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Life Sketches of Ellen G. White
The Gospel Herald, formerly printed in Battle Creek, had been
moved to Nashville, and the advantages in publishing tracts and books
for the Southland, at Nashville, were being considered. Regarding
these things, Mrs. White testified:
“Many lines of business will open up as the work is carried forward.
There is much work to be done in the South, and in order to do this
work the laborers must have suitable literature, books telling the truth
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in simple language, and abundantly illustrated. This kind of literature
will be the most effective means of keeping the truth before the people.
A sermon may be preached and soon forgotten, but a book remains.”
The Review and Herald, May 28, 1901, p. 11
.
In communications written a few months later on the necessity of
planning wisely for the conduct of the publishing work in the South, it
was plainly pointed out that the brethren in responsibility in that field
would find rich blessing in preparing and publishing a line of literature
specially adapted to the peculiar needs of the various classes living
within their borders.
In May, 1901, the Southern Publishing Association was orga-
nized, and plans were laid for the strengthening of the colporteur work
throughout the Southern Union Conference. But the issuance and
circulation of specially prepared literature would not alone meet the
demands of the field. “We need schools in the South,” declared Mrs.
White. “They must be established away from the city, in the country.
There must be industrial and educational schools, where the colored
people can teach colored people, and schools where the white people
can teach the white people. Missions must be established.” [
The Gen-
eral Conference Bulletin, 1901. p. 483.
] The medical missionary work
also was to be undertaken, and many small centers for the carrying
forward of this line of endeavor were to be established at strategic
points.
Institutional Training in Many Lands
Not only in the South were institutions called for, for the educa-
tion of workers; centers of training were to be established in many
lands,—in “England, Australia, Germany, and Scandinavia, and other
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Continental countries as the work advances.”