Report of the Northern Union Conference
By R. A. UNDERWOOD
In behalf of the delegates from the Northern Union Conference I wish to express our grateful acknowledgment of the providence of God over his work and chosen people. The evidence of Christ's leadership among his people is a sign of the speedy fulfilment of the impending glorious events attendant to the setting up of Christ's everlasting kingdom. To you who are holding aloft the cross of Christ in distant lands, as well as to those at home, we pledge our unfaltering co-operation with you, in proclaiming this gospel of the kingdom to all the world in this generation. Organization, Location, and Composition
The Northern Union Conference was organized in 1902. Prior to its organization, the territory of the Northern Union Conference and a part of the territory of the Central Union Conference were united in one union conference. The Northern Union Conference is composed of four organized conferences, located in the States of Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, the province of Manitoba, and a large mission field known as the Northwest Territory of Canada. The area of the four conferences is 305,766 square miles; the population of the three States and Manitoba is 3,451,394. The Northwest Territory of Canada has an area of 2,585,140 square miles. The conference will better understand the vast extent of this mission field by a brief comparison of its territory. The statistics show that it contains more territory in square miles than is embraced in the provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward's Island, and the added territory of the Atlantic Union Conference, the Southern Union Conference, the Lake Union Conference, and more than one hundred and fifty thousand square miles besides. Many have the impression that the Northwest Territory of Canada is but "the frozen fragments of the North." This is an error. Calgary, in Alberta, is south of London, England. Edmonton, the proposed capital of Alberta, is about three hundred miles north of the border line of Montana, and is as far south as Dublin in Ireland, Liverpool and York in England, or Hamburg in Germany. It is farther south than any part of Scotland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and is four hundred and fifty-five miles south of St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia. Much of this vast new territory, recently opened to the civilized world for settlement, is rich in fertile soil and minerals. I am unable to give its population, as no recent official census has been taken. For the last four years a constant flow of immigration, representing hundreds of thousands of various nationalities from Europe and America, have been pouring into this new world. To the extent of more than a thousand miles east and west and three hundred miles north and south a life of new opportunities has come into existence. Homes have been made and villages and cities have recently sprung into existence, where for ages the open prairie had been the undisputed hunting-ground of the Indians. The largest portion of the Indians of North America are to be found in the territory of the Northern Union Conference. Northwest Canada presents great opportunities for missionary labor. The four conferences have a total church and scattered membership of 4,496 Sabbath-keepers. The mission field has four organized churches, with a total membership, including all scattered Sabbath-keepers in the territory, of one hundred and sixty-eight, making the total number of Sabbath-keepers in the Northern Union 4,664. The Northern Union has four academies or industrial schools. Three of these were opened for the first time last fall. They are located as follows: The Elk Point Industrial School at Elk Point, S. D.; the Harvey Industrial School at Harvey, N. D.; the Maplewood Industrial School at Maple Plain, Minn.; and the Northwest Training-school at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. The combined attendance of these schools the past winter has been about one hundred and fifty students. The total investment in the four schools is about $35,000. During the two years there have been conducted in this union fifty-five church-schools, with an enrolment of six hundred and thirty-two students. These schools have in general done good work. The General Conference has assisted the Northwest Training-school at Portage la Prairie by helping the principal, Prof. O. A. Hall; the Nebraska Conference largely supports him. We hope for much from this school in training workers for northwest Canada. Two of its11students have already entered the work. We have sold $36,066.20 worth of books in the Northern Union during the past two years. We have had much difficulty in obtaining books in the foreign languages, which has lessened our sales and discouraged a number of our agents. With a branch office of the Pacific Press located at Minneapolis, and a live general field agent in the union, both of which we expect soon to have, we hope for a marked improvement in our book work. The increase of Sabbath-keepers in the Union for the two years is five hundred and thirty-eight. These figures would be increased had there not been a large emigration to the South and the Pacific Coast from our Union the past two years. We have eighty-two laborers on the pay-roll in the Union. A number of these are aged persons, some are unable to work, while others give only a part of their time to the work. A revival of personal effort in missionary work is seen among many of the churches. A goodly number in each of the conferences have accepted the truth during the past winter. We have a large field for labor among the many tribes of Indians. We have one organized church among the Indians in Manitoba. The Union is supporting five laborers in the mission field of the Northwest Territory, who are doing good work, and are represented in this conference by Elder J. W. Boynton. The General Conference has recently sent Brother Paul Curtis and his wife into this field, the Iowa Conference promising to pay ten dollars a week for their support. We hope to see others enter this field soon. We have no large sanitariums in the Union; however, we have a number of nurses and physicians who are doing excellent work in the medical line on a self-supporting basis. More than one half of the territory in the four conferences in the Northern Union is yet untouched by any organized labor, to say nothing of its vast mission field. The following will show the amount of funds raised from tithes and offerings for evangelistic purposes in each conference and the mission field in the Union for the past two years, also the amount each conference gave of the same for the general work outside of its own field. The Minnesota Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic work $55,267.33. Of this amount she gave the general work, $22,413.30, which is a fraction over forty per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for all the Sabbath-keepers in Minnesota for the two years is $8.89. The South Dakota Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic purposes $27,842.05. Of this amount she sent out of the conference for the general work, $10,531.57, which is a fraction over thirty-seven per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for all the Sabbath-keepers in South Dakota is $11.99. The North Dakota Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic work $18,294.71. Of this amount she gave to the general work $5,659.27, which is a fraction over thirty per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for two years for all the Sabbath-keepers in North Dakota is $9.37. The Manitoba Conference raised in tithes and offerings for evangelistic work the sum of $9,768.42. Of this amount she sent to the general work $1,122.39, which is a fraction over eleven per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for the Sabbath-keepers in Manitoba is $11.71. The Alberta Mission field raised in tithes and offerings, the past two years, for evangelistic work, $1,557.09. Of this amount they gave to the general work $175.79, which is eleven per cent of the entire amount raised. The average tithe per capita for the past year in Alberta is $7.44. The average tithe per capita for the Northern Union Conference for the past two years is $9.69. The total amount raised in two years in the four conferences for evangelistic work is $111,172.50. Of this amount $39,726.48 was given to the general work, which is thirty-five per cent of all funds raised for evangelistic purposes. Quite a large sum has been donated to local interests, such as the Washington fund, enterprises in the South, and elsewhere, which are not included in the $39,726.48. This conference will be glad to know that Elder C. W. Flaiz, who resigned as president of the Northern Union Conference more than a year ago, owing to loss of health, is slowly recovering. He thought it not prudent to attend this conference, but hopes that another year of rest and outdoor exercise will restore him to his usual health. We have a vast field with a large per cent of foreign population. Our work needs to be greatly enlarged and strengthened in the larger towns and cities. We must enter the new settlements before the ground is pre-occupied. This field calls for laborers and the printed page in English, German, Russian, French, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Bohemian, Icelandic, and the Rumanian languages. We must give the gospel in its simplicity to the many tribes of Indians in this vast territory. The Northern Union Conference needs strong young men of the nationalities already mentioned to enter the ministry, with the gentleness of John, the zeal of Peter, the faith and courage of Paul, clothed with authority and power from above. We must have a church honest with God, living examples of the truth, liberal with her means, baptized with the Holy Ghost; then the earth will soon be lightened with the glory of God, and Christ will come to bring an end to sin and death. For this we hope, for this we live, and consecrate our all. R. A. UNDERWOOD,
President.