A Statement Regarding the Disposition of the Battle Creek College Property by Arthur G. Daniells; John Harvey Kellogg; I. H. Evans; S. H. Lane; Alonzo T. Jones; Percy T. Magan

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 26, 1903

A Statement Regarding the Disposition of the Battle Creek College Property

By Arthur G. Daniells; John Harvey Kellogg; I. H. Evans; S. H. Lane; Alonzo T. Jones; Percy T. Magan

At the late session of the General Conference held in Oakland, Cal., the following recommendation was adopted:—

“That the International Medical Missionary Training School Association be requested to deed the old Battle Creek College property to the General Conference Association, to be held by them for the denomination.”

During the council meeting of the General Conference Committee held in Battle Creek immediately following the late General Conference, a joint meeting of the Conference Committee, the trustees of the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, and the Trustees of the International Medical Missionary Training School Association arrived at an agreement concerning the College property, which, although not in the form of the action called for by the resolution adopted by the conference, is practically in harmony with the spirit and purpose of the recommendation. It is therefore proper that there be made to the denomination a statement of the reasons for the agreement arrived at in the joint meeting already mentioned; and in doing this, we will make a brief statement of the transactions from the beginning.

For some time previously to the General Conference of 1901, the Testimonies had directed that the Battle Creek College should be removed from the city to a country place, and the College Board had been planning for such a change, and for the sale of the Battle Creek College property. After much counseling together it was agreed that the property should be bought by the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association for the use of the American Medical Missionary College for the sum of one hundred and six thousand dollars, which sum was to be raised through the Missionary Acre Fund that had been originated by the Medical Missionary Association. This sum would pay all the debts, amounting to eighty thousand dollars, and yield to the College Association about twenty-six thousand dollars. This twenty-six thousand dollars would enable the College to remove from Battle Creek and establish a substantial plant in whatever place might be chosen.

This price of one hundred and six thousand dollars was the estimate of the value of the property that was made by a committee of brethren who were asked to make an appraisement. And though this appraisement was not at the time official, yet when afterward an appraising board was legally appointed, the report which they made as to the amount that should be paid was exactly in accordance with the estimate which had been made by this unofficial committee of appraisers.

Negotiations had proceeded thus far when the General Conference met in Battle Creek in 1901. In that General Conference the question was brought up and considered in open session before the crowded assembly in the Tabernacle. At that time—April 12—among other things on this subject Sister White said:—

“The light that has been given me is that Battle Creek has not the best influence over the students in our school. There is altogether too congested a state

of things. The school, although it will mean a fewer number of students, ought to be moved out of Battle Creek. Get an extensive tract of land, and there begin the work which I entreated should be commenced before our school was established here,—to get out of the city to the place where the students would not see things to remark upon and criticise; where they would not see the wayward course of this one and that one, but would settle down to diligent study. . . . God wants the school to be taken out of Battle Creek. . . .

“Some may be stirred about the transfer of the school from Battle Creek, but they need not be. This move is in accord with God’s design for the school before the institution was established; but man could not see how this could be done. There were many who said that the school must be in Battle Creek. Now we say that it must be somewhere else. The best thing that can be done is to dispose of the school buildings here as soon as possible. Begin at once to look for a place where the school can be conducted on right lines.”

Immediately at the close of that talk by Sister White, a few minutes recess was taken till 11 A. M. At eleven o’clock the Conference was called to order, with Elder G. A. Irwin, then president of the General Conference, in the chair. After prayer, the chairman said: “As it was stated before the intermission, we will continue the line of thought of the forenoon. The subjects under consideration are very important,—not only the sale of the book ‘Christ’s Object Lessons’ in the interests of the schools; but also the change of location for the Battle Creek College, getting it into the country where pupils will be away from the many temptations and allurements met with in a place like this. As this is the only time, perhaps, that these points will come up for consideration, it is thought best to continue the consideration of them in this meeting.”

After this opening, Elder S. N. Haskell was the first speaker. And after a few words about the sale of the book “Christ’s Object Lessons,” he said: “But there is another thing I will speak of, and that is the location of the school. I remember the time when the present site was selected for the location of the College here in Battle Creek. I remember also what Sister White then said to her husband, ‘Why do you not go up here and buy the fair ground?’ The fair ground at that time, if I remember aright, contained fifty acres. Brother White said, ‘We have not the money.’”

When they talked the matter over with Sister White, she always said, ‘Get the school on some land outside of the thickly settled city, where the students can work on the land.’ I wanted to say that, in view of what Sister White said here; as I was present at the time.”

