El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-28

year than any or the nundred DeSI
| sellers" This is due largely to the
| activities of the worlds bible socf-
! cites. Their methods OF utilizing
! every possible avenue of bible distri-
button has been so marked that the
marquis of North Hampton predicted
i last summer at an international bible
conference that the aeroplane would
| soon be used in the distribution OF
! the good book. The American Bible
! society first used the automobile for
! bible distribution. The successful
| work of colporteur Fow and mis- wife
! in distributing bibles through rural
California from an automobile. dem
| onstrated the adaptability of this ma
| chine for the purpose. The motOrcy-
| Gle Is used extensively both in Amer
| lea and England for the same purpose
Worldwide Campaign.
| The Bible societies of the world
are united in their efforts to place
a copy of the Bible in the native
! tongue within the reach of every man,
woman and child upon earth, and phi
! laEthrepists and churches are joining
/ hands in this great movement. At ev-
cry summer resort, pleasure park or
! town in the Christian world a colpOr
tuer is likely to be found who in many
| cases displays remarkable versatility in
attracting attention to his wares. In
{ heather countries the work of the BIZ
! bic distributor is being pushed with
| even greater vigOr, although varying
| methods are employed
Every Christian country has it's own
! national organizat ton for Bible produc-
ton and distribution, but the great
| bulk Of the work is carried on by the
American and British Foreign Bible So
| cieties. These two great English
Ii
publishing plants in many places and
print Bibles in every language of Eu
| rope. in addition to the various other
| tongues into which the Bible has been,
or is being, translated.
During the past two years special at
tention has been called to the enor-
! mouse increase in the contributions to
the America Bible society through the
beneficence of Mrs. Russell Sage. who
gave half a million dollars on condi-
ton that the society raise an equal
sum for a perpetual endowment fund.
The committee in charge of the endow-
ment fund campaign completed their
task last June. having secured contri-
buttons amounting to an average OF
$1,000 a day throughout the campaign,
which lasted for over a year. Most of
this amount was from small contribu
tors in America and foreign lands by
the society's work.
Has $5,O0O,G0O Working Fund.
A conservative estimate places the
resources of the American society at
SIS, 600, 900, including all endowments
and trusts and the publishing plants in
America and foreign countries. The
endowments and trusts are invested to
yield the largest possible returns Be
sides the regular income from these,
the work of the society IS supported by
the donations. which are increasing
literally each year and which are i'm
mediately utilized. The plans for the
work of the coming year call for ST.
900, 900. To secure this sum the COM
mfttee will endeavor to keep the daily
contributions up to the mark reached
during the endowment campaign This
great annual expenditure will be re-
quired to carry out the present plans
for Bible publica ton, including trans
lation and revision. distribution, trav-
cling and emergency expenses. The
resources Of the British Bible society
are more than double those of the
American In addition TO its heavy en-
dowments. the organization is well sup
ported by the established church. while
very liberal private donations are be-
ing received each year. Much of the
work of the British Bible society is
dore in India. where the numerous dia-
lects spoken require a large number of
translations in order that every British
subject in that land may possess a
COPY of the scriptures in his native
tongue.
formulating the Scriptures.
The work of translating the scrip
lures is recognized as important to the
worlds development from an fntellec-
-~o odr1 frYf
Putting a Bible into a language pos
sessing neither a lexicon nor q gram
mar is a distinct literary achievement
because 1t at once gives that language
the foundation of a national literature
In most cases the translation Of the
Bible into an illiterate language speed
lily results in the opening of a pubic
school Many Of the countries visited
by missionaries have no written Ian
guage. Their vocal communication
seems to consist OF beast-like grunts.
Reducing these sounds to words and
reproducing them in printed form i'm
mediately gives a higher tone OF COM
munication which cannot but advance
the intelligence of the people receiv
ing 1t. keen ear and a thorough ac-
quaintance with the people are prime
essentials for translating the scriptures
into unwritten languages The patient
perseverance required to reduce dia-
lect to printed page could only belong
to one whose ingenuity is inspired by
Jealous devotion. For this reason tie
work of translating the Bible into
heather languages il chiefly performed
by missionaries, who. in addition to
their other labors. generally undertake
voluntarily this arduous task Their
work is carefully revised by experts
employed for that purpose at che main
publishing houses. The credit for the
real work of the translation, how1ve:,
must be almost without exception
awarded to missionaries. Usually the
New Testament, Psalms or SOM other
portion is published first, and later the
whole Bible. Formerly most OF the
printing was done in New York 90 Lon
DON Now great modern publishing
plants are sustained exclusively for
Bible productions in Calcutta, CDnstan-
tinople, Toxic, Shanghai and Vienna.
with many smaller printing houses in
places of sufficient commercial Gevel-
opment-
Remarkable Pri1tinE Feat.
The wonderful progress o. modern
mechanism is nowhere moce apparent