Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1903-03-16
Printed Books Preach Gospel.

The annual meeting OF the American
Tract society was held this evening in the
Metropolitan Presbyterian church, Mr.. Jus
tice Brewer of the United states supreme
court presiding. The Rev. Judson Swift,
field secretary, gave a brief report, and
General o. o. Howard delivered an earn
est and eloquent address.
The report said the society was organ
lied seventy eight years ago Ito diffuse
a knowledge Of Christ as the Redeemer Of
sinners by means of the printed page.
During the year publications have been
issued in English, German. Italian, Bohe-
mian Polish, Hungarian, Spanish, Benga-
lese, Bulu, Fang and Marshall Island and
the number of distinct publications reach
nearly 5000, of which over 1000 are vol
umes. The whole number Of tracts and
periodicals reaches nearly 500, 900, 900, which
does not include the millions of tracts and
volumes issued at missionary stations in
foreign lands. The number Of periodicals
printed and distributed in the past twelve
months aggregates 1850, 900, and the num-
ber of languages or dialects used is loo.
Seven hundred and thirty nine thousand
immigrants arrived in the United States
during 1902 and the tract society is fur
nishing colporteurs to labor among them
in their homes and places of employment
distributing Christian literature in the Ian
guage or dialect which they speak The
evangelizing of these people, the report
says is a work of national Importance.
The total distribution of Christian lit
erature in the Spanish language for the
year aggregates 1000, 900 pages, the greater
part Of which has been sent to the mission
stations in the Islands. This includes the
publication of a Sunday school paper In
Spanish the first Of its kind ever issued
Good work also has been done in the army
and navy.
BY means of colporteur wagons Chris
tian literature is placed in tie Mormon
homes for the express purpose Of reach
ing the children and youth. In the for
eign field grants OF cash have been made
through local tract OF publishing societies,
to aid in providing native Christian mt
erature at the mission stations in Europe.
Africa, Asia and the islands OF the sea.
The demand for Christian literature In tho
mission stations throughout the world is
greater than II has been for three quar-
ters of a century. The call for the So
ciety's publications and for additional col
porteurs is ever increasing and pressing,
| and an earnest appeal lie made for funds
New Industry for Islands.
The bureau Of .nsular sffairs Of :he War
department has resolved from the Philip
/ pine bureau OF agriculture a bulletin on
Cacao culture In the Philippine Islands.
! The bulletin says:
! The cacao grown in ;he Philippines is OF
| such excellent quality hat here Is keen
| rivalry among buyers to procure II at an
! advance of quite so per cent over the COM
! mon grades of he Java bean, no with
| standing the failure on the part OF the local
/ grower to process" or cure the product
! in anv way.
In parts of Mindanao and Negros, despite
| iIl-treatment and no treatment, the plant
! exhibits a luxuriance of growth and wealth
J of productiveness that demonstrates its
entire fitness to be considered valuable
/ crop in those regionsJ
Recent statistics place the worlds de-
! mand for cacao at 2OO,00O0O0 pounds, valued
| AT more than $50 600 gold.
! Therefore there is little danger OF over
/ production ard consequent low prices for
/ many years to come. So far as known the
areas which cacao prospers In In the great
equatorial zone are small. Cacao is culi-
waited nearly everywhere in the archipelago.
! IL is grown in several provinces in Luzon,
! IN Mindanao, Jolo, Basilan, Panay, Ne
! gros Cebu B1hol and Masbate and S
! presence can be reasonably predicted upon
| all the larger islands anywhere under an
! elevation of 1000 or possibly 1900 metres.