Prompted by the conviction that memorials for God are to be established in our cities, we have labored and prayed that provision be made for the growth of the work started here about six years ago by Brother and Sister R. B. Craig; and our hearts are cheered by the recent developments.
THE PEORIA SANITARIUM
Peoria is, next to Chicago, the largest city in Illinois, and is the metropolis of the new conference organized in southern Illinois. It is a wealthy and pleasure-loving city, surrounded with beautiful scenery. It has many industries, the greatest being the distillery business, which has assumed immense proportions, as may be seen by the following facts furnished me by United States collector of revenue: The internal revenue collections on proof spirits in Peoria for last year amounted to over thirty-two million dollars at one dollar a gallon. This is presented in another way by the statement that the revenue collections here last year amounted to over one hundred thousand dollars a day, and that the daily shipment of these strong liquors has reached as high as forty-four car loads of sixty-five barrels each. Each bushel of corn that is ground, cooked into mush, and fermented with from one to two pounds of yeast, affords five gallons of proof spirits. When it is understood that these spirits are from one to four times the strength of the whisky sold at retail, it is manifest that the works of evil are fully represented in Peoria; and until probation closes, it is very clear that God has a work for rescuers.
Efforts to get a suitable location for treatment rooms or a cafe have been repeatedly made, but each time something hindered the execution of the plans. We have now secured an excellent, three-story brick building, erected for other purposes, but remarkably adapted to our use as a sanitarium. Having been built by a philanthropic lady as a home for clerks and working girls, it was not only well built, with good plumbing, steam-heating apparatus, laundry, and large, airy basement, but its twenty guest rooms were fully furnished with a good grade of furniture. It is well supplied with hair mattresses, chairs, cooking ranges, and carpets. After thorough cleaning, the carpets were made into acceptable Brussels rugs. On the ground floor a few alterations were necessary. For two thousand dollars we have a well-equipped sanitarium, with twenty guest rooms, in a city of seventy thousand inhabitants.
In the absence of conference or other funds to make this a denominational enterprise, individuals have for the present arranged for the necessary funds, which, together with the liberal terms granted by merchants, has made it possible to establish a memorial for God in this city. For this we praise him, and again consecrate our lives to the work which he may give into our hands.
