Is It a Good Investment?
By W. C. White
OUR people are being asked to contribute liberally, on Sabbath, July 4, to the support of our missionary enterprises in Australasia. It will be of interest to those who have made gifts to the Australasian field, and to those who are now asked for the first time to contribute of their means to this6work, to know what has been accomplished by the financial assistance rendered to the Australasian work in past years. From their earliest experiences, the Australian and New Zealand Conferences have made a brave effort to be self-supporting, and to take the message of present truth to the vast, unworked portions of their territory. The records of the tithes and offerings they have paid in seasons of great adversity as well as in times of prosperity, stand as a worthy example to our brethren in other lands. The conditions of the field threw upon the workers in Australasia extraordinary responsibilities. It was found to be necessary to establish a publishing house, a training-school for Christian workers, also to build meeting-houses in many places, and later on to establish sanitariums, hydriatic treatment rooms, and a health food business. The need for these institutions, and the fact that there were but a mere handful of Sabbath-keepers in each colony (about five hundred in all when the Echo Publishing Company was organized, twelve hundred when the Avondale school was started, and not more than two thousand when the sanitarium building was begun), appealed strongly to our people in America, Africa, and Europe; and they have contributed freely for the building of churches, and the planting of necessary institutions in Australasia. In order that our people in all lands may see that the brethren in Australasia have been enabled by the blessing of God to use wisely the talents of means intrusted to them, and that they may see that the institutions established are growing in influence and power, we shall extract from letters and reports some statements which will help to make a picture of a prosperous and growing work in this great field. The Echo Publishing Company
When in the spring of 1885 Elders Haskell, Corliss, and Israel were preparing to go to Australia, they laid plans and made preparations for the publication of a monthly paper. It was impressed upon their minds that periodicals, tracts, and books would act a leading part in the Australasian Mission. Six months after their arrival in Melbourne, they laid the foundation of our publishing work in the southern hemisphere, by the issue of The Bible Echo and Signs of the Times, a sixteen-page monthly journal. For this work a building was erected in North Fitzroy. During 1886, 1887, and 1888 the blessing of the Lord attended the workers and the work. As the message was given by the ministers, churches were raised up. The Bible Echo was widely circulated, and books were freely sold by consecrated canvassers. The growth of the publishing work demanded more room and better facilities for printing. In April, 1889, the Echo Publishing Company Limited was incorporated, and the erection of buildings begun on Best Street, North Fitzroy. For some years the publication of The Bible Echo and the sale of our subscription books were the principal features of the work, but in 1891 an effort was made to begin the publication of our smaller books. “Steps to Christ” was the first book issued by the company. Then followed “Coming King,” “Christ Our Saviour,” “A Friend in the Kitchen,” “The House We Live In,” and “Desire of Ages.” Step by step the work of the Echo Publishing Company has been developed until the institution is in a position to print the greater part of the subscription books sold in Australasia. From an address made at the last annual meeting by W. D. Salisbury, president of the company, we quote the following:— “Glancing back over the thirteen years of this company, we can see that God has been guiding his work, and that his prospering hand has been over it from year to year. Much good has been accomplished by the publications that have gone out from this office. “Compared with the number of our own people, Australia is the banner field throughout the world in selling books. This is not because canvassing is easier here. The population is small and scattered. The prices are higher on our books than in any other part of the world. It is due to the earnestness of our canvassers, and the thorough organization of our book work, in every part of the field, that we are enabled to sell so many books. “During the past thirteen years, books to the value of £125,000 retail have been sold. The company has donated to missionary work £2,600, which includes £1,725 loss on The Bible Echo, £555 on other periodicals, and £220 donations in cash and material. “Although during this time we passed through bank failures, and the results of the bursting of the land boom, we have recorded but one year’s loss in ten years. Some years the profits have been small, but they have been sure. The past year’s profit is the largest in the history of the company; and this at a time when many changes have taken place in this country, and business in the commercial world has been uncertain. “From a small beginning the Echo Company has grown to be one of the best equipped printing and publishing houses in the southern hemisphere. Not because we have such a large variety of machinery and material, but because it is the latest and most improved of its kind, and capable of turning out the best work when properly handled. (There are ninety persons employed by the company.) “Our present net worth is now £5,000. We believe we can realize far more than that amount, after paying all our creditors, should we at any time sell our plant and buildings. “The value of business the past year has been £19,390. This is £4,086 more than the preceding year, and £1,689 more than the year before that, which was our best year.” W. C. WHITE.