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Let Us Arise and Build

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 21, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 12.

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Let Us Arise and Build

By E. R. Palmer

These good words should be our motto all the time, but particularly so at the beginning of the new year when we are shaping the work in the institutes. Evidently we are entering upon a great year's work. Last year and the year before we made a great march onward. The prospects for this year are still brighter.
Fifteen years ago our work was on the upward grade very much as it is now, but there was not that careful building there ought to have been in all the departments of the tract and missionary work, so that the movement partook too much of the nature of a boom. The decline which followed has been a discouragement for many years. Now the Lord is giving us great success again, and it behooves us as organizers and workers to build solidly on the sure foundation so that our work may not suffer again as it has in the past.
I might give many notes of interest indicating the great success which is attending the first institutes this season. Thus far more than twice as many agents are being sent out as we were able to get one year ago. In Southern California, Brother Covell has seventy-two agents in one convention. Brother Eastman writes from Texas that he has forty in one institute, not in connection with any school. This is wonderfully encouraging. I might mention many others, but instead, I will give below a few items which we should bear closely in mind in instructing our agents and in organizing the field:—

Organization

First we should keep in mind some of the strong points of organization decided upon at the last publishers' convention. A few of these are as follows:—
1. The employment of a competent general missionary agent and missionary secretary to take charge of the work in each union conference.
2. The maintenance of a competent field missionary agent (State agent) in each conference.
3. The employment of efficient tract society secretaries in the State tract society offices who will be able to conduct the tract and missionary work with the churches and isolated members in a thoroughly progressive way.
4. The revival of the tract and missionary work in the churches.
5. The revival of earnest efforts by the gospel ministry to circulate our literature of every kind in connection with public and private efforts.
6. The operation of a practical cash system. This is being interpreted by most conferences which have adopted it as meaning cash with the order when practical, and cash in thirty days in all other cases.
It will take time to establish all these important points in a thorough manner, but if every leader will work with tact and perseverance upon this program, and if every canvasser and tract and missionary worker in the denomination will do his utmost to co-operate, the desired result may be rapidly accomplished.

The Reporting System

This has become a question of most vital importance. In fact it always has been important, indeed much more so than has been realized. But the time has now come when it is absolutely necessary for all our leaders to unite in establishinga thorough system.
Our publishing houses have been passing through trying experiences. They have lost much valuable stock, and must now stock up again. Their circumstances are such that it will not be possible for them to carry a great stock of books, tying up many thousands of dollars without an assurance that such books are being sold.
Therefore, in future the publishing houses will make the reports of our agents a basis for all estimates for printing, binding, and placing stock in distributing centers, and this effort will be so intelligent and thorough as to enable them to supply all the demands of agents who report promptly, but no assurance can be given to agents who do not report. By having the reports giving details at the close of each week, experienced men can estimate months ahead what the requirements will be, and they can do so with such nicety that books will be ready on time without carrying a large surplus over from year to year. Our request that all our dear canvassers assist us in an effort to establish this system upon an intelligent basis is only a reasonable one. A thorough reporting system is the backbone of efficiency in handling a widely scattered business where supply must be gauged according to the demands. In many lines of business agents are required to report at the close of every day.
We will not give the details of the reporting system here for it may be necessary to vary it in some of its details to accommodate different parts of the field, and a statement here might lead to confusion. We simply ask our leaders to work out the system in a thoroughly practical way, and we do so with full confidence that all our agents will be glad to co-operate, in order that our publishing houses may not find it necessary to carry again such heavy investments in stock.

Contracts

We believe also that the time has come when the old system should be revived of assigning territory to agents under contract. There is a prospect that this year we shall have about double the number of agents in the field that we had last year. In order to prevent them from interfering with one another's territory, and in order to conserve the territory so that it may be worked as thoroughly as possible, it will be necessary to assign the fields very definitely so that records can be kept, and no confusion enter into the handling of agents.

Records

As a part of our building the work of the Lord at the beginning of the new year field missionary agents should give thorough attention to territorial records. Some have records that have been kept for many years. Some of these have been neglected and need to be made up to date as nearly as possible. Others have no records.
Record books have been prepared and can be obtained from the publishing houses which enable the agent to keep an intelligent record. These record books should be kept at the tract society office and with as much care as the ledger, and should be made up from time to time when the field missionary agent is at the office.
The tract society secretaries should keep the agent's weekly reports in the book provided for that purpose. This is very necessary in order that the summaries may be made out from week to week, and in order that there may be in the office a permanent record of each agent's work. Such a record is invaluable to successors in office, and indeed it is a great convenience if there is no change in office. When handling a large number of agents, it is hardly possible to do so intelligently unless you are able to turn up the record book and examine his past work in detail.
In a few days we will publish a little leaflet giving more in detail the items mentioned above, and will supply them to the tract society secretaries, and general and field missionary agents for their convenience. Let us enter into these details in a thorough, practical way. Let us build solidly from the foundation. A strong structure in organization depends upon perfection in little things. “Let us arise and build.”
May the Lord bless all the workers; and we shall continue to pray that this term “workers” may yet apply to every Seventh-day Adventist in the wide world.
E. R. PALMER,
Secretary Gen. Conf. Publishing Dept.