/

The MESSENGER

'

the MEssJEivaER

Puttin~ the Convention Acros~

.. , , . x'"ir'''''''
1
1
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'' WE'c~~ve~f{'~, lf ~~ ~a;~a;o rg1';f~iaJ~~ (P;.h~ g}hJ:tffJ~t~: ~~fu~!~;~~l\e1~~;19ftf;
. . . ..

under the stars!" There WM a. fearless loo~ held . the,. .~n d~rision, and the witnesse~ 9'r~
.9, u~t~rrnination W?: J\idge Ihithe~6r~'s fa,ce still }au9hing.: No'Y that th~ Theocratic con-,
'and }1 ~9ne of,~~ft~p.t resoluter1J~ss m his vo~ye yent1qn, )~ ~,h1~!gFJIJ e.v.~nt, it appears wh~t a
as he thus said to. the headquarter's family laughmgstock tne Hierarchy a~d . American
in Brqoklyn, N. 1'.., one day in June. At the Leginn and other. so-called "p~tr10tic". gr?ups
time. t.he contract for.use .of .Ohio State Fair have. made of tlt,e1n~~lves. Their chagrin is of
Grou,nds. at .Columbu~. was. stiUJn effect, but their own wcxking. It was Jehovah's "strange
' t~e religioms, phlitica1 cospiracy was under work" !
way to. arbitrarily revoke the duly ex~cuted Undaunted, the convention organization
cdntpact under the specious pleas of patriotic turned ~o Detroit, scene of the international
motives and avoida;nce of public disorder and convention of Jehovah's witnesses in 1928, In
riot, and indicatior:ts the:r:eof had manifested the. week. just preceding. the. date /sche,duled
t~em~elves to, representatives of the WATCB- for opening the 1940 convention the contr~ct
1J10WER.. To add to this, conditions beyond his for use of Convention Hall was signed, It took
~9htrol ni~de it tpen appear humanly impos- all the pu,nch out of. the blow that the I{iers~We. f()F Jll;1ge ~utherford himself to attend archy and "patr.i6tic" stooge~ aime~ to give
any conv'ent10n m ,person. There was evident Jehovah's witnesses by causmg Oh10's gov:tfn~~i't;),jnty about holding that already-adver- ernor. Bricker, to fogloriously refuse fo honor
ti~ed first 'l'lie9cr~tic, convention to be, But the p~tition of 2,042,136 fellow Americans for
J'udge Rutherford's courageous words that use of the State Fair Grounds as contract.
. ,

. June day were decisi\ie. They settled tlie is- ed for.

site. 'J'l1e li.eadquarters family felt like cheerThe enemy had shown much malevolence
fog. Taking this as definite reassurance from before the con;vention, and had the preceding
the great Theocrat himself, the entire organ- yea:r attempted to break up the co~vention
izattoJ;l took. hold of the ~ituation and the a~~ held in Madison Square Garden, New York, .
rangement work with gr1m, renewed determ1- but without success. It was necessary to, be .
nat~o:n ~nd }:>oiling zeal and irrepressible joy. on guard, and there was a ~easure of sus, Not unforeseen nor unexpected, a few gays pense. After the first day one felt, "Whatever
.Iat~r <:!.ame the .self-jus~ifying letter from th.e happens J'.lOW, the convention is an actuality,"
01110 Sta,te .:Fair Grounds management poh- Would the enemy try violence on the succeedtipia~ig notify~ng ~he W AT~HTOWER of their ing days, ?r the l~st? The ihoU.ght was presot1e-s1d~g a~t1on g1' p,ancelmg . the c~ntra~, e,nt, but did not disturb the peace or mar ~he
artd slgllflly concealmg the Hierarchlcal in-, joy of the l;ord's people. Jehovah's guardian
,stigators behind sue? U!l"\Varrftnt~d. c?venan,~-: angels were at hand, and His will would be
b. . l',..e. . .a. . .~.i.ng. Lit.tle cared th~. or t.heir H. ie..ra.rch.~. - d. one, .N.othi.ng. occu.r:red to h. i.n d. e.r. the peacef.ul
<?al prodders, fo~ t~e terrific wr~nch whic~ this course of the convention. Once begun, it progave the ?onventlon - preparat10n rpachmery ceeded smoothly to its consummation and cli.whfo}i Wfis'alJ:>eady in motion in their own city, max. In the :following .pages -the outstanding
of. 9r t~e . Jreen dis~ppointmen~ which this features of the key convention are set forth,
'tP~}~ .fl:_ll<l, ~~<;l ,o~cas~on,; the busu~essmen ~,nd beginning with the programs wh'.ich were re~~pe~tant common people of their own city, laye<l to the 17 subsidiary conventions, and
.' C>t;ol t~~ ~~o~sands o~ 'do.Ila,~~ expended by concluding ~ith brief aQ~ounts of happei:iings
Jeh()vahl witnesses ~or ,hqldmg, the conven~ at these various assembhes .
At 4: 00 p.m. Wednesd~y, July 24, 1940,
.tio,n. ~t. t~eir ci~y, ?r :for. the integrity a.nd
f~J}:' na.meJ~~ their city and. the s~ate o,f which the convention at Detroit was opem~d by the
it was the capital. The gloatmg Hierarchy may . . . .
. . . .
.
h
;n~ve th~u~ghf that by disrupting the pivotal c~itirman, a_nd s1mult~:r;eously allot er conven~
'!re~-city convention, the entire structure of the tions through, the Umted s.tates were opened,
l'ltlJioD;,.'Wide thirty-two-:city convention would , and Judge Rutherford was mtroduced t~ make
. ;c~~ff in. ''ti~ th.at sitteth in ,the heave11s snan . . . ~he op.eJ.li~g a~d~es~ to aJl th~ conventio.I1.s.
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,.,,. fRo~T COVER: C~nvention Rall, the ~enter of natio~wide convention activity. 11
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1;he cover shows many large audiences and auditoriums tie~ in with the ~ey city.

THE MESSENGER

. ,

..... ,

~ro?k!rn.

N. v.,

s11pf~mber. 1~40

...

Ju.dge .Ru~he;ford Opens/ Conve~tion

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'

U$~ .. hi~' power and 1nflue~~e to re1nstaU the

contract for our conv-ention i~ that city, and
hear.
hears the prayers of His people who :v~enthous:;ti:ds of C,it,izens of Colu.mhus joined
are dlligent to serve. Him: "For the eyes of in that petit10n, the governor denied the peti.
the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears tion, his assigned reason being that Jehovah's
J
are open unto their prayers; but the face witnesses declirwd t~ salute the :f'.lag that proof ..t.he . L_o:rd is against them that do evil." tects them .. If the governor and other public
officials understood the reason why' Jehovah's
~1 Pete:r 3: 12.
.

:vitn~sses
take the posi~i.on they do concerning
/$o#ie _months ago It app~are~ to be God's
will that a conv~ntioP.of His c,ansecrated peo- .salutmg any flag or he1hng any creature, their
P!e be held in the United States this year. On attitude would be different, We as Christian
fijrM previous years \v(( had held, our con~ people, wholly devoted. to Almighty God, re. , v~ri ti on .a~ .. Colur.nbus, 0 hio, to_. the real pleas~ ! spect the .~a.g of the nation w:herewe :reside,
11r:e)tJ1d profit of the good pe()pleof that city. and we. w1llmgly and gladly obey' every law

T_his year the Chamber or Commerce and the for which that flag stands.
The American flag is a: symbol of the na(
co~ve:tion _ committee of _C9lumbll;s sent us ~
very kind invitation to hol.d our. convention , tion, and particularly the fundamental law
there this year" That invitation was accepted of the nation. That fundamental law guaranand a contract was signed for the State Fair tees freedom of consc~ence, freedom of assem. .
' Gr()UJ.ldsi and eyery' preparation was made for , bly, and .freedom of .worship, and there is no
law on the statute books or any state or any
the_ co1wention, and that at great expense.
. .A. $tr_o:ng religious .organization exercised part of the nation commanding anybody to
sufficient _influ~11ce ._to bring about a cancella~ salute a flag outside of the schools. To sallJte
tion_
the Fair Grounds for the co.rrvention~ any flt;tg .means th~t we attributy protection
.Arrangements had previously been made for and salvation to what the flag re-presents .
a nu:t~ber of other cities to be tied in witli But those who are in power politically dethe key convention by land wires and in many cline to stand by the principles for which the
other p_laces state fair. gr:ounds and public flag stands. Our devotion is to Almighty God~
We deem it far 1norB irhportant to .obey the
hall~ w_~recontmcted .or. Many of_these have
been. c.~nceled by reason of pressul'.e brought laws Of the land without violating our coveto b~.ar upon public officials by the great anti- nant with. Almighty God by saluting any
earthly thmg than to salute and then imme!.
Cl,u;istian. organization. _

diately violate the law for whicp the flag

. Wherever the city or other public official~ stands, and, above all, to violate God's' law,
. , hf1Ve had to do with the permission, as soon as do those who attempt to force others to
as rented generally the contracts have been salute.
,

"canceled. Arrangementsfor private halls"'have

Knowing, that all .things work together for
bee .n;i.ad,_e. 1\.fanifestly it was the will 'of Al- good to thbse who love:'God and who have
mighty God and His :King that we should been c~lled according to His purpose, no doubt
have a convention_this year. Your heart~ have many of you have wondered why such officials
been set upon this convention for some time.
oppose this convention of Christian
Y()U hFe met with manyvrebuffs _along the sho~ld
people. Her~ we are reminded of the. words
wrty: But now we are here, and for this mani- of_ Christ Jesus wh,en He 'stood before tlie
festation of God's loving-kindness we are in- Rom3:n dictator, t.oz whom He said: '"My king..
deed thankful and give praise to His name dom is not of this wqrld." He said that for
th~t W;~ ~~e ,her.e'. Therefore I .say, the hand
the -reason that He had previously stated that
'5'; ' of the Lord is not shortened.

a:E HAND OF .J:rrn:ovA:a i$ not .shoHen'ed.

_ Neith~r is His ear heavy, .that it cannot

.
ft

fie

or

~~thi"1t.~~J';.ffi)Y~ '.:,('; '. :;":'' '~,... ' .. , ', ,,,', ;,, ': :. ,,
,':~.~-::;
,, 'f
j,

$~t~!l)H~P~vi.l

i th'-t inyi~ible

:rul~r o~Jhis

P.resent world. Therefore it was not the prop.er

tg~g {orJlirn to s,alut~ tlie ~hings of this wprld.
-~i.Wh~~ l1lore than t~o. miUion _people ped- The tune had not then come _for Christ Jesus

twned,
the
governor 0 the State
of Ohio
to to exercise His power as King.
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: .;, . .
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,>:.;."'-~~::~'

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' : >:;N()'Y

The M;~SSENGER

tM Lord Je~u~ ~Christ is enthroned 'life. If we who are 'fa a covell.antwith Jeboabout "to take 'over actual pos- vah God willingly break that cov~nani by d:ls~{~ssic;>:q of all the worl~. lie has nothing in obeying His commandments we suffer everla,st~O~:tilgn -With the powers ,now. ruling the na- ing destruction, without any hope OJ life heretiOn~ pf th~ earth, which powers are now in after. Those persons who persecute us intellig:I:eat controve'rsies among themselves and the gently or ignorantly can do no more than to
pe8ple under great stress. It is to be expected killthe body. They Gannot affect our eternal
~liat _God would hot have His. people hold a
existence as long as we are obedient to AlGOnv~nJjon _on the premises held in possesmighty God. For that reason Jesus -gave 'to
s~OI1 bJ: political and religious. rulers who are His followers this. commandment, at Matthew
a~~inst. Him and agaimit 'His kingdom .. ';rhe 10: 28: 'Fear not_ them that can kill.the body,
gr~a,treligious organization, which I have men'."
but fear God, who is able to destroy both soul
~ioned, is political and, together with other and body in Gehenna.' With us it is a matter
1
- persons devoted entirely to religfon and poli- - of life and death. For this reason the apotles
tics, ?-H such:are against Jehovah the Almighty told the courts before whom they were haled
q-9d a,11d., against His King. Al thq,ugh. Jehovah when they were charged with preaching 'this
. says, ."T~e earth is the Lord's, and the fulness 9ospel. of the Kingdom: 'We 'will obey God
thereof," public officials and religionists say rather than men.' Such. is the rule .that we
to Jehovah God;s servants: "You cannot meet follow this Q.ay. Our hope of Hfe is with Christ
CHl this earth and worship Jehovah' God .in
Jesus in The THEOCRATIC GOVERNMENT,_ and
spfrit and fn truth without first having our our hope of life is not with any earthly in
stitution.
p'ermission."-Psalm -24: 1.

/~s- King 'and

,~~

'(heO.<:ratic

, Entrenched Enemies

ago,

(: :'This.is a Theocratic. collventiqn,: that Ts to ' . Twelve years

fo this- ci.ty the Lord's
say: an assembly of persons who love and serve people were assembled in convention and at
. J~Jl.()vaJ:i (}od an_cl Christ His King. With us that time a Resolution was unanimously adopt(foq )s ftr,st and we are. not :in harmony;,. with ed in favor. of J eh_ovah God. a.nd Hi~ !ringdom
and his
anything that is opposed to Almighty God, under Christ and agamst the
.whose name alone, is Jehovah., .
. . .
kingdom. That Res()lution appears in Light,
.:;TH:E 'J:'HEOCRACY is the government of Al- Book One; at page 221. It seems fitting and
~ighty God by His belove.d Son, Chr:i~t J~s:Us. very appropriate that~ this. convention, thereIt,: isJhe kingdom of God promised by Him fore; in 1940, would be held in this city ahd
lq,:ng ~enturies ago by and through which. He therefore God has so ordered it and we are
"'.'il.!Nes~ all the families of the earth who obey here. From that day to this the Devil and his
, !!Im"~n<:l I~;~- '\VW grant to ~uch everlasting life. cohorts have increased their venomous attacks '
I.t. is t)feJdngdom about which Jesus instructed upon Jehovah's witnesses, and that without
. ~js\':~ollowers to ever pray: "Thy kingdom any just cause or excuse. This should be_ ex".'
' c(J!Il:~:,-Thy
be done on earth as it is done. pected. We have not been taken unawares .
. I , ~!k.he~ye:n.". S~nce then 'Clwitians h~we earGod ha~ fully advised His servants what W()uld
, ;:'. 4~tl,~(prayed for the com~ng that kingdom, come to pass in these last days, and this ad.. :. ' ; a#d IWW it.is here. Sipce Jesus was on earth I viceis.'plainly set forth jn, the Bible. We have
.,,,,: ... Jv;Jti~fl,~~h . G-odhas been gathering unto him- :r,:10 fightwith any human creature, whether
~,,. ..: ~xl!PRLf.r9m, t he w,o:rld ,~.few persons to be that person be politician, religionist, or any:" ,:;.I.~t:gs~.~.E1~,tQ.~~~!li=L!lle;;tI1<:1Jo fii~~ingdol)1, body else. No person_ who loves righteousn.~ss
.,\,.. al,l9: ~yery faithful follower of Christ_ Je<sus ~as any inclination to fight. against us. Thete
t~eil )1~S been )tnd is . OJ:l.e O~ ._ Jehoyah's ~J;e great numbers, thousands of , people Jn
,.; ').. i1~Jif~~es,
of recent organfzation, not or~. this city today and t}iroughout America, whose
,.~;\It;:,',. ganize,d by any man, but selected by Jehovah ,,hearts go out to Jehovah'switnesses bec&u,$e
":,. . ::< <G~d, and .some. of. the.se ha,ve . peen on ea;rth .~f .their bo!(:l apcl. i~mova,ble stand for .. G9ci
i~i1;1:~ 't>' 9.Yfi }fi:e period of six, thousand years, :Reil~ ind for right'eousness, ai1d from which tii~'y
?~~;:::~:~_,c:<?,,,_, g-iP.l?-.i~~-S. h~y~ n9t _l~a~ned_._th~t f'a~t, .. althoUg_h
refuse to .he moved. Who then are our-,ene~~,;.,{- , th~Jforiptnres abundantly state that tr:uth.
mi.es leading .in 'the fight against us?
-::,_, '.!:~1r'you who have made ~ _co~ep.ant wi~? G:od s'Y~J'.' . ~o)h~t question. is found. in Ephe~~~i,is
-~ tq='h~,'o,~~qi~~t t9HisJv1ll,!I_i~.~irigdom is dear- the sixth chapter, to wit: "We wrestle not
,,<1.,. :'.e;t- to
your he.art.than alLthe
things of this. against. flesh and blood, but against princi
.
'\

Devil

'

will

or

. . . '.

s_ilice

:not

TJ1e"a.n-

;:

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~:r;:;}/:;.-; ,I ~ ','~~- : / ;: ~:/:. t:~-~~-...' ,, i~faj,_.1 ,( :_,~

~ <-, ~:,::~:.:~

I.

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4
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The MEBSENGER:
1

palities, against powers, against tlle rulers of

-. .the dark.'.l;l~S~ of this world, against spiritual
;;:;': ' wic,!tec111ess J11 .. h,igh places.'' We know, there~.
j11~'.\.< . fqr~j that Satan is ,our chie enemy because
~:>'~;,;:',-:. _.". .... -~O.ttAT~C
. '~.-. 'k_~.'.'.Q_~~.<:_.s._
. . ..~ n
. ,.~. ,m._
. . . Y'_ t.hw.e.ee~nkem.
y. o.t h.at
.T. he_._h_T
tfE~._,c__
uoVERNMENT.
now
a . O$t. w
~, ;:.;:.t detiions with him are our enemies; and
'. ~ . ,,!f,9if:\!~~~ in~ht.~h-. . ~ ctcelex:.~tj,a~n. tih~a,glh.orp. .aspc!rsitounael .. r:rtuhl~,'

we .

1 1 1
,~~ .' . deago;;~!~;~ . ;~\s ~N:~e i~~Jllgfg; ~":tj/~t~~ ~~.~~ ~~~~s c;it~b!~~~~~0dro~';;;
:

oJ.

ting those who. are opposed to Him ~nd ~is

kingdbm to take :one side, and those who are
with Him to take the other side. The division is going on, and that rapidly. A second
rea,son why t_;ibul
:ation hhas com.e is to afford
opportunity
J.Oi' t110se w o t:tre m a covena;nt
\Yith God to prove their integrity to Him;
and you are having this opportunity,. and so
am I. This God'~ consecrated people are de-

uaim;;a

1 18

<::;

ai

some tim~. and. we ,ar~ 'hot at all SU_,~_pr1sed. eves_ or d_r6oP.Y lia._n. Cls.,,
~&1~ aboul whiif11as' come to p'ass. . . . .
'( Ther~oreJhe Jtppropriateiiess

;k ., '

ttec~nt1y

0 the apos-

'"1ie Wa'tc~lower published a series tle's words as written in the Bible: "We glory

