The Pacific Mission by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 4, 1875

The Pacific Mission.

By James White

JULY 18, 1868, Elds. Loughborough and Bourdeau landed in San Francisco with their church tent to enter upon the work of proclaiming the great gospel message for our time, which embraces the soon second coming of Christ and the preparation for that event. For some years previous to this date requests had come up to our General Conference from two or three persons on this coast, who were in heart Seventh-day Adventists, that a missionary should be sent to the distant State of California. But from want of men to spare from the eastern field, the Conference took no action upon the subject until its annual session in May, 1868.

The amount of funds raised at that time to purchase tent, pay the passage of the two missionaries to their new field of labor, and to give them a very humble support for a short time till the mission should become self-sustaining, was only $1,700.

God greatly blessed the labors of his trusting servants, so that in ten months from the time they left New York city the mission was reported self-sustaining. Under the judicious management of Eld. Loughborough the mission increased in numbers and efficiency, so that in about three years from the time it was first opened the sum of $3,000 in gold coin was raised by the friends in California and sent over the mountains and across the plains, for the benefit of our eastern institutions. Probably there has not been in any of the States during the brief history of our cause a more confiding, liberal people than in the good State of California. And could Eld. Loughborough ever have had prudent, true fellow-laborers, none need to have been shaken in confidence.

We forbear to give names, or to enter into particulars. It is sufficient to remark here that in no State are ministers watched with a more suspicious eye than in California. And in no part of the world is it more necessary to take heed to the injunction of the apostle, to “abstain from all appearance of evil,” than on the Pacific Coast. This general distrust is mainly in consequence of the conduct of those ministers from the East who found it agreeable to their feelings to seek homes on this coast, leaving the plains between them and a broken-down reputation. But as they did not succeed in leaving the devil on the other side, they found it an easy matter to duplicate a miserable reputation in the West. Eld. Loughborough’s correct deportment, indefatigable labors, and firm purpose for the right in times of trial, have given him favor with the people and with God.

It is cruel in a minister to create a feeling of distrust in the hearts of a confiding people by imprudent movements, self-caring habits, and a willingness to take from the treasury for the good he has not done.

It was in the autumn of 1872 that Mrs. W. and the writer made our first trip to California. We attended the first California Camp-meeting held in the autumn of that year at Windsor, Sonoma Co. The brethren came to that meeting in rather a discouraged condition in consequence of the apparent failure of the tent-meeting in Woodland, which had occupied nearly the whole season, and the state of things in the church at San Francisco, caused by the imprudence and wrongs before alluded to. But the camp-meeting accomplished good. And by the united pleadings of Mrs. W. and the writer the tent returned to Woodland, where we assisted in reviving a wasted interest, which resulted in establishing one of the largest churches in the State.

But the work to be done in San Francisco was more difficult. There are preachers whose labors are so directed as to secure very strong personal friends, and, on the other hand, to make very decided enemies. Imprudence and rashness in the labors of such a man make a deep and lasting impression. The cause in San Francisco had suffered greatly by such labor, and when the tent was moved from Woodland to that city, we found, to our great discouragement, that difference of opinion existed, resulting from the imprudence before mentioned, and but few of the church were in a condition to co-operate with us in the work. Some precious souls, however, were reached by that meeting who are now with the church.

It has been one considerable branch of our work, for more than twenty-five years, to go into churches where divisions and fanaticisms have existed, and there labor to correct existing wrongs, and to restore union of sentiment and feeling. God has used Mrs. W. in this critical work wonderfully. And to him be glory for the state of harmony now existing generally among the Seventh-day Adventists. But in San Francisco we found ourselves among a people who were, with few exceptions, decided and impulsive. And the position which the Lord would have us take to help all, suited the feeling of but a few. Some regarded us too severe on the one who had caused the difficulty, while others drew away from us because we made efforts to help and save him. We were, for several months nearly alone in that city, seeking every possible opportunity to help that church, and build up the cause in San Francisco. But the discouragements we met on almost every hand were injurious to the feeble health of the writer, and in March, 1873, we returned to Michigan.

And right here we wish to state that we have not one word of reflection to cast upon the brethren in San Francisco. We state the facts in the sad history of that church to show how cruel it is for indiscreet and rash men to take a course to shake the confidence of a confiding people. Not only is confidence shaken in himself; but more or less for a longer or shorter time, in all others who may be associated with him. This makes the labors of those who follow him extremely embarrassing and hard.

But God has helped his people in San Francisco. At the several visits we have made to this State, each winter, it has been our pleasure to labor some with this people, and we have been happy to witness progress toward Bible unity and real efficiency. None have been more liberal in helping to build up the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association than those of the San Francisco church who were able to help. And in addition to this they are at the same time donating liberally toward their house of worship, now being hastened toward its completion.

