bership of sixteen. In 1902 a small German church was organized in Jersey City, and in 1907 a church of seventy-two members was organized in Milwaukee. Later, German churches were organized in Philadelphia, Manhattan, Cleveland, and Chicago. These churches, usually small to begin with, have enjoyed a steady growth. They number, all told, seventeen, and have a combined membership of over 800, besides about 100 scattered believers, making the total number of German Sabbath keepers east of the Mississippi River about 900.

Besides these, a considerable number of the English churches are largely composed of Germans. In the summer of 1911, J. H. Schilling was released from the presidency of the East German Union in order to take charge of the German work east of the Mississippi. After that time G. F. Haffner confined his labors to the western portion of the United States and Canada, and the German work both east and west prospered under the adequate supervision thus afforded.

Educational work among the Germans began in the autumn of 1888, when L. R. Conradi came back from Europe to conduct the first German training school in Milwaukee, Wis. The school had an enrolment of over thirty, and it was successful in developing some faithful workers. In the winter of 1889-90 a German training school was conducted in Battle Creek under the auspices of the General Conference, H. F. Schuberth being the principal instructor. The next attempt at educational work among the Germans was a mission school conducted in New York City by O. E. Reinke. From this school came a number of workers to assist in the German work in the East.

The French

So far as is known, Elders D. T. and A. C. Bourdeau, French Canadians, were the first persons of French blood to embrace the Adventist views. Their labors, referred to at some length in a previous chapter, were largely among the English-speaking people. Nevertheless, from time to time they bestowed some labor on their countrymen, both in Vermont and in Canada, as the result of which a few French families embraced the Adventist views and began to keep the Sabbath.

In 1872, D. T. Bourdeau went to Robinsonville, Brown Co., Wis., where a French family had begun to keep the Sabbath as the result of reading a tract on the subject prepared by himself and James White. After some labor in this place, Elder Bourdeau was able to organize a Seventh-day Adventist church. In

the following year he held meetings at Serena, St. Anne, and Kankakee, in Illinois, churches being raised up in the two lastnamed places.

At this point, D. T. Bourdeau was called to labor among the French-speaking people in Europe. When he returned, in the summer of 1888, he and Paul E. Gros conducted four tent efforts in the vicinity of Robinsonville, Saint-Saveur, and L'Erable, Ill., as the result of which the number of believers in Robinsonville was materially increased and a meeting house erected. Later Elder Bourdeau returned largely to the work among the English. Elder Gros spent some time in working among the French in Wisconsin, but he also soon entered upon other work.

In the winter of 1889-90, and also in the following year, an effort was made to conduct a small school in Battle Creek for the training of French workers.

The canvassing work among the French Catholics of Illinois was begun in 1889 by Brother E. P. Auger. Later Brethren Muller, Roy, Berton, Curdy, and Vuilleumier gave some of their time to the circulation of Adventist literature among the French.

The work among the French in America has gone forward somewhat slowly, owing chiefly to the lack of qualified laborers who could give undivided attention to the work.

The Hollanders

The first Hollanders in America to become interested in the Adventist teachings were a few persons of that nationality in Grand Rapids, Mich., who had received some Adventist tracts in their own language. In 1886 B. F. Stureman held a few Bible readings with these families, as a result of which twelve persons began to observe the Sabbath. In the autumn of the same year it was decided to publish a paper in the Holland language in order to forward the work among the people of that nationality. The first number of this periodical came out Feb. 16, 1887, John Kolvoord being editor. A year or two later, as the result of correspondence, M. J. Van der Schuur came over from the Netherlands to receive further instruction in the doctrines, and to labor in behalf of the Hollanders in America. He began his ministerial labor in Kalamazoo, Mich., in the spring of 1889. About the same time Brother Stureman was laboring at Fremont. In the autumn, Brother Van der Schuur went to Baldwin, Wis., and spent some time giving further instruction to a little company of believing Hollanders in that town. During the summer of 1890 he and Brother Stureman labored together in the city of Holland, Mich.

