Report of Progress by E. R. Palmer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Aug 8, 1907

Report of Progress

By E. R. Palmer

We greatly rejoice in the Lord, and our hearts are filled with a sense of his goodness, as we publish our summary of the canvassing work for the month of June. The march of our splendid army of workers is still onward and upward. It has been indeed an inspiring experience during the past month in particular to receive the letters and reports from all parts of the world. Not a word of discouragement has come to our office. Even from parts of the field where the difficulties are greatest, there is a spirit of courage, loyalty, and determination which means that still greater things are to be done. The accompanying summary gives in clear, impressive figures an indication of what the Lord is doing for his people in one department of his work. And we are assured by the workers in other departments that the onward movement is just as strong in the other features of the gospel work.

All Past Records Broken

It is good for us to make note of our progress. To be made conscious of the blessed fact that we are moving rapidly onward gives courage to help us over difficult places. The rapid increase of our book sales last year was a great encouragement. The summary for the month of July, 1906, was the largest ever published up to that time, amounting to $52,218.04. The summaries for May, June, and July, 1906, were as follows: May, $36,800; June, $46,300; July, $52,218.04. This excellent success attained by the workers last year caused great rejoicing. But compare these figures with 1907: May, $51,097.51; June, $65,816.23. The report for July is yet to be made. The statistical secretary of the General Conference has just completed his figures for 1906. The sale of books, tracts, and periodicals in all lands, so far as reported, amounted to $824,000. The highest previous report for one year was in 1891, when the sales amounted to $819,000. From these figures we gather the encouraging fact that during 1906 the sale of our publications amounted to $5,000 more than during any previous year in the history of our work.

A Change of Phrases

Some people have been annoyed, and with reason, too, perhaps, that so much has been said during recent years about

“the past,” “old times,” “the good old days,” etc., and have advised that we live in the present and for the future. This is good advice, and it will be easier now than formerly to follow it. “We have not passed this way before.” We are breaking new soil. The glorious present is better than the glorious past. To-day our work is more interesting, more successful, more victorious in all its phases than ever before. Can we not now drop our favorite phrases about the past, and talk of what God is doing just now, and what he purposes to do in the future? The possibilities of the future are beyond our comprehension. Let us work out those possibilities. It has been truthfully said that “there is no case more hopeless than that of a man whose past is before him, and his future behind him.”

The Summary

We should not pass by this wonderfully interesting summary without noticing a few of its most interesting points. First, notice how complete it is. Then observe how evenly and well distributed the success has been. Notice also the weak places, and observe where you and your conference stand in the summary, and study how you can improve any features of it for which you may be partially or wholly responsible. Notice in particular the splendid report from the Pacific Union. The work shown is from the State of California only. This is probably the largest report ever shown by a single State for one month. All the reports are good and very encouraging. We need not refer to them in detail; they speak for themselves, and show us a splendid army of workers laboring for souls from house to house. We can hardly appreciate at a glance what is meant by the record from the German Union Conference, where 234 agents under trying circumstances have worked over 20,000 hours for a sale of $6,000 worth of publications. This large force of workers, the large number of hours, and the comparatively small results mean sacrifice and devotion which, beyond a doubt, will count much more in the final harvest than is shown in dollars and cents. May the Lord greatly bless all the workers, and especially those in difficult foreign fields.

Report for 1907

We can hardly foresee or estimate what the Lord will do for us before the close of 1907. Last year we passed all previous records, but this year the Lord is blessing us almost beyond our ability to estimate. Every publishing house in the denomination is using its facilities wholly for publishing the third angel's message. This means much. Our work is no longer divided. Office men and field men have “touched shoulders and turned to the right,” and the result shows decisively what the influence of commercialism has been in years past. When freed from commercialism in its temple courts, the work of God, with its own true elasticity, springs forward into its rightful place. The Southern Publishing Association reports a gain during the first six months of the present year of fifty-three per cent in the Southern Union Conference as compared with last year, and a gain of fifty-six and one-half per cent in the Southwestern Union during the same time. The Pacific Press Publishing Association is expecting to double its sales this year as compared with last. May the Lord help them to accomplish their high purpose. During the past year, the Watchman has nearly doubled its circulation, and during the past six months the Signs of the Times has increased its circulation from less than 20,000 copies a week to 45,000 copies. As we try to grasp the meaning of this mighty forward movement all along the line, words fail to tell a tithe of what the Lord is doing for us. Let us join in thanksgiving for his goodness, gird on the armor anew, fight faithfully in the ranks, and march onward.

E. R. PALMER, Sec. Gen. Conf. Publishing Dept.