Mission Notes

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 4, 1914

About a year ago, Mr. H. Z. Duke, a Baptist, of Texas, began to give for religious purposes the proceeds of his twenty-one nickel stores. He and his wife had agreed that when their earnings should amount to $100,000, they would then give their earnings of these stores to the cause of Christianity. Over a year ago the sum named was completed, and on the first of last year he entered upon

his covenant. Every penny earned from the sale of candies, toys, and the thousand and one things found in a five-cent store, will be used in Christian work. It is said that Mr. Duke, from his youth, has given one tenth of his earnings to Christian work, and now he has dedicated his entire earnings to the cause he loves.

Alden B. Case, a missionary stationed at Sonora, Mexico, found his church and school work broken up. He decided to turn his attention to the revolutionist section of the field, circulating the Scriptures. He gives briefly this experience: "This is my third day out at the Constitutionalist camp of some three thousand soldiers. Among them are hundreds of Indians, and the population of the camp is about six thousand. The greater number live in picturesque structures of poles and brush. I brought what seemed to be an abundant supply of Scriptures and other literature for the three days of my visit, but by noon yesterday everything was gone. The general in command, to whom I explained my mission on arrival, very cordially gave me the freedom of the camp. Another officer, a Christian, took me to his quarters. Of the one hundred and fifty copies of New Testaments and Gospels sold, the larger part was taken by the Indians. I had never

seen so great an opportunity for sowing the seed of the kingdom."

A new day has come to Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, the three foremost countries of South America, and it is a day of new life for mission enterprises. The millions already in these rich and productive lands are every month supplemented by thousands of immigrants from Europe and Asia. Large cities and towns are fast building up. Buenos Aires today has 1,400,000 inhabitants, and Rio de Janeiro 1,000,000, while Montevideo has 300,000, Sao Paulo 400,000, and Bahia 300,000. Education is becoming more widespread, large government institutions are being built up and fostered for general as well as technical and professional instruction. The evangelistic denominations at work in South America are beginning to build up first-class schools and colleges in the countries occupied, and these schools are patronized by the best classes of Brazilians, Argentines, and Chileans. This means a change in this territory that has been so long under the blighting domination of papal Rome.