Financial Help Needed For Work In The South

The newly organized Southern Union Conference was facing an explosive situation. Neither Edson White nor W. O. Palmer, who had gone with him to the South to establish schools and churches and a publishing house, was known for his financial acumen. Ventures had been launched with borrowed money and were heavily mortgaged. Under these circumstances the Southern Union sent its president, George I. Butler, and the treasurer of the publishing house, W. O. Palmer, to California to interview Ellen White and gain counsel as to the course they should pursue.WV 408.8

The two men arrived at Elmshaven on Friday noon, May 16, and were given a hearty welcome. Mrs. White had worked very closely with Elder Butler down through the years. Will Palmer was a son of the Palmers who had helped in early days to establish the publishing work in Battle Creek.WV 409.1

When the brethren, early in the new week, spread before Ellen White and the Elmshaven staff their problems and the reasons for their coming, they were delighted to find that during the previous few months she had written much on the work in the South that answered their questions. As they looked over these materials, they found that the Lord had instructed her to appeal to the churches throughout America to assist in establishing the work in the Southern states on a firm basis. The needs, which were great, were to be made known to church members throughout the land, and an opportunity was to be given to them to help. The brethren found in this counsel that which brought courage to their hearts, and after several interviews in which the work was reviewed and counsel given, they felt that their mission had been accomplished.WV 409.2

Will Palmer returned to Nashville. Butler lingered a bit on the West Coast, speaking Sabbath morning in the sanitarium church. This was followed by a meeting Sunday night in which he made an appeal for the work in the South and obtained pledges for $500. This gave Butler the courage to go to other churches—Healdsburg, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fresno. Eighteen hundred dollars was raised to assist the Southern Publishing Association.WV 409.3

W. C. White, shortly after the visit, wrote of the surprise and amazement that came to the visitors and to the Elmshaven office staff in that “they found that before their arrival, their questions had been anticipated, and that Mother had already written many things which they can now use to excellent advantage for the advancement of the work in the Southern field” (19 WCW, p. 371).WV 409.4