$5,000,000 Tithe

In 1913 Clyde Harris, a carpenter, set up a small lumber plant near Pendleton, Ore. The following year Harris was baptized a Seventh Day Adventist, after having been attracted by the "clean life" led by Adventists of his acquaintance. From then on, his church and his factory were his two big interests in life. A nonsmoker and a nondrinker, Harris taught Sabbath school and rigidly shut down his small plant on Saturdays (the Adventist Sabbath), despite the protests of customers who wanted their lumber deliveries. But he prospered nonetheless. Harris Pine Mills, Inc. became a $5,000,000 business, with three subplants in Texas, Illinois and Virginia, besides the main office and factory, now at Pendleton.

Through the years Adventist Harris, like most others of his faith, regularly tithed, i.e., gave 10% of his income to the church. But he wished to do even more. Recently, after talking things over with his wife--they have no children--he decided to turn over Harris Pine Mills, Inc. lock, stock and boards to the Seventh Day Adventist Church. Said Harris: "I feel that all the talents we have belong to the Lord. We should return these talents to Him before we die."

Church authorities gratefully accepted his offer. They appointed an Adventist minister, the Rev. C. J. Nagele, to take over the factory's management, and planned to use the factory's income chiefly for the expenses of the Adventists' international mission program. Clyde Harris, in his turn, promised to stay around the factory for about a year, at a nominal salary of $6,000, until Pastor Nagele "knows all the ropes." Then he will retire (supported by income from other property).

Last week ex-Owner Harris told his 400 Pendleton employees, 65% of whom are Adventists, that they are now working for the church. Then he made a formal transfer to the Rev. W. H. Branson, the Adventists' world president, who had flown out from Washington, D.C. to accept the gift. Elder Branson said a short prayer: "We know, dear Lord, that all the silver and the gold is thine; we pray to thee to bless this plant, the people who work in it, the brother and sister who have given it back to thee, and to bless its profits. Amen."

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