon, is the most neglected parish of this island. There is not one Seventh-day Adventist church in it as yet. This parish is the seat of darkness and superstition. Spiritism prevails among the ignorant. With the many sugar and rum making estates, the men are drunkards. Religion is almost utterly discarded, only some of the women being exceptions in this respect. During the dry season one here can better understand such prophecies as Joel 1:10-20 and Isa. 51:7. Here also diseases prevail more than anywhere else in the island. We have never seen a greater number of blind, deaf, and afflicted people. Isa. 1:4 is literally fulfilled here. Oppression of every kind is to be seen. The poor, working class, with the emigrated coolies, are slaves, having hard taskmasters who misuse and rob them. It is grievous to hear the complaints of even the poor coolies who are crying to God, hoping to get back to their native land. The prophecy of James 5 is being wonderfully fulfilled. But as dark as this place is, the great threefold message must be preached here, and so we came, realizing that God had sent us, and that he would be with us. We started our meetings close by two Church of England and one Baptist churches, and the services have been well attended. A lively interest has been awakened, and honest souls are accepting present truth. Eleven are preparing for baptism, and we expect the number will soon be increased to twenty; for some are already keeping the Sabbath at home, while others are deciding to do so soon. To God we give all the praise. The Baptist minister confesses the truth, though he says he is not convinced that he should keep the Sabbath. Among the converts are two special cases. One of these is a young girl who was deeply convicted by the Spirit of God. She was a member of the Church of England. Although persecuted, her faith did not waver, and she is now rejoicing in the blessed truth. The other is a lady of good standing in one of the churches, who was so overpowered by the Spirit of God that she fell on her knees and wept and prayed. We are encouraged by these special indications of the Spirit's working. At present we are holding cottage-meetings in two other districts, and the interest is good. Many are watching the move we are making toward the erection of a place of worship. We must soon leave the hall that we are in, and there is not another suitable place in the neighborhood in which to hold such meetings. The plains are destitute of lumber for building. The people are poor, and the company is composed mostly of women, so we realize that we must rely on our American brethren to help establish a memorial in this long-neglected parish. One hundred dollars would be a great help to the work here. Who will help? Notwithstanding the many calls from different fields for money, we feel sure that our dear brethren of the local churches will cheerfully contribute to this end; or perhaps some one who has means will send us this help. If this is done, we shall be able to move on to other districts soon. Contributions may be sent through the Mission Board to the president here. We are well, and realize a joy in being in the Master's work. We are glad to see how the converts prize the truth, and wish that some of those who will read these lines were here to see the joy they manifest; but we believe the gathering day is not far away, when we all shall meet on the sea of glass. We are of good courage. Pray for us and the work here. To Our Brethren in America
By George A. Irwin
I TAKE this method of extending thanks on behalf of the brethren in Australasia to the brethren in the United States for their liberal offering made last July, in behalf of the work in this field. It was not until the arrival of the last American mail that we received any official notification of the amount realized. In a letter from Professor Bland it was stated that the amount up to that date was $9,494.48, with a fair prospect of its reaching ten thousand dollars, the amount asked for and voted by the conference. Knowing the large amount in the aggregate that was voted to the different fields by the last General Conference, and also the many other demands made upon the American brethren to sustain the work in their local and union conferences, we feel that they have responded nobly to our appeal. Not knowing at the time of our last union conference just how much we would receive, we could not go, in our appropriation of the amount, beyond what we felt reasonably sure we might expect. So only two definite appropriations were made; namely, six thousand dollars to the Sydney Sanitarium, and five hundred dollars to the treatment rooms in Adelaide, South Australia. Whatever was received more than this, was to remain in the union conference treasury to be disbursed at a subsequent meeting according to the most urgent need. Hoping for more, however, the union conference at the time of its session exhausted the funds then in the treasury in helping some of the most needy conferences and mission fields. This donation came when we were in very great need of help, and enabled us to keep our work going at a time when to all human appearances it was at a point where we could go no further. More than this, it revived courage in the hearts of our brethren to take a new hold, and to lift when they saw others were lifting with them. The severe drought that caused so much loss and made times hard, has now been broken, and prosperity with accompanying courage is coming to the people. While we still have a heavy debt on the Sydney Sanitarium, there is nothing pressing. The creditors are all our own people. Those holding the largest amounts do not need their money, and are satisfied with the investment; while that called for