A Council Meeting

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 25, 1902

A Council Meeting

SEVERAL brethren from different parts of the field were in Battle Creek last week, in response to a call for a council to consider various questions relating to the rebuilding of the Sanitarium. In addition to the Sanitarium Board of Managers and other local brethren there were present at different times during the council Brethren H. W. Cottrell, the President of the Eastern Union Conference; C. W. Flaiz, the President of the Northwestern Union Conference; C. McReynolds, the President of the Southwestern Union Conference; Allen Moon, the President of the Illinois Conference; and E. E. Miles, the General Canvassing Agent of the Eastern Union Conference. Brethren A. G. Daniells and E. R. Palmer arrived from the Pacific coast just in time to participate in the meetings of the council.

Among the principal questions considered were the following: Shall the Sanitarium be rebuilt in Battle Creek? How much money shall be invested in the new plant? Which one of the various plans submitted by the architects shall be adopted? What methods of raising the necessary funds shall be adopted so that the present indebtedness shall not be increased by rebuilding? What arrangements shall be made so that a good number of the workers, whose services will not be required during the time of rebuilding, may be profitably assigned to field work? It will be seen at once that these are important questions, and that each one demanded serious study.

It will not be possible in our limited space to give more than a brief statement of the results of the council. In view of the attitude of the people of Battle Creek toward the Sanitarium and its work, as set forth in another article in this issue, the council advised that the new building should be erected in this city. It was recommended that the East Hall, formerly occupied as a nurses’ dormitory, should hereafter be used for patients, and that only one building be built in place of the two which were burned; and that this building should be five stories in height, not to exceed 450 feet in length, and that it should be constructed of stone, brick, marble, iron, steel, and cement. The only wood will be in the doors, window frames, and the furniture. Plans for raising the balance of the money needed for rebuilding, and for the employment of nurses and physicians in field work, were considered at length, but they will require further study and development before anything definite can be announced.

The spirit which pervaded the council was one of cordial sympathy with the Sanitarium and its work, and of readiness to co-operate most heartily in the effort to provide the necessary facilities that its work may be continued.