Then after several short speeches about the work with “Christ’s Object Lessons,” the minutes of the Conference proceed as follows:—

“At this point A. T. Jones spoke as president of the Seventh-day Adventist Educational Society, as follows:—

“You heard the word directly—and it needs no explanation and no sanction—that we should get the College out of Battle Creek, and that we should sell the buildings and grounds in Battle Creek just as soon as possible.”

He further said: “This is enough. Why should we hesitate or delay any longer? The International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association is ready to enter into arrangements to take the property at one hundred and six thousand dollars. This will pay all the debts, and leave the College with about twenty-six thousand dollars with which to plant itself in another place. Now I ask, first, all you who are members of the Board of Trustees of the Battle Creek College who are present and are in favor of taking advantage of this arrangement, and accepting this offer, and thus moving Battle Creek College out of this city according to the instruction given, to please rise to your feet.” The vote was unanimous.

Then Elder Jones said to the stockholders: “Will all you who are stockholders of Battle Creek College, who are present, who are in favor of this movement, and who indorse this action of the Board, which has already been taken, please rise to your feet?” This vote was also unanimous. Then as the whole General Conference delegation was present, Elder Jones said to them: “All the General Conference delegation who approve of this transaction will please arise to their feet.” And “the vote to carry out the instruction was unanimous.”

Then in addition to all this, since there were present a large number of people of the denomination from almost all sections of the country, the question was extended to all these, so that the voice of the whole denomination, as nearly as it could ever be possible to obtain it, could be had upon the question. Elder Jones, therefore, addressed the whole assembly, and asked all those who agreed to the arrangements in view, and who indorsed the movement, also to rise to their feet. This was also unanimous; so that neither by the Board, nor by the stockholders, nor by the General Conference delegation, nor by the whole congregation, which was largely representative of the whole denomination, was there a single opposing vote, nor dissenting voice. See General Conference Bulletin, 1901, pages 213-219.

This course was taken by the president of the Board of Trustees expressly in order that the whole subject might be put forever at rest, by sealing the previous negotiations in such a public way that it would be with the approval of everybody that could be in any way concerned, even to the extent of the whole denomination. The matter was so understood on the part of the highest authority; for in a Testimony dated July 10, 1902, in speaking on this very subject, the following words were said:—

“In the most trying times they took their stand, firmly determined to breast every difficulty, and to free Battle Creek College from debt; also, if it were possible, to move the school from Battle Creek. During the General Conference, the way opened for the school to be moved from Battle Creek, with the full approval of our people. . . . It has been a tremendous struggle for them to advance in the face of great financial embarrassment. They have planned, contrived, and devised in every way, with self-denial and self-sacrifice, to bring the school through, and to free it from its burden of debt. Now they begin to see that the way pointed out was the way of the Lord’s leading. This is the lesson that the Lord desires many more to learn.”

Soon after the Conference closed, steps were taken to sell the property and transfer the school to the country, according to the recommendations already quoted. But in doing so, the proposition was modified, and the transaction became somewhat complicated, as will be seen from the following:—

1. In order to effect this sale and transfer, a corporation was formed, known as the International Medical Missionary Training School Association. The constituency of this association is the executive boards of the Michigan Sanitarium and Benevolent Association, the General Conference, the Review and Herald, the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association, the Central Educational Association, and the Lake Union Conference. The trustees of the association number six. These trustees are empowered to elect their officers, hold the property of the association, and transact the usual business pertaining to such corporations.

2. The object of this association was to hold the College property in trust, and be responsible to all its creditors for its debts. Its sources of income were the proceeds from the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons” in the Battle Creek College district, and the Missionary Acre Fund from all parts of the United States.

3. The original plan was that the debts of Battle Creek College should be paid by the proceeds from the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” and that the money required to purchase Battle Creek College for the American Medical Missionary College should be secured by means of the Missionary Acre Fund; but in order that the building of a school at Berrien Springs might not be delayed, a large portion of the money received on “Christ’s Object Lessons” was advanced to the Berrien Springs school, with the agreement that all such moneys should be returned from the Acre Fund, and applied on the College debt.

4. The Missionary Acre Fund was turned over by the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association to the Training School Association, with the understanding that the Training School Association would deed the property to the Medical Missionary Association as soon as the amount, one hundred and six thousand dollars, agreed upon for its purchase, had been raised.

5. The Training School Association immediately leased the College property to the Battle Creek Sanitarium for the use of that institution and the Medical College.