And we might here state that whatever affects the cause in San Francisco has its influence, more or less, in all parts of the State. The wrongs we have alluded to had their influence in other places. And when the cause took a favorable turn at the metropolis of the Pacific Coast, and prosperity attended judicious labor in Oakland and San Francisco, general good cheer, hope, and confidence, were restored in all parts of this western field.

For a time the influence of Eld. Grant against the cause was felt on this coast. At his first visit he gained many personal friends by calling to his aid great affected piety and flattery in connection with what truth he set forth. But his warfare against our people, managed very badly by himself, exposed his real spirit, and weakened his influence, which met a death-blow at the Napa discussion with Eld. Canright. He succeeded in dividing his own people in this State, so that they took sides as the Grant party and the Fassett party. Of his course here, an appeal from seven Adventists of San Francisco, persons of the Fassett party, says:—

“Eld. Grant has had his way and sway. He ‘fought it out on that line’ with an obstinacy untempered by common sense. His senseless assaults upon the seventh-day people, who were not intruding upon ground occupied by us, provoked them to retaliation, and they have pitched their tent in Vallejo, Santa Clara, and San Jose, and drawn away members from and weakened all of these churches. The field was large enough, and Eld. Fassett’s policy was to let them alone while they did not molest our churches. The result has shown the folly of Eld. Grant’s course in this, as in almost every item of his policy on the Pacific Coast. In Napa City, Eld. Grant’s boasted discussion has ended in helping the Sabbatarians. Their society is stronger than ever, while of Eld. Grant’s influence there is scarcely a trace.”

One of the most important periods in the history of the cause on the Pacific Coast was when the mission was opened in Washington and Oregon by Eld. I. D. Van Horn, and the tent-meetings at Oakland and San Francisco in 1874. At Walla Walla, a large church has been raised up, and there are smaller companies in other places, in all at least one hundred active members resulting principally from the North Pacific Mission. At Oakland, a church has been established of eighty members, and the church at San Francisco received the same year valuable accessions. During the same year, good work was done at San Jose, Santa Clara, and Vallejo. The labors of Eld. D. M. Canright in connection with the cause in the State of California, including the Napa discussion, during the memorable year 1874 have by no means been over-estimated by our people here. And we are happy to learn of his freedom in the word in a broader sphere of usefulness across the plains.

It was in 1873, while in the Rocky mountains for health, that our mind was greatly exercised upon the subject of broader plans, and there we wrote articles which appeared in the REVIEW AND HERALD in which we suggested that the time was not far distant when the Seventh-day Adventist press would be established both on the Pacific and the Atlantic. Had not difficulties been thrown in our way the press could have done sooner and better service on the Pacific, so that now we might have sustaining lists of subscribers, and not a debt on the SIGNS. The enterprise will prove a success. It is a matter of time only.

JUNE 4, 1874, the first number of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES was issued at Oakland, Cal. And this, in the midst of a tent-meeting at Oakland which demanded much of our attention, among strangers, and where the business customs of the people differ very much from those of the East, was a severe tax upon our strength. We soon found it necessary, on account of the high prices for printing at other offices in California, to purchase printing material, with the exception of printing-press, sufficient to print the SIGNS. Here again, to get together at the least possible cost just that material necessary for present use, and which would constitute a valuable portion of a future complete Office, was still another pressure of care and labor in addition to a former double burden. But we here acknowledge to the glory of the sustaining grace of God, that the divine hand has guided and upheld.

The arrival of our son, J. E. White, a practical printer, was an important event in the history of our publishing work on the Pacific. With his assistance, lists of subscribers were made up, and before the California Camp-meeting seven numbers of the SIGNS were issued. We left for the Battle Creek, Mich., Camp-meeting the last of July, so that several numbers were issued in our absence. Our small Office was in little dingy, rented rooms, and the press work was done on the press of another, at quite a distance, at high prices, demanding considerable cash, patience, and hard work, in moving heavy forms and paper on a wheel-barrow.

Under these circumstances we looked forward with no small degree of interest to the time when we should have a good building and Office complete at our command. The time to lay this matter before our people, and make definite arrangements for a united effort, was at the California Camp-meeting in 1874. And right here a mistake was made. We should have been at that meeting, and immediately after the liberal pledges of our people in this State, should have been on the ground to conduct the SIGNS, and the incorporation of the Pacific S. D. A. P. Association, and to carry out our first plans relative to the circulation of the paper. But circumstances we could not control held us in the East, and decided the matter that the T. and M. Society should put 10,000 copies of the VOICE OF TRUTH in the very field we had designed for the SIGNS OF THE TIMES. And after this was done we were urged to come to California to take charge of the paper and the incorporation of the California Publishing Association.