from time to time of the smaller amounts has been met without difficulty. The months of December and January showed a net gain to the institution of nearly one thousand dollars.18 Of this amount five hundred dollars was applied on the indebtedness, the rest remaining in the treasury to be used in much-needed improvements. The patronage is steadily increasing, and a good influence is going out from the institution. Already several persons have accepted the truth, as the result of the work done at this place. I speak more particularly of this institution at this time, because the largest part of your donation went there, and that you may know that your donation is already bearing fruit. The treatment rooms operated by Brother Semmens, in Adelaide, are also doing good work, and exerting a good influence in the city. Our school at Avondale and publishing house at Melbourne are both well patronized, and are enjoying a good degree of the presence and blessing of God. Our tent companies are meeting with fair success in the field, and while we are unable to give an exact report of the increase in membership, I think one would be safe in setting it at two hundred. Our ministers and laborers in general are of good courage, having the fullest confidence in the message as given to this people in the past, and its final and speedy triumph. In conclusion, we wish again to thank you for your timely assistance, and assure you of our hearty appreciation. Labors by the Way
By J. F. Bahler
APRIL 15 my wife and I stopped at a hotel in Beaumont, Tex., and engaged a furnished room. The evening following we invited the mother of a little blind girl, and the lady’s sister also, into our room, to advise with them for the future welfare of the afflicted child, with a view to sending her to an institution for the blind when she became old enough. This led to a religious conversation, after which I gave them some reading-matter on present truth, and arranged to furnish them with more reading in the near future. We have reason to believe that both of these ladies will accept the message. May God grant it, and may his people pray for them that their eyes may be anointed and opened to see light, and that they may embrace it. Let us sow the seed, and trust in God to water it, and by and by he will grant fruit for eternity. J. F. BAHLER. A New Corporation in Washington, D. C.
[KNOWING the interest which all our people take in the progress of the work in Washington, we print herewith the articles of incorporation and the by-laws of our latest corporation formed here.—Ed.] Articles of Incorporation of “General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists”
Know All Men by These Presents, That we, the undersigned, namely, James R. Scott, of Washington, D. C.; Harvey Edson Rogers, of Washington, D. C.; Daniel K. Nicola, of Washington, D. C.; Arthur G. Daniells, of Takoma Park, Md.; and Amos P. Needham, of Takoma Park, Md., being of full age, and citizens of the United States, and a majority of whom are residents of the District of Columbia, desiring to associate ourselves together to form a corporation for the purposes and objects hereinafter set out, in pursuance of and in conformity with sections 599 to 604 inclusive, of subchapter three of the Code of the District of Columbia, approved March 3, 1901, and amended by subsequent acts of Congress, for ourselves, our associates, and successors, do make, sign, and acknowledge this certificate in writing, which, when recorded, shall constitute the Articles of Incorporation of the hereinafter-named Corporation. First: The name of the Corporation hereby created shall be “General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists.” Second: The term for which said Corporation is organized and the duration of its existence is to be perpetual. Third: The particular business and objects for which this Corporation is formed are for the purpose of diffusing moral and religious knowledge throughout the entire world by means of churches, organizations, publishing houses, medical or health institutions, educational institutions, publications, missionary agencies, and all other instrumentalities and methods appropriate and available for and tending to the advancement of such ends and aims, and to that end to receive loans, gifts, and deposits of money; to issue notes; to grant annuities; to make loans; to acquire, possess, and hold title to real, personal, and mixed estates in this or foreign countries, either in trust or otherwise, by gift, bequest, devise, or purchase, and to have power to pledge, incumber, sell, and convey the same by such mortgages or other instrument of security or conveyance as may be suitable; it being, however, expressly declared that this Corporation is not for personal profit or gain to any one, but that all its property and effects must be used and expended in carrying into effect the aims, ends, and objects of its existence. Fourth: The business, affairs, and funds of this Corporation shall be under the control and management of a Board of Trustees, which, for the first year of its existence, shall be composed of seven persons to be elected by the aforesaid persons, who do hereby associate themselves together by this instrument of writing for the purposes of this incorporation. Their successors shall be chosen at such time and place and in such manner as shall be provided in the By-laws of this Corporation, and a majority of the Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in such Board of Trustees, it shall be filled in the manner prescribed in the By-laws. Fifth: This Corporation shall enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities, and exercise all the powers and authorities now conferred, or which may hereafter be conferred, by the laws of the United States upon corporations of a similar kind or nature. By-Laws of “General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists”
