A wide and effectual door is opening before us today for the presentation of our health and temperance message. Some of our literature leaders have caught a vision of the possibilities before us in introducing our health and temperance literature to educators. They find that these educators appreciate our publicatons and are glad to cooperate in a movement to place this type of reading before the youth in public schools. A. K. Aldinger,' M.D., Director of Health Education, New York City Schools, is enthusiastic about Life and Health, endorsing the journal in these words:
"I am in receipt of the statement of your editorial policy of Life and Health, together with a list of your contributors and copies of your magazine. I am in accord with your policy and believe this magazine would be of great help to our teachers of health education in the schools. There is a need of authentic articles that will aid in guiding the teacher in a professional understanding of the problems of health education in this day of high-pressure commercial salesmanship over the radio and through the press."
In one of our Western conferences the field secretary has approached a large number of high-school superintendents, and has been able to place many subscriptions to our health journals. Individual schools are taking as high as forty or more copies of the magazine monthly and are using these in the health program of their institutions. They are renewing their orders from year to year, which indicates that they are pleased with the material going into these journals.
In one of our conferences a brother who had been a public school teacher saw large opportunities for this type of work. He entered the field about three years ago. In a little more than two years he placed over ten thousand dollars' worth of our health and temperance literature in the public schools. Last year alone his sales were nearly $6,000. The year 1938 gives promise of being a still better year with him than was 3937. "I have sold over 7,600 books so far in 1938, which is above the total for 1937," he recently wrote us. Not only does this brother use great numbers of health journals, but he also sells such books as "The Cigarette as the Physician Sees It," "Plain Facts for Girls and Young Women on Liquor, Tobacco, and Narcotics," "Science Speaks to Boys and Young Men on Liquor, Tobacco, and Narcotics." He works almost exclusively among high-school principals and county superintendents of education.
I recently spent some time with this worker and was delighted to observe the friendly reception accorded him by leaders in educational circles. They freely discussed with him the problems they face in dealing with the youth of this generation. They apparently greatly appreciated the efforts our brother is making to help them cope with some of the evils which are degrading the youth of today. I well remember the reaction of one county superintendent, which was quite typical of the reactions of many of these men. This superintendent freely admitted that schoolmen as leaders are at their wit's end to know what to do to meet some of the issues they face, issues caused largely by the rapid spread of intemperance among the youth. This superintendent requested one hundred twenty books, or forty sets of three for the schools in that district.
Some of us have felt for a long time that there is a large field for this class of literature, not only among the schools, but also in industrial plants, and we are glad that a start is being made in this field. A letter received a short time ago from Manager Cochran of the Pacific Press contains interesting information regarding recent experiences in meeting both educational and industrial leaders.
"We have had a display with the Health magazine and some other books suitable for the public schools in eleven conventions. These have been at Stanford University, University of California, San Jose State Teachers' College, San Francisco State Teachers' College, the Dominican College, and five large schools in the southern part of the State, including the University of Southern California, Pomona College (a Baptist institution), a private school in Santa Cruz and one in Los Angeles. All told we have reached, from the last of June to the fifth of August, some 20,000 teachers.
"Hundreds of the teachers, who visited our booth wrote out their requisitions to present to their boards at the time of the opening of school in September. We have no way of knowing just how many orders we shall get from the summer work, but we do know we are going to introduce our literature into a great many hundreds of schools here in the State.
"We have already placed 2,000 books with the teachers in Los Angeles, and received one order for 273 subscriptions to Health. These do not include the libraries. Over 250 subscriptions have been placed for the libraries in Los Angeles County alone.
"We are convinced, too, that placing a special man to carry this work in each of the California conferences, for example, will enable work to be done for the industries as well as the schools. One firm obtained a new book we have recently issued, 'The Home Guide to Health.' This firm employed 106 persons, and ordered 506 books—one for each employee. A letter from this corporation states that it is one of the best investments they have ever made."
Although salesmanship in this field is still in an experimental stage, it holds large possibilities ,f or good. We believe it will bring our work to the favorable attention of thousands of educators, large numbers of youth, and many employed groups. At the same time our health publications will do much to prepare the way for the reception of other types of gospel literature.