~:::;~~.,,. <()~ .~tt.>~i~~es setting forth the Sc~iptural proof

',;:/<;,. t~at tliese unseen principalities and powers,
L.i'< '~h~ ~ejri()ii~, would overrun thewo'rld at this
, : -y~i'Y
.All the evjdence- shows that we
l'~#:;:i);~ J:\,~Yl!tJt propfo u!lderstandin~ of ,the~e proph"
. . ~~~,~~.Jf ,eyerythmg had contmued with calm-'.'''[;~~~: it~~~ tlp t6 now, necessarily we would have con(}lttded ~bat 'We did npt have t}ie proper un..
~~~~tfindhig of ihe Sctipiures. The Lord has
S~QWh Us that We h.ave ~ corl'Mt tt,flde~st~h4'.'
itrict now we see, as the Scriptures declare,
0u~"~fr the whole world under the sinister infl;uence

in tribulations also: kn0wing that tribulation

wo:rketh patience; and patience; experience;
and experience, hope; and hope maketh not
ashamed; because the lo'1i~ oi God is shed
abroad Jn ()Ur hearts by the holy [spirit],
which is given unto us." (Ronutn$ 5: 3~p)
Thank God :or. that message written to His
people; written long ago to bring comfort and
satisfaction to their hearts at this time/ We
eed upon tribulation because We take that as
one of the evidences that. God is dealing with
us. as sons and n,ot ~s bastar(ls.
~ ~fict
of ""<iemoiis. We
Otfr hop~ is n~t in lhl~gs. of this world, but
''" ; 101:-.e; that every part of the political. institu.. _our hope is centered wholly in The THEOCRATIC
;> ..
#ons tin1, .the. religious institutions, working GovERNMEN1\ Therefore we anticipate tribula:;~'\:1 '~together' ag~l~s~ The TiiEOCRATlb GO\tftft.N tion; nrid it has riome ! Exactly in due tim~.
,; ; ~N'f; are ttMessaNly against us. We are not
Again, strictly in harmony with' what exp~ri
"
s1i~ rised. In this connection we are.reminded. ences you have been h~_ving rMently, we fit;d
. .. , , , 6 the declttration of the Sc~iptures: the appropriateness of the words by Paul wr1ti:ough much t#bulatfon shall ye enter the ten at Oolossians, to wit: awho now rejoice in
~lgdom.; The' Kingdom is here, the King is my sufferings or you, and fill up 'that whi~h is
.~ "~,~~Pl~911e4.~ ...AJ1rn.ageddon. is just ahead .. The behind of the afflfotions of Christ in my flesh
glorious relgn 0 Christ that shall bring bless~ or his body's sakehwhichJs the church." What
ingl!J to th~ world will immediately follow.. a blessed privilege, there~ore, to sta~d tod~y
.l'herejore the gr~at climax has been reached. ~s the targets of the enemy and receive then
~~i~latk)fi . has iallen upon. those who stand darts, unflinching and ..unashamed! And by
'by the Lord . .And why~ God has permitted God's grace we will keep on doing it. ,
. . or.
... i.t.
.... ~. o._fu.r.P. os. es: . F_ ir_st; to allow the vi. s. .
The very d&y that Italy stabbed F,rance in
'Ible part o. Efatan's or~anization to don ,their the b~ck, with the approval 0 . Pacelli, and
ga~ments of identiftcat10n and let it be known turn~d that people over to Fascism, that v~ry
'~h~t ~ ~he:y: are agah1st The T:tt"EoottNI'td Gov~ day cruel persecution broke out in this land
:Eft~it~N'r. Th~~e w~s . an ap~ illustration ,0 f a~ainst God's consecrated people as a camou.
< tl:l~s wlien _(tod_. man1fes~ed .Hrn p,art~cular .fa. flage to hide th'e real wickedness of the . real
V'()fJ')'.fi,. ~e~u, W.ho rep~ese~~~d phrist J<jsUs. enemies of the American government. An or-'

1)l~ttt"'H~.9,~J1~~<;1, 3ill .tli~, . re.l~f!' 10 mst.s. to. put, ~ll. ganization und~r the command o the f>~pacy
-.
tij~rr gar~ents ? identification;~ a~d the s~me :released or publication a paper on the sanie
,jh1ttg ij:e rn doing today; per:nuttmg all who d" . . .11 _. .0..... . bl.1 . .en ... . h '. 11. h t
a.'__._re_..
..d
. . . to~tan{
.T.-.,h
..e. . .T
n_. _ino. c. RA.T.
c... G.TmtOCRACY
ov.ERNM_11l.N'T. . the.
...a.Y.~n1ted
~a; i~g... ~ta~es
u. _P. ~_ . P..tou _em_r>loy
. c. om..cer.summary
s t... r. o_. g.pr~
. . ou. .
,\
~Q....t~ke b..a.e_,
th~i~
_against
Ttt:m
.. ,~o~~~ ~ingdom, and in :favor o this world ceedmgs ag~1:i:~t . al~ perso11s. wh? are subver~;~v:~;~) 'tJ;l~f ~s . ~ertain fo
down. This fa a time sive. lmrp.ediately, hk~ a flash from the .
y;
.twhe~ '1"esiis is~sepaf'ating the people, permit the persecution pf Jehovah's; .witn~ss~j11 ., , ...,~:- . . ". "''"'""""'~--

)~;:.<(

time.

ing:

"ffower

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know, .tliere:

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...

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~,;rlit'.'i'~\;!;d:&~;:;"j''\''. !

. ,. ,

The MESSENGER

.And now in this hour. or peril Satan subtly

a~; Maine, South bakota and many other states
broke .out; not .a,gainst Fascism and Nazism, endeavors to entrap those who are- full:r debut all. against Jehovah'~ witnesses, who are voted to God and His King by inducing them
J
doing nothing but to advertise the great The- to bow down to and attr1btite salvation to
ocracy of J.ehovah God under Christ Jesus the earthly things. Satan well knows thafthat
well know
:King. Only the supermind 6 Satan cou1d have would. mean our destruction.
the earth at it would mean out destruction. Therefore we
timed the. ~ctioh on b.oth sid.es
. the sa,me hour and caU.sed)is ~ervants to per- cannot yield to earthly powers, and we will
form these unlawful deeds against th6se who not, ~ven though it cost us the lire we now
areDadvbertisihghThe Tn~o_cnArrrn Gfovd'B:R:NME~'I' .. possess on Mrth. Would the governor of the
, ,
. .: : ou. t 1ess t .e. practitioners o . emon1sm great state of 0 hio, who poses before the' peohoped and eJtpected to so discourage J eho- ple or America as one who stands for the
vah's witp_e$Ses by their efruel . persecution fundamental law and fo:r righteousness, would
that. no conventioI1 . could be held. at all in he and other public ofjicials desire ~$ to bring
the United States. God could have. prevented about our own complete destructio~ by going
that pers~cution, but He has permitted it in .through the formality of giving obeisance to
qrd~r to give the enemy an opportunity to
earthly things contrary to God's law? I am
id~n,tify themselves, and an opportunity to
sure that, if they understood the real position
His .people to show their full faith and con- of devoted Christi~ans t:hey would not want to
fidence ip. Him. Therefore amidst great tfibu- . take this responsibility upon their. heads.' Belation, trials and persecution you have trekk;ed cause of our full devotion to 'THI\. THEOCRACY 1
.: your way from every part of the land to this enemies" may unlawfully. shed our blood, but, .
)'
city that you might here meet together to wor- if so, our blood will be upon those who induce
, s}iip God in spirit and in truth, and in many and who perform such unlawful acts.
other cities in the Dnited States other, conven-
From that day, rom Jesus' time, to this
tiqn$ are tied tbgether by ptivate wir~s wlth every pei:"son' who has 'boldly declared himthis one~ that. all of us may raise .otir voices MlI for. JehoviJrh G9d and Christ .B:is King
and h~art devotion to the great THEOCRA'I' and has been reptoached and .persecuted by the ,
pevil and by those :persons .who yield to the
His King. ' .
. .
.' . .
. ...
Our position with referen6e to ~altttirtg flags m:flmmce 0 demons. 'The faithful apostles of
an4 .h~mng meri. is exactly. in Mi:"mony with Christ Jesus were subjected to all manMr of
God's commandment. and in obedience to His persecution and were reproached, and were
Wbrd, ttnd exactly ih harmo11y with the lead denounced as criminals, because. of their deof 9.hrist .Jesus, . (1od's Mfllmandment . to. Ills votion to. ..Almighty God. Therefore the apos-
~9venant people is this : 'Thou shalt know no tle quotes the words of Jesus, to wit : 'The
o~.he;r: go~s but ~e.' ~hat m~ans that we must reproaches that reproached thee have fallen
])e for Hifl1 and against .detnonism. .Again, upon me.' All during the life 0 the apostles
~e .saysj 'Thon' shalt not make unto thee any they w~re reproached because they proclaimed
graven imnge of anything that' is. in h~av~l1 the kingdom o:f God under Christ. We should
above 1 or in the earth beneath, or that is un.. e:Xpect when the Kihg comes that the perse~er the earth; thou shalt not bow down thy.. cution will be greater because the hour draws
self .to them no'r se!'ve t~em; for I am the near for the final conflict between THE Tmwc..
thy God.' When the Lord Jesus. had be- RACY and all opposers, and Satan1 knows his
g~rt Hi~ 1il!istry ~he Devi~ sought to entrap end has come.
Amidst . great persecution and . opposition
Hup. by trymg to .induce Jesus to ~ow .down
to Satan ~nd to safote Satan .. Jesus well know- from an the nations' of the earth today hat-.
ing that ,to' give obeisal1ce to any' creature ing God and ha ting His servants f o'r His
Wtmld bring destruction upon himself; and, name's sake, we rejoiM .to be on the side 1o:f
above all, because of His love and. complete God /ll'ld His .King . Christ Jesus, to be. made
devotion to Jehovah ,God, Be replied to. the of no" rep~tatfon a~on~ men, to be despised
\'.':x.v
J'.:)evil in these \Vor(ls : ''(jet thee h~nce, Satan by all nations for H1s name's sake, and there;,1i':~:rr~ ' lot. it.W,~r,ht~1r' Thou shalt worship the .Lord .for, in the language of the text which the
~~N!~1".";} 'tlifGoa; liii<1 him only shaltthol1 serve." Thus Lord has so graciously indicated we should
~~;:z k'.:.:'-:; th~ .;Lpr4 ,J esu~ .$.~t the. rul~ . tha,t. every crea~ use for this year, 'We trust wholly iri thee,
n . , >~
. fare .who ~t1rvives ai!4 tMeives God/s approval
and my heart shall. greatly rejoice in thy sal..
iriust ~ollow. .

, . . . vation.' We welcome ,this opportuniW .of g~t.. :

of

11ord

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;.,., .. . .-c\i;e,,>i;\:, ,, 1~
. tipg .t-Ogeth.r in this
t6 .the iikcrous things ihai God
ptaise to Almighty God, and, since._ the dee"'. reservation for them, the.men on ear.th. who
hJ,r~tfon of w~r against the Devil and his as- are thus bitterly opposed and fighting against
so~\~t~s, made in this city twelve years ago,
Jehovah's witnesses, are the religious and pow'e, expect ~hat warfare to continue with in 7 litic~1J Jead~rs who~ desire to have, th,e wh9fo
creased vigor un.'til the Lord himself exerGises thing for themselves-all.against God .and .all
His. supreme power and ends all tribulation, ~gainst His kingdom. B11t we delight to. beon
avdesta1Jlis~~s righteousness and peace, and the other side; on God'(sidEl and 011 't4~ sifl.e
grantslife everlasting to those that love and ofrighteousness.

.

op~y'Hiw.
.

May this convention b,ring praise to JehO-,,

:~o, t11en, we have come here as messengers vah's name. We countnotour lives (le,ar 11:Qto
of peace. We have come here to bring a mes.- us, that we may have a part in the ad:ve.rtis.:
sag~>of peace to the people of this city who
ing of the Theocratic Government, he.cause
.~!~.:. ~.f good' .will and ,those throughout the that is our business . We. are pilgrims and
\eal'.th:'\-Vho :wish to hear, and those who do not strangers in a strange fand, holding aloft the
wislr)J1e pe.ople to. hear this 1llessage of peace, banner of Jehovah and His King; That han:_who ,would like to keep the ears Of the people ner ALONE we will salute. . .

co~ent!Qn: .We; giv~. d.~11'

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Detroit on Saturday

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T~! J~~geb~~t~::~~~rs~~;;~;~~i~~ .nt

:1rft.~lii,~t~:~:;or:1~~~~ (~a:r.m~~~f
Necessarily that means that the end js defi:itely

, the subject "Times and Seasons~'. All availaple' space in the. co_nven_. tion halls" .an. d the
E
S T 1
k
h
d
, Jtst~m tar emp e was ta en. T ousan s.
niol'K in th~ traih~r camp were. able to hear
the. ~dd:r,ess by means of direct . wire connec'."
ii on. :AJiJ:i~d eagerly waited this sesision of
tlf~ ~<;>;vegtio11. B~fpr~ peginning his address
Judge ~:nthe:rford made the following state.

m:ent:.
.

_ .. _. f.r_.h._. .e_._. .~.-.,._ an..age_r "of.the con'vention in.fo.rm~.-_me that

... .
many-reporters for the public press are.here and

.
p
h
t d th t I th
; ~y~reques e; . a give . ein an interview. ast
experiences show that the reporters gather .thein-:.
o;rni~Mon, ~hich the paper straightway refuses to
print and instead prints :qiany. falselip.ods against
u~:Jft}lereporters willbring to me awritten and.
, si&'lle'd statement by the editor in charge 9f .their
r~~p'~ctive. papers, which stateme11t. promises the
pUblication: of the answers T give. in answer to their
;qilei'Stions, I will .answer every question that .they

. !

bih~~;~~ ft~~o~~r~ea~~n~:rf~tai~ru!\~~~[J~6i.

th_:._.-_.e ''.re_. P
. r."t.-_e_ . rs.. t. 0_....s.-p.ea_.. k .\vith.__t
. . . .
. . . .h..e_. rii_.. :, .- .... . . . .. . . . .._.
id~.4c1ge R.utherford'is ad.dress ~f S~tgrday
a!:te;r:n,9011 ;Wa! .. anoth{)r .of the fotil'. se~si"ons
of t~e conv~i;ition. Gar~i~d to JfH. con.vent16n.
cfie~_ :in. .the. l[nited $,t~tes. ,I~_:thiis__i_~pres~.
iv. ,a ' , -' p . 1 . "
t' . , , ,.. . . .
s : e .. J~Gcru,r,se s ecia co11s1 . ~:r~ IOlJ. was gryen
J;>~v.l's WOI'dsj11 J 'rhess~lorii~ns 5; S() evi~
d,~~t~y dealing with Olll day. A GOmplete re'po.rt~of. this address appearis in the new book'".
.l~(()qnspiracy Against D~n(ocracy. Her~ only
a ~few excerpts are made:

__.t._

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"

fixed and shall. not be delayed.... It is th.e tiIJ'.le .

when ''this gospel of the kingdom" . has . been
preached as a witness to the riations of earth and
that preaching is completed. Since the year 1922
God's . cqvenant people ha.ve been busily engaged
in the work of making known the kingdomof God.
In this they. have had much tribulation. and Jar
greater joy. Twelve years ago in this city a resolutio1,1 was ac1opted by a convention of the people. of
the Lord, which was a declaration otw&r-against
Satan's.wicked rule. It was a proclamatiop: o:aUe~
. h
giance to J eho~ah God and against the unr1g ~~01~s
rule by demons ap.d their agencies. Since.}b,en
J_ehova.hiha.i;; gradually unfolded to .the vision..o. . J
his. peop e. the meaning of many proph,ecies, w:nich
revefation has. brought to them great comf?rt and
joy. All the evidence now .strongly pointS to the
fact. that Armageddon is very near and that'sqQn
we .may witness t'.fatan's .defeat_ and the. cmnplete
vindication of Jehovah's name. That wi_ll .mefl,Ji
th,e beginning of endless .joy, peace and life to ,all
ereation thatloye righteousnessand }iate in,iqp;ttY'
In
these
.days .of upon
darkness
earthlypeopl.~
ruJe!s)-.t\4
gross
dar~ness
~h~ upon
cred11Icms
.t~~!
hold to demqnism there is great ltgh! shini:n~'.;iIJ,to
the inind and, hEia:rt pf each. one. 9f thQ~~ ;~~-9 :P.t~
flly ~evot.ed to God and to ':rhe THEOCRA1'rc.f31-()>'.t
~~~~:m~'i'~ T.hi.sJig~t of Jehovah . shiningj_r(j~~
fa;c~ of the gre~t $mg of T:s;E: .TH:E09RACY) C_. ~r;~t
Jes11s/is refictedto the minds.' 0 .tho~e 1YP..fi;~i;,~
his tr.11e fol~owers.
..
. . ....
>: .,.. ,
Looking dO)Vll to ~his very time, the ~j?p~~tl
Paul, inspired by the spirit of God, wrote':for'~he
ben~#t o~ .~~ith~ul. Qh:J:istiaris now on .. the. 4t'th
tfo~~")v:or~s: '(>'(tJ:w tinJ~f$ .and sea.son~;- bret~~en,

....

T~e J{ESSE/IQER

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ye .have no peed that I write unto yoi'.i, hec:aw:ie ye peace and safety,' then sudden destruction
ar~ not in th~ darkness, but ye are the childnm shall immediately begin. When the sign for
9 the light.'
,
.
.. . .Arm~geddon ~learly appears, may it be that

. He dwelt at length upon "the sign" to ap- then this promise of J ehovtah will be fulfilled,
pear in the near future and -\vhfoh would iu- to wit, 'C0me, my people, enter thou into thy
qicate the battle of Armageddon as due to chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide
begin.
thyself as it were for a little moment, until
'
Toward the concl.usion of thJs speech, and ..the indignation be overpast.' .
"If this be the last conventicm to be held
to t};le hn:iense delight of a rapt audience
w)J,ich hung on his every word, Jud~e Ruther, by God's faithful people prior to Armagedfor~ sprang a big surprise by introducing. a don, then we ~ill look forward with unboundnew book, Religion, of which 15,000 auto- ed joy to that convention that shall never end.
graphed copies were. .placed the first hoU.r [Great applause] Therefore, in the language
a:q.(i many more the next' day. I!ere Judge of the apostle, 'Rejoice for evermore,' and give
praise to Jehovah God;"

Ruther.ford .said :
Judge
Rutherford
continued,
saying
that
'.; "'fhe ~o.nl .:has graciously p:rovid.ed another
in,trq:rnent for the us~ 9f His people in this he wished to offe,r to the conV:entiori the M,~fln,ll,l campaign. He h~s made it clear to those . sage 6f Hope, to' be distributed, f~r and wide
wlfo lqye :mm that demonism ;,tnd Chrii;itian:'. to the millions of people of good will in all
ity are exactly op'posed one to the other. De- ~he earth. (It will be the privilege of Jehomon religion proceeds from the Devil; Chris.:. vah's .witnesses to do more than merely distianity, by and through Christ J es11s. Millions tribute it in printed form, as it has also been
of people of good wW now in the earth desire recorded for phonographic reproduction and
to learn .of this diff~re:p.ce and t6 talw the will be used extensively in the door-to-door
right course. God has made such a provision. witnessing.)
Immediately after this inspiring talk, acII~ ha~ given to ui;i another book. [Great applause] The bookJ Religion, [continued ap- cepted as another timely blessing from .Jehoplause,] contains the full information. Obtain vah, and the u,nariimous acceptance of the
your copy and read it quickly and then get it Message of Hope, thousands of coriventionto oth~.r,s' quickly, that they may learn God's ers were soori seen with the new book Religion
provision for their salvation ~nd the salvation with its brilliant'greeri cover, eagerly glancing
,Of. all: who love ~n.a serv~ h~ni.)'. [Applause] through it. They were looking forward to the
'After a pause, Judge Rutherford'continued: enjoyment .qf reading it and th.e priv.il.ege of
placing it with the people of good will. 'rhey
",A.t all tiID.es be on the i:tlert, be watchful. recognized that this was truly another instru.Watch for the i;iign for the beginning Arma~ ment in the hands of Jehovah's witness~s for
geddon and put your confidence wholly in the the advancement of tpe ~ingdom interests.
L?rcl T~at signis certain.to be made manifest This session of the convention was one never
i;ioon, and clearly it will 'be, 'When they say to be forgotten.
1

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:~ Iligh 'J?oint of 'ther Convendon

.
.
J.l~a(!h~d ip the Public A.ddr,~es ()f /S.nday, July 2.8
.Politicarand cofuil'.ierciaT'men 6 high sta11dfrig .
: "

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. UDG
.. E R. u.THE.jRF OR.
n's . add.
r.e..ss.. o.f Su.nd:
.a.y,
"RELIGION
WORLD
REMEDY-The
EviJ
' <:fo.nce iu Support The;reo,'' was the principal
AS A

~~at;ur~.?f .the conv~rition~its.'',grand cl~max.

Ii'\i~s' ~ b.old ~i;;qiliri~t}o11,' in the light of 'the
. }'"~~i?!~;r-es, .?f religioil.and its. clairns . to effi.. ~~cfas'ii'world remedy'. Tne "evidence sup, 'pDrt. ther~of'.' .was shown t? be -wantb1g; and
,:r.eli~ion coiltrasted ,with Christianity, the real
.
, remedy. He said, in part : .

.\ \

;I :

in

urge upon the nations "ruqre, reli~ion" as a world

remedy. . . . The president of the U11iteq .S'tates
in sending his personarambassador to tll.e VatiGan
said to the pope : .'Your lfoli~ess : rt is weH. t4!lt
we encourage a closer association betwee,n to~e in
religion a11d those in government, who have a 'c'ominqn' purpose.' If religion is the remedy, then all
honest persons should lay, hold upori tfo1,t remedy.
If the evidence does not support the claim that
religion is the remedy, then ari adeql.late remedy
should be eagerly sought.

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J e49vah's 'witne~ses liave n0 fight wlth any per.:

scm because oL his rE;lligious belieL Many Jews,
,., - , . Catpgit~s, and so-called ."Protestants" have been
~i:m::
u~wittjp:gly ensnared by rl:lligion .. It is the duty
~~-d )?:t:iVilege, of eve~y Christian to -aid such to
"'"'''"'"'t'" "1w$ee tP,E\ trntli in o,rqer that tMy may devote them~elv~$.. to God and His kingdom. The only purpose
of c~lling attention fo the difference bet'Yeen r~li
gion and Christianity is to aid men to s~e that
qod's law 'is the only safe guide and obedience to
God_ il; .rn,ll,n'~ only protectiop.. ; . . .
, Tl,iat which is called "tP.~ Christian religion" is
not Christfan. It ;is a religious ptictice carri~d o;n
under the n;:qp.e of Christ, but whfoh is in defiance
of the law of Almighty Bod, and which gives honor
to creatures rather than to . Almighty God, and
. which deceives iillions pf S:incere persons. As a

w-

. _

b~ta%11e,~fuh~~s: ~1~ t~~=o~~!tiifg t~~ev~~~l~f~:

. of "Purgatory'' then .adds -these-words; "This interpretation is not m~ne. It is .thi:t u.n~nimous yoice of
the f~tliers of. Chri'sterido~"; that is, entirely traditional .~nd. 110.L supp6rte4 by the Word of. God.
., (See 'the Fa,it~ of Our Fathelfs, page 208.) After
the d,.ays of the apo~tles a sincere body of men
organized thems~lves as Christians. There~fter subtly Satan, the chfo of demons, 'induced men in that
organization to advance;~nd t~a~h t}leir views ccmtrary to the ]3ible, and thereby substituted religion
for' Christianity. Thereafter t4ey taught the traditions of men. That has been. dubbed the "Christian
organization", although (fntirely contrary to God's Word....
.

,
Ther~ are h9nesf a11d sin~er,e J;ri9n' who have been
. priests of the Roman Catholic Ghurch~ many of
. whom have recently separated th~mselves from that
religious organization because of the Hierarchy's
political activities w~ich are .called "Catholic Action". There are 1llillions. qf sincere and honest
.Cath~lic, people hei'd .in subjection to the Hierarchy bec~use of fear of cre~ures. . . .
'
The Hierarchy are the real mover:s of compulsory flag-saluting and honoring creatures. 'Hecause
the Chr~~tia_ns i1l G-erm,any refused to yield to such.
religfous ceremonies t:housands of them have been
incarcerated in prison and' many of them killed ....
The Supreme Court ih the Gobitis case decided
only :that school boards 1Ui&'ht enforce rles. compelling children to salute the flag, and that against
their conscientious objection. The court made no
atte1llpt to 'decide that adults n:mst salute thefl.ag.
~o such jssue "\Vas be, ore t~~ ~()u.rt .. T~er~ "is no
law. in. '.America. thaf 'compels adults. to 'salute' tlie
. flag. But the I{ierarGhy and allies, in order to brow-'
b,eat th,e. people, a,tte:mpt to compel conscientio"Q.s
. Chris~1~l1s, contrary to the law 9~ the lan4,. to violate God's la"\V When~yer the issue by law is raised
compellhig ~dult~ to' saJute the flag, that issue will
be properly II1et before ~he .c~urts. . .- .
r .Th~ "g~e~t multitude" that A.1111 ~urvive A-:r:mageddon and fill t4e earth with a righteous race must
frow,h~*~~o :put themselves on t~~ side of THE

''''u(

THEOCMCY and its King: The rulers of the

have now forgotten God and turned to religion and
are certain to go down in a very short time. Only
the "great m"Ultitude" will survive, aud will live forever .on the earth. Then shall t}ie earth become .a
glorious and blessed place in which to live. Turn
:your 'faces and your heart devotion now to the
Almighty God and to his 'King, Christ Jesus, and
live.
,

The complete report of the discourse here

touched upon appears in the new booklet entitled Conspira,cy Against Democracy.
At the conclu~ion of Judge Rutherfor<;l's
address, a World War veteran asked leave to.
present ;;i, resolution for adoption by the convention. He said:
I desire to pr'sent a RE:lsolution to. this great
convention .. Much has. been said, a}Jout th~ Alll.eric~n
Legion and , Veterans of . F-oreign.1
~ii(ftheir
attitude against this Christian convention. I was a:n
officer in the world war and commanded .a company at. the front in Fr~nc~; I am a Christian n9w,
and I _ask you to have this resolution read to the
convention, and I ask the' convetion to uJJ.animously adopt it and send it out as their message
to the people.

Wars.

The chairman accepted the resolu.tion and

said:
Max Fref:lchel, who was born a Jew, but wno is
a Christian .by adoption, and .who has ha<f much
experience with. the ,Nazis in Europe, .will appreciate reading this statement to the convention. I call

upon hi:rp, to do so.

Max: Freschel then read the resolution reviewing events leading up to arrangements for
the convention, opposition, per~ecution and
mobbjng of Jehovah's witnesses by priests,
American Legionnaires, lawless o:fficers of the
law and others. It pointed cmt the reason for
the cancellation of the contract for the use of
the . State Fair Grounds in Columbus, Ohfo,
and the switching as the ~ey city from Columbus, to Detroit. It mentioned the opposition
encountered in Detroit by the SR:Lme lawless
ele!llents,_ and the hostile attitude of many of
the newspapers. The resolution also mentioned
attacks made upon individual witnesses in
their work by priests and their supporters,
and showed from the Scriptures the responsil?ility all these( opposers .of righteousne~s
bear before Jehovah God. In conclusion the
~
resolution said :
1

To ~is servants 'the Lord said concerning the

present time : "Ye \shall be hated of all nations for
iy name's sake." (Matthew 24: 9) We delighf to
declli!'e ournelv~s. wliolly .and completely .devoted
to the great THEOCRATIC Govm:rnMENT, the Kingdom of Jehovah God by His King, Christ
1

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:Rti~herford. ~.dd,ress~s Theo~rati~ conv.ention.

"l

Showing only four of tl)e seven packed-out halls used in Detroit.

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YEssENGER
I

t~~, \y~rld's, rightful rii1er, and we welcome the

'Be of" good courag~( You have .been of good

OJ)portJi1)}ty of b.earing the reproach that has' been cour;::i,ge all the time.
.
heaped upon the Lord and upon 'His holy name..
"~ut when the enemy attack you, and when
"\ye:-~an upon all order-loving people throughout
th

'W'll
1 t th fl ~ I n
1
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~H~ J~tttp ta~~ no~ce dof tj1ehfac;h t~at011tfe ki11g- in=~e jl~ sal~te r~:fl~~~ ,~ell~ rri~ggood ~ir,
~;:,~;~;~;~,. ,.:()W,(),,,~,.g.~_ve.n~is ~t . an a,n. t :it ~eir .Y me3;ns 'who app. ointed. you to enforce that? There
C5f hfe IS to flee from the dom1natmg 1 wicked m.
f1un~e.:n.()1V be.ing exercised bythe lawless arid flee is no law in America compelling men to sa'.-'
to'Jhe .THE;OC~f\,TIC RULE of Christ .Jesus~ To an lute flags. Are you the law~ Have you taken
such order~lovi.ng people we extend our kindest the la~ into your own hands? It seems tO' me
wishes, be they Catholic, Protestant, Jew, bond or that you .are the lawless one. You. had better
fre(:l{'}'}iei:e. is b,ut PW" :rp.e.11ns. of salvat~on, and that go home and think about that a. while, and
is by>Jehovah God thr?11gh Christ Jesus our Lord. take advice from the Lord, and not from the
'fhe
resoltion was ,adopted by a thnder- Catholic priest.'
.
2
ou$ ''Aye''. from 45 1000 in attendance at De."There is no use to get angry and argue
tro~tand tens- of thousands simultaneously as~ with them .. I don't know whether this is true
sembled fo convention halls in seventeen other or not, but I saw in the paper yesterday it
A:me~iC,::m citfo~ tiedjn withDetroit. . . . . , was reported that someone said that 'Nq 1 he
Judge Rutherford then rose apd made~ the would not salute that .rag'. That is a very urifol}owi:r,ig.
. .
fortunate state.ment. The flag is not a crag.
. ~#TEJ\'.{PO"RAN:EOUS R~MARKS
The flag is a symbol Of a government, the
fTlles~~re~arks/whi~h '.went ,out ove~ the chah1 .0, : principles of which were established o:r;i' i:Jglit~
cohV:e4tiQ4s, were greatly appreciated ev~rywhere.]
eoiisness by men, who loved. God. And.' it now
'.' '~~I'O!Ilallo:ver England, Scotland, and even, appears'that the only people in America that
Irel~ng 1 these .caqlegrams have just been re: really love,those principles, who really repreceived. I. shall rwt take time .to read theni~ J sejit the flag and. who are determined to stand
w.HI'~~~k theclmirrpa~ to do .thatlater.. I just b~ those principles, are Jehovah's witnesses
~a.n~ed tQ J~ke time f<ir a f~}V closing words and' their companions: - '
'
.' ... ;
"These poor roosters th.at wear their clothes
to'.this:. c~nventipn 1 so far as J am cqncerned.
.. ''~yillg :flat.'on my back"imder.treatment'by wrong .side in. front, who are terribly Cliat'\\7:0 49ctprs 1 and when the fight was on in Co~ grined because t.he truth is turning th~ )eo~
1-mhus to have the conye:qtion 1 and knowing ple away from them, mut come to ~now th~t
that the Catholic: bishop was leading the fight they are not run!ling the earth! They ~ay
'agaih$t .,i-18~ t dictated a letter. ana asked it to ruri it for a while; but not for lorig. The poor
, b~sent ~()him, in'Vitinghim to shaFethe. plat- deluded ones who have been seized by)iy-sf o:rm .witli. me a11<lt~U the people' whe:rein reli- teria, because of. the influ:ence of demon$ :un:giq;r(is':; a :world:\remedy. pJ'esuII1e the disti!l,. s.een and Mmons seen, are really to be pit'ied.
~tiiSh!ild gentlemih could riot find any argu- We do pity them. We hold nothing against
.n}~nf"'.~tj~ t,h,p}ight he hetter keep stiU. '!'here- any. Of. them: We know that these thiIJ.gS are
foWJ liad to give the argl,lment for both s:ides bu,t an eviqence of the fa13t that Satan's ortpday~ : . . . .
. . , ... . .
gap.izatio!l 'is. tottering to a complete fall~
, l '~11d, now, ..brethren, remember . wh~t . i,h~
. "S() _rejoice . .Lift, up your heads .and. rejojce,.
apo~f,i~ ' wrote:.' ''rhrough !nuch ', tribul~tio.11'. Today :YOU s~e the Scriptures fulfilled, when
slial~,-w(ent~r the. kl.i;gdo~~' Yo.U havf colile.. the arin:ies of the Devil are si+rrounding Jeruh,.~r~ t::l~ro~gh much tr11Jul~tion (and this.heat . salem, that is, God's organization. Ther~fore,
}\aff ~~re you }iave some m()re tl,'ilJqlationJ, says'. the Lord .Jesus: 'Look up, liff up you!'
bl,1.tI:amsure tliatthis is the most joyful corii,: heads ana rejoice; for your deliver:ance draw"'
pant"bf people that have e-yer been asse:rp.bl~d eth nigh/ and go ba~k to the field more c1et.eroi1 tl#s earth atone placeand .one time. ,,_.
mined than ever to fight until the :Lord safs
:> "F,g:r;.tJ1irty~three years I have been atte:r1d"' it is 'done;''

fog- ~dnventions 1 . but without. hesitation I c~11.:.

