Report of Work Done in Baltimore During Summer of 1911
By Carlyle B. Haynes
In thinking over the matter of reaching the people of Baltimore with the truth, I was impressed with the fact that about the only thing that went into all these homes which could carry the truth with it was the daily newspaper. Very few of the homes in any city are without the newspaper. It would take years for the canvasser to reach every home in this great city with one of our publications; it would take years for Bible workers to visit every home of the city and teach the people the truth; in fact, this work can never be done in this way, for our workers will not be received in all the homes. It would take years for all the people to be reached by tent efforts, for there are comparatively few who ever attend the most successful tent effort. But the daily newspaper visits all the homes in the city every day in every week of the year. It seemed obvious, therefore, that the thing to do was to get the truth in the daily newspaper. In talking this matter over with Brother Walter L. Burgan, an experienced newspaper man, a member of the editorial staff of the Baltimore American and a member of the Baltimore church, I was encouraged to believe that with proper care and effort it might be possible for us to get some reports of sermons in the paper. The success with which our efforts in Baltimore this summer have been crowned is largely due to the care and pains which were taken by Brother Burgan in instructing me how to write articles for the press. I do not mean by this that the success in getting them into the paper depended on Brother Burgan, for I wish to emphasize the thought that what has been done in Baltimore this summer can be done just as easily everywhere else where the same methods are followed. This is not a thing which depends on having a Brother Burgan in every newspaper office in the country. It can and will succeed where we have no “friend at court.” All that is necessary is for the men who do it to know how to do it. There are just as many little things connected with writing for the press as there are in any other work or calling, the knowing of which or the ignorance of which makes the difference between success and failure. While the success that has attended our efforts in getting these articles in the papers of Baltimore has been largely due to the fact that we made the effort to do it, it is nevertheless the fact that it is just as largely due, and undoubtedly more so, to the wonderful working of the Spirit of God. None of us who have been connected with the work in Baltimore has any desire to claim any of the credit for this work. Many times we have been made to marvel at the evidences of God's guiding hand; we have witnessed many things that we had no expectation of seeing. Some statistics may be of interest. During the course of the tent effort we sent 88 articles to the different papers of the city, containing reports of the meetings, most of them having a synopsis of the sermon preached. There are five daily papers in Baltimore—the Sun, the American, the Evening Star, the News, and the Evening Sun. Two of these are morning papers, and three are evening papers. Most of the reports of sermons have been in the morning papers, the American and the Sun. Of the 88 articles taken to the papers, 84 have been printed. The American has published 72, the Sun 23, the News 9, the Star 4, and the Evening Sun 1. The American has a daily circulation of 80,000 copies, the Sun 85,000, the News, 75,000, the Star 55,000, and the Evening Sun 35,000. From this it can be seen that the American has published 80,000 copies each of 72 articles on some phase of present truth, the Sun 85,000 copies each of 23 articles, the News 75,000 copies each of 9 articles, and the Star has had 4 articles of which it published 55,000 copies each, while the Evening Sun published 35,000 copies of 1 article. Totaling these figures, we find that of all the papers in Baltimore there have been printed and circulated 8,645,000 copies of newspapers, each one of which contained an article on some phase of the message. The territories of the circulation of the American and the Sun cover the whole State of Maryland, and much of Delaware, Virginia, and West Virginia. They also go to a considerable part of Pennsylvania. They are sold at all the news-stands of the Pennsylvania and Baltimore and Ohio railroads, in all the towns and cities from Richmond, Va., to Boston, Mass. I have received letters from persons in Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware telling me that they were reading the articles in the papers. Hundreds of thousands have seen these reports of sermons on the truth, and only the day of God will reveal what good has been accomplished through this summer's newspaper campaign. In the city of Baltimore itself, these newspaper reports have interested so many people that I have found it necessary to do but very little advertising in any other way, for the newspapers have brought the audiences. I wish to add in closing my report on this part of the summer's work, that all this newspaper publicity has not cost one cent. We have not even advertised in any of the papers. The papers have received absolutely nothing for anything that they have published. I have dwelt at considerable length on this newspaper work, for we have felt that this has been the feature of the Baltimore effort. Now, however, I wish to give some facts with regard to the tent effort itself. The first meeting was held on Sunday night, July 9. About four hundred attended this service. During the effort we have held 54 meetings. At these meetings 10,675 persons have been in attendance. This makes an average attendance of 197 for each meeting. The donations have amounted to $120.10, which makes an average nightly collection of $2.22. At the last three Sunday night meetings pledges were taken from the audiences for money to help carry on a series of Sunday afternoon theater meetings this winter, and so far about $150 has been pledged for this purpose. Of these pledges $80 has been paid. About twenty-five are observing the Sabbath as a result of the meetings, and these will be ready for baptism in a few weeks. We are endeavoring to secure some suitable place for this baptism, in some stream or lake near the city, and we fully expect that when the Baltimore papers print the announcement of the baptism, many thousands will wish to be present to witness this sacred and solemn ceremony. In the tent effort during the summer I have been privileged to be associated with earnest Bible workers—Sister Cassie Wilson, of the Foreign Mission Seminary, and Sister Ethel Carroll, of the Hagerstown church. They have done faithful work in visiting the people and instructing them in the truths of the message. Sister Wilson will return to the Seminary, but Sister Carroll is planning to remain in Baltimore and follow up the interest created by the tent effort. Brother W. J. Vanzant, of the Rock Hall church, has acted as tent-master throughout the effort. Every Monday night has been devoted to health topics, lectures being delivered by our physicians from the Washington (D. C.) Sanitarium. Nine of these meetings have been held. Four lectures were delivered by Dr. R. S. Ingersoll, two by Dr. Patience Bourdeau-Sisco, two by Dr. Lauretta Kress, and one by Dr. Olive Ingersoll. It is impossible accurately to estimate the good that has been done by the instruction that has been given on the principles of health. One thing has been very noticeable, and that is that from being the worst night of the week, the Monday night health meetings have become the best of the week. Next to Sunday night, the largest attendance has been on Monday night, and many people have been attracted to the meetings by becoming interested in the health lectures. The reports of these meetings have been given the most space by the daily papers.