p. 22 | A Good Year's Work

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 11, 1902

A Good Year's Work

THE Supplement to the Bible Echo, of Melbourne, Australia, has come to hand, in which we find interesting reports of the work of the Echo Publishing Co. and the tract and missionary societies in Australasia. The annual address of the president of the Echo Company to the shareholders at their annual meeting shows that the company is able to present for the past year's work a net gain of $4,615. The present worth of the publishing house is $25,395. The value of commercial business during the year has been $96,950. This is by far the best showing ever made by the Echo Company. There are ninety persons now in their employ. The manager says:—

“Glancing back over the thirteen years of this company, we can see that God has been guiding his work, and that his prospering hand has been over it from year to year. Much good has been accomplished by the publications that have gone out from this office. Compared with the number of our own people, Australia is the banner field throughout the world in selling books. This is not because canvassing is easier here. The population is small and scattered. The prices are higher on our books than in any other part of the world. It is due to the earnestness of our canvassers, and the thorough organization of our book work, in every part of the field, that we have been enabled to sell so many books. The higher prices enable our canvassers to keep at their work, as it gives them a living, and makes them independent. Some countries that have adopted small prices on their books have had to subsidize their agents to keep them in the field, and it has been found difficult even then for them to make a living. The people here do not have more money to spend on books than in other parts of the world, but the canvasser makes them feel that he has something that they must have, and then the price does not stand in the way.”

“During the past thirteen years books to the value of $625,000, retail, have been sold. The company has donated to missionary work $13,000, which includes $8,625 loss on The Bible Echo, $2,775 on other periodicals, and $1,100 donations in cash and material.”

“Although during this time we passed through bank failures, and the results of the bursting of the land boom, we have recorded but one year's loss in ten years. Some years the profits have been small, but they have been sure. The past year's profit is the largest in the history of the company, and this at a time when many changes have taken place in this country, and business in the commercial world has been uncertain.”