For Another Sanitarium

The day after writing the foregoing, Mrs. White again wrote, seeking most earnestly to arouse to action. She stated that the establishment of a sanitarium near Los Angeles was “the expressed will of God.” It was a great mystery to her “why this work should be delayed from year to year.” She had heartily supported the General Conference leaders in their purpose not only to reduce institutional indebtedness, but to create no new debts. Yet she recognized the danger in the extreme application of this principle. She stated that “the idea that a sanitarium should not be established unless it could be started free from debt has put the brake upon the wheels of progress,” and referred to her own experience in “borrowing money and paying interest on it, to establish schools and sanitariums and to build meetinghouses.” She justified this course by the results in winning many to the truth, thus increasing the tithe and adding workers “to the Lord’s forces.”—Ibid., 14, 15.SHM 340.2

“Will my brethren consider this,” she added, “and work in accordance with the light God has given us? Let that which should be done be done without delay. Do your best to remedy the neglect of the past. The word has come once more that a sanitarium is to be set in working order near Los Angeles. ... From the light given me when I was in Australia, and renewed since I came to America [in 1900], I know that our work in southern California must advance more rapidly. The people flocking to that place in search of health must hear the last message of mercy.”—Ibid., 15, 16.SHM 340.3

In Glendale, one of the suburbs of Los Angeles, a property was found, with about five acres of land, on which was a commodious three-story building. Originally erected for a school, and later known as the Glendale Hotel, it represented an investment of about $50,000, and was at first offered to our brethren for $26,000. Later, the price was reduced to $17,500; and at length, in the summer of 1904, soon after the foregoing letters were written, the owner donated all but $12,000.SHM 341.1

Seeing that the Southern California Conference hesitated to take a step that would, they felt, greatly increase the financial perplexities of the conference, two or three persons of faith advanced $1,000 to bind the bargain, and assumed the entire responsibility. After the place had been thus purchased, the question of its future was brought before the Southern California Conference in their annual session early in September, 1904. After thorough discussion, they voted to purchase the property for the Glendale Sanitarium. About $5,000 in cash and pledges was raised for early payments, and in a few months the institution was furnished and ready for work.SHM 341.2