The details of these transactions not being very fully published, more or less criticism was made by our people regarding the transfer of the property. These criticisms have arisen from a degree of apprehension that has existed regarding the safety of our legally organized institutions and associations. Fears have been entertained that they are not all incorporated upon such a basis as fully to insure them for denominational work under the direction of the body that created them. These fears, and the conditions upon which they are based, as well as the counsel given by the spirit of prophecy, led the General Conference at its last session to appoint a committee of seven, whose duty it is thoroughly to investigate the standing of all our institutions, and make such recommendations regarding any changes that should be effected to make them more secure, as they should deem best. It was because of these considerations that the General

Conference at its last session passed this recommendation:—

These considerations were taken into account in the joint meeting of the General Conference Committee and the trustees of the Medical Missionary Association and the Training School Association held in Battle Creek, May 1, 1903, and the following agreement was adopted:—

“1. That the title to the property remain in the International Medical Missionary Training School Association until all the obligations now standing against the association shall have been liquidated.

“2. That the creditors of the International Medical Missionary Training School Association who have not as yet received promissory notes covering the amounts due them, shall receive the same immediately; that the Review and Herald Publishing Co. shall receive an interest-bearing note for the amount due said company, payable Jan. 1, 1904, and that the Seventh-day Adventist Central Educational Association shall receive a note or notes for the amount of equity due said company, said note or notes, however, to be non-interest bearing.

“3. That the International Medical Missionary Training School Association shall proceed immediately to give to the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association a written instrument of contract and lease for the Battle Creek College property, the lease to be for the term of twenty-eight years, or, if so desired, until the property has been paid for as herein stipulated.

“4. That the Benevolent Association shall raise a sum sufficient to pay the purchase price of the property by means of the Missionary Acre and other plans, devised, or to be devised in the future.

“5. The Benevolent Association is to pay all taxes, assessments, and expense of repairs to keep the buildings in a reasonably good condition.

“6. That the Benevolent Association is to pay to the Training School Company an amount equal to the interest which the Training School has to pay, as stipulated in the contract.

“7. That the Benevolent Association insure the property for forty thousand dollars, said insurance to be made payable to Training School as its interest may appear.

“8. When Benevolent Association has paid for property, it shall receive a deed in fee simple for the property, to be used for the American Medical Missionary College, and the training of medical missionary workers, and its other purposes.

“9. In case of fire loss, such a reduction shall be made in the purchase price as shall relieve the Benevolent Association from loss after taking the insurance into account, the said reduction to be borne by the unpaid equity.”

In all its vital points this arrangement is in harmony with the propositions made at the Conference of 1901; namely:—

1. The International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association practically becomes the purchaser of the Battle Creek College.

2. The International Medical Missionary Training School Association is created as an intermediary to effect the transfer, to secure the funds to pay the creditors, and transact all the business pertaining to the transfer. Its trustees will give its notes to all creditors covering the entire liabilities, and also to the trustees of the Berrien Springs school for the twenty-six thousand dollars of equity.

3. The International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association will place the Missionary Acre Fund in the hands of the Training School Association as its principal resource for meeting its obligations.

4. When the notes mentioned above have been paid, the property will be deeded to the International Medical Missionary and Benevolent Association for the use of the American Medical Missionary College.

Accordingly this committee of brethren—S. H. Lane, P. T. Magan, and A. T. Jones—have entered with good heart into the work of presenting to the attention of our people in all the United States, and even in all the world, this splendid enterprise of the Missionary Acre to purchase the old Battle Creek College property, and so to establish on a good and sure foundation the American Medical Missionary College. Nearly twenty thousand dollars of this debt is due to the Review and Herald Publishing Association, and the payment of this money as soon as possible will be a great help to that institution, especially since its terrible disaster by fire. We therefore ask all our people everywhere to set apart an acre, consecrated to God, the product of which shall be sacredly devoted to this, in every way, noble enterprise. Whenever circumstances make it impossible to set apart an acre, then let such a portion of an acre be set apart as circumstances will allow, and where circumstances are such that it is impossible thus to devote pieces of ground, then we ask that the same purpose shall in spirit be accomplished by devoting a portion of time and labor—three days in a year—the product of which shall, as in the cases of the others, be devoted to this good work.

Come then, brethren, our people all and everywhere, let us, in the name of the Lord and by his good Spirit, arise and devotedly build, each “over against his own house,” and all unitedly, in this noble enterprise.

A. G. DANIELLS, J. H. KELLOGG, I. H. EVANS, S. H. LANE, A. T. JONES, P. T. MAGAN.