Dedicated for Service

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Nov 7, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, November 7, 1916

Dedicated for Service

Being an account of the dedicatory services of the International Branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, at Brookfield, Illinois, held October 4

Employees of the International Branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, Brookfield, Illinois

International Branch of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, Brookfield, Illinois

As the readers of the SIGNS have been informed from time to time, our International Branch, which was burned last February in College View, Nebraska, has been in process of rebuilding in Brookfield, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. A neat, commodious building, well equipped with modern machinery, was completed and ready for dedication according to appointment, October 4, at 2 P. M.

The dedication of our International Branch was a great event in the progress of our Pacific Press Publishing Association and the work for which it stands.

The dedicatory services were held in the assembly room provided for the various meetings of the workers connected with this branch institution. Pastor R. A. Underwood, president of the Central Union Conference, read some appropriate scriptures; and Pastor L. H. Christian, president of the Lake Union Conference, led the congregation in prayer.

Mr. C. H. Jones, president and general manager of the association, presented the reasons why we located in Chicago. Nearly two thirds of the foreign population of the United States is east of the Mississippi River, and a large portion of this two thirds is located in and adjacent to the city of Chicago. Thus as we endeavor to reach this great mass of foreign people, the city of Chicago becomes a natural center.

Beginning of the Movement

Mr. H. H. Hall, vice president of the association, and manager of our book department, presented a concise history of the International office and its work. He told of the beginnings of this movement, when the late Pastor James White and Pastor J. G. Matteson felt stirred to begin publishing for the foreign-speaking element of the United States gospel literature which would present the immanence of Christ's second coming. A few small tracts were published in the Holland and French languages as early as 1858; and in 1866, Pastor J. G. Matteson published a tract in the Danish language on "Which Is the True Sabbath Day?"

Mr. Hall traced the work step by step, showing how our Review and Herald Publishing Association, at that time located in Battle Creek, Michigan, took up strongly the work of publishing foreign literature. In 1904, an international organization was formed in College View, Nebraska, which took over the entire foreign stock of the Review and Herald Publishing Association, and entered upon the publication of such works. Pastor E. T. Russell was the first president of this International Publishing Association.

The work prospered, and much good gospel literature was circulated. The International continued under this form of organization until October, 1914, when Pastor O. A. Olsen and other leading men became impressed with the idea that if this work were made a branch of one of our strong publishing houses, it would be much more prosperous.

Extensive Plans Formulated

The Pacific Press Publishing Association was invited by the North American Division, in November of 1914, to purchase the International office, and carry forward its work on enlarged plans.

A meeting was held in Mountain View, January 25, 1916, at the home office of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, where aggressive plans were laid for the publishing of literature in the various foreign languages represented in the United States. It was voted to start ten new magazines, one each in Russian, Bohemian, Italian, Roumanian, Polish, French, Yiddish, Serbian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian.

Immediately following that meeting, Mr. Hall was sent to College View, then the headquarters of our International Branch, to make definite arrangements for the publication of this literature; but on the morning of February 27, the entire plant in College View was destroyed by fire.

Ten Foreign Periodicals

A meeting was called for March 9 and 10, in Battle Creek, Michigan, at which representatives of the various lines of our work were present. After a careful consideration of the best way in which to serve with literature this foreign population, it was decided, as before stated, to move the International Branch to Brookfield, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Plans were made, and the work of constructing the building was vigorously begun, with the result that the institution has now been completed. All of the bills connected with the construction and the installation of equipment were paid, and the building was ready for dedication at the appointed time.

In concluding his remarks, Mr. Hall said that in addition to the carrying out of the plan to launch these ten new foreign periodicals, several of which have already been started, seventy-four new tracts in fifteen different languages are now planned, while the large book "Bible Readings" will be placed in three more foreign languages.

Mr. S. N. Curtiss, recently appointed to act as manager of this branch, rendered a brief report of the building committee, calling attention to the beautiful, well constructed plant, and speaking in high terms of appreciation of the excellent work of Mr. Charles Erickson, a Chicago builder of long experience, who acted as superintendent of construction.

Established Six Branches

Pastor L. H. Christian, president of the Lake Union Conference, whose headquarters are in Chicago, also gave most highly appreciated and valuable service in locating the site and pushing the building forward to completion.

Mr. H. G. Childs, treasurer of the Pacific Press Publishing Association, told the assembly about the organization of the Pacific Press Publishing Company in California in April, 1875. He referred to the branch offices that have been established by this parent publishing association, in New York, in London, England, in Kansas City, Missouri, in Portland, Oregon, in Calgary, Canada, and last and perhaps among the most significant of all, the establishment of this International Branch in Brookfield.

The branch established in London finally developed into one of our largest publishing houses, and is now located on our beautiful estate of sixty-seven acres at Stanborough Park, a suburb of London. This London office acquired its majority a number of years ago, and is no longer connected with the home office of the Pacific Press, except in a fraternal way. It is now operated as an independent institution, under the corporate name of the International Tract Society.

Several years ago, the New York branch was passed over to our sister publishing house, the Review and Herald, of Washington, D. C.