The name of this Corporation is “General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists.” The principal office of this Corporation is located at Washington, District of Columbia. The particular objects for which this Corporation is formed are such as are set forth in the Articles of Incorporation. The members of this Corporation shall be the Executive Committee of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and all other accredited delegates to the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. For the purpose of this Corporation these delegates shall continue in office until other delegates are chosen to succeed them. SECTION 1.—The members of this Corporation shall elect biennially seven persons to act as Trustees for this Corporation, who shall hold their offices until their successors are duly elected and appear to enter upon their duties. SEC. 2.—The Trustees shall have the ordering of all affairs of this Corporation, the management and disposal of all its property, and the execution of all trusts confided to it. SEC. 3.—A quorum to do business shall consist of not less than four Trustees, one of whom shall be an officer of the Board. SEC. 4.—The Trustees shall elect annually a President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. The President and Treasurer shall be members of the Board of Trustees; the Secretary may or may not be a member of the Board of Trustees. SEC. 5.—The Trustees shall employ a competent Auditor, who shall audit the books of this Corporation, and submit an itemized report to the members of the Corporation annually, or at such times as may be required by the Board. SEC. 6.—The Trustees shall have power to fill any vacancy occurring in their membership. ARTICLE VI — DUTIES OF OFFICERS
The duties of the officers of this Corporation shall be such as usually pertain to such offices respectively, and such other duties as the Board of Trustees may prescribe. The President and the Secretary, or in the absence of either, the other and the Treasurer, shall, in behalf of the Corporation, sign all deeds, mortgages, powers of attorney, annuity agreements, or other instruments of writing of similar character and import. The seal of this Corporation shall consist of an ordinary-sized circular impression with the words “General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists” in an outer circle enclosing the word “seal” and the word “incorporated.” SECTION 1.—Every regular and special meeting of the members of this Corporation shall be called by the Board of Trustees. Notice of any such meeting shall be published in three successive issues preceding the time of the meeting, in THE ADVENT REVIEW AND SABBATH HERALD, a weekly paper published at Washington, D. C. SEC. 2.—The Trustees are always in session, no adjournment ever taking place, and may transact business whenever a quorum is present. SEC. 3.—When not otherwise specially provided, all votes of the members of this Corporation for the election of Trustees or for the deciding of other questions shall be taken viva voce. SEC. 4.—Each voter, whether member or Trustee, shall have one vote, and only one, on any question. These By-laws may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members of the Corporation present and voting at any regular meeting of said members, when the proposed amendment does not conflict with the Articles of Incorporation of this Corporation. When it is proposed to change the By-laws at any special meeting of the members of the Corporation, notice shall be given to this effect in the call for the meeting, and the nature of the proposed amendment or amendments shall be stated. Sunday Legislation in the Dominion Parliament
By George B. Thompson
EVER since the opening of the Dominion Parliament the Lord’s Day Alliance has been urging the passage of a bill which had been previously prepared, forbidding almost all phases of labor and recreation on Sunday. They claim to back up their demands with petitions representing four hundred thousand persons. Elder H. E. Rickard, president of the Quebec Conference, and Brother T. H. Robinson, of London, Ontario, have each spent some time in Ottawa, and have been successful in interesting some influential persons in the matter, and laying before them the iniquity of the proposed legislation. Prior to the opening of Parliament, special literature was prepared by the Canadian Union Conference, and sent to all members of Parliament, as well as to a number of other leading men. While the Alliance is backed by the professed religious element of the country, and the legislative power is hopelessly committed to the evil principle of religious legislation, still all is not smooth sailing in this matter. The puritanical methods of the Alliance are repugnant to many, and some of the leading papers, though favoring some kind of legislation, do not hesitate to denounce the Alliance. The most influential French-Canadian journal, La Presse, of Montreal, is quoted as saying that the Lord’s Day Alliance is “simply a disturbing factor, sowing discord among the different races and religions.” The position of this journal toward the proposed legislation is deemed by some a “heavy snag.” The Mail and Empire, of Toronto, in a recent issue called attention to the Seventh-day Adventists, and stated that they based their Sabbath observance on the rock of the fourth commandment, and pointed out with some clearness the effect Sunday laws would have upon them. In the April number of the Lord’s Day Advocate, a monthly published by the Alliance in the interest