The Annual Meeting of the Review and Herald Publishing Association
By I. A. Ford
This meeting was held at the Foreign Mission Seminary in Takoma Park, Md., Feb. 12, 1913. The publishing house was closed the entire day, giving the employees the opportunity of attending the meeting. This they greatly appreciated. We were favored, also, with the presence of the presidents of conferences in the Columbia Union, several members of the General Conference Committee, and a number of other visiting brethren. While the constituency were gathering, the Review and Herald band played a number of selections, which were much enjoyed. Reports were presented from the various officers and heads of departments. These were all of an encouraging character. E. R. Palmer, the general manager, said in part:— “The Review and Herald Office has nearly completed its fifty-second year as an organized institution, the original association having been organized in Battle Creek, Mich., in May, 1861, two years before the organization of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.” “The objects of the association are at least threefold:— “1. To provide a literature that will faithfully represent this movement.
“2. To co-operate in all general features of the message.
“3. To train workers.” “In harmony with a recommendation passed at the previous annual meeting, efforts are being made to train missionary printers for the foreign fields. Young men of ability and promise are being given experience in several departments of our office, so as to be well prepared to take charge of small missionary printing plants when they are called upon by the Mission Board for such work.” “During the past year two of our workers have been sent to mission fields in response to calls from the Mission Board,—Brother Frank Mills to Korea and Brother William Kirstein to South America.” “The past year has, in many respects, been a good year for the association. The Lord’s protection has been over the work, and no serious loss nor injury has occurred either to the employees or to the plant.” “With all our hearts we join in thanking God for his blessing upon the work. We have been especially blessed in the faithfulness of our colporteurs, who, without salary and dependent largely upon the precarious hospitality of an unfriendly world, have sold from door to door a large proportion of the literature we have handled.” “It is cause of great satisfaction also to see the rank and file of our people, without financial reward but simply for the love of this work, distributing such large quantities of our books, periodicals, and tracts.” “Another cause of satisfaction also is derived from the privilege of submitting this report to an audience made up very largely of the employees of the Review and Herald Office, who by their faithful work and co-operation, have contributed much toward making possible this good report.” The manager spoke of numerous changes which had been made in the operation of the plant during the last year. A great economy of space had been effected, a cost system which gave promise of excellent results in more systematic and economical operation had been installed, a night-school for the employees had been conducted with excellent results, and improvements had been made in the purchase of necessary machinery and equipment. Of the outlook for the future of the work, he said:— “The work of this new year has been entered upon with good prospects of a busy, prosperous season. There is an abundance of work in hand to keep the office running at full capacity. The Lord has blessed us with strong leaders and303faithful, self-sacrificing employees. Our field was never before so strongly organized as it is to-day. The work in each union and local conference is under the direction of a full corps of general agents, field agents, and tract society secretaries.” “The schools give promise of sending out a large number of student colporteurs this year. The people are offering themselves willingly for the service, both as regular colporteurs and as home workers.” “The Spirit of God is evidently moving upon the hearts of men and women to labor and sacrifice for the gospel message as never before. Our hearts are full of good cheer and courage. We greatly rejoice in the evidence that the work of the third angel’s message is being hastened on to a speedy triumph.” The treasurer, A. H. Mason, presented some interesting data for study. His report showed that the total assets of the institution amounted to $312,176.72. Of this amount $16,133.62 was represented in the New York Branch and $16,886.34 in the Western Branch. The earnings of the association for 1912 amounted to $18,945.79. In this the work of the home office was represented to the amount of $12,657.39, the Western Branch $4,423.72, and the New York Branch $1,864.68. From this net earnings various donations to the extent of over $3,000 had been made to different enterprises, and a two-per-cent reserve credited to the Sickness and Emergency Fund; also a tithe paid to the General Conference, leaving a net gain of $13,247.93. The net worth of the association Jan. 1, 1913, was $134,846.86. Report of the Superintendent
E. L. Richmond, the superintendent, reported as follows:— “During the year 1912 there were printed 826,727 copies of the REVIEW, using nearly three car-loads of paper.” “The printing orders on the Youth’s Instructor totaled 1,086,389 copies, of which 300,000 were the Temperance number containing 32 pages instead of 16 pages, and had a cover in two colors.” “The circulation of Life and Health has called for the printing of 525,000 copies for the year; Liberty, 158,000; Protestant, 150,000; Sabbath School Worker, 121,000; Education, 31,600; making a total output of periodicals and magazines of 2,899,154 copies.” “This is not all. During the same period there were printed 170,000 books, about 50,000 of them containing from 600 to 800 pages each; 265,000 tracts belonging to the Words of Truth Series and the Religious Liberty Library. Besides, a great many other tracts and pamphlets received their share of attention.” “The new books completed during the year were ‘History of the Sabbath,’ ‘Hydrotherapy for Nurses,’ ‘Capital and Labor,’ and ‘The Printing-Press and the Gospel.’” “‘Friends and Foes,’ by Vesta J. Farnsworth, and ‘Good Form and Social Ethics,’ by Fannie Dickerson Chase, have been put in type and are being prepared for electrotyping. The preparation of the copy and illustrations for ‘Bible Readings’ is going forward rapidly.” “‘Religious Liberty in America,’ by C. M. Snow, is about ready for the printer, and a good portion of the copy for illustrations is in hand. The author has the new ‘Denominational History’ nearly prepared. With the General Conference Bulletin, the Harvest Ingathering REVIEW, and the book work, in addition to our seven publications, we are expecting this to be a fairly busy year.” The Work of the Book Department