But the golden period to extend the circulation of the SIGNS and make it self-sustaining, was past for awhile, and the accomplishment of this object made more difficult, which has resulted in a debt on the paper. But with united, vigorous action the past can be redeemed, and the paper can soon be self-sustaining. As we now contrast the past with our present ample, light and pleasant rooms, and the best press in the Union at our service, which saves cash, perplexity, and much hard labor, we devoutly thank God and take courage. We have no rents to pay; and better paper than that which cost us in small lots from San Francisco $4.40 per ream, now costs, by the car-load from Michigan, only $3.60 per ream.

Not far from $14,000 has been expended in the purchase of the site, and on the new building. The amount paid on the building by the brethren in California is $11,000, leaving a debt of $3,000, which greatly cramps our business. At the same time $10,000 has been actually paid by eastern brethren for a complete Office. And less than $7,000 of this has been laid out for presses and material, leaving $3,000 on hand. Not one dollar of this liberal sum of $10,000 will be used up in publishing. It will be kept for the very object for which it was donated.

The cost of printing in California is at least twenty per cent. above eastern prices. And from careful estimates of Michigan prices, the REVIEW AND HERALD the size of the SIGNS has been repeatedly reported at $8,000 for 4,000 copies one year. But in spite of the higher prices for labor and stock in California, 4,000 copies of the SIGNS have been sent out, postage paid, for $6,190.93. The receipts during the year, in coin value, have amounted to $2,658.05, leaving still due, $3,532.88. Add to this sum the excess of expenditures on the building of $3,000, and both show a debt of $6,532.88, every dollar of which is needed to day to meet demands, and properly carry forward the business of publishing.

Our relation to the cause in California makes it necessary that we should plainly state facts relative to our financial management in this State.

1. The brethren in California have not paid one dollar of the expenses of the several trips we have made to and from the State. This has been paid by the General Conference.

2. We have drawn from the REVIEW AND HERALD Office $12 per week as our salary for our entire services in the several branches of the work, which has amounted, by way of support during the time we have been in California, to the sum of $10.50 in coin. Mrs. W. has received from the California S. B. treasury for a few months when actually laboring from church to church in the State. Besides this, we accepted about one-half the sum raised at the Windsor Camp-meeting at the time of our first visit, to meet traveling expenses in the State, and a few other incidentals.

3. We have already paid $1000 in coin as a donation to the house of worship now being built in San Francisco.

4. When the California Conference put $500 into the General Conference in 1874, we put it back again into their treasury in view of demands for means in this State, at this time, which we saw then as clearly as now.

5. We have never taken one dollar for our services on the SIGNS OF THE TIMES from first to last.

6. We paid out $1000 in coin for the printing material of the SIGNS Office, took nothing for the use of it ten months, and when the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association was formed donated the entire Office to the young institution.

7. We have paid from our own purse $650, with neither wish nor expectation to receive it back again, which is the amount of fare of five persons from Michigan, now connected with the SIGNS Office. Our object in this was simply and solely to secure experienced help, with whom we could leave the Office when duty called us to go the round of Eastern Camp-meetings. Such help was not to be found in California.

8. Three members of our present family, selected from the most efficient help of which we had knowledge in Michigan, or anywhere else, have labored at the SIGNS Office, editing, proof-reading, book-keeping, type-setting, and mailing the paper, the past six months for less dollars than they have done hard days’ works. We gave them the rent of our house on Eleventh Street, and they boarded themselves at trifling cost to save expense to the SIGNS, and to help bear the incidental expenses of the church.

By this time the reader will be able to see how 4,000 copies of the SIGNS can be sent out, post-paid, one year for $6,190.93, when the same amount in Michigan costs $8,000, where printing can be done at least twenty per cent. lower than in California.

In the foregoing, we have labored to give a correct report. The task has been a painful one

as we have been in a strait betwixt a desire that the friends of the cause should know the true state of things and understand how to govern their actions, and the disgust we have felt in making them public. A sense of these things pressed upon us toward the close of the late California Camp-meeting and made us very unhappy. But, in deciding to toil on, and to hope on, whether our labors and sacrifices be few or many, and whether they be appreciated in this world or not, we find relief. Our highest ambition is to labor to establish the publishing-house in Oakland on a self-sustaining basis, as we have succeeded in establishing the one in Battle Creek, Mich. Then we will cheerfully leave this, as we have left that, for others to manage and to enjoy, while we will, with God’s help, take another new field. But while laboring to do this without drawing a dollar from the California Association for support, and while sacrificing more means in it than any one on this Coast, we do ask the confidence and co-operation of all who profess to be governed by the great law of equity and love, which is the basis of the Moral Code. J. W.