SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH BUILDING AT CHAUX-DE-FONDS
SCENERY there is, and in great abundance. Before us is the picturesque, crescent-shaped “filter of the Rhone,” Lake Geneva, neatly tucked in between two of the world-famous hills and mountains of the Swiss republic; in the far-removed horizon to the south is that giant peak of the Alps of Europe—Mt. Blanc (the second highest of the continental peaks)—whose “glaciers and snow-fields cover one hundred and four square miles;” behind us is the lovely Jura mountain chain, whose uniform slopes are covered with vineyards and fields, which give place to pine woods and pasture lands as we ascend. Switzerland is the great health resort of Europe, and the shores of Lake Geneva furnish one of the chief resorts of Switzerland, so that here we see strangers by the thousand, and listen to the various languages of the East and of the West, the North and the South; it is estimated that visitors leave about twenty million dollars behind them in Switzerland every year. We hope the newly chosen location for our health work will enable us to reach some of those who spend their vacations on the shores of this lake.
The reputation of Basel is just the opposite of that of the section where our institution is to be located.
To be sure, such a move as we have begun involves considerable expense. We must transfer our machinery, furniture, and fixtures from Basel; legal expenses connected with the transfer of land generally amount to quite a sum; and there is the installation of the electric lighting and the heating apparatus, and the remodeling of the barn into the food factory, and the erection of the treatment rooms, all of which will amount to about ten thousand dollars.
So long as our treasury was full, and our people knew it, they did not see the need of self-denial as they otherwise would. But when our French-speaking brethren learned of the fact that they were finally to be supplied with a suitable institution in their own field where their young people could be trained, and their sick cared for, and where they could have their permanent headquarters, not only did they eagerly vote for this, but they demonstrated their interest by their liberality. In French Switzerland, where we have not quite four hundred and fifty members, we have raised about two thousand dollars toward the new enterprise, and thus far have visited but three of our churches, and we hope to raise double this sum in this small conference. We do not doubt that others will also help. Had we used none of the capital for the evangelical work the past two years, we should to-day be able, without any debt whatever, to fit up this place for a sanitarium twice the size of the Basel institution, and to provide for the food factory, school, etc., in addition. Under the circumstances, we shall not be able to do this, but we feel fully warranted to go ahead, believing that whatever additional investment may be necessary in the very beginning, will be returned to us through the increased earning capacity of the new plant. In view of our favorable location, and enlarged facilities, and the help which the brethren will render, we have no doubt but that this institution will be able to carry itself.
We should remember that in Basel we never could have had a successful school for the education of French workers. This is now assured; and we also have room for twice as many patients as at Basel, and for a much larger and more conveniently arranged food factory. The agreement is such that we shall be able to occupy the Basel property until May 1, 1905. Meanwhile, we shall have time to make the necessary changes in the property as it now stands, and to erect the required treatment rooms, etc. We moved onto the new place October 20; and after carefully studying the situation, we were able to let the contract for the erection of the treatment rooms, and the remodeling of the barn, November 14.
The school is already in operation. It began November 15. Brethren, Vuilleumier, S. Jaspersson, and Sister Noually help in the school. We had but seven students the opening day. Others have arrived since, and still others intend to come. If we consider that this field is a large field, that it is a difficult one, it will readily be admitted that something ought to be done toward educating the native talent that can be found in these lands. In considering the size of the field, we should not forget that France has in her colonies of Africa, Asia, and Oceanica, a population of over forty-six million.
We had a very profitable union committee meeting, October 12-16. Brother Wilkinson was at that time relieved of his responsibilities as union president. The brethren would gladly have kept him, but they felt that in view of the urgent call from Washington, D. C., it would not be proper for them to try to hold him. During the last few years, the local fields have been more or less supplied with local help. Brother Tieche has been acting as president of the French-Swiss Conference; Brother Everson is working in Italy; Brother Robinson is engaged in Spain; Brother Curdy is leading out in French Belgium; and it has been thought best to ask Brother Nussbaum to supply Brother Wilkinson’s place in the French Mission, and to invite the president of the General European Conference to act as president of the Latin Union for the time being.
As to the general work in the Latin Union, we are glad that we can say it is prospering. We have good churches in such leading cities of French Switzerland as Geneva, Lausanne, Chaux-de-Fonds. We are also making some headway in France. We are glad to welcome Brother H. H. Dexter, of America, to that field. Brother Everson, of Rome, reports favorably. Several native workers are joining with him in his efforts to raise up a church in Italy proper. Brother Curdy is working in French Belgium, where one company has thus far been brought out. This is a hard field. We are glad that some members have been gained in Spain. However, we have been made sad that Brother Frank Bond has been stricken down with smallpox, and that Brother Robinson, who nursed him, was later taken ill of pneumonia. This misfortune has retarded the progress of the message to some extent in this ancient country. Brother Rentfro, who was kindly sent us by the Iowa Conference, has settled in Lisbon, and is now busy studying Portuguese, fitting himself for the work in Portugal.
As there are not seven hundred members in all the Latin Union, and their tithe is about four thousand dollars per annum, it does not take long to convince the average reader that the needs of this field must be great. If, in America, where there are only three fourths as many people as there are in this field, there were seven hundred believers, and only four thousand dollars for the support15of about twenty-five workers, and if the population was almost wholly Catholic, do you not think there would come a call for men and means for so impoverished a field? Therefore, we trust that our friends in the United States will not think hard of us, or feel that we are doing them an injustice, when we ask that they, through the Mission Board, help the Latin Union with six thousand dollars a year for the next few years; for this would give us, with the native funds, only about ten thousand dollars annually for sending the gospel to one hundred and ten millions of people. Some of our smaller conferences in America, with only a million or so of inhabitants, probably have that much money at their disposal. So, then, we hope and pray that our brethren in other lands will respond so much the freer in giving of their means for the support of the gospel in the “regions beyond,” that we may be able not only to support our present force of workers in the Latin Union, but to press forward into yet unentered parts, as other workers offer themselves for service.
And, lastly, while you pray for the fields white unto the harvest, do not forget to ask God’s blessing and wisdom to attend those who must look after the evangelical and institutional work in the Latin Union Conference.
