The greater part of the Society’s work was the starting and maintenance of mission schools and the publishing of literature especially suited for the Southern field. However, the Society also carried forward other lines of evangelism among both Caucasians and African-Americans, and supported several white and black ministers. It received only a token appropriation from church funds. 40Arthur L. White, “Mrs. Ellen G. White and the Tithe,” in “The History and Use of the Tithe,” unpublished document, Ellen G. White Estate, revised February, 1990, p. 30 EGWCPT 14.4
In the reorganization of the denomination at the General Conference Session of 1901, the Southern Union Conference was created, and the Southern Missionary Society became a branch of the Southern Union. Because the Southern Union itself was not self-supporting at its birth, it was unable to provide any significant support for the Society. The adoption of the latter meant little more than “additional moral support and cooperation.” 41“Southern Missionary Society,” Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, 1976 ed., p. 1397 EGWCPT 14.5