The General European Conference
By Guy Dail
A PORTION of the last day of the conference was devoted to the consideration of the publishing work. Brother Sisley led out in this, giving a brief account of the way in which the work in Great Britain had grown the last two years. Last year the circulation of Present Truth averaged 18,476 copies a week, while the English Good Health had a monthly issue of 46,083. There were 100,097 tracts published, or three times as many as the previous year. The retail value of last year's sales was $84,718. Each of two men, not of our truth, paid for the publication and circulation of fifty thousand small tracts on the Sabbath question. The London house has also done some publishing in the Zulu language, and has been selling to our mission fields at as low a figure as possible. There is no longer a loss on the Good Health, and there has been but a small loss on Present Truth. Elder Wilkinson stated that the publishing work in the Latin Union is but a mere child, one year old. The book stock that was formerly in Basel was divided between the depositories in Geneva and Paris. In 1903 there were one hundred and twenty-five thousand copies of our periodicals printed, and we published Secret of Health and “Glorious Appearing” in Italian, and “We Would See Jesus” and Signs of the Times, in Spanish. Our sales for the year amounted to about six thousand dollars. In Finland, Brother A. Boettcher has charge of the publishing house. He stated that we print in Finnish, and must also get out our own literature in the Swedish, as it is impossible to introduce books in that language from Sweden. The last two years they have printed 11,500 copies of “Christ Our Saviour,” 5,000 of these being delivered to our house in Sweden; of “Steps to Christ,” 13,000 in Finnish, and 8,000 in Swedish; 335,000 pages of tracts in both languages have been printed; the circulation of our Finnish paper has increased from 600 a month in 1901 to 5,000 now; the sales for the field amounted to $10,000 during the two years. It would be very much to the advantage of our Finnish work if our brethren in the States, wherever there are Finns, would take an interest in them, and seek to increase the circulation of our Finnish literature among them. In connection with the publishing work in Helsingfors, this recommendation, with its preamble, was passed:— “Whereas, The Book Mission in Finland is not registered, and, consequently, has no legal rights; therefore,— “We recommend, This Book Mission to organize itself into a stock company with ten thousand Finnish marks, in harmony with the existing laws, and that the shares be held by the International Tract Society in Hamburg and in London, or by the General European Conference, in the event of its legal organization, and that Brethren A. Boettcher, K. Sandelin, and W. Vasenius be appointed as a committee to effect such an organization.” It may seem a little strange, perhaps, that we recommend the organization of a stock company; but when our brethren learn that this is the only sort of legal organization that the laws of Finland allow, they will see the reasonableness of our action. Brother D. Ostlund, who is located in Reykjavik, Iceland, stated that the past two years his paper in the Icelandic has so increased its list that he now gets out a semimonthly edition, of two thousand five hundred, and he hopes that the coming year there will be a gain, instead of a loss, as heretofore. There is also in readiness for immediate publication the manuscript for the book “Prophecies of Revelation,” translated from the Danish by Brother Matteson. During the two years ending July 1, 1902, the Hamburg house had printed 34,401,280 pages in the German, and 1,788,890 pages in the Holland, Lettish, Hungarian, Rumanian, and Bulgarian, or a total of 36,190,170 pages; the next two years, 54,692,400 pages were printed in the German, and 4,219,440 pages in the languages just mentioned, and, in addition to those languages, the Polish, the Russian, the Portuguese, and the Servian should be included. This makes, for the past two years, a total of 58,911,500 pages, showing an increase of 22,721,670 pages. The first two years we printed 1,254,900 papers; the next two years we issued 1,659,500 copies, showing a fair gain. The retail value of the sales for the first two years amounted to $100,180, and for the second two years to $139,322. We are now publishing in thirteen different languages, and hope soon to begin in the Suaheli and Wapare tongues, of German East Africa. On the publishing work, these resolutions were passed:— “Resolved, That we express our sincere gratitude to God for his abundant blessing that has attended our publishing work throughout our entire field, and that we consider this a reiteration of the statement that, if there is one work more important than another, it is that of getting our publications before the people; and, further,— “Resolved, That we express our appreciation of the faithful service of our self-sacrificing agents, who, by the blessing of God, have carried the message through the printed page, into both the old and new and difficult fields, thus opening the way for the living preacher; also,— “Resolved, That, as this is one of the most important means among us of extending the third angel's message, and is a financial strength, and proves an excellent training-school for workers, we encourage, to the best of our ability, the agents already in the field, and make earnest efforts to secure new workers. “Whereas, The Lord has blessed the work of getting out our publications in various languages; therefore,— “Resolved, That we urge our publishing houses not only to increase their literature in these tongues, but also to secure translations into yet other languages. “Whereas, The International Publishing Association, of College View, Neb., U. S. A., has been organized for the purpose of increasing the circulation of our literature among the foreign-speaking people of the United States; therefore,— “Resolved, That we express our interest in this move, and our desire to co-operate in every