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THE “ONE-THIRD.”

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 8, 1877

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 49, No. 6.

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THE “ONE-THIRD.”

By C. W. S.

The question, “What is to be done with the one-third?” is one which is very easily answered. The only chance for a difference in opinion is upon the method of appropriating it. The answer to the question is this: The “one-third,” i. e., the sum equal to one-third of the person’s S. B. for the year 1877, is to “meet the demand for means to be used as far as necessary in the proposed increase of the circulation of the SIGNS, the REFORMER, and other publications.” This is the language of the resolution passed at the last session of the Gen. Conf., and recorded in REVIEW of Nov. 16, 1876.
The “proposed increase” embraced the circulation of “10,000 copies each of the SIGNS and the REFORMER,” east of the Rocky Mountains, the distribution by each Conference of a number of Almanacs that would compare with its membership as the number taken by New York compared with her membership. This was the special missionary enterprise, and the “one-third” was designed to support it and provide also for the circulation of “other publications.” See “Third Session” of Gen. Conf. as above.
Now for the application. Suppose the S. B. of a church is $900. It pledges to the T. and M. Society $300. This $300 was “to be paid, if convenient, the first of Jan. 1877, or, if more favorable, in four installments, the first to be paid Jan. 1; the second, April 1; the third, July 1; and the fourth, Oct. 1, 1877.” But the work of obtaining subscribers for these publications and readers of them must be done by the members. Take, then, an individual case. A certain man’s S. B. is $60. He pledges $20 to the T. and M. Society. He sits down and reckons. His State should circulate 334 SIGNS, 334 REFORMERS, and 5,000 Almanacs. These cost the Tract Society $501, $200, and $125, total $826. These are Vermont figures.
His $20 will pay for 8 SIGNS (12.00), 8 REFORMERS ($4.80), and 128 Almanacs ($3.20), at Society rates. Let him immediately take these Almanacs, and pay the Society for them, or, if he is perfectly responsible, the Society will let him pay in installments. Let him subscribe for 8 copies each of the SIGNS and the REFORMER, and pay the Society as for the Almanacs.
Now he has invested his “one-third” as pledged, and he must take none of it back. If he can sell the Almanacs, let him put the sum right into the T. and M. treasury, or else invest in more Almanacs to sell, putting the final receipts into the treasury, that none of his “one-third” that he pledged to the Lord come back into his own pocket.
As to the papers, let him send them to proper persons, ask them to read, and get them to subscribe if he can; and if he succeeds, let him with the money he receives from them order other copies, or put the money into the treasury for the wants of the Society.
At the present standing of the S. B. figures, one-third of the S. B. of Michigan would not be sufficient to pay for her apportionment of the SIGNS alone. One-third of Vermont’s S. B., as it stood last year, would pay for just half her apportionment of SIGNS, REFORMERS, and Almanacs. One-third of that of Ohio, whose S. B. is larger in proportion to her membership than that of any other Conference, would pay for three-fourths of her apportionment.
Therefore, to fill the quota, each Conference must furnish more subscribers than its one-third will pay for. This is easily done, partly by each member’s obtaining paying subscribers for the copies his pledge has paid for and with that money taking more copies, and partly by special canvassers who shall devote their time to the business.
Are there any who cannot find subscribers, and who have no friends to whom they wish to send these sheets, let them pay their “one-third” right into the treasury, where it can be used by the Society.
By this plan, the one-third is devoted to missionary work, and to the special object for which it was designed,—the increase in the circulation of the SIGNS, REFORMER, and Almanacs; and none of the one-third reverts to the one who pledges it, but, if received back from those who receive the papers, it is invested in other copies, or put into the treasury. C. W. S.