The manager of the book department, I. A. Ford, reported the following encouraging items:— “In looking over the records for the past three years, we are pleased to note an increase in the sales of our subscription books each year. During the year 1910, the retail value of subscription and home workers’ books sold was $132,745; during the year 1911 it amounted to $157,161; and during the year 1912 our sales of this class of books were $166,470, showing a steady development in that branch of the business. The total sales of the department for the year were $203,468.50.” “Our faithful general and field agents have labored hard during the year in training and encouraging a competent and faithful corps of colporteurs. A few of the conferences were badly crippled during the year in their colporteur work by not having field agents, but we believe at the close of the year all our conferences were supplied with leaders in this work.” “The Lord has most certainly blessed the efforts of our faithful colporteurs during the year. The reports from several of the conferences show that the average sales were about $1 an hour. This fact demonstrates the great possibility we have in the circulation of our literature. Our great need is more colporteurs—men and women of experience and thorough training.” Report From the Western Branch
J. W. Mace gave the following summary of the excellent work done by the Western Branch:— “Dec. 31, 1912, marked the close of seven years of branch business, three at our original location in Battle Creek, Mich., and four at South Bend, Ind. We have been blessed with a steady gain all the way along and especially since our move from Battle Creek, where the total value of the three years of business was only $145,271.95 as compared with $294,925.50 for the last four years in South Bend, in the first instance an average of $48,423.98 a year as compared with $73,731.37 a year in South Bend. Another advantage is the ability to do our business more economically, and hence a larger surplus each year, which is not affected by extra expenses or local conditions, but only contingent on the volume of business done by the branch. The number of subscription books sold in the territory was 38,862.” “One gratifying feature of our work is the individual home missionary spirit which is springing up among our constituency; this is especially noticeable in the sale of tracts and small books. The sale in both lines is on the increase in our territory, and we have only touched the proposition with the tips of our fingers, so to speak. A few years ago it was not possible to sell tracts to our people in any quantity, and we read the records of sale in the Western country by sister publishing houses and branches, with envious feelings, and wondered how it could be done; but we have seen a different spirit coming in this last year, and recently at a small conference meeting the writer saw fifteen or twenty dollar-tract packages sold in a few minutes. Our sale of tracts last year was over 300,000 copies.” “We start the 1913 battle with twenty-five good men on the firing line, a full corps of State agents, and enthusiastic tract society secretaries, with institutes well attended by a solid class of men and women, with policies well established and successfully demonstrated; and with God’s especial guidance and the continued earnest co-operation of conference and union workers, we hope to make the coming year the best in our history.” Report From the Eastern Branch
Of the gratifying gain made by the New York Branch and of some of the good results attending the circulation of literature from that center, L. W. Graham reported as follows:— “The prospering hand of God has been seen in our work to the extent that our sales during 1912 were $60,185.62. This is $9,869.16 greater than 1911, excluding ‘Ministry of Healing’ sales from both years. Last year we sold more than one third of a million tracts.” “While we are glad to see this increase in the sales of literature, it is a source of great joy to know that not a few persons have become interested in our truth from reading. A man and his wife in New York State, who were missionaries for another denomination in a Spanish-speaking field, after their return home secured some of our literature, read it, became interested, and as a result accepted the truth, and have offered themselves to our people to go as missionaries to Spain.” “Another incident: Last summer one of our canvassers sold a copy of ‘Great Controversy’ to a prominent woman. She was so pleased with the book that she sent for the canvasser and purchased another copy for a friend in New York City. This friend is a very prominent leader in her church society in this country, and her name is very familiar to every newspaper reader. She liked the book. A little later our canvasser received a letter asking him to call at a certain address in New York City. He did so, and found a large class of interested women who had organized themselves for the study of ‘Great Controversy.’ He took a number of orders from these people; in all about $200 worth of books was sold to them. Recently he has been visiting these same people with ‘Daniel and the Revelation,’ and is almost duplicating his former sale.” “Our financial statement is gratifying to us. Our net gain last year was $1,864.68, or $864.12 more than for the year 1911.” “Whatever success has been attained we attribute to the watchful care our Heavenly Father has had over his work, and whatever mistakes have been made we trust he will overrule that the progress of the work may not be retarded.” The Periodical Department
