p. 20 | Latin America by N. Z. Town.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 3, 1910

Latin America

By N. Z. Town.

THE whole world is awakening to the vastness and variety of the resources and possibilities of the twenty republics which reach from Mexico and Cuba on the north to Argentina and Chile on the south, a section of the western hemisphere which includes every variety of climate and product, and representatives of nearly every people.

The total exports and imports of Latin America amount annually to over $2,000,000,000. Argentina alone, with a population of 6,000,000, has a yearly foreign trade of over $700,000,000, a total greater than that of Japan or China. Buenos Aires, the largest city south of the equator, has a population of 1,250,000, and is growing faster than any city in the United States except New York and Chicago. In Buenos Aires is to be found one of the best-equipped newspaper offices in the whole world.

GENERAL OFFICES, INCLUDING PRINTING, FOR SOUTH AMERICA

But intellectually and spiritually these countries are as dark as they are prosperous commercially. In South America from fifty to eighty-five per cent of the people are illiterate, and the number of illegitimate births ranges from eighteen to sixty-eight per cent in the different republics.

The missionary can not but be thankful for the financial progress that is being made, as this enables him more readily to place the gospel in printed form in the homes of this needy people. The Lord is especially blessing the colporteur work throughout Latin America. One worker says:—

“In spite of the fact that eighty-six per cent of the people of Brazil can neither read nor write; in spite of the long distances the poor boys have to travel; in spite of the hot season; in spite of the heavy taxes the canvassers are compelled to pay; in spite of the fact that our workers are inexperienced; and in spite of all the walls the enemy can erect, the battle is on, and the record of sales is continually running higher.”

During the year 1909 the American Bible Society distributed in South America over 60,000 Bibles, Testaments, and Bible portions, an increase of 15,000 copies over the previous year. During the year 1908 the publishing house that prints our Spanish books shipped to the Spanish-speaking fields books to the value of $15,000; in 1909, to the value of $25,000; and during the first six months of 1910, books were sent to the value of $43,000.

The outlook for gospel work in the Spanish-speaking fields was never brighter than at present. The workers in those fields are earnestly pleading with the Foreign Mission Board to send them more men and more means, that they may provide better facilities, and carry the work with greater rapidity while circumstances are so favorable. “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.”

N. Z. Town.

Washington, D. C.