Newspaper Page Text
i6 TH
Ecclesiastical
REPORT ON PUBLICATION.
Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the Executive
Committee of Publication
and Sabbath School Work.
General View.
Tlio period under review in this report
lias been one of abounding activity,
and we are grateful to God that so
much has been accomplished with the
limited means at our command. Despite
the financial stringency prevaillr.g
throughout the year, we report an increased
volume of business at Richmond
and at our depository at Texarkana. .
Our thanks are due to old and new
friends whose generous patronage made
possible a report of increased sales at a
time when most commercial firms are
content with a decreased volume of business.
Summary of Business Operations.
Sale of Rooks at Richmond 58,015.84
moiid .. .. 71.463.51
Total $130,079.35
Sale of Books at Texarkana . .$ 19,324.70
Sale of Periodicals at Texarkana
10,820.68
Total $ 30,145.28
Total sales for the year .. ..$160,224.73
Increase in volume of business
over last year $ 14,160.66
Of the net earnings of the busiuess department
$9,181.21 was given to the blh
nevolent work to supplement the totally
inadequate amount the church gives us
each year. It should be remembered
the business department earns and pays
the salaries of the secretary and treasurer,
of the nine editorial writers, for
the contributed articles, the clerical
force and all the incidental expense of
operating the nome office and depository.
The net earnings are used for the most
part in promoting the work of Sabbath
School Extension; only a small balance
being added each year to our working
capital.
The Texarkana Depository.
1 he depository at Texarkana. under
the efficient management of Rev. W. L.
Hickman, made a substantial gain in its
volume of business, thus reudering a
larger service to our membership in the
Southwest. The depository is now equipped
With a StOCk Of honks >1* Iowa on
t hut carried at Richmond, our Investment
there now amounting to $2r>.S14.69.
They serve our patrons promptly, saving
them the six to ten days formerly required
when all supplies had to he ordered
from Richmond.
The depository is not yet on a self-suo1
orting basis, and will not be until their
expenses are earned from the sale of
Looks. This point ^an soon be reached
if our churches in the rive Synods west
of the Mississippi river will give the
brsnch their entire patronage. The
membership of our churches should be
urged to relieve our committee of the
burden of operating the depository at a
r
[E PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOU
loss in order that their convenience may
be seived.
Our Periodical Department.
An increase is noted in the number of
Sabbath school periodicals printed, the
gain for the year being about six hundred
thousand single copies.
It is gratifying to see how generally
our papers are in ust, in the schools
of our church, and it is evident that about
ninety-seven per cent of them use our
periodicals in whole or in part. The
limit has by no means been reached,
and if our Sabbath school work was developed
to its fullest possibility, and
every school adequately supplied wl?h
literature, we could again double our circulation.
Publication of Books arid Tracts.
Among the new books issued we note
a volume by Rev. J. 13. Shearer, D. D.,
"The Scriptures, Fundamental Faces and
Figures," and an imprint edition of
"John Calvin, Theologian, Scholar,
Teacher, Statesman," by Rev. Phillip
Voilmer, D. D., of the German Reformed
Seminary.
Receipts For Benevolent Fund.
Received from 1,214 churches $10 477.01
Received from 753 Sabbath
schools 5,528.87
Received from Miscellaneous
sources 326.8G
Received from Brotherhood and
Covenanter Work 797.77
Total receipts from Churches
tor benevolent work $17,131.44
Expenditures For Benevolent Work.
Salaries and expenses for Field
Workers $12,966.11
Sabbath .School institutes and
conferences 828.63
Printed matter for extension
work 839.2 L
Expense for program, envelopes,
etc., for collections 1,955.09
Donations of Bibles, periodicals,
tracts, etc 9,720.58
Total expense for benevolent
work $26,312.05
Excess given the Church by
our business department .. ..$ 9,181.21
It has beeu our privilege to donate
periodicals and other supplies to 293
Sabbath schools during the year. Of
these schools, 170 were reported as newly
organized. It is encouraging to note
that an average of over three new
schools per week were organized during
the year. The schools aided were
distributed in our Synods as follows::
Alabama, 12; Arkansas, 12; Florida, 3;
Georgia, 17; Kentucky, 23; Loiusiana,
10; Mississippi, 17; Mexico. 1; Missouri,
5; North Carolina, 43; Oklahoma, 17;
South Carolina, 17; Tennessee, 24; Texas,
34, and Virginia, 67.
Promoting the work of organizing new
schools and sustaining them until they
reach the point of self-support is, in our
judgment, the most important part of our
activities, over 15,000 children were enrolled
in the schools receiving our nld,
and practically the only religious influence
that touches the life of this multitude
is that of the Sabbath school. While
exact statistics are not available it is
the claim of most denominations thA.
about thirty per cent of their churches
rTH. May 5, 1909.
are the outgiowt'n of mission Sabbath
schools. We believe that a careful tabulation
would show that over one-rhird
of our churches had their origin in a
Sabbath school. The fruitfulnes3 of such
work, together with the multitude of
young people within our reach who are
out of the Sabbath school and are destitute
of religious influence, unite as a
compelling appeal for a support adequate
to the needs, and worthy of our church.
Donations of Bibles, Tracts, Etc.
We gave during the year for the perfect
recitation of the Shorter Catechism,
].27."? Bibles and 2,427 Testaments for
the memorizing of the Introduction to
the Shorter Catechism. This is a largo
increase over any previous year, and
we count it an encQuraging sign to see
so many of our young people memorizing
these great summaries of Bible truth.
i uc itrfuiu ui young people is worthy
of comparison with the report of our
sister Church of the North, which reported
677 Bibles given last year for the
same work. Their Sabbath school enrollment
is about six times as large as
ours.
Our donations of Bibles, hymn books,
libraries, tracts and Sabbath school literature
exceed those of last year by
$2,648.75, the total value for this year
being $9,720.58. We have assembled the
best evangelistic tracts of home and foreign
publishers and our pastors are
making increased use of these pointed
messages of scriptural truth.
Conclusion.
We submit this report. as the summary
of our attempt to meet the responsibilities
placed upon us by the Assembly,
and we record our grateful thanks t.?
many friends for tbe loyal support and
words of encouragement. Based upon
our past experience and our knowledge
of the need for an enlarged work, we
submit the following estimate as to the
minimum the Church should give for our
benevolent work next year:
Support of General and District
S. S. Superintendents $ ?,000
Support of Sabbath School luissionaries
10,000
Donations of S. S. Literature,
Bibles, Tracts, etc 12,000
Printed matter, postage, etc., for
extension work 1,800
Sabbath School Institute Work .. 600
Brotherhood and Covenanter Work 2,000
roiai $33,009
We respectfully recommend that the
Assembly ask the churches, Sabbath
schools, societies and individuals to raise
this amount as their minimum offering,
and that the Executive Cohimitiee of Publication
be empowered to suggest to the
Presbyteries the pro ratio each should
raise.
lly order of the Executive Committee.
R. E. Magill, Sec.
The smaller our world the larger its
ears.?Maarten Maartens.
* What should we poor mortals do unless
we did believe In ourselves sometimes?
It is our moments of self-fcon
nuence wnicn carry us through our years
of self-doubting.?Beatrice Harraden.