of their work, reference is made to a report that the Deering Company, of Hamilton, Ontario, is requiring unnecessary labor in their shops on Sunday. As one remedy for this they suggest a boycott, in the following language:— “Moreover, are not Sabbath-respecting Canadian rival concerns—for instance in this case, the Massey-Harris or the Frost & Wood Companies—entitled to protection at our hands against the ‘unfair’ competition of imported industries that do not hesitate to use the Lord’s day for advancing their business interests. Does not British fair play compel us to answer, Yes? The Canadian farmer will be apt to remember this in deciding where to purchase. He will be justified in so doing.” This stirred up the Hamilton (Ontario) Herald to speak editorially as follows:— “This is a direct incitement to the farmers of Canada to boycott the International Harvester Company. If the suggestion had been made after the company had been convicted of discharging employees who had refused to work on Sunday, some people might regard it as justifiable. But the Advocate makes a charge, allows the company against which it makes the charge no opportunity to make a statement in its own defense, assumes that the charge is true, and attempts to incite Canadian farmers to refuse to buy the products of the accused company, but to patronize its rivals. If this is the spirit and such the methods by which the Lord’s Day Alliance intends to carry on its work, it is sure to create more mischief than good in this country.” As usual the Alliance professes to be urging the proposed Sunday legislation in the interest of the laboring men of Canada. The Hamilton (Ontario) Spectator in a recent editorial punctured this bubble in the following manner:— “Nor is the unreasonable nature of their demands the only objection to the work being done by these Sabbatarian gentlemen. They affect to be working in the interests of the working man. They feel that organized labor, enlisted upon their side, would be of very great benefit to them in securing what they want, and they make much parade of enforcing the day of rest. But if organized labor were to decide upon Wednesday or Friday as their weekly day of rest,—and they have quite as much right to do that as others have to decide upon Sunday,—do you think the Sabbatarians would still be anxious to help the working man?—Indeed, they would not; they would drop him like a hot potato. Is it, then, quite honest in these agitators to make pretense that they want to secure a day of rest for the working man, when what they really do want is legislation to make Sunday like unto the Mosaic Saturday?” Just what will result from the agitation in Parliament can not at this time be accurately stated. The following statement of the situation up to date, I clip from the April number of the Lord’s Day Advocate:— “The attitude of the Dominion government toward the draft bill submitted for its adoption is still in doubt. There seems a disposition on the part of some members of the cabinet to avail themselves of the doubt the privy council seems to have left as to whether the provincial legislatures have still any power to legislate under their right to control local undertaking, property, and civil rights, for the preservation of the Lord’s day. The Dominion has often been accused of interfering with provincial rights. These gentlemen would not like to see it guilty in the matter of legislating to preserve the Sabbath. All admit that the Dominion can enact such a measure as is in the government’s hands, under its exclusive right to enact criminal law, but some would hesitate to exercise this right to the full if by so doing they would be covering ground that the provinces could also cover. Much of the ground only the Dominion could legislate to cover. Thus far, at least, it would seem the Dominion government can not escape going. The secretaries have evidence that there is among the members of Parliament a very general willingness to support the enactment of such legislation as is sought if the government will open the way.” “Meantime, the Ontario Legislation Committee has made application to the Ontario government for the passage of legislation re-enacting the law against street railways operating on the Lord’s day, and prohibiting trading and sales on that day, as well as labor in factories, and the like. But the provincial authorities do not seem to think they have any such powers in face of the privy council’s decision, and have, therefore, refused to grant the request until their jurisdiction is made clear. They are, however, willing to submit the privy council judgment to eminent counsel for an opinion as to its meaning, and whether in terms of it they, the provinces, have any power left to legislate on the subject, and if so, what.” The Needs of the Southern Field
By Stephen N. Haskell
THE real condition of things in the South is but little understood by our brethren in the North. The spirit of prophecy has been telling us for years that our duty toward the South was being neglected. When, in the providence of God, the war closed, and there was a more friendly feeling between the North and the South, it was time for our people to make special efforts in the South. We little understood the real Southern sentiment that existed, and many did not know how to adapt themselves to the situation. But there are several conditions which make the South at the present time the most important field of any part of the world. While doors are opening in China, Japan, India, and in every part of the world, the doors that have been open for more than forty years in the South, and not entered, now are closing. We would in no wise speak disparagingly of the wants of our foreign mission fields. They