s~y. f~at this. is._the mo~t joyful
t ''Kingdom News'' .
~yer_-:a;{N11.~e.<l.or. ev~r. ~11ticipated ..a!tendittg-'
4-.s a still. :fU:rtper surprfae and. final.
on t~}i~al'.'tli.
going. back to the field }pr_ .the, .T~~pgr~t~~ J~<?riyegt_iqners, there. wa~
!9 )\~X<~,S,9W~.;ffi9::t:~ ~ghts ; but yoJove a Jight, B:n11ounced at the concb,ision of the. spe~cli pn
_and ,Y0'9- feed rat upon it. I kow you wdn't ''Religion as a World Remedy" the teJease
be;W~c()lJ,rag~d, so it is.not necessary to say to all of a 11ew issue of Kingdom News; iSsll:e

:1

cor!ventfoli:

Y_ou are

treat

,.~

The MESSENGER

14

to

No. 6/bearfog the large:,headline

those foside as well as .. those

(in green) distributed
of Dar1;n1ess~I~a. '60: 2", and detail- . outside Convention Hall,. ~t. this pvblic ad".
. _ . .. ..
. . .
ing the hysteria of mob violence and. oth,~r '.cl:res!. .. . ,
Awi.n.,iatureJno11ntain ot huIJ,qles o:f King'wicked lawlessrn~t3S against J'ehbva,h,'s witness.es
M'W ~_9nvulsing the United ~tates, . and the dom News No. 6, amounting to 2',026,000 copies, was on hand for disposal Sunday. The
~~r~phiral significanGe thereof. T~ese were dis,trib11ted at all eX,its free to the vast throngs witnesses rejoiGed exceedingly at getting this as ~hey streamed out~ Unfortunately, great timely and further .provision of the Lord -for
n'i:;tmpers of the public were unable to gain the fig~t to which they were now returning.
Not a bundle of Kingdom News was left. It
a<l!Ilittan<~e to Convention Hall on Sunday,
even aJl stand!ng room being: occupied. Hence, was marvelous fo observe that immense qu:;intity completely taken up l>Y the conventioners,
d,~rillg tl,ie lecture, rather than turn these disappointed thousands away empty~handed and ~or distributi9 o: their way back to their
unrewar<;led, Kingdom News No. 6 was dis- posts of service ~:nd in th~ir h,ome teJ;rit.ories
'
tributed to them. AU. together, 100,000 were <)n return.
~~Time

'

,,', .. '

,_.,

, ~u~sday. After~oon Se~si~n -

A Surprise

T~!~g:r~a~Y :,~~~1~~~rt~~~~- ~t~~e~~~~ t~ ;i:;s~afe~~r~,aitJ!; m~J4~ho;; ;!d~u~da~hr~

0

carried to all the convention cities hi the /hate', Jesus' brethren and persecute them or Jeho,Unit~d States., A change i:n tlie proO.ram gave vah's name's sake' Are the organizations today,
th 1 f
fi
W p H hi:;i h d such as the Roman Catholi Hierarchy allied with
e Pat orm rst to m. eat ' w 0 a - t:he American Legion, and whi<)h organizations claim
dre~s~dth~ conventiQI"l on the subject ''Ameri- to be protecting the American people from Jehoca.'s. Frienqf3". He said, jn part:
vah's witnesses, actually doing our col,lntry a favor'
"A consideration of the Scriptural prophecies Is i.t a favor to the Stars :;ind Stripes to induce its

and t~~ supp?rting facts. will disclose rtot orily the

real friends o~ the. -4\.merican people but also their
enemies.' 'I'he great 'f.heocrat JEHOV,(\.J! and His
. I,\::ing Christ Jesus. are the per~ect friends of
'-

tr.

~~}J~jgrr~J~~~:;:~:i::c;t ~::~~::~~:'.[!:tf.~~d

.J~;_;iti]i~. 1Lmt1,)_

It. 'No

Chrfati!i:~Ii

~ri~~:i~:~!.l:1;;~~l~~~!~ir:b~~~:

~o{~(:! '~~)

Giti.Zens to fight against Jehovah's name and :S:is

people' fa. it an act of friendship to cause one to
be exec~ted' Is it an :;i,ct of 19ve to persuade mob$,

The Y.ESSEN:GER

porsoI1~(f ~Y Hes, to seC1lp'or{ th~' faithful servan~s

by death to the p_erpetrators in the day Jehovah

avenges His 'people 61

The speaker 11nswered these questions with

abundant Scriptural '~nd moder: corroborative support based upon fulfillment of pro, phetic truth. The fUll report of the talk is
given elsewhere.

..
1

P:ag~ograph~

Following' this talk, and.as announced on

the prcigram, came a "Demonstration", when
~ II~ f{::norr, convention servant, introduced
a real SUrp:rise, a l}eW portable phonograph
designed for dporstep witnessing and mad.e to
play in ~ vertical position. It had ~ nuniber
of new features,. each of which as mentioned
by the speaker, and simultaneo1:isly demon7
. strated at' each conventim1 city in the United
States, was hailed with joy and applause by
t:Q.e 'conventioners. 1 ,
~
Trained demonstrators in each. hall stood
on tables and showed the operation 'of the
. I1ew phonograph. This was orie of the big hits
'of the convention.
Thirty new phonograph$, demonstrateQ. dur-,
ing the convention, were eagerly taken by the
witnesses so fortunate as to ask for them first.
They 'made liberal cont:i;ibutiOns 'to. cover the .
initial expense incurred in perfecting the. new
phonograph. Had th~y been available, five hund!jed of the new phonographs could have been
placed at the convention!

,\

and his righteousness"-that is, your first consid:..

erat~on must be the r!ghteous requir~ments of the
Kingdom. Look to your "taskmaster" (righteous-
ness) and then, the Lord,,assures, "all these .things
shall be added unto you.'' That is :firia1. I wouldn't
care if a million people. came to me and tried to
convince me that because they failed to get the
wherewithal to keep going the condition disproves
the, Lord's statement. I would not believe them~
T.he question is, Whom do we believe : the Lord
' '.rh~ phonograph has been a' powerful 'instru- or some 0reatqre? The Lord's wotd is . true. The
D:ie?t in the hi;tnds 9f the Lq:r<J's people in the proc- faHure is with the creature, not with the Creator.
. Iai$,tion of the Tri;E0Qli4',firn . GovE~NM;E}l'T. Sev- Ile will. fulfill His part if we do our . part. The
eral months ago a few of the brethren developed a thing to do .is to take the Lord at His word. The

new prindple to be ;used in the' phonograph. Broth- element of faith enters into this. . . .
gt Rutherford s3:w the vaJue 9 these principles
. TJ1ere are .some in the. pioneer service who are
~I},d. imrediately" arranged for' 50 'models to be
continually dwelling pn ho,w they are going to eat
l,elady for this Theocratic Convep.tjon. This new and how they are to be clothed. They go into the
ve,rtica.l;type phom5graph is a splep.did instrument service with their minds full of these things and
for the door-to:-door work, the doorstep setup, and generally do not make a success of the work beback.calls. 01).e; can'. operate the phonograph. ver- ' cause they are not seekinf?' first the Kingdom. Their
,ti<;a,lly, as you will see, or it can be set on a table' mind is on .the wrong thmg-themselves and their
.needs-rather than the Kingdom and .its requirein ,a horizont~l position a~d. wor~ ju~t as well.
ments ; and then the Lor.d is blarried for their failure.
The Pioneer Meet'ing
/ . -'
.
Don't misun(:].erstaI1d this. I am noi; oblivious of
"Pioneer"'is the term applied to that divi- the h:;i..rdships the pioneers endure or the difficulties
sion of the publishers of Jehovah's Theoc:i;:atic you have to contend with. I l(now Brother Ruther,:?:s>Yet.nm.ent 'Yho <;lev9tf .t!iei;r .e11tire. ti,ine .t,o ford spends much time considering and planning
ways and means of assisting the pioneers, and as
~J:i~ ;yoJ:'k, spending a, minimuII1 Qf 150 hours
the Lord directs apd leads he makes such provi~
~ m;onih direGtly in fie!d activities, be3:ring ;
sions as he can. My point is that the Lord will ful:the JJ).e,ssage>fro:i; house to house a.,nd J;llaking fill His promise if we do our part. . . .

)!'~tu.rn "visits. upon the interested, and using

During the past five months we have enrolled
. both th.e printed message and record.ed speech approximately 1,100 new pioneers. Many of you
~nl.d other faGilities
provided
by 'the WATCH;. w}i9. are here today, rejoicing as never before, are
!; '.' ' .
.
;

;_:_,~,.

''('.'' : . ., ,

.. _;. 0 , . . ', ' ...

I.

' ,'. .

"'

'_

:'

SocIETY. To this end the Society makes

special provision in their behalf for their continued maintenanGe i11 1 this fulFtime service.
To aid as many pioneers as possible to attend
the Theocratic convention, the Society made
special arrangements for them at great cost.
It was very gratifying that thus the vast majority of over 3,000 pioneers were enabled ,tp
put in appearance at the eighteen conventiOn
points' and participate in its various services
and activities.
The pionee:r meeting, 3 p.m. Thursday, witnessed all pioneers present assem,bled in the
main auditorium in fron~/ 9f the speak~rs' platform, about 1,500 at ~Detroit alone, put th1;i
meeting was attended also by others of the
convention. It dealt specially with the privileges and' problems of the full:-time workers.
Among them were many who hl:}d recently
entered the service, as well as quite a few who I
had in recent months suffered at the hands of '
mobs. The meeting was conducted by T. J.
Sullivan, who said, in .part:
Jesus said, "Seek y'e first the kingd~m of God,
TOWER

\if,, ,th'~. Lord, wh.en such crimes will be punished

is

16

The .MES-SENGER

Pioneer meeting a joy to everyone

undoubtedly part of that 1,100. Yours is a bl1:issgd
lot. You are storing treasures in heaven, which no
one can take away from you .. ..

are given that are essential to each one of the

remnant and those of the "great multitude~'
who have been brought into association ~with
During the course of the conv:entio11 2~0 the remnant.
individuals requested fJioneer applications, of
Now that copies of the official service pubwhich 83 were filled out and turned in at the lication, the Informa.nt, are sent only to servconvention.
ants of the companies, it is all the more neces-'
sary for the publishers to be in .attendance ;:tt
Model Service Meeting
all the"servicemeetings, where the Informant
Service meetirrgs, on the average one .eve- is studied, analyzed and discussed . fo:r .the
ning each week, are a regular feature of all . proJ:>er eguip1ll~nt of each and every worker:
organized c~panies of Jeho:vah)t .witi:rnses ... . ..lt.:W~.. pointed out that fiefd ser~ic~ eovth;roughout the earth. As an illustration .of ers .five dh~ti11gt m.:u:~s .of agt!vity: house-Jo'how a company service meeting could be made. house witnessjng with phonographs, magazine
IIlOSt interesting and helpful to the T}ieocratic street-corner wo;rk, back-call work, informaambassadors, a Model Service meeting was tion marches, and sound-cars. 1n 'addition, and
conducted frolil the convention platform on as an extension of the back-call .work, there
Thursday evening, July 25. Four brethren , ar,e model st11dies tq be conducted in the honi~s_
served on. the program, one acting as would of the. interested.
a company servant, another as the secret(try,
Attention wtts called to the fol1owing in~
a third as back-call servant, and the fourth struction is~ed by the Society :

as stockkeeper.
'When groups of. lawless persons or public
In the course of the sample meeting it was officials acting unlawfully cause. a stop of the
ppinted out that not merely. those who. hold publishing work and injure the publishers orofficial positions in the company; a~e to be their property, do this promptly:

Write .a clear, brief, but comprehensive account

used on prog~ams o~ service meetings, but . all
capable brethren should be. sed fr.om thneJo of all the facts. As far as po'ssible name accurately .
time.

each opposer who takes a leading part. Give his

In the. model meeting under consideration

the importance of all .company publishers, attending service .meetings was stressed, since
at such meetings information and instruction

official position, such as mayor, chief of police, or

other. State whether he is a member of The Ail11:lr:i"'
ca.n Legion 0 r other v~t,erans' organizatioii"{namiiig
it ac 9 urat~ly )., an.d wh~t position he holdi\ therein.:
Name each clergyman participating, giving naml'

"''

""' 'J-.::.

'

of_ch11rch 'd'.enomii:i_ation. Let all such names .be obtain,eq a.s ac~urately and as promptly as possible
un9~r. the circumstances'. . .. ....
.
.
A comp.etent indi~idua1 in the local c~mp~ny or
z:czti:f ~.an sign this sta!ement as his own and ac-.
knowledge it as a true statement before a notary
public: Typewrite the' state111ent, making eight readable copies. Send the original 'to Francis Biddle,
Solicitor Gene~al of the United States, Department
of Justice, Waishington, D. C. Send a copy to each
of .the following anq ret~in one copy for your file:
. 4merfoan Civil Libe,rtie~ pnion, 31 Union Sq11are,
West, New York, N. Y.
Governor of the Stitte wh~re event occurs; attorney general of that State; prosecuting attorney
of , the c<mnty where acts occur; . editor of that
county's largest i:iewspaper; Society's Brooklyn office, legal desk.
Another point that the worker~ .were coup:.

seledto ~ear ip mind, was that when accosted

by an officer and asked, "What are you doing~"
the .testimony card is i:rnmediately to .be produced, as that contains the worker's credentials. If the officer refuses to read it, then read
it to).im. 'So doing, the statement on the card
will, in case of ai:rest, become part of the court
record, setting forth exactly what you were
doing and why.
.
: Mention was made in the Model Service
meeti:p.g of the fa~t that the persecution of,
Jehovah's w~tnesses by the American Legion
and the Hierarchv in r,ecent months has had,
the effect of forcing many of Jehovah's witnesses and companions out of secular employment. Instea,d of sitting down and bemoaning
their fate, these immediately made application
for pioneer service, determining from henceforth to find empfoyment in The Theocracy,
,:where neither man nor devil can force. them
OU~.

Ariother Model Meeting

4 model Wat ch tower study, Saturday night
from 8 to 9,. was another delightful feature o;f
the convention. It stressed the necessity of
preparation on the 'part of study conductor
andstudy group and demonstrated the method
carried on at the Society's headquarters,. in '
Bro6klyn, New York. In order to make the
answers audible to that vast convention of
, 35,000, inciud1.ng 'those at "Jehovah Village",
twelve n1iles away,, there were only a :limited~
r\ilml:>er inv~ted to participate directly in the .
ID,o~c1.el ~fudy on the platform, and who answere_d the . questions on the current . watchtower article through microphones. At times
t:qe ent~re assembly. was called upon to ans~r a question in unison. To the question;
1

Model Watchtower study conducted. from platform

-

-~

'

''What will Jehovah;s enemies then say~" a

basso-profundo voice answered, "They shall
say 'Peace !ind saf (;)ty' ." 'f And what will then
happen?" addressing the question to the convention, which answered with a thunderous
roar, "Then sudden destruc_tion cometh upon
them, . . . . and they shall nqt escape !"-Quot~
ing 1 Th~ssalonians 5 : 3.

Hurdling Obstacles
If you visited Convention Hall w_hen the
convention committee did when making arrangements, or if you visited it just twodays
, after the close of this assembly, you would
behold just a sprawling series of five large,
low-roofed halls with sky-lighting, adjacent
one to another, and with broad passageways
or door openings and immense floor space.
A tour of the vast barnlike structure, from
the Cass Avenue entrances to the Woodward
Avenue entrance, just two days after the witnesses got. iri to do construction work, pointedly showed, to wit, that Jehovah has on earth
a practical people of many capabilities, able
to carry on without aid of the Devil's commercial organization, thoroughly able to act
as organizers or to be organized, and to transform a messy situation into a comfortable and
adequately provided convention location. As
to this and other convention arrangements
ill other parts of the city, so thorough a job
was done of .systematizing all preparatory
activities that the work went forward with
the . required efficiency and completely overrode all the obstacles and discol),certing delays and hold-ups that the enemy had willfully_ brought about. Not. surprising, therefore, that in a few days' time the regular
company of witnesses at Detroit secured 17,000

18

\ ..

h.~~d t\) . fa:i

Room assignment. department

al'y seats .in

.
Newspaper commept on the openfog session
said:
Without anytraee 0 the m.unicipal welcome us.:

accommodations for conventioners in private

homes and boarding houses, aside from the
'
city's many hotels. .!
ually accorded gatherings of even less than its size,
The rooming committee or department'held: the Theocratic Convention of Jehovah's witnesses
forth a~ the E~st~J;Il Star Tei.pple. _(see photo), assembled in ~etroit w ednesday for a five-day conveti,on.
.. ' ....... .. .
. ..
a few blocks away from Convention, Hall.
Far ':from.pissing tiie. convenHoilairesofufloii of
The room or office for handUng the rooming
assignments was thoroughly organized and the W'elcom~, in fact, the Common Council. displayed
work classified. There were val'.'i()lls. desk~. ~rig anger that the Witnesses were permitted to use
Convention Hall. [Detroit Free Press July 25,
divisions, each ha:ndling different groups :or . 1940]
'.
classes of room applications.
.
.
The
same paper said' under d,ate of July 29:
Two days before the convention, arrangeUnwelcome. to civic agencies. and the Co:r;nmon
ments had been made for 30,000 conventioners.
1

A' People "Not Desired" (Zephaniah 2: 1)

Jehovah's witness~s a:r;i.d companio~s are a
people or "nation" not desired by the rulers
of this world. They are separate and distinct
from the world, and look forward to that new.
heavens and new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness and which will follow .Armageddon.
It was therefore not out of co:u!'se qf the
Devil's organization that the Ohio State Fa.ir
Grounds were denied Jehovah'switnesses.Jo.r
their 1940 national .Jtssembly, altho.ugh on
many previous occasions they had assembled
ill Columbus, t4ree of their largest conventions having been held there, in 1924, 1:931,
and l~37. Wh~n th~ final .s49yygowi . ~~p;i.~,
n:ot even the State Fair Grounds in-,:Oetro1t

Council, the witnesses w!Olre a boon to business in

the stores around; Convention Hall. nestau:r:ant o.wners .said they were glad the witnesses had been denied a meeting place at Columbus and at the Michi-:
gan Sta.te Fair Grc:uJ.lds, and the Masonic Temple'
in DefJ:o!t
. .. ' . .
.
,
.

Opposition to J,ehovah~s witnesses led to JlC:rimoni6us deb;:ite in the Counciland efforts to

fix the b.l.ame. for their presence in Detroit led
to cg~rging Grindley (owner of Convention
!Ia!l) witli tb,e. responsibility. This unfavor9ab~e.~harge led further to the threat of inC!'!;a~
ing the tax assessments on the. I!all. The ho.s.;
tile ~ttitude, together with expressions of anger and covert threats made by such un-American organizations as the American Legion and
the Veterans of Foreign Wars, made Jehovah's
wftp,ess~ t.eaJize. 'the ne~d pf increa.~ed vigi-

19

la~d{(alth~ugh ~ob attacks and. other.violent

T4e.. governor, after the telegram was read

to him in the course of the conversation, said
he' Md not received it, .but probably it was. on
his desk, as he hadn't opened any telegrams
4P~~~t'.J~ '~QCl!sli,~~, ,<
as yet.
.'\ $aid J,ehovah's chie,f, witness: uRender unto . His advice, in cas~ ;of any disturbance, was
. C~sar .tpe things that are Cresar's'}; '(Caesar" to inform the police, and if the police. could
te!:rresenting the earthly government ---.t.hos~ not cope with the situation, then to get in
exerci~ing gov~rnmental functions.' E,:ence , J e.touch with the prosecuting attorney of the
hovah's witnesses do not ignore them. i\_ ware cou;nty, report the matter 'to him, and if i:t beth~( th~re. 'Yere a number of sul:ryersiye, anQ. . came necessary for the State to step in, then
u~ Am~ri~~m. elements. in . _and .about_ Detr'oit the State would do what, -wasn~cei:;sary to stop
' t~~i ~ere' itching fo illterfe~e, those in charge any disturbance. He added, a1 t will be nec', of?otjven~ion ~rrang.emen,ts took every proper essary for, you to go through the prqper chanprecaution~ As is right, they gave. due a.dvice
nels." The governor said that there was noth,- ..
~:rt<i '\;v;,tr,ning to those responsible tor maintain- ing he could do except in c.ase the local au:ing public order.
thorities did not take care of the situation .
.The ~onvention servant, together with other;
The governor must have missed reading
.1
fu~mbe:r-s o~ th~ WATCH. ToWERBIBLE &TRAcr about the mobs that caused .so much trouble
tfoClETY, either telephoned or called upon t1-e
in other. states, or he would surel7 not have
. chief()f police, precinct officers.and others who been.. so utterly inadequate in his suggested
in.ight reasonably and legally be expected to manner of dealiI)g with mobs. However, J ehofake nece~~ary iSteps to nip threatened violence. vah's 'witnesses, th'rough the ones in.charge of
'While officers were supplied to cope with.traffic the convention, had given Proper .notice to
bl ems
and a~out the. h,~ll, the_ police de'." those responsible for maintaining order. Fol'paftment manifested an obyious reluctanCE). to lowing Nehemiah's example of old, they did
d()rifo..5~.uty.
..
1 . . 11 . ... 11-., . what they could to. prevent lawless and sus. t 'Y~s thought well to cal upon t ehig est . picious individuals :from gaining entrance to
executive in ii'he State. to make sure th,a;t the the auditorium, and were also' prepared to
very possible ( aild probab,le) vfolence 'c>r~a1s~ deal with them in case they did enter. More
ord,edy .and fawless elements, sho-ld be met than that' could not be done .. For the rest,
l;>ef'ore it cquld progress to where it would be having done all they could, they were con~
qeyon(l control .. A telegram . was sent,. to th~ tent to leave the matter. o~ their protection
governor, .reading as follows:
..
and the protection of the convention ii+ Jej:housarids of Christians, citizens of .the Unite.d hovah's hands .. They represented His kingSt~tes, assenibling today a,t Detroit for five 1fays' dom, and were ih Detroit to further the 1:n~
~9nyentiqI1 ,for the study of the BiblE;l. CatholiJs and
terests of that kingdom; the great Theocracy.
other fawless elements. threa,ten' to break up the He would not fail /them ; and He didn't.
Ip,ee'ting c6ntrary to thidaw of. the land. Will you
Opposition to .the convention reared.its ugly
a~ thechiet officer ,of the State use your powe.r and
influe.t;lce to se~ that this Christian a,ssembly is per- head before tpe convention began. It took the
n1Mt1 orm of efforts to hamstring this and
~ltt~~ . to l10ld 'th~ir meeting with9ut intereren6~
or .d1.stu,rba-9-ce f:t:c_>W . the. lawle~~ elen1ent' ,,,. . . . , ... th~J ar:rangement. On previous oc~asions there
:f '.F91Jo-\ffog up the t'elegram wlth a telephone was seating room for 16,000 permitted, and
call; . the, conveption servant told GovernQr tMt in just three out of the Qonvention Hall's
fiYj'?" a.:11.9-itgtj.u.ms; now the Fire Department
9
decided that, to obviate fire. hazards, it was
organhatfop.
il).g its convention in the United St;:ttes anlfu"'. necessary to limit the seating to 6,00:0 <Jr 7,000
ally for the. past sixty years.' We hav:~. nevei;: chairs~. The threat was added that if more were
placed, although there was ample floor spa~e,
in,t~rfered with( anyone. Our chief. objective is
t6 'worship Almighty God and tell the people th~ 'convention would be closed forthwith.
t}ie gracious things that He has provided. We
For the opening day only that number of
()Illy' ask. to be let alone anq not interrupted eollapsible chairs were placed, so making it
by a lawless eleme;nt, and. would like to have obligatory for thousands to stand. Daily thereyQ'ul' expression as to what, if any, action . you after the number of chairs set up (against the
take.to see"that we enjoy a peaceable, law:- walls there were stacks of them unopened)
ful asse.:rn.bly
:'}
..
in9re.a~ed. Offic.;~18 ~id not seem. to. notice; no
.,,
'
~5ei)erien<:es of the past few months had
sufticie~t t0 ,make them alert).
'
[-.. ;''.':;>>'.:~:,:t::~:'~':f~'~.,s:~'. ':~~~.t~~>~~ ,."~~:~<: '.. ~~~;;.~v~:~.:.:~:_ t'.. ~;::.~:':.~/ :. .: :<. :,.: :,: .: > _.:< \:

b,een

4cts 2$:.lty _ .

pro

in.

.i

~ig~~i~ Qhristi'an

has''beei;l h~id~

wm
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The. M]JJSSENGER

20

one seemed to. object. Still a great deal of

e):npty space remailled, making ample standing room. This really served-/to advantage.
The fire . department's limitation really permitted a larger number of persons, upward
of 25,000, to gain access to the Hall, and by
Sunday there . was a grand total of 45,000,
standees and seated, at all locations, which
figure.jncludes large numbers that 'had gone
to the trail~r camp in response to the following announcement:
.'
' .
..
~fA:rrahge1uents have been made to c~rry the
' proceedings of the conventiOn to the trailer
camp
day Saturd,ay and. all day Sunday.
Also all convention sessions ma~ be heard at
the. Eastern Star Temple, on West Alexan. drine, as well as in this hall. Th.ere are these
three places where the convention.can be h~ard,
and we shall have only these three. Any of.
the brethren may remain at the ~raile;r camp
if. they wish. Also, any brethren who want to
take full automobile foads there may do so.
his expected that this hall (the Convention
Hall} will be mo:r;e than packed out Saturday
and Sunday. The tritiler camp is out in the
open, of course, and we have powerful loudspea,king equipment there/~ .. .
As a. result there were about 12,000 con~
ventioners at the .camp on Sunday, where
they could hear seated in their cars or gathered on the grounds in groups.

