“ROLLING BACK THE REPROACH,” IN THE UPPER COLUMBIA CONFERENCE
By G. W. Reaser
Immediately after the council held at Battle Creek, the workers, and, in fact, our entire membership, were made acquainted with the plans adopted for the sale of “Christ’s Object Lessons,” and the co-operation of all was solicited in the enterprise. The response to the appeal made in behalf of the school work was almost, if not wholly, unanimous. Our entire corps of workers visited the churches, and organized our constituency into one grand army of workers, with its various “wings” and fields of operation. About two thousand books were hurried as quickly as possible to the principal centers of distribution, and the actual work of selling and delivering12books began. The college—faculty and students—organized and studied for the campaign, and in due time spent one and one-half days in working the territory adjacent to the institution, and sold about one hundred and fifty books. One interesting development of this effort on the part of the personnel of the college, is that several of our consecrated students, having had encouraging success in the work, now have a love for it, and have decided to become permanent canvassers, and are planning to enter that work as soon as the present college year closes. Our workers, and many of our lay members, have sold from a few copies to as high as fifty books each, and the sale has only fairly begun. We are organizing our canvassing class in the college, and hope to enlist at least twenty young men and women of consecration and talent, to handle “Christ’s Object Lessons” another year, besides our regular corps of workers who handle other books. Our young people who are looking for missionary openings can not do better than to engage in the sale of the book for the relief of our schools. Its special missionary features are: (1) to liquidate our burdensome debts; (2) to enable the canvassers to be self-sustaining, and to earn scholarships for future use in the college, either for themselves or others; (3) to advertise our college throughout our entire territory, and, with the aid of a college calendar in hand, to induce a large number of worthy young persons to attend the college; and (4) to secure the conversion of these young people, and their co-operation in the work of promulgating the Third Angel’s Message. Aside from the book sales to reduce our debt, the old-time and much-to-be-desired spirit of liberality seems to be coming back among our people. The following gifts, with others that might be mentioned, bear witness to the return of the grace of giving. Brother R. Alderson and his wife have recently given to this enterprise forty acres of excellent land, which will sell for from eight hundred to one thousand dollars; Brother George Wallace and his wife have given a house and lot, which will sell readily for four hundred dollars; and another brother recently handed the writer twenty dollars for the debt fund. Already our interest-bearing indebtedness is reduced from twenty-six to twenty-one thousand dollars, and we have money in sight or in immediate prospect to diminish it to about ten thousand dollars. We are fully counting on joining our brethren in all other of our college districts in soon singing, with heart and voice, the “song of jubilee” in freedom from debt.