p. 18 | Prosperity in Periodical Work

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 20, 1908

Prosperity in Periodical Work

THE main office of the Review and Herald reports for the week ending June 26, thirty-one agents in its territory, working forty hours a week or more. In that week these agents worked a total of one thousand four hundred eleven hours, taking orders valued at $1,673.10, — an average of forty-five and one-half hours a week for each agent, with sales averaging $36.75 each, or eighty cents an hour.

Never before in the history of the denomination was our periodical work so prosperous as at the present time. The periodical departments of our publishing houses are constantly increasing their lists, and the sale of single copies. A conservative estimate of single copies of the Signs, Watchman, Life and Health, and Liberty sold by agents during the month of July, will swell the number to three hundred thousand copies, which, at a retail value of ten cents a copy, represents thirty thousand dollars, with a net profit to the solicitors of eighteen thousand dollars; or, at this rate of sales continued through the year (and there are good prospects for it to be increased), the total amount of sales at retail would be three hundred sixty thousand dollars, with a profit to our workers of two hundred sixteen thousand dollars — enough to support thirty-five ordinary families in most any field in the world, a full year.

The shipping-rooms of our publishing houses and their branches are hives of industry these days. The Kansas City branch of the Pacific Press reports shipments of books for the week ending August 7, aggregating six and one-half tons. Thursday of that week three tons of our truth-laden literature were shipped to the field workers in the Central and Northern union conferences, and the day following over a ton was sent out. Truly the Lord's hand is in the work.

Brother Ira S. Jones, general agent of the Canadian Union Conference, reports renewed interest in the book work in that union. There are now sixteen workers in the field in the Maritime Provinces, all of whom are meeting with a fair degree of success. The other conferences in the union are also getting new workers into the field, and the brethren there are laying plans which should result in a marked impetus being given to subscription-book sales in that field.

There are now over two thousand persons in the United States who are devoting some time to the sale of Life and Health and Liberty. Many of these work only as they find time and opportunity. A few are devoting all their time to this work, and are making as much at it as they can in almost any other business. Scholarship companies, and individuals working for scholarships, are doing well. Many are reporting that they will have the amount of their scholarship at an early date.