'

all

hovah's witnesses are .inder consideratiop,

At the last :10ment, on Wednesday, the
first day of the' convention, the authorities
decided that the chairs must be fastened together in some way, or the convention Qould
not be' held! It was up to the witnesses ; for
the owner 'of the hall would not undertake
the task (and' apparently he had never before
been required to do this~ as the chairs were
there without any fastenings of any kind).
The legal ( ~) requirement for the occasion
was met by obtaining strong rope and binding the chairs together in groups of three.
While C.onventio:n H,aU 'presented manyproblems, there were seen to be some, faygrable points as well; and Jehovah's hand was.
seen in .the choice finally of this hall.
Had Michigan State .Fair Grounds . been
used it would h,av:e been possible to have all
departments housed .adequately in the differ~
ent buildings on the grounds: book room,
cafeteria, hospital, information, checking, etc.
Convention Hall did not offer the same facUities on. such. a convenient scale ; so arrangements for a numberof these departments had
to be made five blocks away, at the unit headquarters on West Alex;andrine street.~ T.he hos:- .
pital also had to be, arranged at some dis
tance away;

' <:1
On the other ha;nd, if the Fair Grounds had
been used the witnesses would have been much
more vulnerable to the attacks .of lawles!; .el~:
ments, .as these grounds a;re away from the
city, and it would have been necessary to scatter over a wide area both the conventioners
and the wihers policing the convention. At
/Convention Hall, on the contrary, all was compact together, and a solid, closely-bound-together organization made for greater safety
from attack. Being in th.e midst of the J~ity
would likewise tend to make the ('un)Ameri:.
can Legion and similar lawless element~ hesitate to stage a disturbance. Further, in the
roid$t of. the great. number of witnesses, any
other group was necessarily small in comparison .. It. is .probable that all of. these facto:r$
.col}tributed to the peaceful progress of the
: .~9ttY~:ntipn, under Jehovah's guiding and pro
tecting"hand.

""
The heat was intense almost the entire :five
days of the convention, occ~sioning hundreds
of :caE;e.s of heat prostration, but through it
all .Jehovah's witnesses proved their fortitude
just as they do in bearing the heat and burden of the day in field service. Just before
.Judge Rutherford.. spoke on Saturday a re-

.'

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Packed. out! but listenfog to Judge Rutherford

~:<>;._'.'.+/\ ,>/ ~, ;:,.: ~ : :'..:.> , '. , .' : .: _ . . . . .:~:; : ::> ' . ._: .::\:.'.".:<, '::~;:<:/:: ': '~::\ ...
<

::1Additiona.lly,

;'

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there were .thousands.. outs,ide

of the Han; in .the , surrounding .. driveways
and open spaces, as wen as about 3,000 in
and, p;i::ound. the Eastern Star Temple with
its. two auditoriums. Approximately 30;000
petsons .found a place in a.nd . around Con-'.
vention Hall, instead of the usual 19,000 per;.
IP:i.tte4. when. any other group qutsi{l~ pf Je-

2; Ea.rly -~-rrl~ais."
'Gettlng.Jri~~~ed.
Idenfiffoatfori. 5.'-Ali set.. Et.' Refreshments,.:
7. Listening to program direct from Convention Hall. 8. T~nt-dwellers .

a;

:.i.

. I

22

The MESSENGER

:freshing shower cooled the, atiil.bsplier~ 1erii~

pdrarily. The heat brought a number o.f, ip~~
dl~~s toN the eo~v~ntion, dpops _ttpd VJ~W,~ty
selling fans, which were m great dettHU1d.
~#et a !VhUe.otiwr,s appeared 'seging c~h~s,
. badges and pennants, the latter w1th the m~
scription "TheocratiC Convention of J ehovah~s
wHnesMs, July 24-28, Detroit, Mich.';. A good
- rl1~iiy of these were sold to converttioner~, w~o
us~d them to give further publicity to the .conv~ht!on. Oth~r peddlers appeared selling trinkets, but the demand or. their wares was
. Mg1igible. , . . .
. .
.,. .. .. . .. . . . , .. .
trshers in Convention Hail ilnd elsewhere
. ._wore .badges to, identify them. These' bore .the
Bu:mper and tire-cover ads
words "Theocratic CoJ::lvention Jehovah's Witness~s July 24-28, USHER"~
The scheme did not work, :for the publishers
In some manner, on Friday-, a stranger ob- invariably contillued their work withqut being
tained 150 0 these badges and disappe~red further troubled.

with the:in. Obviously there was here an atAn effort was also made by the police to pretempt to get -a "flfth column" into the Con- vent .the younger children from engaging in
vention Rall and ~ause trouble. N'ew badges the street maga.zine distribution, citing' an orSimply .bearing the . WOfd,S wrhe 'l1heocracyH dinance prohibiting the children from workwere therefore isstWd, of a different .~esign, ing in this manner under a certain age. No
and supplied to the brethren serving as U.$h- arrests,, however, were made in this connection~
Announcement was made ~rorn the platOnly 37 witnesses were actually arrested
iorrii that anyone-wearing the old badge.after and jailed for. soliciting contrib~tions w!thSatur.day noon should not be admitted. j\. few . out a license. 'these cases ar~ st1.11 pendmg.
of the .ushers :failed .to .get their .new. badges, Inasmuch as the ordinance under which these
andwere consequently excluded, somewhat to arrests were made is identical with the. one de.their embarrassment; but the purpose o:f the clared unconstitutional by.the Supreme Court
change was served, and troublemakers . dis- in the Cantwell case, the outcome is not ill
guised as ushers did not gain admittance. doubt.
... ..
'
In some parts of the city the police showed
"egal Department
.
.
a marked Nazi spirit. In one in,stance an offiJehovah's witnesses are law-abiding. IletJ.ce cer said, "You . had better move on, before the
they take pai:ris to see that all opposition and Legion comes and mobs you .. I am' giving you
p~rsecu ti6n ~are resisted. and, ii possible, over~
a\ tip that they are on their way here ~ow,
' cijtt1e in a .lawful ma11ner'. Detroit is_ called.a and .1 will not be here when they arrive."
dathoHc stronghbld .. boubiless, then, the distribution, early in the course of the convention, of the booklet Judge Rutherford Uncovers Fifth. Column ,dealt.. the oppqsing ele
ment such a hard blow that it took them some
time to recover and hatch up a scheme where~
by they might. 'frame mischief by law'. No
arrests were made until Friday and Saturday.
Over a hundred workers were, interfered
witlrbythe police on those days, being taken
into the station and questioned, and then later
released without a charge. In many instances
the police seemed to be putting forth an effort
to J:>luff the witne~s~s py threatening arrest unle~s they discontinued the magazine dtstribution '1n the streets or the door.,to-door work;
. .. . . . . (joi!lg information marching
,
' . .
. ~-~~:.,.,,;'~_;,~~-',;t,,;.:\~;,~P:;,../,,,-.~~: ":~:'.,,
rf.:,,:..f .(;;;-:..:).. ,:.~~...'..-,;'.,;).~1:,,
.,.;~,.~,,:;;
. . ;.:.~;:':} >:.~~~~ ~~'"6~'.;:':~~_l'f~~'"::fP.~:-'\''ft'~-f,:'.,f\:f'-~;+.~~~,.;.-~"'#'ff';:-r,~~ t :~1 ~

..
.)!~

ers..

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The

JLESsE~G.ER

,'.: the major interference with the work duripg the convention was by members of the
A:gierican Legion and the Veterans of. For~~gn .Vt"ars, who ganged up on workei:s in varipiirts of the city, frequently with the backing 0 priests. There were :tnor~ than;;i, dozen
i11stances of .this kind, and in two instances
wit11esses attacked were. women,_ priests
'with collars and vests buttoned on backwards
.attacking them from behh1d. ' ... . ...
. .:'
, .A .s~o.re or morB of mops gathered against
the '\vitnesses in various parts of the town. as
they were. engaged .in the. street. work .. The
b:lobwould surround an isolated publisher: an_d
threaten him with violence if he. did
d:iScontinue his work or salute the flag. These
demands were, of cours:e, refused. In sbine inst~nces .workers were viciously assaulted. The
police in every inst3:nce. stood idly by and
watched the mobs commit tb.e. violence, and,
when requested to take complaint~ or make
' arrests, refused to _do so, even where.the, ide:r::- .
/ti,ty of priests, I..1egionnaires or "Veterans" was
. establisheff beyond ;reasonable doubt.~
The a,,ssa11lts 'Yere boldly resisted by the
pl-ihlishers, who. gladly returned t()_ the _terri:tory the following days and pushed the battle
to the gate, thereby proving the Devil to be
a. l~ar and striking terror into the he~rts of
.Je1ioyah's el1emies.

ous

the.

not.

Pfatform . . ..

... '!'he ~peakers' platform was placed in such

a position in t_he main auditorium that it could.
be seen also from three of the otherJour halls,
t}lrcrgh the wide doorways. Th~ platform was
attractive by the display of palmsiiftnd
:fi.ow~rs, one basket . centrally placed bearing
a ribbon }Vith golden: letters, "The Theocratic
. Conyention." A rug c.overed the _floor, and
~}i~fr$ of_9ea,utiful. mqd~misti'c . design were
placed in convenient -places for speakers and
others ~erving :on the platform. To. the Jore
abov~ the platform hung a large banner, embro~dered }Vith letters . of . gold, ~~ich_ sai~,

rnaM

'.'MY.' HEART s':HALL

ll.

~.\.'F'.
;.jP:

l;f~;'.~~~:~

contr~l

room

fiiti, whieli kept the ~ir in circuiatio~ across

the platform. Being situated in a corner, the
platform would-otherwise have been most uncomfortable during sessions.
The orchestra /pit was alongside the platform .. The orchestra reached a. peak of fifty
mliSicians on Sunday, with wide variety. of
instruments, :from all ov_er th.eUnited State~.
It was conducted by a member of station
WBBR's musical staff at Brooklyn. By loudspeaker equipment in all halls (and at all the
conventions during relayed programs) the orchestra served as excellent guide and support
to t~e singing coriventioners. Though scattered
6v~r la number of lrnlls with partitions that
prevented thousands from. seeing the music
conductor, the entire assembly sang together
in marvelous unison, well reflecting how they
unitedly sing together the Theocratic "new
song'' to all mankind. The songs were up-
to-date, non-religious; energetic, in line with
"present truth", and singing them was a man::
ifest joy to the conventioners. .
.. :
To the left of the platform, and suspended
from the ceiling above the center aisle of the
main auditorium, hung a huge painting, beautifully executeq in. full color. It pictured the
great multitude of people of good will_ hasten'"
in,.g from ~00111ed "Christendon;i." a;nd joyfully
:tleeing to The Theocracy, so. escapmg destruction. Until Judge Ru~herford introduced and
released the new book Religion, Saturday afternoon, little did the conventioners realize or
suspect that the painting was a large-scale
duplicate of the embQssed cover and frontispiebe 0 a grand surprise for theni.

~PSALM 13: 5," the 1940 year's text. '13ac1': of

the platform was the sound-contr9l roolll, from
whigh through ,glass p'anels the operators could
s~~ '~~e ,speakers and microphones. at work.
i} :ffl;ior~sce~t )ight over the speakers' stand
-~~fl\(> heat; an important 9onsideration in
t~~- yery hot weather that ,then qbtained. A
further aid -in reducing the .arduousness of <;afeteria
. .
.
.
the speakers' task_ was the _ installaticHi of _ a
,.J)_ring the five assembly d~ys no e~ting es4.Jeet-tall cooling
device, like. ...a, large electric ' tablishment in. Detroit had a patronage at all
..
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,:',1

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REJorcE IN'1ltHY' sAt\rA:'!'!ON.

In the

.!;v'i,''/">, -::

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24

Tke -ME:S,SEN:GER ,
comparable to that of the conventiqn c~feter.ia,
a feature that ministered:greatly to the health,
comfort and .convenience of the: conve.11ti911,er,~~
Businessmen of Detroit co-operated willing-
ly in the preparation of the cafeteria. by supplying equipment. The Hobart Company fur-,
nished kitchen equipment vah1~d at $2,065.
The nieat - grinding machine loaned by them
was of the latest design and efficiency. The
United States Slicing Machine Company
loaned one of tlwir. lat~.~t ~Hee.rs, valued at
$1,000. The McCray company furnished re~
frigerator equipment.. The Gas Company freely supplied ranges for the preparation of
food, as well as $500 .worth of pipe required
to handle the large-scale convention. demand
for fuel. Ruud Heaters to furnish hot water
were loaned. There was also a machine that
would quickly clean and peel either potatoes
or carrots. A Champion dishwasher took care
of 3,000 .dishes in an hour, but many human
dishwashers had to help out to take ca;re of
thousands 0 other dishes,. spoons, forks, etc.
All the equipment was put up by the publishers themselves, working night ~nd day to get
everything in readiness.
.
With an immense number of conventioners
to be fed, cafeteria arrangements had to be.
extensive ap.d. thorough. With Jehovah's blessing, wonders were accomplished. With "plenty
of lumber, tables ;;ind serving units were built.
up such as illustrated Ori this page .. Te11 of
these (double). ril);its handled the crowd with
remarkable dispatch; especially when the immense numbers, and the rather cramped ac~
commodations, are taken into cons,ider_ation..
Una]Jle to take advantage of the convention
cafeteria, thousands had to eat outside, and
so atmeal times long lines of hungry conventicmers also formed. at cafeterias an.d restaurants for blo~~s ar,ond in. _tlie yicfoitf o":i:
Convention Hall.
.

The 'cafeteria was operated, not for C()ID.;.

merdaJprofit, ptfor the benefit of the !leedy~
Here p:ractically a.11 tlrn pioneers and huncire<:ls
of otlier~ \Vere gjJelJ t}ieir meals free.
.: . ,
Great: surprise w~as occ~sioned wheJ;i; a Stit:- ,
ment, read imm~diately after Judge Rutherford'.~ public a<:l!f.res~- Snday, July 28, 1940,
de~l~_red: ~''.1\_lthmighwe have spe11t thousands
of\l6ll~rs he:re -w.x.th.P.<2troit's, werch~pts,<;ind
h_aY:e oper<:tted. ~-J~rge cafeteria to feec;lt.h~
poor, and although we are a charit3ible organ-

~-

f' On~ 6f(fu{ _afet~rfa units.

en. 3. :Eteady
',''""

'

fora

.2.)n t~e-~kit;h:
goOd meal. 4. What shall. it be? ,

\ ''

: . ;,

..

1~ation, operating withot pecuniary Ji:r6nt; -th~

t.ax collector . has 'pursued . . the unu~maJ

c~t:v-.

c9P,:rse-'()f' REQUIRING. U$ TO .~~ y ;t,t,rC~NSE TAX

'. :f~r- the -I>rivilege of feeding the needy~'; l)oes
tP.e, city of. :Petroit pursue, a,. like pql,i~y ,to ..
'W~tds its. ~ljgious organizations under ,si~i ..
lai eircumstart.ces?
.. .
'' / ' :: _, : - :: '
-. ''.F~edhlg some thirty thousana or rore Gofi:_
ventfoners called for large supplies. Th,e dai)y'
diet, with variations, included 2,200 pounds
of bread and 6_00 doien eggs, 300 dozen pieces
of. pastry. and thirty. or morff cas-es. each of '50
fh:tckages of-Corn.Flakes a:rigS}iredded Wlieat,
pesi(les cooked cereal. Also 50 pasketsof peaches and 40 cases of 126 oranges. All that for
l:>r~akfast, leaving something over for dinner.
At dinner 1,500 'pounds of meat was prepared
(varied /one day with 1,200 P.ounds of chicken,
and another-not Friday-with 1,500 pounds
9f fis}i). Some 14,000 half-pints of milk were
. required daily, and 40 gallons of bulk milk and
20 gallons, of cream. One ton qf c.a1Jbage was
co;nsumed daily, and a hundred baskets 0 fo-m~t()es, besides . a con$iderable .quantity' of /
ot}ier vegetables. Also, there were 250 pounds
of cottage cheese .called fo:r daily. No mention
is her~ made of pies, but there was a consideraql~ supply of these also available. . .
In the kitchens a truc.k ~ompletely equipped,
~itli. magnify.ing (loud-speaking) . equipm~rit
made ,it . possible for . kitc}ien_ a~d.. cafeteria
W()rkers. to_ hear all the C()nvention proceed'"
hrgs without leaving their place or 'work This feature contributed much to the efficiency of
the .cafeterfa force. ,
,,

Ast~ike

. 'Tocopi'.plicate matters' c9nsWe,:raqly a tl'u~k

illg strike was called in Detroit just as the
~~nyention w~s gettiI1g under way. Thls'.WO'uld
}iavE;ip.trfered greatly whh the delivery of
books aI1d cafeteria supplies, had not the Lord
op'erieP, .the. way
the publisher .who drove
tn . truck to. obta~n. Jrom the. trucking .union
il,''pass, willingly granted, givin~ . him Utihin'CJ.ered freedom to go with the truck whe.reVer
~th~ .conv~ntion interests requir~d. _him. . t9 go.

for

t.f_,:.'.~.f.,i'.\ ..'

~':~. .
%~~1,.(:].:;:(:.f'~

f'1::r'
~f'./"

,.,,

.":,

g()pvenfion Highlights
: . ..... . . ~ - ; :,:Tp:~ ~'orriing ,0f. each c~nveti1ion . day; _e~cept
$titid.ay,-was . devoted to field sery!ce'. The'.As~pbly fo~ Field Servfoe \vas at 9 a,.m.; :and

-~~~marked bY sirigi~f?;,pra~.e~, .~an~ -the r~a_d"'.

'. .. -- .

!.

Ti. c 5, s, 7.
(;~;;

,.L

,.

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ot. t~e _gr,e~t d1Ii;1g. h~1i""

~:~ .
.8. Aids iq :.
":: :::_;_ ', , .. :.;;
'

Views

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lfeej;Jiir~ -,~QQl,''

.;./

in'g (from the 1940 :fearbOok) ofthe te:Xt arid

comments for the day. Announcements relating to the field service anq oth~r cop vention
cqncerns were also made, Then, at 9: 30 the
W,itp.esing partfes c(e'.parted 'for their territories, to hring. to the people of good will the
glad message of the Theocratic ,Kingdo:m of
_;Jehovah .. They also engr;iged in ''inform~ti?n
tntt,:t''Ghe!" with large placards, and street )Vltnesing with. the Watchfower and Cqrisolati9n
magazines.
~l\.s they, made these efforts to comfort "all
that mourn" they met. some who were not of .
good will, either toward God or man. Stich
showed their animosity in various ways. In
one cas~ a priest and one of his :flock attacked
.a woman bearing a sign advertising the Sunday lecture. They tore off not only the sign,
but also part of the woman's clothing.

Sunday morning _witnessed an_ assembly for

baptism. Besides the candidates for this symbolic immersion, thousands' of other conventioners came to the auditorium to hear the
Scriptural presentation of the significance of
this symbol. Then hundreds of cars took the
"great multitude" of newly consecrated ones
to the i:uriersion pool, ;:mme qistance away.
Cars were lined up three d~ep for many blocks
along Cass avenue, and police officers gave
needed assistance to make things go sm9othly.
The pictures will tell th~. r~wl'.lin4er .9~ tr-2e
story from here on, takih~ Y()U to the .imniersion pool and showing the 'large numbers "of
those baptized. Incidentally, if i_s of interest
that the papers gave special space to the fact
that the governor of Michigan had gone elsewhere to attend an unusual local r~1igious
event, an "impressive" baptism servfoe at
which some twenty persons were immersed.
There were. 1,634 immersed at the Gonvention
of Jehovah's witnesses.

'
While these members of the "grefit m-qltitude'' (Revelation 7: 9) were being. immersed,
the convention at the main audftori.um and
connected halls. was being . addressed.' on . the
subjects of "Co-ordinating Field Activity'? and
"O:rganizin'g Isolated Territory".

During the course of the convention many

talks were given on a wide variety pf Scriptural subjects by publishers from all parts of
the United States and from 'Canada, as well
as some from, Europe. Great thrills were ex~
1

. .

1. Some of the cars that carried great multi

tude to pool for baptism. 2. Arriving at pool"
3. Waiting their turn. 4. Enterin~" the pool.

;(.;.-.
I.!~.~~~

JAt

~{;~

. '

'

'VThe'ltftss4ENG~11

such

"pe:rienced listening to accounts

as ffom
a regional servant from the mob-swept areas
of Texas; also from a regional servant from
Canada, with its ban 6n Jehovah's _witness;
also from the erstwhile servant of .the Berne
1
(Switzerland) branch, who braved many dangers from Nazi-Fascists to get out of Europe
and)n time to the convention.

Field Service, etc.

Mention has already been made of the variou$ forms of field service that engaged some
of the time of praGtically all -the conventioners. Of the. literatUre taken_ to Detroit, the
following disposition was made :
Placed Placed
Taken
Field Conv'n
Home
Total
Books
2,967 21,688
51,060
'75,715
Booklets
210,323 129,0!59 100,000 439,382
_32,960
Magazines
16,123 16,837
[( ingdom News
100,000 1,926,000 2,026,000

This report does not reflect the full amount

of se'rvice rendered by the publishers at the
convention. A very large force had to be used
for day and night guard duty throughout the
auditorium, ttailer city and Alexandrine Hall,
in addition to the regular maintenance and
operation of convention departments which
usually absorb a great number of workers.
The following precautions were taken to insure proper observation and protectfon for
workers 'in the "busy downtown areas: Magazine work on the streets, information marches
and .business witnessing were co-ordhiated as
-far aspossible. The time set aside for the first
two f eatu res of the work particularly was
from 11 a.m. /to 1 : 30 p.m. and from 5 p.m.
to 6 p.m., and from 10 p.m .. to 11: 30 p.m.
The late evening hour covered the theater area.
The co-operation of all the ,.::witnesses 'in the
service war} was exGellent. A very fine spirit
was in evidence throughout and there were
practically no com plain ts heard.

Camera Department
Cameras owned. by con:ventioners were put
to use' in the service of The rrheocracy. Freely
offered, thes,e were em ployed to make _records
of convention activities, and, in some instances,
of interference and opposition by lawless elements.

.The M:ESSENGER

tite 'J1rail~r Camp

we,re patrolled reg~larly throughout the night.

One night; July 22, when there were alre.ady
trailer camp was a novel
~fi;4?~ttractiv:e fe~ture 9f. the Detr,pit conve11 a n~mher il}_the camp, the power was shut off
aJ1d .:rp.e;n.. ~a:e'in wanting to know if it was
ti~n~.' There were h:undreds .of ~ouse-cars and
t~ai1~ts/a~weU a number of tents a~d other ap: American camp. They were assured it was,
~o)jt~iy,a11.c;.es, for acco!llIIl.Odating tho,.se who take withadded informatiOn; A little later on the
t.o,;~;n~ ''.r{)~4. in the., service of t!J.e King. Among mayor ofthe adjacent town came in with the
t~~ :rri~ny'. trailers and house~cars .there were. fown clerk, stating that he had had many calls
~. f~w ho.me)llade ones, but for the mo,st par~ and inquirie,s a~;to what this camp was. He
th,:~Y were .of the well-built commercial type. 'came. out fo see' for himself. After 'being courtepusly received. and given an explanation as
1.),~JlSUal i.ll the case of cars uSed by witnesses,
1J:~\~t>apers gave special attention to the "an- to what the:camp wasthere for, he went away
satisfied.
~~~n.t jalopies"' of which. there were but a 'few.
One night before the convention opened,
-.c,~,:J1owever, testified to the owners' deterw}natioi;l.1 to 'devote foll time to the greatest about 1: 30 a.In., a leader of what was claimed
servic~ imaginable. ..
.
to be the Ku Klux Klarieame with four auto-
:rr;~'ortes in charge of making arrangements loads of ruffians, demanding entrance to the
camp, and carrying a flag. (Why do such
~or ~b~ tra,iler camp looked about for a site
witpp-gt.s:cgess until they secured the free use trouble-seekers usually cover themselves with
' ~t.A'.piec~ of pasture-land (about 20acres) . a flagn He was given assurance that this
was not an un-American work. When he saw
()~J:il:ld. py a I(ingdom publisher, on the sam~
'r0ad tp .tl:ie east of the so-called "Shrine of the :flash:-e~nieras clicking, taking his picture
tpe~:fuittk:~lower'' .operated by one' . radiocast- and pictu!es of }1:i,s mqtorcadEj ~n~_ tli.etrJiin~.~oreign priest whom Detroitersdub ''~mo c~p~~ !P:UTI.:b~rs, he, beat a hasty retreat, but
(Jh~rlie'' ('Yith refe!en.c~ tothe s11chlike t9wer saymg "We'll .be back". After his departure
ofp}s wjlJion-dollar "shrine"). 'This. was con- .the camp guard was doubled.
Provisions were mad~ in the camp for rever~~g, ii;ito a splendid slte for' a frailer camp,
freshments, and arrangements were also Inade
s?m~Jw,elv~ miles from C<;mventionHall. Plans
~~tff':rtra<feto hav~ a well-organized camp, and for con~ucting a cafeteria on the grounds for
thebenefit of the .campers.
~~-e ~:rol?-ndwasstaked off,. starting. at one cor..
ne_t.~nd :rriacking r,oadways 30 feet 'wide, allo'Y: The ca:rrip was fitt~d with .sound equipment
il:l'g space between for two _rows of tr~ilers, for. the P'llrpose o:f Inaking important an~~~h tr.ailer to occupy about 20 feetofgro-und:' nouncements, and, as mentioned elsewhere.
'.1, ,:A~wat<:)r;~lJpply would, be required, and the
witp;e~s W~Q OWI;tsthe farw setto workto get
tlie);rr<;lces,~arymaterial, which he, being-a col}tr.~ctor, wa;s able .to. get .. wholesale. Pionee,p~
~?3:*1>9~her~;.worked day a11cf night to get thfois.
il):$9.ape:.
.
. .... ... .. .
. .. ..
i~,,~ pipe:)i:ne was laid' extending from oie'
~M<l,g~ NLWP to the other, a distance' of some
:J:~et,.~with hydrants at 20~foot inter.val~'..
~.~l],p,qrep.:.gaHon pressure tank was installed
t~ .in~u+.~ a good, flp\V, of water: .
. , . . i:::'
1i'::~.reGqrd was kept of ~very trailer that cafu~
ll:)J rwithi11tor:rnation as to the individuals in'
!~(3g .trpJ~e.rf,'J'he. Y~Il1P (dubbea''J'eh'Ovah''V.%..
~~~~7;~ ~ ,.#eWspapers) 'Y::ts better .. organize.Ci . .
. ) ~~d;)nana,ged tha;n mftl1Y a city, A, diregtory
f:~s/~~pt ~t t}i~ entr~ncw o:f the . carp,>a;na:it
.t~$ .anL.~asy niatte,r fo)ocate anyone staying

i'"'.D;'pe .~~Are:rition

as

_, 'W9

1
.\ !~~,~~~~a;
~tif
11!'
~iff~~i~tr~a~~~l~~'':,
with.: office .arrangements .and.prov1s10ns' ',,
~:t;t:ip,.