Has $350,000 Invested

The Pacific Press has invested in the home office and its various branches now in operation at Kansas City, Portland, Alberta, and Brookfield, a little more than one third of a million dollars. Eleven hundred men and women are employed in the various offices, and as colporteurs in the field, distributing the publications.

This association has also assisted our foreign mission board in establishing publishing houses in China, Japan, Korea, India, South Africa, Mexico, and in some of the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Childs, in concluding his report, called attention to the fact that the Pacific Press and its branches are a part of the affiliated publishing associations of our denomination throughout the world, thirty-seven in all.

National Prejudices Out of Place

Pastor I. H. Evans, president of the North American Division, made the principal address of the occasion. He read a portion of the fourteenth of Revelation, calling attention to the world-wide message proclaiming the second coming of Christ.

The purpose of this message, he said, was to reach every nation with the great news of the soon coming of Christ, and to give the warning against the apostasies that would so cloud men's minds that they could not see the clear prophecies which point out the coming of the Lord. (Continued on page 14)

Dedicated for Service

(Continued from page 9)

There is no place for national prejudices in such a message as this. Every nation must be reached. God loves all nationalities, and would have His followers learn how to follow in His footsteps in this great accomplishment of loving our fellow men and working for their salvation. The message must go to all nations, with prejudice toward none.

America, said Mr. Evans, is a cosmopolitan country. It is unlike any other nation on earth. Go to any of the leading countries of Europe, and you will hear each speaking some particular language, and very seldom do you find any other nationality or language represented in that specific country. But when you come to America, you see all the nations of the earth represented here.

Every Individual Responsible

This International Publishing House is to take the lead in producing message-filled literature to reach these people who are thronging our shores. The responsibility to labor for these foreigners, Pastor Evans said, rests primarily on the local conference presidents. The conference president is to work not merely for the English-speaking people within his borders, but for each and every nationality. Then the union conference men, as well as the North American Division, are to support these local conferences in every way possible in carrying forward this international labor.

The publishing work is one of the mightiest factors in advancing this cause. And a million three hundred seventy-nine thousand dollars' worth of message-filled publications were circulated in the North American Division in the year 1915 alone.

When the International office gets out its publications, there is a big initial expense; but we must get under this work, said Pastor Evans, and push the circulation of the literature. To print it to lie on our shelves will do no good. He expressed appreciation of the fact that the International Branch had finally been located in Chicago, and that a strong organization like the Pacific Press Publishing Association had undertaken the task of promoting the work.

Problem of Gigantic Proportions

Steen Rasmussen, the general secretary of the Foreign Department of the North American Division Conference, here read an inspiring paper on the definite openings for work among various nationalities in the United States and Canada.

"That we have a problem of gigantic proportions on our hands," said Mr. Rasmussen, "no one who is conversant with the real situation will deny. While the state and the church may be greatly concerned over solving the problem from a civil, social, and religious standpoint, in general, with us the question looms up in a different light. While we cannot be otherwise than interested in every effort to benefit the social and the civil condition among the foreigners, still the one great outstanding factor must be, how to reach these people in the quickest and most effective way with the message of the soon coming of Christ. What can we do to help these millions of precious souls? How shall we go at it? What are the definite openings for work among some of these nationalities?"

Mr. Rasmussen then told of the prosperity that had attended our efforts to reach these various nationalities. He spoke of the earnest men and women who were working among the Russians, the Italians, the Poles, the Bohemians, the Hungarians, the Finns, etc., and of the numbers baptized, and what self-sacrificing labors these earnest workers were putting forth to reach the people of their own nationality with the great message of the coming Saviour.

Pastor Haffner, general secretary of the German work in the North American Division, spoke a few words in regard to the results of our efforts among the Germans.

Pastor Mortenson, secretary of the Swedish Department, likewise spoke of the progress and the outlook among the Swedes. Pastor Broderson, secretary of the Danish-Norwegian Department, told of the work among the Danes and the Norwegians.

Dedicated for Christian Service

Pastor E. T. Russell, the first president of the International Association, made a few well chosen remarks in reference to the early history of the organization, and then offered the dedicatory prayer.

Following the service, the workers in the institution immediately repaired to their posts, the machinery was started, and the guests made a tour of the building, inspecting its various busy departments in active operation. Mrs. Curtiss, the wife of the manager of the International Branch, assisted by half a dozen young women, nurses from the sanitarium at Hinsdale, served refreshments in one of the large rooms that had been suitably arranged for the occasion.

The First Congregational Church in Brookfield, of which the Rev. H. B. Hall is pastor, very kindly tendered us the use of their neat and commodious house of worship for a service in the evening. At that service, our vice president, Mr. H. H. Hall, of the home office in Mountain View, California, gave a stereopticon lecture, showing various views connected with our thirty-seven publishing houses and branches, located on every continent, and on the principal islands of the various oceans of the world.

It was an inspiring occasion; and the house, which was packed to the limit of its capacity with citizens from Brookfield and other interested friends of the work, showed a deep appreciation of what was presented.

The stereopticon presentation of our publishing work was followed by a twenty-minute address on our world-wide work as shown in the publishing houses, sanitariums, schools, and missions and conferences operating now in some ninety-four of the different languages of the earth. Thus closed one of the most interesting days in the history of the Pacific Press Publishing Association.