should not be neglected, but is it best to have all our attention centered on foreign fields, while nearly one third of the United States of America lies desolate and neglected? The Southern Publishing Association needs funds. Those who will help now by donating of their means to establish the Southern publishing house will co-operate with the Spirit of God. The spirit of prophecy has spoken very plainly that there should be a publishing house at Nashville, but we have no funds with which to go forward with the work. We have also been told why Nashville should be the center of the work in the South, and the reason is very sensibly felt by those at Nashville. It is an educational center, and the race prejudice is not so strong as in other places. While there is a strong feeling, yet among the citizens of this city there is not that bigotry that is seen in many cities. At the present time we need at least five thousand dollars to establish a sanitarium for the colored people. We do not know how to present this matter so that our friends in the North shall appreciate its importance. There are large schools for the colored people in Nashville; this city is also the headquarters of the Sunday-school work among them. It is the center of the colored Baptist work. Their publishing interests are located here, and the leading people of that race meet in Nashville. There is no other place in all the South where the light could reach the most intelligent portion of the colored people as at Nashville. Why should there not be at least five of our brethren who could give one thousand dollars each? It would do them good, and the work could then be represented as it should be. Buildings can be leased, but in that case they are liable to be taken from us. There is no certainty of retaining a building any length of time unless it is purchased. Five thousand20 dollars would place a colored sanitarium upon a proper basis, under the management of a committee which would see that every dollar was spent judiciously. What may be said of this branch of the work can also be said of a sanitarium for the white people. At the present time we have treatment rooms rented in the city. We have a building two miles in the country, with ten acres of land, also rented, but it is impossible to do aggressive work when we have no funds. Will our people who are stewards realize the truthfulness of the voice of the spirit of prophecy, which has been speaking to us for years, and arise and help the cause in this city, and by so doing help it all through the South? There are four small sanitariums in the South, which our brethren are struggling to carry over the present financial crisis. These are among our white people, but we are brought to a standstill as far as means are concerned to lift over the present difficulty. The publishing house has purchased new machinery; this they were obliged to do or else close their business. To close business would have been ruinous to the cause in the South. They have moved out in faith, believing that the appropriations made by the General Conference would be received. We have looked forward with hope that the annual offerings would replenish the treasuries here in the South, but this has failed, and we appeal to our brethren all through the North who have means, to remember the work in the South. We believe that God will hear prayer, and that he has heard prayer and will give assistance, but we are anxious that this assistance shall come in season, as ten times more can be accomplished at the present time than can be accomplished in a few years from now. Doors are open, but they are being closed. Some have assisted us, and we are thankful for it, and we believe that the Lord will remember them. In conclusion we insert the statistics from the new Year Book. The figures give the population, membership, and number of churches in each conference. Atlantic Union Conf... 26,261,151 8,166 269
Southern Union Conf... 14,910,689 2,242 80
Lake Union Conf... 15,985,583 16,321 449
Northern Union Conf... 2,890,639 4,087 140
Central Union Conf... 8,716,023 13,486 353
Southwestern U. Conf... 5,150,665 2,896 87
Pacific Union Conf... 3,546,579 9,877 211 We have seven union conferences. The Atlantic Union Conference, with its population of over 26,000,000 souls, has 269 churches, and a membership of over 8,000. The Lake Union Conference, with a population of 15,985,583, has a membership of 16,321, and 449 churches, while the Southern Union Conference, with a population of 14,910,689, has only 80 churches and 2,242 members. The population of the Southern Union is only one million less than the Lake Union and more than half that of the Atlantic Union, and yet it has the smallest number of Sabbath-keepers and churches of any union conference in the United States. These figures are sufficient to vindicate all that the spirit of prophecy has said about neglected duty toward the Southern field. Why does the Lake Union Conference so far outstrip every conference in the country in membership and churches? Is it not because so many of our leading institutions have been located there? Are not the souls in the South of as great value in God's sight as are the souls in the North? We appeal to our brethren in the name of the cause of present truth to take this matter to heart, and ask the Lord what is their individual duty toward this neglected field. Will there not be a record to meet in the day of judgment that is unpleasant? Are not we responsible for this neglected field? If the Lord impresses you to help this needy field, send your donations to the Southern Publishing Association, 1025 Jefferson St., Nashville, Tenn., stating what branch of the cause you wish to assist, and it will be duly credited.