~Qr :polici11~ t.~e grounds. There .was . a chief, . ...

.'with a.~~ist~~ts;Jo..r~~ach "~~tre~t"'.Th~ streets~.-~~:

.. ,:.,.

-.

1.'' Traveling 'Fi:t'th Avenue; style, .2. Chartered bus~s:~. _~ .."Locust~;; and trucklo~d of .truth'. ...... 4'.. Th~
visible' guard. 5; "Drawers' 6:1'.'water:" 6. Washday: 7,'Tnaf ought fo hcila-'tm we'gef hoine.'" '
1

The MESSENGER
prgceedin~s for s&turdayand place 'and July 24-28 as the dates, for a ''Theo'

thx C(ove11ti2n
$u11qay were relayed to tg~. G~IIl:P;.

; ~-

1'1

'

cratiG" convention of Jehovah's witnesses.

N~Jt. to d,o wlJ.s to ADVEJiTJSE. i11tensively,
Op;mp ltf!ms
.
..
for and wide! The great :i;nultitude of North
. " ' . . Jfh~ "wit!leS$, who provided the la:n<J for J4e Americans of good
must 'be :qotified and
fr~i~r Gamp use'd the hay taken ,f~om,' the land interested in attending. To make. it cqnvento provide beds for conventioners who could ient for all to get theret the convention must
iot othe)'.'wise lw a.ccomrqoqN~~: .~ ~~UlH~-g~r bir m.ade nation-wide in a literal sense, with
wa~ 1.tsed to :pull the n+()W!Jl~ machlne that regional subskiiary conventions clear across
the continent. Besides the key city, 31 con'"clea,red" the land'.
, There w~i~ a '20-:foof tr~iler i: tlw camp vention cities were chosen and local machin)\vhich provided accommodations for a family ery set in motion. At the Brooklyn printing
or six, containing three d@bl~ beds. rr14e trail- plant the presses ground ce~selessly turnweighs two tons'.
.
ing' out 15,000,000 announcement-invitations,
W,'itI1ese fJ'.'.Oll1. Emporia, Kansi;i,s, to pro- which began to be distributed. generally
vide. acco:mmod~tions for a p~rty of ten 1,1t a throughout the nation six weeks before the
ntfoJnwmc9st, rented i:t tent' an.d obtained ten annonnced dates. Later, 4,000,000 special inc9ts, which were placed along ea(fh side, ThP. vitations, showing local convention halls, were
tent also provided i:;oom for a Jdtchen t~ple :run off, and distributed. exclusively at the conmadeJrorn. ~.top built for the car to carry all vention cities an;d their yicinities,: immediately
, the luggage. With the sides up the tent was before and during the convention.
not uncoil'.lforta.bl~ eyen .in the exceptionally
Thousands of letters were mailed out by comhot weather that obtaiped di;rring the conven- panies to persons of good will listed in their
tion. . , ,
.
..
.
, . f.ileE!. T.!i~ WATCEl:TOWER-'s Brooklyn office pre1;welve thousand bearct "Religion as a World pared and issued special news releases to the
Re:me,dy" out at' the camp Sunday afternoon \ public press. Few newspaperffhad the courage
thr.oughthe loud-spettker or publfo~add~ess sys- or i11terest. uf the people at hyart to pri:p.t the
tem. T~e trailer camp was the only s~ct1on that ~ame in their columns, which emphasized all
at ;ty night of the conventkin had to p:i,ee,t the more that advertising The Theocracy is
'
'
' 4eh,lgated to Jehovah's witnesses. ,ils a fayor
"oi.tt un<ler the stars".
,.. . .. ... ... .
~
.
and privilege from the great Theocrat h1mQ9spifol

..
. . .
self. The witnesses responded, with more tell1\.t the Strathil'.lore Hotel, adjacent to the ing effect than columns in Hierarchy-dictated
Temple on Alexandrine street, arrangement~ newspapers could have done. Every conceivwer~ m~de f.or the nse of~ large dining room able form of advertising was resorted to: billto a,cc.owmodate tlie h<:>spital. There Were in board1:1 at strategic locations; parade floats;
I atteiid~nce' 1~ physicians, . 5 osteopaths, 16 str~1;1.mers; signs mounted atop and astern
. chiropractors,' a deutist, a:qd 35 nurs.es, p:r, motorcars. or painted on the sides; .thm:isands
'Hett (which the newspapers spelled :myelett I) . of lai'ge placards displayed in business shop
w~sJn charge. On account of the e4;treme heat windows; flasher-signs in private homes; ina larger number thau usal .had tq be cared formation marches through crowded traffic
fore. at the J19spital. During the :five days of thoroughfares by thousands of wituesses, in
tJie. conventfon 1,403 receiyed treatment. Reg~ ~mall bands, bearing placards suspended from
ular ambulance seryice by means of' conven- the shoulders fore and aft; radio announce..:
tio11 service <mrs was maintained between the ments; besides the general handbill Clistribuhospital aHd Ooriventio~ H~U7 f9r blocks tion This represented hundreds of thousands
Qf UQ'\JfS of personal field activity weeks beaway.
.
,
.'

'
:fore and during convention.

ying the Public

Me~n:t~me ~ ehovah's witnesses c::une !llOre
. .The wor#: pf publicizing the. cQnve~tion e~- p:romineptly before the public ey~ through
. panded to niagnifl.:cent propqrtiqns, what ~ls,q other caus~s, wherein Satan and his earthly
, , ~ith. h1ghly org~p.ized opposition and f;!abpta~e stooges. overreached 'themselves. Pe:rseciition,
operations by the enemy to pe overcome. A iJnparalleled in American history and to the
start .w~s made with a niodest, 'second-page country's lasting disgrace before God and man,
anno'uncell1ent in the April 1 issue of The broke forth with the fury of a tempest and
Watchtower, na:ming Columbus, Ohio, as the ra;ged from coast to coast and border to bor;.

', ""
.

will

er

N9Hf

:.,';ir~~~liirss~'N'G~~tt
'Ml\Jt k~~~i~ ~ public' ef~~nd4L . ~~~~pip~r~ key t1ssembJx~l>-oin( Conventions of. Jeiiovah'1
r~diq stations) wh~(3h sp1;1.rned tq g1v~
witnes~~s are not get-togethers for sociabilities
. < ~~Yiir~J.)ie'publicity to the TheoGr,atiG Qgrnrnn~
~ml nm~w~l ?f 9lc! ~rnu~intancesh!ps, bl.1.t for

': ..

(~1Jd

..

tfap J!Q}Y

Wiitl1RWY~ in i:,t. 9~pipaign

of

pervei'~

;~:~!!U! ..~tfSl<;! g21w~rnin~ the r~U~iQ1.ls mob vio:J~n~~ ~pd persecution ~nd the r~~l i:nsti~&tors

. ~ij.ij. G~~~~ tA~r~<>f,, all to b~sm,ivcb, everythip,g

;1..iJ:~.~::

pertammg to Jehovah's. w1tn~see~. F~w W~re

.. fthe.'n~. s. ec. () Uf..racg.. en.~ut.~t.u:etdi;
. itno. ars rti~hflahtt. Q. :.~.nm.:d~f ;om.mt ,.1inn... l.. t.di,.ee, 0
0
8
0 1
1
~
8
of Jehovah's witnesses in Amerfoa All +his

( 1

...,

"

: . . ; oply $ervecl to locus 's!'1~rpef ati~n'ti,2n 'q'~"'t~~~~

':rh<il9Gr~tig ;;irm~~~~a9ors. :rt aw11}~p.~q th~ sym..

pathy a~d support of countless persons of
P'?od will an'cl heightened their interest in the
~9Pljr:g Goiwentio:q. !1heJ?.1 cancellation of ~on,,
trac;t for nse 9f ]f~1r GronIJ4 ~t Q9lqyilrn~
irid1;1r~ec1 tJ:ie .nat.ion".-wid,e GirG\llf}tiP .9f .th~
f.et1tiqA a:d4r~ss,ec1 to. O}li9's ~overnor ~nd
()ther state qfficia,l~ to 1~p.fqr~~ .the keeping
pf the con.tract: This result~d in fur,tJier .adyerti,sin~ the c'onvention
m:tlifons: t'

'to

2;/)1.:2t-l8G

..

'.

wo~~; te~t1fymg to

Almighty God's name and

His Qove:rnment by Christ Jesus. By its :fieldserviGe attainments the 1940 Theocratic con-

vention shattere~. tlrn records of al( previous

general GqnveritiOns in North .A;n:rnriGa. It was
iind i QUtst;;i,n<lingly distingl.1.ished for T:aEoCJ;M:ric f\CTJQN~ against which Catholi9 Action
8--. n
... d. o. t.b. . ~.r....\l. n. . . ".4
.... m
.. ~. ;r.i,g_aP.. . g,ct. . jon raged a11d d;;ished; .in .vain!

whom.

.~~n0th1ir

e[ty.t-

., .. ' ,.... ,., . .. t

which ~1lfered aljke. cahce!Xatio~ <?, ~U;G()J;l~

tra,ct, additionally circulated fts own
petition. Thousa11ds. of letter,s wer~ addressed
to. hote\ mana~ements and private' eiffaens of
Collifi1rbl1s w~<:} offered 'ihei:r. homes. for ~nter- .
. t,ai11~en_t . of conventioner~, {lXp~aining w.hY
' their city had lost this convention l;lild, its
, benefits and adv~1:ntages; and speci:fic~.lly who
Were to blame. What an advertising c.am. pait?;n this, to the chagrin Qf the skullfing
Rgm~n Catholic :ijier~rchy !
'

focal '

~~;~::v:

~',:Y~

,~,.

;::; ,, ""'

,'1,:

''1 ..

t\.:,-

:~,~~~;' J:4~~~q?Zi~/j~rvey ()i d~/ive~tion, h~~~

,~,. . ,' '!'~.~- ~r~angement as it :fina)ly vy~:nt ipto ef-

:;''!':I.

:f~~t !17sl:qc;l~g 18 as,s~mbly cjties, in. l3 stat~s.

H~waii: wit Detroit aS,

ad tlie territory o:f

. Little information.marcher
;

32

The MESSENGER

$;''

Day by day attendance at the. 18 conven.tions mounted. Saturday afternoon it rose to

the number of 49,354, which represents about
fiye-sixths .of. all active publishers throughout
the United Stat.es. War cpnditions bgttled 11P
the thousands of (jarn1dia'n .witny~s~i from
coming. H:e~ce upon th.ese-49,.354, it
be
ded.uced, fell the privilege of all the service
arid field. activiti~s, as field-seryjc~ <i;:i,ys rah
from Wednesday to Saturday, inclusive. Sunday the attendance leaped up to a crest of
79,335, not counting the thousands wh'o ~ere
unable to gain access to the audito1'i\ims}or
.
fge public address.
. Sunday morning a grand total of. 3,664 sym. bolized by water immersion their consec:rat!sm
to God; which is undeniable proof that the
"gr~at multitude" of the Lord's "other speep"
. are being gathered under His .. 'rheqcraJic;or-:
ganization. Compare this with the day of Pen. te~.ost nin.ete~n hunqred years a~o, when "the
same day there were added unto them about
_t9re~ tlwus.ang souls" -;:-.4Gts.? :.41 ...... ,
Dy.e to, the many convention :requirements,
' su.ch, as ~di:,i!listratign, maintenance, polic'."
:fng,_sign-painting, book department, cafeteria,
JUtind system, finanGial . and in~orma;t,i9rr _,de. part:inents, hospital, etc., many thousands of
publishers could not get away into those field.
.. activities for. which_.they .could report time;
y~ftheirs was Theoc.ratic activity in equal de~
' gree with that, in .. the fi~lcl; At that, 29,163
i:n4i~idu~~ Pl}blis~ers,_ reported -:ij~ld w:orkJ. yX-

may

pending 110,73;5 hou:i;s. The1r results may be

.di,~tribut~d. ..~s .f oll.ows : _Books placed, 3,993 ;
bpoklets. (chiefly Judge Rutherford Uncovers
Fifth Column) ,~250,859; individual copies of
The WatchtOwer and, . ()oris.o}q,tion, . 28,118;
)nagazine subscriptions obtained, 174; backcalls made, 7 ,845 ; and sound attendanceJ1~ar
ing recorded. speeches, 188,004. Additionally,
at the convention halls. tli_ere 'were placed,
books, 29,875 (chiefly Religion); booklets,
7,271. This brings the literatu,ry output up
t.Q. ~~1,998 pieces, not including1 the millions
g~J1::i,:(IJ2}!1.:1!1:g.:copies of.Itingdom News No. 5
and No. 6.

.

.
Everything taken into consideration, then,
practically all the 49,354 of Saturday's attendance had some share in convention activities, as against the 29,163 shown in theFfold
Report. Had the original 32 cities been permitted to carry through with conventio: arrangements and all participated in the chain,
what thousands, more could, have attende,d,,
and .what a.total attendance, baptismal and
field service record there would have been!
But as it is, little satisfaction or consolatfon
can be drawn by the enemy from such. under~:titting of the possible total report as a.ccomplished by their wicked religious intoleran.ce,
opposition,_ threatening, and violence. Jehovah could have .$topped the enemy. Since. He
did not, it must be, co:p._ceO,ed .that the final
grand resuJt was. ::i,i19, i.s. accorqing to His: will
.and to ffi_ex:c;~.eg.jng praise and vindication'.

:
1

:
\,. ~.-.

! ~

'

. With the above in mind, read now the fol. lowing 'reports fro:i;n the seventeen other conventlons tied in with Detroit by private land
, ~ires, and also fro~n ci.ties where foul e:n~my
action prevented convention plans from there
b~ing consummated :
,

Atlanta, Georgia

.J EHOVAH'S''withesses,

as law-abiding cit. izens and taxpayers, are entitled to _the free

u~e. of public facilities and buildings as are
other groups. However, at Atlanta, pressure
by an un-American flag-waving cult made it
necessary for the witnesses to pay for the use
of the Atlanta .Auditorium. Thjs required the
issuing <of a lease. That, in the Lord's provi. dence, was a good thing;' for, had there been
1
no >lease, th13 use of the auditorium would in
.all probability have been denied Jehovah's
witnesses at the last moment. Pressure in that
. direction. was bpought against the mayor, Mr.
Hart.sfield, and Mr. White, chairman of .the.
Jlqildings Committee.
The day before th~ convention, Mr. Welb9rn; the Auditorium manager, told the convention servant that a great effort was being
ma.<ie to h,ave Jehovah's witnesses' excluded
heG~use of t_heir ~ttitude toward the flag. He
s~tfd that civic organizations, women's clu~s,
p~triotic. organizations, and delegationso~_.all
sorts, were besieg;ing Mr. White with telephO'~e

calls, telegrams, visits to his office, and even

visits to his home in the evening.
Because 'of the agitation, the Atlanta Constitution sent a repbrter, who spent the entire
'first day of the convention gathering information. On Thursday a fine column-long article
appeared on. the front page, middle, of the
paper, presenting Jehovah's witnesses in the
proper light.
.
The Atlanta chief of police saw that the
convention had proper police protection. He
said he would protect the rights of Jehovah's
witnesses against all interference, and that
there would be no mob violence in Atlanta
while he was chief. :Pressure upon public offi. cials continued through Thursday, and some
of the women were so unreasbnable. tha,t Mr.
White said he would have slapped them down
hadthey been.men .
Friday the opposition died down, as .the
firm stand for simple justice which the authorities had taken had its effect.
.At the close of the . Sunday afternoon session two resolutions wer~ agopted by the conve11tion:. one ~n~ appreciation of the relayed
programs.:from :f::>etroit convention; the other
thanking the. p,ublic officials and others for
their co-operationin overcoming the opposition of unreasonable. patrioteers.
"The convention servant requested the Audi:. torium l!ianagement to see thata flag was di_s. played .on the platI()rm' and if. anythjng was
said about it, to- reply that it had been placed

The MESSENGER'

34

there at our request. The reply was that they

had no flag for that p11:i;-pose, but that one
could be rented from a near-by decorator.
A flag was then ordered to be delivered to the
stage, with instructions to see that it was properly displayed. Naturally, when enemres ac~
cused Jehovah's witnesses of disrespect. to the
flag, its presence on the pla:tform was~i- ~om:.
plete. evidence of the enemies' prejudice1 and
maliciousness.
The faGt that the outfit trying to stbp the
Atlanta convention knew all about cancellations in other cities reveals a thorough o~gani
zation back of the apparently patriotic groups
used as the cat's"paw to pull that organization's chestnuts out o( the fire. How much
longer will the Roman cult be 'able to fool
real Americans~
Telegrams from the Atlanta convention to
Detroit are of interest here :
/

July 24: Just had conference with auditoiiurrt

manager. He revealed great pressure brought
against city officials to' cancel contract. Know all
about other cancellations. Their decision is to. back
us up to the limit and official Atlanta is .for the
convention. Ordered police department to give us
special protection. Many police in evidence. Special police detai.led to guard telephone lines. All
set for 'Opening. Praise to Jehovah.

July 27: Joyfully hear~. 'Times and Seasons'.

Reception fine, excepting fifteen-second interruption. New book a thrilling surprise. We all have
"Religion" now. Police chief promises ample protection tomorrow. Every precaution taken. .
July 28 : We, Jehovah's witnesses, assembled in
the Theocratic convention at Atlanta, Georgia, en..\ thusiastically join with our. btet4ren. in Detroit
and elsewhere in full support of the timely Kin~
dom truths so kindly and fearlessly presented in
the messages from Detroit. We express our heartfelt thanks to our dear Brother Rutherford for his
tireless labor of love' on behalf of all who 'love
righteousness. We thank Jehovah, the great Theo~
crat, and His King and Executive Officer, Christ
Jesus, for this convention, or the exercise of His
power which has made it possible,' and especially
for the new book Religion as another Kingdom instrument for carrying forward His work on the
~arth. And we pledge ourselves to the_ task 2L<t::i:rry-.
mg for~ard the work which He has placed in our
hands obediently and with all the ..zeal peculiar to
His house. We shout "Amen" to every word of
the speech "Religion as a World . Remedy".Atlanta Convention.
.
1

Beaumont, Texas

THE
Chamber of Commerce of Beaumont
to
.. wanted Jehovah's 'vitnesses to
co:rn~

their city. The Fair GrolJnds we~~ offered free.

The mayor stated on l\foy 31 that he had
read the W A.TCUTQWEa literature, heard Jlldge
R11the~forc1's talks, and realized the intolerance "and aggre~sive'ti<~$S of tl1e Roman Catholic Hie:rar<;hy .in opposing the work of J ehovah's witnesses, but th~t he would stand on
his own integrity and see that. the use of the
Fair Grounds wa~ not interfered with,
formal contract would be necessary. Then he
issued a public statement wMch the papers of
Beaumont p11blished, and which appears below as publish~d.

so .no

MAYOR UPHOLDS rrmtrnnrns"MEET~

MORGA~ TO BACK CITY PERMIT FOR
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES SESSION HERE

Jeh~v~h's witnesses li~ve a city permit to hold

a July 24 to 28 convention at the fairgrounds ap.d
as far as Mayor George W. Morgan is concerned
that certificate is as good as gold.
A.bout noon yesterday he set forth his ideas on
the matter, conveying' one copy to officials of South
Texas State Fair Association and another copy,
to the press.
.

Advice Given
He advised the' ahirmed unnamed citizens to go
take a dose of purgative and cleanse their poisoned
systems.
.
.

There had been a lot of talk about t9wn but no

'individual o;rganizatio11 had com9 forth publi'cly
with tl protest against the Witnesses and their
convention ..
The American Legion post Tuesday night adopted a resolution which inveighed against un-American practices but the statement- was generalized
and named no one.

The, mayor's statement, however, was interpreted

as an answer to the Legion in case the Legion had
Jehovah's witnesses in mind Tuesday night. IJe
evidently thought so, too.

Mayor's Statement
Here is. Mayor Morgan's verbal dose of medicine
. conveying his ideas of un-Americanism:
"It is my wish not to become personally involved
or to involve my administration in any way in any
kind of a religious controversy. I hold no brief for
the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses and know
very little about them except that they are a harmless and peaceable group of American citizens who
religious.beliefs .somewhat contrary to my own.
There were 160 persons of good will im- hold
"Several of the present members of that organi"'..
mersed at Atlanta, symbolizing their complete zation I have. Jaiown foJ' a number of years, and if
devotion to Jehovah God and His kingdom. they are all like, those I kllow l eel that no in-

'I

'

Tk~'f{itSSENGER
, formed and fair person w~uld accuse them of being. unpatriotic in any sense. It is true that they are
what is generally known as conscientious objectors,

may hold. The democracy of Germany was de$troyed. by s~ch intolerant mQh action. on the part
of Hitler'f.l "Slack Shirts", wh@ loudly claimed that
their' action of lawless vandalis,m was fot t4e good
11
(ierm~ny. With this insti.t~tion' of the 'fota!ita2t: 4xf~#El 4 th~fr lWfllEil w P,qtn~ Ill-~g t~ey' will tti~t:i r1f,l. state there, J e}lovah's witnesses, .as a result
or the ~con~ordat establishe4 between Jiitler a~d
tt~.. ~r~s ~!14 .~~lit as he:ro113ally as ~nyone else.
t,4Jf' Roman C~tholic ~ierarchy', were the first to

,.
-Flag- Question
suffer. They refused then and steadfastly refuse to
'They refulile to go through the act of saluting this date to salute the "swastika," and "heil" any
the American flag. This is not because of any dis- man. Now this totalital'iari monstrosity is marching
respect for"their country, its laws or its emblems, across the world, and who can deny that it is the
but they regard the act as idolatry worship and as "abomination that .maketh desolate"~ It assumes
rulership of the people which rightfully belongs
.

139ntrary to the teachings of the Bible.

' ";I:. t4ink jt will not be dffficult fo:r allY .honest to Christ Jesus. Those who wish J ehova.h's protection must _n()W study His Word, the Bible, and
an,d intelJigent person to understand this vie'Ypoint. The supreme court of our. I.and -~as hag 'this ob~y the provisions contained therein.
matter b.,~f9re it and has decideQ. that thei:r ;refusal
As to the retraction of your position in upholdtq salute t~e flag is not in violation of our C?nstiing the permit _of Jehovah's witnesses to. use .. the
fotion and laws and that no la'\'. c~m be enacted South Texas State Pair Grounds for their con:in keeping with our constitution that might under-. vention, the Beaumont Enterpri:re carried- the in::.
take to require this of them.
formation that the reason assigned by you for your
"This' mea,ns simply that we can still enjoy in action WJl.S that the position of.Jehovah's witnesses
t}iis ~ountry freedom of speech, fre~dom of con- had been misrepresented to you~ Mr. Smith and I
science, and the tight _to worship God according .to caUed upon you on June 18 at your request and, '
the dictates of our conscience.
~fter '<:lisc.ssing our position, we left with you the
booklet Neutrality, the booklet Loyalty, and the
Cure Is.Given
.
. . . ...
magaHne Consolation No. 540, in order .to prevent
' "lt is my ''fnf'orme'd 'belle{ that this group () any such claim of .misrepresentation from. having
people can not h<;mestly be placed in the category a valid foundation. your. reversal of attitude toof a 'fifth column, that th~y have no unpatriotic ward Jehovah's witnesses and their constitutional
feeling or intentions, and that they are simply a rights is a long step toward putting us at the mercy
group of people who are practicing a religious be- of mob violence. As to what you do now or in the .
lief differing somewhat from my own.
future, the responsibility for your actions you will
, \ . ''T9 those organizations or persons in any walk bear before Jehovah God.
oflife who will so forget themselves as to attribute
tq thE)se' people unpatriotic and improper intentions, I recom:i;nend that .they take a strong dose
Boise, Idaho
of purgative) and get the poison out of their sysOST of the servants appointed: by the
tel!f~ ancl try to go along during these unsettled
ahd trying tipies sensibly and undertake to keep
Society arrived in Boise about the 10th
d,oWJ1 ,rathe:r -tha11stir, up hatreds and strife."
of July, also seyeral assistants. Work starteq

~D!ri~r~: ~a~;:~~~~dw,s~:irr~~~:\~ tt ~~t;~ qf

<

.Inness. tha,,n four wee~~ the mayor repudi- immediately in :meidng billboards, painting
ated jt completely and de:r;iied the witnesses b~nner signs for the advertising of the Theoth,e :r;i~i.r Gr<:m~ds )1~ had so sto9tly insisted ' cratic convention. Three large signs were made
t,hey should have. _A mayor that hasn't any and _put on the three main highways that lead
bi;tckbone is better off, than on~ that claims to into th~ city. These signs were four by eight,
have on~ and has only cotton string in its built and painted by our sign-painting crew~
_. ..
place.
.
.
White th.es~ signs were being. made others
> Jehovah's witnesses PUtt it up to the may'or found people of good will who would allow
in .language that should have burned hiin up. these signs to be put on their farms.
'
Here are a couple of paragraphs from a Tetter
Stencils also had been made
the .cars
which they wrote to him t:qat speak for them- of those who attended ' the convention' were
selv~s:
. , .
. ..
.
,
.. . . washed and polished. Then signs were sprayed
W et}J.ink tgat the actio(n o,f any group, whether on the body, advertising the lecture-:-"Relil:;irge or small, to the. intent of depriving another
group who disagree with them_ on their Consti~:u. gion as a World Remedy, tJ'l,lly 28 a~ 2 P.M.,
Columbian Club, Boise, Idaho". On. the hoods
g~pal r~ghts, life, liberty, and t~e P1:rsuit of happifiess, without due process of. law is a. subversive and the fenders were signs "Hear Judge Ruthlrctioi,L of the. first water, regardless of the claimed . erfdrd". These signs were of bright yellow and
patriotic motives which such ~J:l intolera~t. g;,roup a little red fogged on. The signs on the cars,

and

. >

.. ..

