Economy in Operating Institutions by W. T. Knox

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 27, 1913

Economy in Operating Institutions

By W. T. Knox

The nature of our evangelical work calls for frequent change of our ministers from field to field, but it will be well for us always to recognize that this is not so in our institutional management. The fewer changes made in our managers, medical superintendents, and educational leaders, the better it will be for

the institutions concerned.

These men should be given opportunity to work out policies and methods that conditions demand. One great trouble continually confronting us is the scarcity of capable talent to man our many institutions, resulting in the almost constant temptation to move men who are making a success in one institution to help in another that is not so fortunate. This is not only apt to give the institution an unenviable reputation in the business community in which it is located, but it militates greatly against economical management, the development of correct policies, and an efficient corps of helpers.

Too much emphasis can not be placed upon the urgency of developing a much higher standard of efficiency in the helpers of our institutions. There is that about a denominational institution that with many apparently leads to careless and indifferent service. A comparison with privately owned institutions does not furnish a very satisfactory showing. For instance, in our sanitariums, the average number of patients treated per physician during 1909 was 195, as compared with 248 in privately owned sanitariums. At the same time, the number of patients treated per nurse in denominational sanitariums was 19.49, as compared with 46.27 in privately owned sanitariums. Taking all classes of employees into consideration, the average number of patients cared for to each employee for the year in our own institutions was 9.80, as against 21.40 in private institutions. These figures certainly indicate that there is a call for a better and more economical organization of the helpers in our sanitariums. Careful economy in the expenditure of time and means, proper care of facilities and supplies, are all certainly called for in the Lord’s work, and would bring the needed relief to many of our institutions that are now making an unsatisfactory showing, and would place them on a safe basis.

A system of accounting should be adopted that will readily reveal the loss or gain of any department, and thus eliminate as far as possible every element of uncertainty. It is a great and inexcusable mistake so to conduct the affairs of our institutions that the boards and managers are ignorant of the real standing of the business and the progress being made in any of its departments until the close of the year, when perhaps all are surprised to find a heavy deficit where they had hoped to find a handsome gain.

It would hardly seem necessary to state that, being parts of the Lord’s organization to give his gospel to the world, the denomination’s institutions should be operated from the standpoint of salaries and wages on the same basis as the gospel ministry. The work of God, and the need of a dying world, call for service based on a missionary wage, and no line of argument can establish a justification for class distinction among the servants of God in this regard. The fact that physicians, managers, or other workers can, without doubt, command far better remuneration from service in the world, is no reason for our placing our service to God upon that basis. To do so destroys the very foundation upon which our work is built. Neither can a satisfactory reason for inflation of wages above the scale ordinarily prevailing in the denominational work be found in the fact that this or that particular institution is in a prosperous condition and can afford it. Before we can do this, we must lose sight of or ignore the toil and sweat, the self-sacrifice and hardship endured by hundreds of our people that have made this final prosperity possible. It has been the willing sacrifice of our brethren, their self-denial for the cause, and their great liberality because of their love of the truth, coupled with the blessing of God, that has made our progress and present development possible. We as workers must always honor this their missionary spirit, by a similar spirit on our part.

In looking over some of our institutions, we find that some of our most perplexing problems arise from too large an investment. Buildings and equipments are so large that apparently we are unable to manage them successfully. In ‘Testimonies for the Church,’ Vol. VI, page 293, we are told: “It is not numerous institutions, large buildings, or great display that God requires, but the harmonious action of a peculiar people.” Serious mistakes in our institutional work have been made in providing institutions in size too large for our successful management. Too many times in studying those institutions that are now struggling for an existence, we find that in the beginning wrong counsel prevailed, and heavier investments were made than conditions warranted. On this point we are counseled: “Make small beginnings, and enlarge as circumstances may demand. Count the cost of every undertaking, that you may be sure of being able to finish. Draw as little as possible from the treasury. Men of faith and financial ability are needed to plan economically. Our sanitariums must be erected with a limited outlay of means.”—Id., page 113.

It would be well for us to remember that men of large managing ability are not common among us. Where we may be able to find men who can manage small institutions successfully, we shall find great difficulty in securing the necessary talent for the successful management of large ones. The failure of those leading out in the establishment of our institutions to heed the above-quoted instruction from the spirit of prophecy, has too many times been due to the desire to make a good impression on the community, really the result of our poor pride. How much better it would be to build small and within our means, and add to our equipment only as the increasing work demands, and our finances warrant. As work from a small beginning develops, we shall almost invariably find that there has developed with it a corps of workers and managers capable of successfully managing it in its enlarged condition, and that the heavy expense and loss that almost invariably attend the first five or six years’ history of our larger institutions have been avoided.

W. T. KNOX.