Also, it seems there was much more emphasis on dropping tracts in those days that seeing interested souls through to baptism.

By comparison, the missionaries’ approach was more like a conversation than a sermon, generally speaking, so it was probably more engaging for the participants.

Consider a town where traveling preachers/missionaries (Methodist, Baptist and Mormon) preach to the townsfolk on consecutive days. These days, churches are everywhere, so people go to the church of their own faith, or, if they are feeling adventurous, go to another church to see what it’s like. But the days of the traveling preachers are pretty much over (AFAIK).

Of course, the missionaries are still there, but the milieu they practice in is much different than it was originally.

Another thought: the Elder comments on the boring nature of the Methodist and Baptist preachers, but I wonder if that isn’t a reflection of the different objectives. The preachers are trying to save souls, but not necessarily convert people–both methodists and baptists could reasonably assume that the people they were speaking to shared basically the same beliefs, so they were “speaking to the converted”, as it were.

Whereas the missionaries were trying to convert people to a new belief system (or at least a heavily modified one), so their purpose and approach would be very different.