possible way in the general interest of our international publishing work.” The last resolution is not to be interpreted to mean that we would be able to take editions or parts of editions of books printed in America, but it expresses our desire to see the interest of our people quickened in the circulation of our foreign literature. The cause in the Latin Union received a great deal of thought and attention. Here we have to deal with the establishment of a school and sanitarium, and to secure more help, if possible. It was felt that we should do all within our power to save the capital we now have for the purpose of erecting the necessary institutions in this field. These resolutions will therefore be easily understood:— “Whereas, The realizable capital remaining with the Basel property is only twenty-five thousand dollars; and,— “Whereas, There is a pressing necessity to provide the Latin field with a permanent school and sanitarium; and,— “Whereas, There is now a favorable opening to transfer this property for a more suitable place on Lake Geneva; therefore,— “Resolved, That we ask the Mission Board to again kindly provide this field with the necessary appropriations from Jan. 1, 1905, instead of further consuming the capital already mentioned. “Resolved, That we indorse the invitation extended by the Latin Union, which requests the General Conference Committee of America to secure for Spain a worker who could help in developing Spanish literature for our work. “Resolved, That we indorse the invitation extended by the Latin Union to Brother S. Jespersson, of Beirut, to14come to their field and engage in labor under their direction.” The change suggested for Brother Jespersson is made necessary by the precarious condition of his health, as well as by the needs of the work in the Latin Union. Since his removal from Jerusalem to Beirut, Brother Jespersson's health has not improved as we had hoped it might; for he is still much afflicted with the fever. There were other recommendations for additional laborers to go to the Latin field, but these will be made known after we have heard from the individuals in question. A few more rather general resolutions follow. One gives expression to the feelings of the delegates at the necessity of losing the labors of Brother C. H. Castle, whose broken health makes it imperative for him to seek another field:— “Whereas, Brother C. H. Castle, of the North England Conference, has been medically advised to at once seek a change of climate by going to Colorado or some equally favorable region; therefore,— “Resolved, That we express our sympathy for Brother and Sister Castle, and, while regretting to lose them as fellow laborers in Europe, we recommend action on the medical advice given that they return to America.” It was also thought best to take this action with reference to Elder John Hoffman, who has been laboring in Finland for the last few years:— “We recommend, That the Scandinavian Union Conference accept Elder John Hoffman's proposal that he be allowed to change his field of labor from Finland to the northern part of Sweden.” As to who should be included in the list of delegates for the General Conference to be held in Washington, D. C., next year, this action was taken:— “Resolved, That the president of the General European Conference, and the presidents of the Union Conferences, and the superintendents of the union mission fields, be recommended as delegates to the next session of the General Conference, and that the appointment of further delegates be left for future arrangement.” The delegates from abroad had shared the hospitality of the German brethren, and they passed this resolution just before closing the last meeting:— “Resolved, That we express our hearty appreciation to the German Union Conference for their provision for the entertainment of the delegates from abroad, and to the managers and helpers at the sanitarium for their kind attention and hospitality.” The committee on credentials and licenses recommended that ministerial credentials be given to L. R. Conradi, W. H. Wakeham, Z. G. Baharian, Awada Ebd-El-shaheed; ministerial licenses to J. K. Ouzounian, S. Jespersson, E. Zarub, G. Dail; missionary credentials to Drs. A. W. George and J. M. Keichline. As a result of the nominating committee's report, which was adopted, the following were asked to serve the next two years: President, L. R. Conradi; Vice-President, O. A. Olsen; Secretary, Guy Dail; Treasurer, W. C. Sisley; Auditor, S. S. Barnard; Executive Committee, L. R. Conradi, O. A. Olsen, P. A. Hansen, B. G. Wilkinson, W. H. Wakeham, H. F. Schuberth, J. Erzenberger, J. T. Boettcher, D. P. Gaede, W. C. Sisley, H. R. Salisbury, E. E. Andross, O. A. Johnson, Dr. J. C. Ottosen, L. P. Tieche. The departmental committees appointed are: Educational: H. R. Salisbury (chairman), B. G. Wilkinson, O. Luepke, O. A. Johnson, W. H. Wakeham. Publishing: L. R. Conradi (chairman), W. C. Sisley, Dr. A. B. Olsen, J. Roberts, A. Boettcher. Finance: W. C. Sisley (chairman), L. R. Conradi, O. A. Olsen, P. A. Hansen, H. F. Schuberth. Medical: Dr. J. C. Ottosen (chairman), Dr. A. J. Hoenes, L. R. Conradi, Dr. P. A. De Forest, W. C. Sisley. These are the chief things that would be of general interest to our readers. We might state in closing that the Sabbath was a most blessed day. God's Spirit visited his people. Nearly twenty different nationalities were represented in the large tent, and it was a precious sight to see how God's truth for this time has made it possible for so many naturally discordant and inharmonious elements to meet together under a single roof, singing praise to him, and re-dedicating themselves anew to the work of carrying the gospel to their respective peoples, all working zealously and devotedly for the accomplishment of the one great purpose of warning the nations of the Lord's soon coming. It is the universal testimony of our brethren here that God has again met with his people, and all will go forth to their fields with renewed courage and strength, because of the benediction of the Prince of Peace, who has been with us.