Organization of the General Conference Foreign
Department

It was not until the General Conference of 1905 that a separate department was organized for carrying on the foreign work in the United States. In that year for the first time the number of incoming foreigners exceeded one million. Elder G. A. Irwin was elected head of this department, which had for its object the promotion and extension of the knowledge of present truth among the people of foreign nationality in the United States and Canada. Plans were laid for definite leadership in the various nationalities, G. F. Haffner being appointed superintendent of the German division, S. Mortenson of the Swedish, and L. H. Christian of the Danish-Norwegian division. This arrangement proved satisfactory to the foreign nationalities represented, and new interest began to be manifested in the different lines of work. Something was done also to spread the message among the Italians, Bohemians, Slovaks, and Hungarians of New York and Brooklyn.

At the General Conference session of 1909, the various departments of the General Conference received careful study, and the organization was further perfected by placing each under the general direction of a secretary, subject to the supervision of the General Conference Committee. At that time Elder O. A. Olsen was appointed secretary of the North American Foreign Department, Elders Haffner, Mortenson, and Christian being reappointed to their former positions as superintendents.

The next move of importance in connection with the Foreign Department was made at the General Conference Council held in College View, Nebr., in the autumn of 1909, when it was decided to discontinue the foreign departments at Union College, which had been conducted there from the beginning of the school, and to establish in their place three separate schools in different parts of the country. This decision was made in order to increase the facilities for training laborers who could do efficient work for the various nationalities represented in this country. Soon after the close of the Council, the various. committees set to work to find suitable locations for these schools.

The Danish-Norwegians were the first to secure a location. They found at Hutchinson, Minn., about sixty miles west of Minneapolis, a college property built by the Lutherans, but then in the hands of real estate agents, who offered it for educational purposes at less than one third its original cost. The building

is a four-story structure of pressed brick, containing forty-six rooms for students, together with recitation-rooms, a dininghall, a chapel seating 400, and a good gymnasium. The grounds consist of a ten-acre campus surrounded by 150 acres of woodland. The property was purchased for $22,250.

The Swedish brethren found, twelve miles west of Chicago, a good farm property of seventy-eight acres on which there were several substantial buildings, which they bought for

$20,000. Chicago being the most important Swedish center in the United States, it was very desirable to locate the school in that quarter.

The Germans ultimately located at Clinton, Mo., securing a large college building of solid brick with 110 rooms, standing on a farm of 112 acres. The original cost of the college building alone was $75,000. The whole estate was purchased for $27,600.

Necessary changes and repairs were made with energy and despatch, and the three schools opened their doors to students Sept. 28, 1910, less than a year after the action of the Conference Committee authorizing their establishment. Their com bined enrolment during the first year was more than 200.

In addition to the establishment of these schools, a French Department was opened at South Lancaster Academy in 1911, and a Russian Department has been added to Harvey Academy, at Harvey, N. Dak., which had an attendance the first year of twenty-seven Russians. In the autumn of the same year the

International Bible Training School was started in Brooklyn, N. Y., the school term continuing for thirty weeks. Altogether, eighteen were enrolled as students, including Italians, Bohemians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Rumanians, Germans, Russians, and Scandinavians. The instruction was given in English, but colporteur and Bible work was done in the city in all the languages represented. The students carried on house-to-house

CLINTON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, MISSOURI

visitation, distributed invitations to meetings, and held Bible readings as the way opened.

Concurrent with the operation of these schools there has been an increased activity in evangelistic work among the various nationalities.

When the Foreign Department was reorganized, in 1909, there was not a single active laborer among the millions of French in the United States and Canada. The Latin Union Conference in Europe was accordingly requested to supply a French laborer, and responded by sending Gustav Roth, who, with his family, landed in Boston July 28, 1910. He took hold of the work vigorously in the New England States and in Canada, and there was a decided revival of interest in this branch of the work. In the autumn of 1911, Jean Vuilleumier