A New Training School for the South by William Henry Branson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 17, 1916

A New Training School for the South

By William Henry Branson

FOR a number of years the need of a strong training school in the Southland has been sorely felt. The work in the South is rapidly developing, and doors are opening on every side to our laborers. There are hundreds of unworked cities and towns where well-trained young men and women could do a great work for God if they were ready to enter the field just now, as evangelists, Bible workers, or colporteurs. Calls are constantly coming to us from these places, but we are unable to fill them because of the lack of efficient workers.

While it is true that in the South there is some illiteracy, it is also true that we find a great deal of wealth and aristocracy, especially in the cities. There are great institutions of learning that will compare favorably with the best in the land. Any person who hopes to make a success of public life must be cultured and refined, and must possess a good education. It is necessary therefore that those who are sent out as representatives of the third angel's message first receive a very careful preparation.

God is turning the ears of the people in this field to hear the truth. In many cities where our faithful evangelists are laboring this summer, tents and halls are crowded to overflowing. Hundreds, and sometimes thousands, are flocking to hear God's solemn message. Our Bible workers and colporteurs are having splendid success, and calls are coming from many quarters for laborers to be sent to preach the truth, but there is a great dearth of efficient workers. To many of the calls we must say, No, for there is no one to send.

We have an abundance of good material from which to develop workers. There are hundreds of noble youth in our Southern churches who could do splendid work if they had the necessary training; but our educational facilities have been very meager, and we find that our greatest need is a strong industrial training school, where industries can be started to furnish employment to a large number of those who cannot pay for an education, thus enabling them to earn at least a part of their expenses while in training.

The school at Graysville, Tenn., has done good work in the past for the limited number who have attended it, but it has been impossible to develop strong industrial features there because of the lack of sufficient good land connected with the school, and because of its close proximity to the village. It has been felt for years that the location of this school was far from ideal, and recently conditions have developed which have caused general sentiment in favor of the removal of the training school to a more rural location, where a much better school can be established and maintained.

Some years ago the servant of the Lord gave this very definite instruction concerning educational facilities in the South: “We must provide greater facilities for the education and training of the youth, both white and colored, in the South. Schools are to be established away from the cities, where the youth can learn to cultivate the soil, and thus help to make themselves and the school self-supporting. In connection with these schools all the different lines of work, whether agricultural or mechanical, that the situation of the place will warrant, are to be developed. Let means be gathered for the establishment of such schools. In them students may gain an education that, with God's blessing, will prepare them to win souls to Christ.”—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VII, pp. 231, 232.

This counsel has never as yet been fully carried out, but at the recent session of the Southeastern Union Conference steps were taken toward the broadening of the entire educational policy of the South. A vote was taken providing for the establishment of an industrial training school which will serve all the States comprising the Southern and Southeastern Union Conferences. After taking full counsel in regard to location, a large farm containing two hundred and ninety acres, situated two miles from Ooltewah, Tenn., and sixteen miles from Chattanooga, Tenn., was selected as a site for the new school.

This farm is in many ways a most ideal location. It is in the mountainous section, where the air is pure and healthful, and is practically isolated from the outside world by the mountains surrounding it. The water will be furnished from beautiful mountain springs which are on the place. There is an abundance of good valley land to furnish employment to a number of students the year round, and there is a possibility of developing all the other necessary industries.

While this site is so perfectly isolated, it is only two miles from Ooltewah station, one of the best railroad centers in the South, for a small town, having eighteen passenger trains daily. Through-train service can be had from any State in the South to this station. There is also a flag station at the school farm where local trains stop; also a private siding where freight may be unloaded right on our own land. This, of course, will be a great saving in time and expense.

This school is to carry fourteen grades of work after the first year. A strong faculty is being secured. It is the plan of the board to arrange for industrial courses to be carried in connection with the literary work, thus making it possible to give each student practical industrial as well as mental training.

We have been enabled to secure this farm for the sum of $12,600, which is a very reasonable price. Those who are leading out in the effort to establish this school are determined not to go in debt, and therefore they are waiting to secure all the money with which to pay for the farm. When the movement was started, we were confronted with a $14,000 debt on the old Graysville institution, and this was given the first attention. At the time of this writing, all this debt has been paid or provided for, and several thousand dollars has been collected toward the new school farm. At present a strong campaign is being carried forward in the South to raise $10,000 more by the first of September. This will make it possible to purchase the farm, move the equipment, and make a beginning this fall. It is planned that the school shall be conducted this year in the buildings which are already on the farm, supplemented by some tent houses. Then as money is received, suitable buildings will be erected for the school plant. Of course our needs are great. We cannot continue long in the temporary quarters, and yet in order to keep entirely free from debt we must go no faster in building up the plant than the funds in hand will allow. We have, however, seen many evidences of God's providence in connection with this move, and we have faith to believe that he will not fail to send the necessary help to complete this much-needed institution.

Those desiring a calendar of this new school should write to Prof. A. N. Atteberry, Graysville, Tenn.

W. H. BRANSON, *President Southeastern Union Conference.*