Your ShelfYour Projects

Home Again

17%

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 27, 1878

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 4, No. 24.

Read the full edition

Home Again.

By James White

In company with Brother Gillett, formerly from Monroe, Wis., we left Oakland, May 31, and arrived at Battle Creek, Mich., June 5. Mrs. White will attend the Oregon camp-meeting, and will probably join us at the General Conference the 1st of September.
On returing home to Battle Creek we find that the three Office buildings are crowded with Printing, Binding, and Electrotyping machinery and a hundred active workers. For the three months of March, April, and May it has been necessary to run five of our presses day and night.
The experience of the last three years, which had clearly demonstrated that it was impossible with our then limited facilities to furnish the tract societies with annuals, premiums, and tracts promptly and on time for each winter campaign, forced us to purchase a complete bindery, two cylinder presses, and to establish complete Electrotyping and Stereotyping foundries at an expense of about $10,000. These were bought none too soon as they have been worked to their utmost capacity since the day they were set up. The Michigan publishing house is a strong institution. The increase of capital has been rapid; but when we take into account the fact that it has expended over $10,000 during the last year for machines necessary to publish tracts and premiums which are furnished at a trifle above cost, and the fact that our tract societies owe the Office for over thirteen thousand dollars' worth of books, and that this, with what the College still owes, has forced us to hire and pay interest on a large amount, leads us to take this earliest opportunity to correct the impression that may have arisen from our statement relative to the strength of the Review Office, that it no longer needs the especial support of our brethren.
We regret to find the tract societies so heavily in debt. Each tract society should immediately raise funds to pay for all the books it has on hand, and not leave the Offices to carry the tract societies. We beat the world in furnishing our publications cheaply. Tracts especially are furnished at marvelously low prices to encourage the tract work, and we appeal to the officers of all the tract societies to reciprocate this liberality by the soon payment of about $13,000 which they owe these Offices. This will stop the interest which they are to-day paying.
J. W.