The Earthquake Special of “The Signs of the Times”
By E. R. Palmer
THE great earthquake and fire, which have laid low the proud city of San Francisco and devastated many surrounding cities and towns, have opened a wide door of opportunity, privilege, and duty to the children of God who know the meaning of these things. We thank God that, although the walls of the Pacific Press were wrecked, all the machinery, except the linotypes, was preserved, which enables us to publish to the world the message of warning.
BOOK DEPARTMENT OF THE PACIFIC PRESS AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE
After the earthquake a council of the leading brethren in Mountain View was called in the shattered building of the Pacific Press. A report was given on the condition of the printing plant, and as it was evident that the machinery had been preserved for a purpose, plans were laid at once for publishing an Earthquake Special of The Signs of the Times, in which the world would be told the facts and their meaning by pen and photographs.
The editors, accompanied by photographers, went to the scenes of destruction. They saw the ruins made by earthquake, fire, and dynamite. With their own eyes they saw the fleeing refugees, the homeless thousands in the parks and on the hills, the evidences of martial law, the scattered dead, the crumbled, smoking miles of chaotic waste, and the long, patiently waiting lines of hungry people,—the poor, the outcast, the Chinese, and the millionaire, all in line, seeking bread from the same hand of charity.
With the awful facts burned into their very souls, they returned home, and traced, with hands that had trembled through the earthquake, the truthful story of the most stupendous calamity of modern times.
And not only is the story told; the editors of the Signs are set as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, and faithful to their trust, they have told the meaning of this destruction in the light of prophecy.
Editors, artists, compositors, foundry men, and pressmen agreed together that they would not sleep till the Earthquake Special was running from the big cylinder press. They kept their word, and the greatest number of the Signs ever issued was brought out beautifully and promptly. In fact, the Signs was the first paper that gave a comprehensive, illustrated description of the disaster. It is a thrilling, an inspiring number. No other journal tells the story as this paper does. No other journal has such illustrations. No other journal tells the true meaning of the catastrophe.
The people want this number, and they ought to have it. It sells wonderfully. People run after the agents on the streets, and buy from one to twenty copies. Agents sell two hundred to five hundred copies daily. Several have sold one hundred an hour.
After one town had been thoroughly canvassed from house to house, a little boy six years old sold one hundred and thirteen on the street in half a day. The first day after the people knew that the Special was issued, the Press booked orders for fifty-eight thousand copies.
What an opportunity is this! Will God's people improve it, and spring to the work?—They surely will. They are doing it. For further particulars, see second page of this paper.