. . .

<~t~~.t~~~1 pu?~ishe;~

,':w~~~;;~l:'fweff p~t on;~~d several 'c~~m~hts' with. u~ in thi.s we will do our very best to
were J:ieardas to the s11ccB,ss of this m_eth9d
'ofadvertising.
.
< This work was all done in a small lqt lo:catec1f>e}iind the locaJ :{(ingdom Hall. The lady
~w:ho owned thiSlot had it cleaned up and she
_let us . park our trailers in this lot without
cost. She also trned _over to us a rooming
house of nine rooms which was above the
Kingdom HalL This was turned into office and
sign.;painting rooms until we could movB into
tlie Columbian Club. 1-;here being several other
, rpoifis th~t were: n.oi being used for office, etc.,
a:rrarig'ements \Were made for some to sleep
here. This arrangement housed fifteen persons
that were helping to advertise the convention.
We had parked four house trailers in th~s
lot, but there is a city ordinance against park-ing ho.use traHers within t]ie city limits. The
b-uilding inspector was tqld what our work is,
and that it was all done for the welfare of
the people of Boise. He then consented to let
us stay here until the end of the. month. This
all worked out to the glory of Jehovah and
also shows that Jehovah blesses those.who trust
and serve Him~ .
.
. .. Local and near-by company publishers see ing the work that was being done in this camp,
moot, of whom were pioneers, contributed food
of all kinds for this hard-working camp, each
.one doing his part with joy in his heart that
he toocould have a partin arranging the great
Theocratic con:vention in Boise, which would
give a mighty witness to the name of Jehovah
in this_ section.

The conduct of' the police was very good.

(Jhief of Police Utley and Mayor Straight,.
also the Chamber of Commerce, were very considerate of our work. The chief of police 'gave
good advice to the publishers. The advice given
was to "av_oid all controversies; do. not talk
back to people who speak evil against you;
just walkaway from them and avoid mob
; violence as much as possible. If you CO-:Operate.
'
1

'

'

....;,,_

protect you. We want the convention of J ehovah's witnesses to be a success and 'to be enjoyed by all who attend. We know that the
~ork of Jehovah's witnesses is not Nazi, or
Fifth Column". The chief of police personally
, _made a check on the work being done by the /
publishers. in Boise, in the house-to-house wit:nessing. He asked people at their homes as to ~
the conduct of the witnesses that had called
at thehomes, and in almost all cases was informed that "they were very kind and polite
when they called on us".
All meetings were well attended by men,
. women, and children. They were all orderly;
enthusiastic and eager to lea.rn. The discussions and demonstrations were to help the publishers to be more efficient in every branch of
the service.
The new phonograph was indeed asurprise
to all. Keen interest was shown in its operation. Several expressed their desire fo have
one of these machines as soon as possible.
At the Saturday afternoon talk from De:troit, on "Times and Seasons", by Judge Ruth- _
erford, the reception was very good, clear aJJ.d
pleasant to listen to. At the close of the talk
the Resolution was unanimously approved.
There was great enthusiasm and grateful appreciation for the_ release of the new'book
Religion. The baok was fodeed a surprise to
all, and after glancing through its pages everyone knew_ it .Was a provision qf the L9:rd to
help instruct the "oth~r sheep".
. _
.At the meeting Sunday afternoon, during
which the aqdre~~- ~'R~ligion as a Worlq Rem- '\
edy" _came from petroit, t?e. receptio~ . w~s
- marvelous, very clear and d1stmct. 'fhe musrn
was lovely. The whole auditorium was :(illed,
'besides some on the speakers' platform and
in the cafeteria room~ Everyone ,present listened attentively 'and carefully. There was
no sign of disturbance, and everything went
well.' Sincere approval' and appreciative thanks

. The MESSENGER
forthe message ~as shown, ranging from ~vigorous hand-clapping to tears.

~ A resolution was passed to issue a vote of

thanks' to' the official~ of ~oise, to the women
o~ t~e .Columbian Club; where the convention
.~hitJngs were. heid, .and to the lan<:}lady' of
tfie J\ingdom Hap in Boise, for thei~ ~any
cdrirtesies. and co-operation. This was unani::rnously adopted and agreed to by the witnesses, by the raising of the hand.
Telegrams from: Boise were. as_ follows ;

37

'

convinced they are/a good people doing a good

work. A second officer said he could never
arrest one of Jehovah's witnesses. A third ob-
tained a Bible.. and some literature.

Th.ere was. Jremenqous publicity. Reporters

arid ne:wsmE:)n were around all the time, and
as their writeups freely advertised the public
meeting in Symphony Hall, Sunday, there was
a banner attendance to hear "Religion as a
World Remedy". More than half were strangers; there was an overflow from the main hall
(1) "Theocratic' greetlngs; program enjoyed at tO one of the lesser halls; attention was excelBoise ~o:rivention. Enjoy the warfare with you un- lent; there was not the slightest disturbance
til the. finish. Everything okay." (2) "Jehov:ahbless of any kind ; the enemy stood back and beheld
'and keep Brother Rutherford. With you heartily. and the people of good will toward Qod lisBoise convention right in the fight. 'America's ' tened and considered. The discourses came
.Friends', grand. ;perfect reception. New phono- over from Detroit clear as a bell. A businessgraph a miracle. Hurry the manufacture. Thanks!"
(3) "The book. Religior1t a Theocratic masterpiece ; man, provoked by the convention arrests at
Jehovah's provision. Boise municipality, citizens Bo~ton, c~me to say, "Stand. on !our constiand witnesses extend best, wishes to Brother Ruth- tutwnal rights; for you have a right to worel'fOrd and warriors at Detroit. A grand lecture . ship as you choose." Despite the intense heat,
..A.ye!"
.
there was little sickness. One minor injury
to a witness was inflicted by boy hoodlums.

Boston, Massachusetts

HE convention was a great success, a

. . grand testimony to. the' praise of God's
T
\name all over New England. The Devi,l did
everything possible to interfere, but all in
Vain: As soon as the advertising. matter was
out stating that the New England sub-convention was to. be held in the New England
.Conservatory of Music, the l)evil through. his
' usljal agents began putting pressure upon the
treasurer of that corporation; but he is a man
of conviction and principle and was unmoved.
.The witnesses. were .tenants here for many
years; paid their bills, conducted themselves
as. Christians, helped. keep t~ place clean,
.and so it was not easy for corrupt politicians
to apply political pressure in behalf of the
.Roma1;1. Catholic Hierarchy.
~
>.. ]faithful witnesses guarded .the convention
night and day. This is neces~ary now. But
there 'Yas no trouble, and perhaps for that
yery reason. Jehovah God expects His people
to fully do their part ; and. then when He is
calJed upon for aid, He does what they can
'not do;.

Not all Boston pplice are evil. One good

man, an officer on duty at the convention,
i;;i:l:id tq one of the witnesses, "I reel like cry. ing.'~ Pressed for a reason for the statement, he
said ,that i:q times past he had caused trouble
,for Jehovah's witnesses, because he misunder. i:;t<)od their work, but being on the ground and
_jfat~hing them, and hearin~ the fa~ks; he is .

Immersion in river. Boston.

Gallagher, Flaherty and Dennis Collins

The ~nticipated opposition to the sub-convention at Boston, Mass., culminated in the
persecution of a few women and children,
_with subsequent conviction in court, b:ut the
widespread newspaper publicity only served
tq more fully advertise the .Theocratic convE:lntiori and thus .further vindicate Jehovah's
name.
On the second day of the conventio:q. police
officers by the names of Gallagher, Flaherty,
Co1ii:ris and Clifford arrested 25 of the witnesses on dow:ritow:ri streets wearing placards
a11d passing out flyers advertising the Sunday
talk.. Jam.med illto the patrol wagon with only
a tiny opening in the roof for ventilation, they
were forced to ride standing .up over-bumpy
cobblestone streets to the police station.
. The pol.foe offi~ers must haye been proud

38 .

eight:year- are. correet,th"e Wiflleses'"artsadly mfatinderstoo<l.

.;,, of/ their work whep.'they ihcluded.'

old Irene Smith fromBa:hgor, Maine, in the
group of 13 ,children taken in th~ doc}} .witli
the 12 adults. One of the morning newspapers
. displayed on the front page a picture of little
. Irene in the arms of her mother, Mrs. Glenice
Smith,. 33, with the I title, "Both went to
Court." The happy faces of both :mother and
.child were an eloquent testimony to the faith
and courage of those enduring persecution fol'
the sake of The Theocracy.

While awaiting the action of police in the

station, a group of five youngsters were asked
by a newspaper photogfapher .10 line up in
front of circulars advertising rewards for the
apprehension of desperate criminals and as.:.
sume a pious, religious pose with folded hands
and bowed heads. This request amused the
children to such an extent that tltey threw up
their hands and burst into Iaughter. Their
picture appeared thus in the afternoon edition. Other pictures '8howing children wearing placards with the announcement plainly
visible we:r:e published in other papers. Thus
the Symphony .Hall meeting was more fully
advertised than it would have beeni the witnesses had been unmdlest~d. .
. ..

'

Sfrping the Roman Hierarch!J

In Municipa1 Court Judge F .. Del,no .Put~
~a:irl fiP,eCf fQ.e 12 adults $2 each on the charge
of carrying placards with~:rq:t a permit, butjn
the near-:bY Juvenile Court Judge John F.
Perkins dismissed similar complaints against
the nine girls whose ages ranged from l1 to
13 years. However, Judge Putnam did take
into consideration the Supreme Court rul~ng
ci.ted by Attorney Clarence Scott. o! Oldtown,
Maine, in finding the adults not guilty on the
handbill circulation charge. Bonds totaling
$600 were furnished for the appeal of the
12 cases ,t~ the. higher .court.

Thl;r Paul Reveres of 1940

The Boston' arrests stirred the editor of the
Sudbury Beacon and neighboring small town
weeklies to commei;it in the issue of July 26:

We believethat the people of Sudbury, where the .

Witnesses nave a farm, s.chool and m::yny adherents,
know the sterling worth of their neighbors and
vouc~ for their sincerity .

'iill

Further evidence that Boston businessmen

are waking up was seen in the visit to convention headquarters of a dignified -bond broker. "I'm interested in you people for the
stand you take," he told the convention servant. "I hate hypocrisy. I hope you people continue to stand on your constitutional rights
and worship God as you see fit."
When the sub-convent~on w~s first advertised, threats were made to the manager of
the New England Conservatory of Music by
a Boston .city councilor by the name of Sullivan that the license of the conservatory would
be suspended for the duration of the cop.vention. Letters threatening boycott were also
sent to the manager.

One morning during the c9nvention United
States District Attorney Edmund J: Brandon,
in a telephone conversation, advtsed the conventjon headquarters that he had received a
telegram from Waship.gton, D. C., sent as the
result of a phone conversation between the
chairman and federal authorities the previous
day concerning the license suspension. The
federal district attorney stated that if there
was any abrogatio: of the civil rights of Jehovah's witnesses, they were to notify him at
. once and he wol.lld take immediate action.
After that, with the exception of the down-.
,town arrests; the police were particularly ~ourteous and' the co-operation from both near-by
stations was perfect. The officials of Stations
10 and 16 assured the ronvention servant that
they wanted to do everything possible to prevent any disturbance. On Sunday many police
officersin. civilian clothes mingle4 wit}l the
300 ushers in-Symphony Hall to'averfthe possibility of any disocrder.
In reporting the Sunday address the following morning the Boston Post had the courage to identify the religion of Hitler, Franco
and Mussolini as the :force working for the
domination of the earth. The difference between religion and Christianity was also pointed out. The B~ston Globe dared to quote J'Udge
Rutherford in terming "organized religion as
. a snare and as demonism".

The Jehovah's Witness movement .is nqt ,anti. American. The people' who make up this group are
qlQ.-li1;1e Am~ricans wit~ the gr~atest sinc~r~ty ~and
.the. h1g~est ideals ..Their. dE;Jvotion',3:1ld .W!lhngness
to s:;icrifice for thei:; ~ehefs a~d f'?.r. the. CausE;J of
C_hr~st as th.ey see it is most mspmng m an age.
given over to self-seeking and self-indulgence to T z
t th M C
t

an a~arming degree. Boston police have not always

e egrams, 0 e am onven ion
been wis~ in their approach to things they do not
Three telegrams went from the Boston con understand. If the. accounts in the :J?o~ton papers vention to the main convention at Detroit:

l'J;h'e: ME~SkN qE:a

.39

<'(1) "Perfect ... reception; no interruptions; no piness, and would not deserve its freedom
trouble." (2) "Program came over perfectly; speech unless it did so.
was thrilling; phonograph demonstration received
B 11 t th~ Ne1.JJs poisoned the entire state of
with great enthusiasm." (3) "Lecture came in per- Yerinont with its lies, and ,so no convention
, fectly today as well as yesterday .. Friends were . of Jehovah's witnesses could be held in .the
: .. Jbrille,d )>oth days. Book. Religion received with area within its control. .The ly ing newspapers
'great enthusiasm ; greatly: surprised and pleased
. ' with additional program feature, today; much love." of America have done1 inconceivable harm to

" 4 subsequent Jetter .said additio:p.ally:

all

The cafeteria system worked fine,;

servants.
hndled their responsibilities with great interest
.a'hd entlwsiasm. The new book and the'new phonograph came in for their joyful receptions, and
wer~. as' ll1U.(3h. of a ,Urprise ih Boston as they were
i:n Detroit. N 0t a. so~l knew. about either,' except
the chairman, until the surprise was sprlJng from
petroit. A s,urprising number were baptized.

Burlington, Vermont
city, physically in. A~erica,

Jehovah's witnesses, and the Almighty 'will

not forget this at Armageddon, and He. will
not forget the Burlington Daily News or

Mayor W. F. Corry.

Bangor, Maine ,
HE . e.xcu.se. given. for .ca.nceiing the contract for the Bi::ewer +v.funicipa:l AuditoT.
rium, artd returning the $50 down payment,
was that Jehovah's witnesses 'are Bible Chris. tians, not members of any cult or sect, and
the. city council was afraid if any real Christians. came into the community there "would
be very material damage to the building itself"; not by the witnesses, .but by local hypocrites. It was not stated just that way, but
those were the real facts.

is 'a~tu
ally under the control of the pope of Rome.
His control is exercised through the _mayor,
W. F .. Corry, nominally a. patriotic American,
os~ensibly very much so, but in reality opposedtl> everything for which America stands.
There is nothing he would not do to gratify
the sect operating out of Va.tican City. They
Des Moines, 'Iowa
\~_.illd, 4av~ .the .u~e of the .Co~~unity Hall.
why, certamly ! But not Christians who be- \THE Poultl'y fodusfries Building at ,the
lievein the. Holy Scriptures as. the Word of
Iowa State Fair Grounds was rented fo:t
God. Certainly . not !
. . . . / ...
t:he convention early in May. Then in June
, !he Burlington Daily News helped the may- Mr. Corey, secretary of the Fair Bo9.rd, canor OU~. Ip its issue of about June .14, under celed the contract, giving as his reason that
the t#k ((Freedom Must J?e Deserved", it pub- he had noticed much unfavorable .publicity
lished the. p10st hqrrjble Jie~ inHiginable about about Jehovah's witnesses concerning flag sa;..
luting.
claimed thatwe mi~represented ourJ.e_hov~h's witpesses; that they are followers
of Hitler an~ Stalin, who have no worse ene- selves. to him' when the contract waE; signed,
mies, ibecause'both of those men.liate Almighty tlia(we said it was to be a "Watchtower conGod and have and show the spirit of the Devil 1.vention" and that he didn't connect that with
' (the same, spirit that the N 6'/!)S itself has and Jehovah's witnesse~. The contract ftself iden.shows) ; and they inflamed the entire commu- tified us as Jehovah's witnesses, the word "witnity, with their perversion of what took place nesses'~ occurring more than a dozen' 'times in
the contract. We se'arched for more than a
at' Kennebunk, Maine.
.- . Does the l)aily News think h
right for month before we found .another building 'that
~ev()n cars. to paradJ up and down in front of could be rented. Many building owners would
~)I1~n's h01ne until .2: 30 in the morning, after have been glad to rent their. accommodations
the occupants of those cars .have threatened to us but. refused because they were fearful
to stone his house? And after they have al- of mob violence such as. they had read about

.. '
.
~
,
ready stoned it once? And after they have in the news pa p{rs. :
threatene,d to bllrn H7 j\nd .. whatw911ld th~
The convention wasxeady ~o go on W.ednes'New's do if it had been threatened thl;ls and day morning. Those who attended that morn~pplied 'to both police and the governor for ing session went out. in the witne.ss work afterprotectio:r;i. and a car loaged with tones drew wards.
Thursday afterno.on, after the prop at. 2: 30. a.II1. ready, to. start throwing? gram from Detroit, the building custodian
.. .T~e P,afly News would eert~inly defend .its asked the. 'convention servant to ~rrange a
right to life, liberty a:n,q the 1mrsuit of hap- II1;eeting of the convention committee. When

' r. H. IS

He

all'

On

,-

./

!.

40

'The MESSENGER.
'

w~

met together the custodian said he had

learned that two members of the. city coun9il were very much oppo'sed to our convention and that he had been informed that there
would be an attempt to break up' our con'.~
v'e:rition. The custodian would give no names;
he said he had promised to disclose no names.
He said the trustees o'.f the Odd Fellows organization were very worried and had authorized him to .offer us $100 if we would cancel
the rest of the convention. His offer was refused and. we were given to understand that
we might expect anything to happen at the
Sunday meeting. We decided to consult the
1 law enforcement officials to ask for protection
from the anticipated mob violence. Although
stating that they could not send men to guard
against trouble, the officials assured us th.at
.we could call on. them when trouble began.
The usher organization was then strengthened and put in better shape because of more_
brethren coming in to the convention. It was
evident that the Lord had directed us to that
particular building; If we had been 'in \he
Fair Grounds out at the edge of the city our
group would no doubt have been littknoticed
by .the people and 'it would have been much
1 more 'difficult to properly guard the public
meeting. But down in the heart of the_ city
our convention was right '~under the _noses"
of the businessmen and city' officials; it was
convenii;mt for information march anP, magazine work. The arrangement of the convention
ill the building made it possibl~ to segregate
the ones evidently there for trouble. Four
floors were occupied by the convention: sec' ond, fourth, fifth and sixth. The second was
not. used until Sunday. The main auditorium
was on the fourth floor; this was the headquarters of the convention .. There were also
the field service department, the hospital, _and
the public-address system room. On the :fifth.
floor were located the general office and room
assignment. On the sixth floor were the cafe-.
teria and book rOom. Elevator service was adequate at all tjmes. except just after the public
meeting, when things were rather crowded.
For. the public meeting the ushers seated th_e
publishers fo the fourth floor auditorium until that was filled, seated. only women and chil'."
dren on the sixth floor, and sent to the second
floor-the rest of the public and 'all those men
who had even the appearanc~ of wanting to
ca11se trouble. All floors were filled during
the speech; a small group listen:ed in the general office on Jhe fifth floor.

j'

.
'

On Sunday, as the time drew near for the

lecture a group of men began to gather ih'
front o:f the building. Brethren assigned for
that purpose listened to their conversation
and learned that th~se men were members of
the American Legion. The word was passed
around that there' would be trouble, and we
called 'the police, who came and order was
preserved. Then someone on the third floor
cut_our telephone wire. (local, not the Detroit
' program wire)' but we soon found the break
and repaired it. In an effort to deceive the
ushers at the elilvator the enemy put on the
following demonstration : Two of. these' men,
well dressed and with freshly-lit cigars, approaching from opposite directions, met in
front of the building. With a glad handshake
and a slap on the, back they said:
"Well, well, look who's here !"
"Why, hello there! It surely is good to see
an old friend again. When did you get into
town?"

.
''Just got in this morning on the train. How
is the convention?"
"Great! We're having a swell time. Come
on over here, I want you to meet some of the
boys."
.
.
It was difficult to suppress a laugh at their
earnest attempt to pretend that they were Jehovah's witnesses attending the. convention.
They, no doubt, put on the best act they ~o11ld,
modeling it after what might have transpired
at a convention of the Legion. However,their
cigars were out of place at this convention.
They proceeded with their introductions to
the other group of mefi whom we had already
overheard discussillg plans 'to enter and' break
up our meeting. Then several of the group
entered the building for the meeting, but the
ushers put' them in the room for the "public"
and they didn't get a chance to try to break
up the convention itself.. Sensing thaf they
were still on the "outside" of the real convention they made no attempt at violence. '
It .was rumored after the Sunday meetiri'gtha t Legion and other Veteran men were instructed by their commanders to wait outside
during the public meeting, and when the witi+esses got to arguing amongstthemselves over
sometMng, the.n these men were to enter_ th_e
b.ildjng and. t:ry to break up the meeting,
saring then taus that they "weren't -goin.g '
to have any arguing and disputing goi11g_ og
in this town". We -are not able to fi:rid--out
whether there. is anything to that story. This
m1Jc}ij~ c~rt~in: t:aphe enemy was confuse(l

''

The MESSENGER . "

41

and d.isorganized while the Lord's people were / A Jewish businessman told a,'. publisher that
like a well-trained ~rmy, not breaking their several parties tried to force him. to remove._
the signs from his windows. ''Why didn't
r:;in~s,' e8Jch one assigned to his duty' and domg 1t.
you~" a~ked the publisher. "Because I still
.. 411 programs from Detroit wel'e :r:eceiy~~l l'!ll! J:IlY own business," he replied. One pubperfectly; not one word was missed beca-gse li13h~x. lost his job because he. refused to take
his car.
.
'
, of failure'of telephone facilities or the sound the signs
Information marches ~~re _begun several
system. The brethren had ma(].e up beforehand a switchboard arranged so that two com- gays before and continued right up to the
plete No. 4 equipments were hooked up at ill last day of the convention. Thousands of
tiill.eS, only one being in use. If that one failed 'handbills were <;listributed, this way. Duluth
during a program two small switches would has an orQ.inf:Ll}~e' prohibiting handbill distribe thro\vn and, the other aill.plifier, already bution. When it was reported to. the safety
warmed up, wouid continue the' program~ It commissioner that a policeman had stopped
was not necessary to use that change-over dur- one of the witn~_$i;le. jn_ putting out handbills,
ing any of the Detroit programs.
the commissioner said, "The. policeman is 'way
Fifty thousand handbills were printed 10-- behind the times. The recent Supreme Court
-cally and distributed. One hund:r:ed car ban- decisi9ri ha.13 r.1Jled 9ut tli!s ordina:r;ic~'. Cfo !lll~~A
. . . ..~ ''""' '"". ,,,.,,
ners were prepared and used. The cafeteria with your work.''' ''
was very efficient.
The _street buses carried signs advertising
Telegrams to the ma.in convention at D~t.roit the principaUecture. A publisher in a seat behi:d two nuns overheard. their ~m;1versatfon.
read:
(1) "Enthusiastically listened to B~other Ruther- "Do you see that~" one asked. "Yes," replied
ford; reception perfect." ( 2) "Applaud truthful- the other; "and after all we did to stop him,
n::e$s of speech; enemies' pressure strong, but Odd he 'is still coming !"
FelJows loyal to contract; simultaneous demonstraWe were given permission to place two signs
tion perfect." (3) "100 percent for resolution; on the side of the. Auditorium the 20th of J1Jly,
,thrilled with new ,bqok; newspaper publicity- fa- but on that day we were denied that privilege, .
vorable; convention marches triumphantly on to- the management refusing-~to give any reason.
ward grand climax." ( 4) "Des Moines Theocratic
convention reached s-uccessful cli111ax tliil? ~fter T~en at noon July 22, the company servant renoon; vast audience heard ~ompfote 'progra~; in- ceived a letter stating that the contract to use
significant attempt at violence failed completely/' the building had been canceled, the _city fire
A telegram from near-by Gillespie, Illinois, warden e.ondemning the building as a fire hazard. The six brethren in charge of the arrangesaid:

ments
immediately called on the Chamber of
we send greetings; we are with you 100 percent
for Jehovah's Theqcratic government and vindica- Commerce, the safety commissioner, the city
fire warden and others,Xn a short tirne a great
. tion of His name.
many of the public officials knew of the canMllation. A prominent labor leader went be. Duluth, Minn.esoia
fore the city council and stated, "I know
_.E_. were overjoyedw_h.en infor.m_._ edbythe many or . these people, and though I don't
~Society that Duluth would be one of the
agree with them, they are honest, hard-work cfonventi()n cities, The Shrine Auditorium. w;;i,s ing people. This is just.a big religious organirented fo~ th.is purpose. The newspapers gave zation trying to destroy a little one's rights,
. u~:rair write-ups before and during the con- and if they get by with it, th.ey will soon do
ventio:n. One editor_ requested a copy of the it to all of us. Let it not happen here." The:
ho?klet_Judge Rutherfora Uncovers Fifth Col- safety commissioner, Richard F. Peterson; statumn,. and informat_ion con~erning our stand ed, "When I took oath Of office, I swore to upin.i:Bgard to saluting the flag. Several good hold the Constitution of the United States, and .
articles were published following this. .
I am going to do this whether it is in fav.or of
:To advertise the l<?cal convention large s,igns a minority o.r the majority."
vv~re'pla:ced along three of the main highways
About 9: 30 that evening we found the state
Madi'D:g into Duluth. Later hm1d;reds 9f fottel'. fire warden, Ingworth Erickson, at his home.
wer.e sent to ,people of .good wilfurging them Gave him the facts, showed him the decision
t<:> co;me. Signs were put in store windows, but of the F .B.I. He immediately saw our position
rhanY: were~rl::lmoved
through Catholic Action. and telephoned the _city warden. Told, him,
"'
.