In behalf of the journals making up the periodical department D. W. Reavis rendered the following encouraging report:— “The periodical department handles the REVIEW, the Instructor, including the Temperance Annual, the Sabbath School Worker, and Christian Education. The304total number of these papers sent out in various ways during the year was 2,057,542 copies. These represent, at the estimated retail price, a value of $119,265.90.” “The average subscription list of the REVIEW during 1912 was 14,953, an increase of 410 subscriptions over 1911. This increase has been made mostly during that part of the year since the price of the REVIEW was brought back to the old 1885 rate of $2 a year. As usual in such cases, some predicted that increasing the price of the REVIEW meant a decline in the subscription list; but the records show that during the three months following the raise in price the list gained over 500 subscriptions. The clubbing privilege in operation at this time doubtless had some influence upon this increase, but it could not possibly have been responsible for all of it.” “The average subscription list of the Instructor for the year 1912 was 14,098, while the average list in 1911 was 13,761, giving a gain of 337 subscriptions for 1912. But while we gained on the regular list during 1912 we lost on the circulation of the Temperance number. In 1911, 326,239 copies of the Temperance Instructor were circulated in addition to the regular list. In 1912 only 286,377 copies were circulated in addition to the regular list—a loss of 39,842 copies over the previous year. It is hoped that the lack of last year will be more than made up by the gain in the circulation of the excellent 1913 Temperance number.” “The average subscription list of the Worker during 1912 was 9,289. The average list during 1911 was 8,893, giving a gain of 396 subscriptions in 1912 over 1911. The amount received on subscriptions, and the estimated value of copies circulated in other ways during 1912, was $3,716.15.” “The average subscription list of Education during 1912 was 1,410, or a gain of 149 subscriptions over 1911. With so small a subscription list as Education has, or ever has had, and with the high-class work bestowed upon it in making it an educational journal that ranks well with the best college papers of the country, it could not be expected to yield a profit to its publishers. The loss on Education last year was less, however, than the loss during the previous year; yet, it is still far too great and should be entirely eliminated during 1913.” From the report presented by A. J. S. Bourdeau, for the magazine department, we give the following items:— “This year I have an encouraging report to present in behalf of Life and Health, Liberty, and the Protestant Magazine. Our total receipts on the three magazines for the year 1912 amounted to $33,538.33 as compared with $28,392.68 for 1911, or a gain of $5,145.65.” “During 1912 we have endeavored to economize to the utmost in both the cost of production and circulation of the three magazines. The number of pages in Life and Health and Protestant were reduced from sixty-four to forty-eight, the regular size of Liberty. Several Life and Health covers were printed in two instead of three colors, and the Protestant covers were printed in one instead of two. Considerable expense was also saved by saddle-stitching Life and Health instead of side-stitching.” “We are pleased to report a substantial increase in the number of subscriptions received for the three magazines. The combined average subscription lists for 1912 show a gain of 2,176 subscriptions over 1911 and 6,010 over 1910. The average subscription list for the Protestant was 11,852, a gain of 3,018; of Life and Health, 6,507, a loss of 184; of Liberty, 19,694, a loss of 658.” “During the year 1912 we circulated 825,948 copies of Life and Health, Liberty, and the Protestant as compared with 797,087 during 1911, a gain of 28,861 copies.” Plans were laid looking toward the reduction of the liabilities of the institution, and improving our equipment by the addition of some new machinery. There was placed in the by-laws an article authorizing the board of trustees to pay to the General Conference annually a tithe of the profits of the institution. Officers and Heads of Departments
Four trustees were elected to fill the offices made vacant by terms which expired at this meeting. The office force is now organized as follows: President, F. M. Wilcox; vice-president, W. T. Knox; secretary, I. A. Ford; treasurer, A. H. Mason; manager, E. R. Palmer; superintendent, E. L. Richmond; manager Western Branch, J. W. Mace; manager Eastern Branch, L. W. Graham. The managers of departments of circulation are: D. W. Reavis, periodical department; A. J. S. Bourdeau, magazine department; I. A. Ford, book department. The following editors were elected by the board: For REVIEW, F. M. Wilcox; associates, C. M. Snow and W. A. Spicer. Youth’s Instructor, Mrs. Fannie Dickerson Chase. Life and Health, Dr. George H. Heald. Protestant, W. W. Prescott; associate, W. A. Spicer. Liberty, C. S. Longacre; associates, C. M. Snow and W. W. Prescott. Sabbath School Worker, Mrs. L. Flora Plummer; associate, G. B. Thompson. Christian Education, H. R. Salisbury and W. E. Howell. One of the interesting features of the meeting was a generous dinner, which had been prepared by a number of the sisters, assisted by the Seminary. One could easily see that this was enjoyed quite as much as any other one feature of the meeting. During the dinner the Review and Herald orchestra favored us with numerous selections. Altogether, it was a day of gladness which will long be remembered.
I. A. FORD,
Secretary.