off

. .. - .
'w

'

The MESSENGER

42

"This is a big outfit; :representativ;es a;re GOrn- the convention. opened, many went to othe;r
ing from 18$tates [ !], and'conventwn is ready points. Only two cars were able io get through
to .open, so. yo11 see. to it.tha~ they get the from Canada. These brethren related how some
building. I don't want to be mvolved. They of the friends sold their chickens and cows. fo
might call the state in on this." Several of tl;le get funds, and another sold her wedding- ring
city officials disconnected their telephones be- and then they were not able to get across the
cause they received so many calls protesting ..border. BU.tin spite of all this, the Auditorium
against Jehovah'.s witnesses' ha~ing t;heir c?n- was filled. Sunday. Even though only a small
vention. Another hung up each time the Shrme number were a,l)ie to .atte11d t4i~, co:y~:ri1.~m1.,
, Auditorium was. nientione.d.
.
. . . 84 were immersed, giving us mighty evidence
'The following morning we again called on t}lat the "great multitude" is rapidly being
\ the city fire warden; Peter c. Ward, and he gathered.
. gave us a 'letter resdnding the order of clos:El Paso, Texas
'ing the Auditorhim until July 29. J. D.
. Harrold, owner of the Shrine Auditorium, "THE ,Lord w,ill give strength unto his
stlll held out. In the middle of th~ after
people; the Lord will bless his people
noon (July 23) while' we were .instituting le- with peace." Jehovah always keeps His.pr?mg~l proceedings, Harrold sent through a call, ise. For two months before the Theocratic con~
staMng, "Let them have the hall."
vention the demons had ca:used :rp~ny yiolent
One of the cqmmittee told Al Moe, recorder assaults against the Lord's people throughout
oLthe Shrine, at the time the contract was Texas and adjoining states. Four of the great
made that no doubt Catholics would put pres- cities of Texas were announced as convention.
sUre ~11 them to cancel the c()11tract, but to cities; El Paso was the only city that remained
this he remarked: "Oh, .no, Catholics have on the list. Free use of Liberty Hall, El Paso's
'nothing to say here." Now this same witness largest, was granted in early April; but afte_r
couldn't resist the pleasure o{ reminding Moe the mob spirit arose, there came public and
of this previous remark.. Moe gave no answer, intense opposition to the convention, led by
but only walked .hack and, forth in his office. Bishop Schuler of the Jesuit cult (Roma:r;i
The last dayof the convention, Moe remarked , . Catholic sect), American Legion, Veterans of
that In all of the ,fifteen years as recorder he Foreign Wars, and newspapers. Throughout
had never seen such orderly conventioners. the nation the people now know of the wrongWhen it was certain we would have use of ful action of these fanatics, because of the im" the Auditorimn, we again requested permis- mense circulation of the booklet Judge Ruth~. sfon to have the .signs on the outside of the
er[ord Uncovers Fifth. Column. After Liberty
building. Moe demanded why we wanted to Hall was canceled it was impossible to rent, a
wave a red flag ip_ front of a bull. They didn't suitable piace for the ~onvention, but just bewant stones, bottles and rotte11: eggs thrown fore the convention a beautiful hall was purat the building. But use was made or the chased. Faithful men and women worked hard
signs and almost as effectively! The. traffic ; night and day to get the property ready for
serge~nt gave Jehovah's witnesses unlimited the convention; and Jehovah gave victory to
. parking in the vicinity of, 'the Audit?rium; .His people as He did when Joshua smote Ai.
so the signs were mounted on au_tomohiles ()IJ
the street beside the build.ing;
'All connectio11s with Pefroit were perfect
and the messages _thrilled _the heart of every
~listener. Especially thrilling was the announcement of. the new phonograph. The audience
was spellbound for p, moment when one was
/" produced simu1taneously on the platform her.e,,
3;nd then .broke out in enthusi.a$tie . applause.
Thenew book ReligiOn.was receiv:ed with real
joy and caused the brethren to express greater
deterw,in.~tion th,al"l ever to carry on the fight.
<.:N,'oi :as riiany attended' as' were expected, because of the ban in Canada, and when the con,,
.
They got there, just the same
~r~ct w~~. ca~?eled "ll:ntil the afternoon befor~ ,
,

rtie' MESSENGER
,;:;.011 Friday before the convention, Kingdom
" . :fC,~!l .. '.Wa$ ~pnoG~d to ,the.p~blic. a~ the con.. y~mf=19n pomt, and then began mtens1ve adyer~i_s.illg with silk~screen signs, stenciled signs on
.. ca~~' six signboards, 6 feet by 10 feet, on main
highways, posters, handbills,. banners, word
mouth, personal letters and informa:tfon
n!arches'. Then came. JJ-ewspaper reporters and
cameramen to Kingdom Hall and there fol~myed,J=t steady stream of pictures and favorable'.publicity that was undreamed of.
:.. At th.e. beginning of the information marches a nuinb.er. ofthe, publishers were arrested,
but ,while tl,iey. were p.eld a telegram came to
the mayor from the American Civil Liberties
Qni<m; r~questing protection 0. Jehovah's witnes,Ses. The publishers were immediately rele,ased, and the. chief of police, whose. sister
i~ a witrn~ss, took a firm stand for our lawful
rights, and from then on, throughout the GOnyenti()n, police officers were on duty just out~
side the grounds, sometimes as many . as six
patrol cars on hand to keep order and prevent
violence .. Because o:fthreats made prior to the
convention, our own watchmen .were main-.
tdaii:eq on th,r copV'ention ground~ nigh.t and
ay.
.
,
El P.aso was the only, Spanish:-Americ~n
c911yen,ticm, and. many 0 the Spanish brethr r~:h c~me.Jong distances to attend: At least 100
brethren from the interior of Mexico planned
/ to corp.e/ to ElPaso, but strict immigration
regulations in effect July 1 made it impossible~
One witness cam~ from Mexico City; but was
tu.r11ed baGk at the port of entry. The M,ex~
ican witnesses had their <,rwn hall on the cony'ention grounds, equipped with' their own
$61'.rd system, signs in. Spanish, their own,
lj~hers, and several capable pioneers conducted.the Spanish meetings with 'almost an e:x:ac.t dg.plicate .of\ the English program. 'The
Spanish joined in listening eag~rly to the key
c,ity program, following which, translation was
:na9.e for . th,ose not understanding English.
:~[l~rge percentage of the people in this country speak Spanish; so this was a. happy event
for these people of kind heart arid good will.
On, Saturday, 24 Theocratic ambassadors
w~rejailed at Las Qruces, New M:exico, fpr
vi?l~ti11g; }1 musty handbill ordin~nce. Bail
~~~,:~rrahged and they were released $1inday
ng~!f,":just in time 'for. the public meeting.
l!iii~g~?-tely aftertheclosirig ~ords from the
key. city, these witnesses. stepped to the plat~?:r'Il1 in abody anCf each gave a few brief remarks
eoncerning their arrest ..The LasCru~es
,,\;~'.:.,'.<. :,-:::1:~//-l'~,''.}fi...~;i'~)-,;;,~;<,:>~~),>.:,
1

.. ?t

:,'.<:. ,:/ -:......

.,.'

Immersion at El Paso

Sun-News published that day carried exten-.

'Sive front-page stories, and an editorial quoting much f:i;om Dividing the People. The next
day these Theocratic ambassadors stood indi- .
vidual trials, giving 'a marvelous testimony for
the name of Jehovah for nearly six hours. Regardless of a prejudiced, hostile Catholic city
attorney and a .shameless police officer, the
judge dismissed the ca.se. and with tears in his
eyes shook hands with every one of the defendants. As witnesses left the court they grinned
as they noted . atop the City Hall three large
crosses-symbol o:f intolerance. Headli.ne publicity was given iri both El Paso and Las Cru-
'ces newspapers, especially as a Baptistclergyman, head of the Las Cruces Ministerial Alliance, voluntarily appeared before the court
in favor of our 'lawful rights.
Suriday the convention witnessed the bap~
tism of 94 who had taken their stand for The
Theocracy. Sixteen ofthese were Spanish, and
five colored .. The peacefril Rfo Grande, which
separates. two .great. nations,, was the appropriate setting for this baptism.
.
The El Paso conventioners sent these telegrains to the key. city convention : ( 1) "El
Paso conventioners send Theocratic greetings
#

':.: ,; .. /'

'.

.,

'

Y'

'

The.MESSENGER

44

to D~tr9it convention. Message thrilling." (2)

"Program reception and enthusiasm perfect.
New phonograph marvelous." (3) "Enthused
with Theocratic resolution and will join in
distribution. 2,4 arrested at Las Cruce~ r,e,leased to hear afternoon talk; trial tomorrow."

Fargo, North Dakota

quite probably truthful, was that another convention would be on at the same time and take
all available hotel space. Two auditoriums were
engaged, one for Sunday and one for other
days. Both were canceled. The Roman Hierarchy has Texas in the nut-c~acker.

When it became apparent from newspaper

abuse that Jehovah's witnesses were in the
furnace, the "Reverend" J. Frank Norris, riotorious Baptist preacher, who once killed a
man in his study, offered the free use ~of his
great auditorium. A condition that he made
was that at the opening of the co;nvention his
musicians would play "The Star - Spangled
Banner" and Jehovah's witnesses would sing
it. The Society's reaction to this proposal is
worth reading. It was:

THE Chamber /of Commerce 'wanted the

. . convention to come and was a great help
in securing the Fargo Auditorium. They knew
the convention would be a good thing for the
city. A deposit of $50 was paid on the con:"'.
tract. The Roman Hierarchy brought pressure
to bear, through Catholic businessmen, and the
contract was canceled. A Jewish banker, misinformed, helped the Catholic cause alorig.
It may be that Dr. Norris would very much like
Fargo had a wond~rful witness :.for the to see us run out of town and is just waiting to set
truth. Great quantities of the Fifth Column a trap. You know him better than. we do, but if
booklet were put. in the hands of the. people. the statement [that he would be the first one to run
Petitions were circulated. One lawyer made them out if they did.riot sing] is true he would be
the remark, ('These Jeh<:>vah's 'ritnesses are the first one to run us out of town, as we wouldn't
busy people. This iS the fifth time in the past stand up and sing on his direction ; then we
week or so that they have been in my office." wouldn't want to have anything to do with him.
, When face toface with the issue the Catp.- .,, In the midst of his efforts to get the con~
olic businessmen who caused the cancellatio11 " vention to Fort,Worth: and thus bring agreat
of. the cont'ract did not have' the courage to blessing to the people of that city, the ~om
1
read the Fifth Column booklet. Each was pre- pany servant in the city was arrested, beaten
sented.with a copy, but all returned. them un- by the police, called vile names repeatedly,
r~ad, What can be done ~ith people that aband kept all night in a,, cell without any
solutely refuse to have their eyes opened, but charges being preferred against him. Some
go blindly on in the way of darkness and police ! Some city ! !

death, and love to do so?

Great Falls, Montana
But. one man did seem to have . his eyes
-0pened. The Jewish banker above mentioned
HE Great Falls .Chamber of Commerce
read the booklet and expressed his regret that T . was enthusiastic about having the Watch.he had been made. a cat's-paw by those who tower. convention held. in their city, and with
had dragged him into the controversy; he was their co-operation the Civic Centre was ob,sorry he had permitted his name to be used. tained, but, after allowing work on behalf .of
He now seems favorably minded regarding the the meeting to progress :for' two months, sudKingdom.
.
denly canceled the contract. Th.e witnesses did
'J1he influence ofthe Hierarchy and tP.e news"'. not. take this lying down. They circulated
papers under its control made it impossible to petition similar to that regarding the Colum~
get another auditodum in the city. Selfish in- bus Convention, .. obtained 1,'500 signers, and
terests domiat~ the city, but. their efforts presented it to the City Cou,ncil as a witness
. ; ciiused Jehovali's na:i:ne a11d purpose to be against. t)lem.

better known .in Farg9 than. ever before. in

its_ iilstory.


"
Jackson, MiSsissippi _

FO:rt Worth, Texas

'F'. ORT
W6RTH,.Texas, put up a manly and
prolonged fight for a convention, and thus

made a grand witness for _the Lord and agailist

the Devil. The Chamber of Commerce <lid not
want the conve:rition, and said so. The excuse,

T~~sEi!I~1~~rJ~~~:~~~~~~c~~=r,!llJ~1;
on~

ofthe mo~t. intolerant cities. inJhe so:th~

of the graduate preachers .can find iio
jobs; The Catholics, though small in numbers;
are trained in :qiob lea~ership and have in
fluence far beyond their actual membership.

Mo.st

The MESSENGER
.

;'

'

45

A contract. was made for an auditorium in ing. The brethren who installed the sound
this city and all preparations 'were well under equipment did an excellent job; and although
way when 50 men invaded the leased build- they didn't get started until Tuesday aftering, destroyed several hundred dollars' worth .noon; everything was in readiness by nine
of property, and demanded Jehovah's wit- o'clocli the following morning, in time for as~ nesses leave town by 5: 00 a.m. the' next day.
sembly for field 'service.
. ..
At the time set, the mob (Legionnaires) reEveryone who 4ad a part in making prepinvaded the property and forcibly drove the arations for the convention put his shoulder
oc,cupants out of the state and across Louisi.:. to the wheel. 100-percent and the various dearia. In this long drive .these men that style partments were all ready to go with the bethemselves Americans would not allow even ginning of the convention.
the womert or children to use toilets or to
Although there were quite a number of wit.... obtain food._
.
nesses, early arrivals, who assembled for field
, No protection was offered by governors, dis- service the first morning, many of them contrict attorneys, sheriffs, mayors or chiefs of tinued to come in on Wednesday, and on every
police in Mississippi or l,Jouisiana, and, though day of the convention. No difficulties were enthe matter was reported to the United States c01fntered 'in the field the first day 1 and conGovernment the day it occurred (June 27) , siderable advertising work was accomplished.'
nothing had heen done in the ;ray of indictment of wrong-doers . two months after the
.outrages occurred. These, "patriots" of Jack' son, Mississippi, must have read about the way
Hitler transported Poles across their own coun-
trY, Inde~d, they are Hitlerites at heart and
only waiting the opportunity _ to get into full
swing and destroy all in America that .makes
life worth_ living. Religionists; of course, are ~
behind_ them, and probably with them, in this
. effort to end Christianity .in Jackson.
Kamm~ City, Missouri
E moved into Ivanhoe T. emple o.n Tue~~
..
day afternoon, July 23, and immediately set to work installing the sound equipment which was .to bring us the various lee, t:ures from. Detroit. Territory desks, book
room; information booth, room assignment
desk, . check room, the various field service
departments, cafeteria, etc., were set up ready
to begin
operations early Wednesday morn.:.
i

,
W

A "sign of the times" ,

'1'

However, on the second day one of the publishers and his wife were picked up by the
police for distributing handbills without a
permit in the downtown section of Kansas
City. Although they were held under $25
bail, the police finally released them- with the
. r'~111-a.1;:1LJl!ey were sorry it happened, especially during the convention.
The advertising and witness work increased
eac}l day up to _the day of the main lecture
from Detroit. Two of the publishers were sent
to. a .near-by small town, since sound-cars are
prohibited in. Kansas City, and upoti informing the mayor of their intention to advertise
the Sunday lecture the 'mayor informed them
he did not .care to have them use the soundcar in that town, as "it is just a damned
nuisance".

Another sound-car wa~ sent to Olathe, Kans.,

near:Kansas Oity; and as the publishers were
finishing their work of ad-vertising arid plac'..

:.I.

46

'rlie 'MESSENGER

ing placards in store windows. in the tow a

cro~d of Legionna:ires came up and demanded
the publishers "get out of town" at once. How.:ever, as the publishers had not quite' finished
th~ir work, they did not "run for coyer", and
the men proceeded to tear the signs off the
r;;o1ind-car and they then escorted the publishers to the city limits.
,
, ,
Another publisher was picked up by the police' in Kansas City but was released after they
had questioned her.
Other than the instances cited above there
was. no trouble experienced in ..the 'field.
However, as the day for the big lecture drew
liearconsiderable pressure was brought to bear \
on the c-stoQ.ian. of th~. Ivanhoe Tern ple ; but
he remained st~adfast fn his.,refusal to "put
'those Jeh8vah's witnesses out" into the.stl'eet .
. The custodian Hstened. to the various, lectures
an4 made (the .remark, "It's too bad everyone
can't' hear these talks."
. The witne~sefi were reaqy for any trouble
that. migh~ develop. at the auditorium, as there
wwe '.m.Qfe thap a hundred . huslry orethren
, equipped with canes, on which were inscribed
. the words "J.W. TP.eocratic Convention, 1940".
.AJthough the. canes made very fine souvenirs,
they would also. serve another; .very good. purpos~if need be: No troublewha,tev~r developed
at the ~ditorhp::b., however, and the lectures .
all c~i;rie t4,rough pe~fectly.
The stage at tne Ivanhoe '1;1emple was decorated with a huge American flag as the backFound .for the speakers and the year's text,
which ,elicited some coinment from some of the
skeptics who said Jehovah's witnesses would
'''tear down the America:h flag if it were raised
ai.Jheirme.eting". We were able to get a very
nice story in the Kansas City Times which
);played: up the forge Hag used,as a backdrop
on t}ie. ~tage.

. <It seemed there was a new thrill and srprise every day of the convention; for, after
t~e ew phonograph was presented, everyone
rejmyed on thefollmving day. when the new
book, Religion, was released; an.d then again
~n Sunday we had another surprise when
Kingdom News No. 6 was released.
' The- following telegrams were wired to De-.
' troit : ( 1) "The . lecture came through very ,
clearly; everybo,dy greatly enthused ewer discourses given, espMially Brother Rutherford's.
Large numbers out in field this m.orning. Everybody thrilled to be at this great first Theo-
cratic convention .at Kansas City." (2) "Dis. couri;;e . by ;Brother Heath thrilling beyond

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words; new ph'onograph received most enthl,1siastically; give all praise to Jehovah." ( 3)
':Brother Rtherford's inspiring message gave
us Inuch joy. Also the new book Religion is a
welcome weapon. We pledged to do our best
to put them in the hands of the. people of good
will, come what may,, Lecture came in clear
and distinct; every one stood up to affirm the
''Brother Rutherford's lecture
resolution."
atid all other portions of program very clear
and distinct. R,esolution adopted with heartfelt enthusiasm. Every one deeply touched by
impromptu speecr of Brother Rutherford."
There was also a dispatch from near-by Altus,
Oklahoma, reading, "Not 'all there in person,
but 100-percent behind The Theocracy and
your [Judge Rutherford's] message to be
given ,Sunday. M:ay Jehovah give you added
strength." *

(n

Linc~ln,

Nebraska

HE Lincoln Chamber of Commerce said

. t.hey would be very glad to have the conT
vention come to their city. ',Pher, paid a visit
to. the State I!ouse and arranged for the. use
of the Fair Grounds auditorium~ This was on
April 21. On July 5, without any explanation
of who had put the heat under them, the State
Fair Board can<~ele'd the agreement and tried
to shift the responsibility to the Chamber of
Commerce. Particulars as to just what religionists Jn lace, skirts put the scare in to these
politicians is awaited with interest: What',a
story this will be when it is all brought to,
light, .as it will be! "There is nothing covei-ed, that shall not be revealed ; and f!id,
that shall not be known."-Matthew 10: 26.

Long Beach, California

H.IS is an... American city,. a .ccmvention
city, run by Americans, .and not by repT
resentatives'qf the cult operating out of Rome.

There was sortie effo:H by these ~nd other gangsters posing as patriots to prevent the conventio!l from bei:ng held; but it was held, and was
a great success from every point of view, y;ith
rio disturbances of any kind. Some of the l.o,s
Angeles newspapers gave garbled and distorted news from various individuals and veterans' associations which served a good advertising purpose, even if not so intended.
The A.mer,ican manager of tM magnificent
civic auditorium showed that he could not
be .moved .. He. appeared before the counCil
when pressure was1brought on them to break

41
~ition but since their. J;Cing, Christ Jesus,
chdtir~cl co~tradiction and opposition of sinners His~ followers and subjects are glad to
ertdttre the satne.
.
The Medford Armory was obtained for the
convention, but then the first big difficultyappeared. The Armory was large enough. to
seat 3,000 persons, b~t it had only 500 chairs,
and some benches in the balcony. The local
school board had plenty of chairs, but the
hsJ f~t h;idlef .. , .
,tieWspapers were crying and lyi~g a?out mob
action . and indirectly enco.uragmg it, so the
the contract. H~ i~ ~-~;~~fit.
i&'.\H~ city he schoo(board wa~ afraid.,. the qh~irs, niight be
1
serves so welt
. . '
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damaged, and wouid not co-ope~ate with' J e
The 197 ushers handled the cro'Y<l ntc~ly. hovah's witnesses even as they would not
There were :12 msici,a,n..$ . iILtlw . g,r_cJ?-.~.tf.~; have cq..:operated 'with Jehovah's chief wit. ~77 patients mad~ use of the convention hos- ness Christ Jesus: An effort was made to
pital. The cafeteria was excellen~. . , .
rent' chairs out of town, but it was found
.... The advertising in the territory. adJaceni to that those owning the Ghairs would not perLos Angeles was strenuons and well r(3W~!'.Q~cl mit them to he taken out of town, or the
Enormous quantities of hand'Qills were d~~tr.i1:>:: cost of shipping them. would be prohi~itiv:e,
uted 6 000 personal invitations were 111a.il~.d an effort having been made to get chairs m
to th~ i~terested. Fayorable new~ rel~ae Fex~ . . .,..p 0 rtfand, 3i2. miles away!
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~J~~~~~:~n i~gr:::nz f~:f b~ l~~~~ ;Tu:/~~ o~-:r~~:ts~':nd'i}V::~" o~~~~:,;\ft~"Neifoi1a

company worked for ov~r a .week _to prod1:1-ce
benches arid .other :furniture for t}ie b~r11!ilrn
structure. After aJl, Jesus was born in a stable,
and apparently His people can expect the same

meeting halls and trailers Jn the vM;_i:p.ity. Wmd()w cards were sho.wn. in stores aP O.Yel'. tg:wn~
Placards ~2 ihches by 26 inches were ,on eyery
bus in Long Beach .. . .
.

wJ~:-~~16re~iin~ !;i:'f~i~"w:~f~~~a ~\~ f;,:'!~'::%~~~:\::h~~c!~~%;;1h~;a~!i~\~r;;,~;If.

an hour through town, with all then; lights ~m, tion, ten benches ~nd :fiy~ tables for t.he,cafean_d with.. radios. turned.(>:~ loud, and tootmg teria two cafeteria servmg tables, territory,
their horns markets were emptied and every- book~room and check-:rom:n coun,ter$JtI1CJ,. ra}31}s,
o?e' cafue ;unning t() the. curb tg see what jt a speaker's stand, ~nd, for good. measure, thir- .
was all about. R,esuH: adverti$ing. . .

ty large- highway signs.

. ,.

, A picture is shown 6 some of the,$g4;_p~ing

The Devil, seeing the determmat10n. 9f the
i:mtn.er~ed; also of a two-whe~led .t:raUE)~Jh~t .. Lord's servants, then got busy. The Chamber
was put to good use. The drive~ of tl}~s. C,~r.. of Commerce withdrew permission for the pubcruised _all . day with-it, with all lights O?- ~nd lie display of thelarge streamer signs. Places
ri.td}o going, and. attra~ted mu~h attent10n..
were found elsewhere for five of them. One of
Telegrams from Long Beach to the mai.n t]lem, hung from the trees at the Armory,, 'Yas
c6nvention at Detl'Qif w_ere: .. (1) ''Reception cut down by a policeman. But the advertismg
perf~ct; message received eniliu~iastiCally." went forward, by means of handbHls, special
(2) "Reception. clear;. new; ~urprise weapon . recordings, sound-cars,. signs on. automopiles, '
apd ~emonstI'at10l1received:Joyfully. All 'fully- and signs along the highways. m(promment
agt~e \vith. message .exposing Anierica's r~al locations. Some newspapers carried items about
enemies." (3) "Message clear and emphatic; the convention. . . .
. . ... . .
.
.
new 'weapon real surprise." (4) "Message
Patrioteers influenced by Hierarchy agents
' clear distinct and thrilling .. Everyone de- of the Rom~n Catholic Cult, threatened to
termfned to co-operate with The Theocracy." destrov the benches when they were moved
I

'c;t;~;,,; :, ~~~~l)~d, ()~egon .. . .

~j-~ltOVAH'S ~ii;J'.ess~~.afMe<lfard, Oregon,

~:o~~- garage where they were made. to the

lt was known that we could not 9l;>Ja1rtpospushed. on in preparation for.tJ1e~,cQ:r,w~:n,-: . i;j~~JQtL91 :the Ax:rgq_ry until ~en o'cloc~ Tues'."
tion hi th~t ,ci.ty in .the fa~e of. co;nst;:tntoPpo- day .night, with t~e convent10n ~penmg the

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Placards and sign. Medford.

Well-placed. show-window

aa

in and preparations'".II1ade to serve breakfast

the following morning. Much of the cafeteria
equipment was loaned by friends, some was
bought new and some secondhand. By dawn
preparation$ were almost completed. The stage
was decorated; the large banner with the year
text was up. Signs were in place all arouirq
the auditorium.
From the time of the opening talk to the last
discourse, the whole program went smoothly.
The :reception of that part of the program relayed from the key city was excellent. The new
vertical phonograph Fas demonstrated and its
appearance gave rise to many expressions of
thankfulness to Jehovah for His wonderful
provision for His servants. The new book, Religion, was likewise received witli joy'and with
determination to speedily carry this message
from the Lord to the people of good will, without regard to cost.
.
.
Telegrams: July 24 ;,. "Reception good. We
rejoice With you in. His. Theocracy." July 25:
"Thanks to Jehovah for clear. demonstration
from Detroit." July"27: "Greetings to Jehovah
for this message. Greetings-to all attending the
key city." July 28: "Lecture excellent. Jehovah's rich blessing be yours as we rejoice with
all. 128 immersed."

rlextni-Orning. The enemy planned to interfere with .the. moving Tuesday night, under
cover of darkness, their ally. But permissiOn
was obtained from the captain and sergeant
in charge of the Armory to move the furniture into the basement of the Arm,ory. Five .
' trailers and a pickup were used. to transport.,'
Memphis,. Tennessee
' th~J:qr11iture, and it was' all' safely stored in .
th~ Armory basement before dark Monday
N May 13 the Auditorium and Market
.. . Commission of the great' city of Memphis
afternoon: . . . .. . . .
.
when ten:o'clock Tuesday night came, when accepted $50 down payment on the Memphis
the ,Armory was released for. use by Jehovah's Auditorium for the convention of Jehovah's
witne~ses, they re-ally went
work. Thy main witnesses to be held July 24-28, arid alfowecf
floor, the stage, the stairs, the basement and the witnesses. to go ahead and spend thou:e\rerything were thoroughly swept. Chairs were sands of dollars for handbills, phonograph
se( up, and the handmade furniture brought records and a/ hundred
. other. items that. . g.oto
.
from the basenrent and put in place. Still make up a convention. And then on July 1,
niore trucks and 'trailers brought other benches with the convention .only three weeks away,
from near:.by companies. Cafeteria. and dining returned the money by registered mail, statrooms wElre put in' order,
equipment
brought
ing ~hat the Auditorium could not be U:sed 9:ri
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The MESSENGER

tMt 9-ate, as repairs were being made which

: wOu.l.d prevent it. At the time of rental this
~a t,~~fr- q~ .repairs had been. thproughly .dis"cssM and the Coll1mission llad stated the
~;
r~paits' would. he' .
finished . t\vo .weeks be-:.
,
fore the convention date: On July 5:
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.Mr'. McElravy emphatically denied any knowledge .of pressure being brought to bear by selfish
religious or other organizations to keep; us from
using the auditorium. According to a framed card
on th~ wall of his office he is Legionnaire. .

.. Three days later, '"when told firmly but kind~ ly tha'(Jehovah's witnesses were aware of the
unjust and . false. ace, us~ tio:ris made against
t~~m, _and that pressure had been brought to
bear upon him to refuse the use of the Auditorium, he "did not attempt to deny it.

'"Tije.influence of the Roman C_atholic Hierarchy is destroying all the manhood of American businessmen. Most of them now are willing_ to lie ap.d stj:uirrn out of any promise or
covenant they iake, .if only they can please
the great international religious "harlot" of
Revelation 17: 1-5.

. M~ntgomery, Alabama

V.~!~~~~~;~u!~ ~:~phh;~e~~~ri~a;~~~~

tlie. l\finisterial AssoQiation would_ have to _approve Jehovah's witnesses. This is._like asking
the Devil to endorse Jesus Christ. This cowardly. rnOVe was made dn July. 3, and was. beneath contempt. Contract was canceled .six

days la_ter.

, ~- . . Philadel'phia, Pe.;nsylv~nia
~TIS

a far cry from W111iam.Penn to.the

mod.ern city fathers of the "City of Brotherly Love". They have so much love there now
th~.Lit is no trouble at an to bow deeply to
tht~Pl of the Roman Catholic sect; Qf coursei
one. need not hate Catholics, but why let a
bunp~ _of It,alians in Rome_, throu~h their ~m
.4mer1~an henchmen i11 this so11try, run the
.

city founded by Willfam'Pe:Il'ri f
.; ~ut. such is the case, as appears from. this
lett~r, a letter which William P~nn would have
blushed to see and refu~ed to endorse : .

Philadelphia converit~on hall

The Resolution reads:
, "BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Trustees
deem it not in the public interest to approve
the application of Jehovah's witnesses for
the use of the Convention Hall, July 24 to
28, 1940, inclusive.';
Yours very truly,
EDGAR

s. MCKAIG,

President.

Since t4at was that, the Metropolitan Opera

House was obtained. There was objection to
the witnesses' using that place, also, but the
manager had a little mo}'e . of the spirit of
Penn, besides having a backbone. He received
a call from some backer of Rome, who said,
".Why don't you get someone in there who
will salute the flag~" Mr. Spillman replied,
"The flag is still flying; and furth'ermore, I

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. July 9, l940.

N. H. Knorr, Vice-President,

?'Y(ttchtower Bible. and Tract Society, Inc.

1
;-;:. 1J7 Adams St., Brooklyn, RY.
J)~ar Mr~ Knorr~

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:,:Mr. Aken called th.is afternoon to request that
I :mail you a copy of the resolution
the Board
which I gave you over the telephone..

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The MESSENGE"{l

50

July 25. Program' greatly enjoyed by all .here

' don't have to go to. Vatican City to finq out
it;t Philaddphia.
w~o to-:rent .,thfa ha~ .t9/' . . .
. ..
July 27. Thrilled with the message "Times a:n,d
J?e.al.ltiful words'. W()qer~ul words. . .. . _ Seasons" and the new book . Religion.
1
.
Preparations for a ao:rwenHonj:p. J>pila(lelJuly 28. AU .here joined in thunderous applause.
/
1 phia had to be made on short noti~e; and a
All ready for the Theocratic fight.
good job was done. Philadelph,ia was originalli considered for. the c.entrnl ~o:p.ye11tto1l,
Pueblo; Colorado
but as the. Republicans were having a convenHE Chamber of C01:mnerce invited the
ti011 there not long in advance of the dates
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to
s~Iie<ful~dJ()r th_~ ~<?I1vention o~ Je}H)vah's 'Yithold
its convention< in P.,ueblq .. Mr .. Sa:x,:~9n,
. nes~~s~ ColunibUs 'was iiiad~dJ:e key city, and
\Vlien, later, the Hierarchy-superintende'd w:we cjty commissioner, agreed to rent the Meof ~omari' "patrioti~m" (it certainly wasn't ip.orial Ha11 (city auditorium) and said that
nobody could pl,lt en9ugh pressure on him to ,
Aiii~:ri4an) . turned upon Jehovah's witnesses
him ba~k Ol.lt of an agreement. At the
make
and' ca11sed the cancel,latiqn of the qohpJ1l;rs
Fair {}r'ounds; Phlladelphia . was once more time of p:iaking that statement he did nQt
considered, as per above, and with the nople know the Roman Catholic Hierarchy as he
_now. lie said they had even let the audi' . ( n results indicated in copy of letter from does
'the board in charge ofConvent.ion Il:;1JL .. .. _ torium to Oommm1ists and certainly would
not deny it to Jehovah's witnesses.
The city of Philadelphia became one of, th,e .
After two weeks he stated that the receipt
m,any c~ties 7 nevertheless, in whic~ extension he had issued\ was as good as any contract,
conven~10s wer~ held. C911nycted \V1t}i the key
and he gave his word of honor the witnesses
city' the ~onvention w~s rea(bl~ssing' to those
would have the auditorium, Jh!Jthe pressure
unable to attend at J)etl':Qit'.
...
had begun. A committee of war vet~mns had
.. In the co:urse of. t}ie con~~t~ona l;>~d.ly dam~ visited him, protesting. He admitted that in
'.aged sedan parked almost. in fron.t pf the .en- . these organizations there is. an _inner circle_ as
t.rarn~e, with four men in it who1 seeil1ed to be was the case in Holland, Poland, Norway and
badly hurt, being bandaged up pretty thor- Belgium. He wanted these under his eye where
oughly. Inquiry revealed that they were an he could keep track of them. Ht} did not say
unfriendly bunch, apparently bent on making who they were. It is'. always the gang.
1
~rouble. 1'he police w~re advised, and the car
Two weeks later committee of five called
drove off with poiice car following.
on him demanding that the contract be ca:n,'.'.
, . .Another incident was the appearance of a celed. He said he saw 'rio reason to do so .. ije
',woman, obviously drunk, wearing signs adver-' had read Judge Rutherford's books. and- Il:ot
tising Judge Rutherford's lecture. She disap- fo. u_nd_. in_. _them anything whatever against th,e
..
'peared quickly when she was approached by American government. A Legionnaire, h~d
~ome of Jehovah's witnesses, bu twas later seen of a district school board, called a meeting of
ta:lki:rig to
officer, admitting to him that a teachers ~i1d said.he' would see that t4e conpriest was paying her to stage her little (l.Ct. tract was ca:n,celed. The newspapers began. to
:fyJ:agist:rate Thomas A. O'I-1,a.:ra (guess his bay and bark and whi:e .. Att9r:q.eys began to
religion) put one of Jehovah's witnesses in take a . hand.
\
'jail for thirty days becauserof adv.ertis!ng the
Ten days niore and. the newspapers were
Ie~~ti,rre, his right. Arrangeme!lts were made
filled wjth propaganda and refused to _print
for_. _ :r9leai;;e ;;mq. !n. tlie ._cours~- ()f liis dealings the truth. Mr. Saxton said Legionnaires had
with the. witness' attorney 9'Hara said, "If threatened to pring a thousand steelworkers
tli!i:! 'JOfk CO!ltinues, there's. going to_ be blood- to the auditorium and .break up the meeting
with stink bombs. (They wouldn't need to
~hecl over it! There ::tr~. e:ri()11gh. of us here to
stci;p ~t and we /are g6ing to put a stop to it." b:r;ing. anything; just walk in.) The entire
(That's wh,at li~ thinks.)
.
town was in a furore. Sw~h Legionnaires .as
T.eJegrams from Philadelphia to the key con- are true Americans Qacked up the witnesses;
ventio11 1~nd~ca te _that they had a blessed time'. the radic~l ele:x\ent ht their r~11ks, controlled
. by the Hierarchy, set the passions aflame,_
They .are :

Two days more and Catholic Action h;;td, this

..... July . 24. 'Thrilled with opening message of the
: Theocratic Convention_ from Detroit. May Jehovah American town lfo~ed to 4 fi,nii:!h. 'rli~ G91Ilmis.sioners admitted and had to admit that a law-
continu.e to bless all ses.pio:n,s ..
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The. MHS,SENGE11
l~~s ele!Ile~t which they did n~t name had

brought agaillst us, and of the fact that he

could expect plenty of pressure from the Hierarchy when the advertising of "Religion' as a
World,. Remedy" was begun.
..
A.9.opting its usual tactics to prevent honest .
people from hear:ing the truth, Catholic Action
began <'turning the heat on" the hall manager
soo!i a,fterJlgi_~QBY~I1t19P. pegan. Pressure was
also brought through the insurance company
from which the ma,nag.er leases the ,building.
Even in Mip.11eapolis a Catholic priest called
the head office and insisted that our meetings
St. Paul~ ~Minnesota
lle ganceled. This pressure was in turn trans-
'HE convention at St: Paul served a wide mi,tted to the manager, but, even though. he
, . ar.ea in the N6rthwestbeca11se ()f ~a:ncella- w~~-.fran:Jdy concerned about the threats of
tions at Fargo and Sioux Falls. Jehovah's wit~ dittt,!'P~:nee, }ie r~fuse<f to b9w ~v~: tq .th~
nesses and companions assembled from Mill- ge,:rp,an9s of his landlord, and stood firmly by
hesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South his contract. Saturday night he told some of
D:;i,kota, Montana, as well as a few, who were his friends, "They turned these people out of
successfuJ in getting across the border, from every place else in town; we're the only ones
Canada. A pioneer from Montana went to who 'had the guts to take them in, and they're
S!oux Falls to attend the TheocratiC 'conven- the finest peopfe we ever had i;n thi~ hall."
tion. 'Filldjng that it had been canceled there, ... '.!he day after the convention closed, he called
she went to Fargo. That. had als.o. been can- tpe head office and. reported, -'~Well,- the buHdceled; so she came on to St. PauJ hoping to/ ing is still here, and we're allstill alive. l told
find a conve11tion here, which she did:
you-thatthese people.wouldn't make any trouThe Devil put every obsta~le ill the way to ble, and besides, that we have a police departpreven~ the obtaining of an auditorium. At ment in this town that's out of polities, and
first arrangell1-e11ts were made to us,e .the St. r.~;:t,lJy on. their job." He also told one or the
P,aul Munfoipal Aiiditoriuni, and negotiatfons witne,sses, "I have ~een I~ftding the book Relito this end were carried on, but in a final.show- gion, 'and it looks to
what.you people
down, in a meeting of the city council, the offi- haye is the_ real thing. When I've finished this
cials plainly stated their' opposition to Jeho- bo9k I'm ~oming down to your hall and get
,
vah's witnesses and the Theohatic convention. the rest qf the books."
. The police department in St. Paul co-opThe mayor stated that we might precipit~te
rr. riot and (l.amage the auditorium,)and that erafed fully in providing police protection
our re<;ord was against us; the c.i~y attorney (mostly plain-clothesmen) during ctn se~sio11s
~said that he-himsel! woufd st~rt a riot if anyof the convention. Chief of Police C>Hackert
, o:p:e brought him more literature like some. he told u~ that as long as our meetings were le/ had received from 'Jehovah's witnesses, (Both gal he would see that no unlawful interference
th~ese gentlemen have since lost their jobs.) was permitted; and he kept that proniiS((!uTly~
~e::ict, arran,gem~nts,-w13re n:ia(le t9 _use a porHere was a man who appreqiated 'the real
1ro11. of the):State 'Fa~:r G~ounas-~qr ,.~he Gon- Aweric~n principles of liberty, quite in con' v~ri\iori, and a contract was draw11 up for the trastto his superiors at the City Hall. At his
ame. About a 'Yeels)Cl.ter thenewspaper M- suggestion a copy of the convention program
'cou:q.t~o~ t~e T~x~s~a11a:l\ip.irie,rfo~s against was also sent to the head of the Federal BuJehovah's wjtnesses appeared; "and the Fair reau of Investigation in St. Paul before .the
Hoard canceled the contr:;i,ct .on the ground convention opened, so that 'he would under~that our refusal to salute t:qe :flag woulq probstand th'.e cause of complaints which he would
'ably -result in violence and damage to the undouptedly receive from those opposed to the
State property. Finally a contract. was made free proclamation of the truth. Jehovah's blessJ:or the use <?f a private hall, the manager of ing was upon these arrangements, and not even
which was wilhng to' stand. up for the prin- a hil}t of inte:rference with our _meetings was
ciples of freedom ofworship and assem})ly. experienced during the whole convention.
He was fully' advised berorehand of th~ nature
Good publicity was given the convention
- and source of the .persecution that 'has been durfog the first t~ree days by the local news~
made threats which Ji.ad them. all fr,ight.ened,
but, according to their own words "no patri.. ?ti~.yrganization had_ made any threats; _ no
1
,or~anizationJ:iad IIla(le any threats''. The net
; ''.fil$ult was, 'aft~r Catholic Action had stirred
up every organization in the city, the case
.).V"~~ w~ri f()]'.' the pope. and America was put
in the cold. Cancellation of the use of the

city half followed as matter

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52

The.MESSE,NGER

paper. The first announcement gave, a very fair two main- halls and in the two dining 'rooms,
presentation of the stand of Jehov;:i,h's wit- as well as se-yeral hundred who stood outside
nesses on the questions of flag-saluting . and arouiid the sound-car.. Everybody, inside and
, neutrality .. However, no ,account was carried out, listen~d atte;ntively to the entire program,
. of the very' extensive witness given by the lee- brought :from Detroit for more than an hour
, ture "Religion as a World ~emedy'~ or .the and a half. All joined enthusiastically in adopt, advertising in connection 'therewith.
ing the resolution pre~ented _3it the conclusion
of '"Religion as a World Remedy". Thenwe
were further thrilled to hear Judge Rutherford's voice again bringing us words of 'counsel- and encouragement, to stand fast in the
fight. A large American flag hung at the front
of the auditorium served to illustrate his remarks on our attitude toward the flag. Then
another surprise with the announcement 0 the
new Kingdom News. Surely Jehovah's table
has been spread before us in/ abundance.
,Telegrams to the main convention at D~troit were: ' (1) "Greatly encouraged by
Immersion in Lake Phalen
I
.
.
. ..
\. ' . ....... "' . .
Brother Rutherford's ringing declaration
The reception of the .lectures from, Detroit our stand; excellent reception' throughout.''
was uniformly excellent. The demonstration (2) "All thrilled beyond words w:,ith new
of the new phonograph on the platform here phonograph. Will continue march around Jer~
sirnultan~ously with the. announceme:ri.t fwm
icho." (3) "All Theocratic ambassadors join
Detroi,t was greeted with unrestr.ainedent4_1l:'. youfo adopting resolution after Brother Ruth;.
si~s.m-, a;p,d expressions of appreciat}on. This erford's forceful delivery. May Jehovah-gr~nt
provision of the Lord fo.r the Jinal . rnl!rG~ him strength' to continue; Intense pressure on
around. J~ric49 is. surely an exhibiUon. of. His hall. owners by Catholic Action successfully
f~vor upon His people. The phonograph was resisted;" ( 4) . ''Main auditorium and three
thereafter ,demonstrated, regularly. in the book overflow halls packed. Hundred~ stood around
'room;whereit remained a.cep.terq:f att:ta.ctio:r:i sound-car outside. We deeply appreciate pertl;lroughout the remainder .of the convntion. fect reception of entire session, including
The a;p.:<;>1i:ceient anq release otthene,wJ>ool,{ Brother Rutherford's closing remarks. ReliReligion for thiS final campaign was. anoth~r gion going fast."
big surprise, and filled all with joy. Thi$ boo.k
was alsq taken,. eagerly by the public after th~
Sa11 Antonio, Texas
S;u:<l~Y lecture.
.
.. . ..
, T}ie _immer~ion was conduGted,);ri..~he b~:;tu,.
VERYTHING was going well for a cqntiful setting ofLake Phalen. TJie youngest of . .. yention i11 San Antonio; the rental ofthe
those symbolizing their .. consecration was 8; .Auditorium had even been/ reduced from $6.75
the oldest, 80.
to $445, a reduction of 33-l percent,. when the
. Tlle . SU.nday lecture by Judge Rutherford storm broke in Texas (inaugurated by the lywas the h!gh point of the convention. An audi- ing United Press report sent out from Del
eriet(nif 1;:~5oinc'lu.dr"d c.apadty
i~1. th~~
Rio). June 4, Mayor Maverick~ who had pre:'.
. viously let-the Communists have the lise of the
Auditorium, canceled the contract andJh.e Au1 ditorium manager stated that if the witnesses
went ahead wi't.h the convention Jehovah's witnesses would be in greatdanger of fosingth.eir
lives. The witnesses were quite willing to do
that, ,and made special.legal efforts to enf(:>rce
the contract, but all to no_ avail. Mayor :May.;
erick, who stood by the Communists, was not
willing to stand by honest, upright Chr.~stia,
people-,-:not when he knew that the Roll1a
C<itholfo Hierarchy is after their sealps.
Overflow crowds hearing lecture :at st ,Paul

of

! .,

. ~;_.

:~,

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: .

...- . .

,t

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 53

The.MESSENGER
, .I
'./

1.

'

territory. About 300 publishers, ranging from

5 to 85 years, engaged in informati9n marches; and while some "bJack crows" gave us dirty
looks, they were unable to exert enough influence to cause any trouble. We succeeded in
advertising Judge Rutherford's speech on the
streetcars; even the Catholic priests had to
' ride. on cars that were carrying our signs.
The buses also carried our signs. Even though
we ordered 30,000 handbills, we could. have
used more. Many of the newspapers published
our news releases word. ~or. word, but very little was said in the papers about the convention.
: . . , ,~1mday was the big day. Judge Rutherford's

Diego, Calittrnla~~~~:t::~L.:~: ~1!e~~g~~m:o ~f[ {~~~11. ~;nit\;J ~~o s~!i~

0

'

.. .Eh. ad
.. som.e diffi.. culty in engaging a.suit. . ~ble hall. With. the help of Jehovah we
W.''
shcceededin
getting one. of the finest in, .t9wn.
The ~anagement.of the Pfata Real stated.that
''Jehovah's witnesses are th~ cleanest people
w~ hay<:>., ever.had .in this ha,11. We are glad
to- have had, them here. We._hope to have theni
here again sometime:" The San. Diego company furnishe_d the management with a co'py
of, Religidn, for which they expressed gratitude and appreciation.

_Many _came from .Arizona and all_ . parts

of so-qthern California. we' wefe gratefully
thrilled with. the speeches that came by direct wire to the Plata RealiU. S. GranfHotel.
Our' reception was perfect.
.I
.
. Some attended in m,ilitary unif~rm. A sailor
boy was greatly stirred wi~h the message. He
saw his gourse of action was wrong and immediately tbok action to get himselfstraight with
th~ Lord~ He symbolized his consecration and
a.:~~ed his comma,nding officer that he be relea~ed frow the Navy upon the grounds thati
lie.had now covenanted to serve J ehovali and
_he:...96uld,not serve both-God ap.d ma~mon.
ije, ft~rt}ier gave his commanding officer the
ho,oklet Neutrality, stating it expressed his
pcisition and that he ~akes application for
,diseh~Fge from the Navy> upo:t( the grounds
_setforth in Neutrality. . . . ... . - _ . .<
of the pioneers enjoyed their locaI
conv:eirtion home at a'.)ittle pfoneer camp
{~~:p:iifesout of to,wn arici.0!1-~ plot O~ gro:L1pd
provided by one~. of the brethren.. ,
VJn,~. ~.dvyrtising, many_ of th.e . .<~ars of our
b.t:~tbten we.re painted e11tirely white and 011
ti+.e,J~J<,le$ and rear we.gaye inform~tion_ copc~i'ning co:nvention and publi<; spee~h. :The,: $:6ciety's sound.:car advertised it fo allthe:rul>al

Many'

werE(filled. It was.necessary to engage an overflO\Vhall, and that too was filled.

.I

\'

The,'MESSEN'llER

<GltiW~u ~h@.All~i ffi~Mlsl

SoQl,h l>~~kqt.~

Sioux F~ls,
South Dakota
HE Chamber of Com'I.

. .. merce, so they said, "apT

preciilfo very muGh being giv-

July 2, 1940

ert. an opportunity to co-oper-

Mr.

Stevens Poole
Davis, South P8.ltoti.

Dear Sir:
/!

Recently you made applioation to the manager of the Colisewn., a

public building owned and operated by the City of Sioux Falls~
:tor tne use of, 'such building from Jull.y 24th to July 28th for ..
the hold,ing of a meeting ot the organization known. as Jeh.ovah 1 s
Witnesses. At that t+me the I11anager aocepted a deposit of $35
.on 'the rental charge but with the rese.rvl,'l,ti 0n tl}at. if .it s}l_qu,:J,d
develop that the holding of such meeting would be contri;iry to
the public interests, the permit to use the bu,il~ing
would not
1
be. granted and the deposit would be returned.
1

xhiring the last. several. dtlys numerbui, obj~9tions ruive be~n rec~iyed by, the manager of the C9l1seUI11. an,a the 9+ty officials
to the holding.of this. meeting by suoh organization. These objectiont1 have been 1Dade by representatives ot vari,ous patriotic
8J1~!!'ltfi!rans.organizat1ons and by other religious groups, which
gf'oups claim to nave be.en subJeot to attaok by representatives
of Jehova}l!s Witndses.

< ' . '. \.,'.

~.

' .'.- '~

. ,' ' . ~ ; ; .' /'' .

'. . ' ~ . . .'1

'

ot

. Toi:tay the: members .

the O~ ty Conun1.~11\on m~t whh the manager
of the C9:p.t1eum~ tJie .chairQn of the '.Veterans .council ot the
-C~tl'> and representatives
t~ Ntiera+ 'BurE!all: of Investiga~~91'
~t tM-E5 m~l"t~ng the group consideret\ various newspap13r
and. magazine artic].esl"elating t 0 similar meetings of the
J~hov~'s W+tne~seE!~ .. In particular it aj>pears from the article
1n TIME MA~~INE for June 24, 1940, at page 54 t:)lat similar meet-
1ngs Of the' organiiation'luive1tMite4 r~O~Ef ~nC!. ~ob yiolence in
v.:cision
. a,r. i~s.ofoolllll1
...... ~. l'lit.~I!.~.. TM .grouP-_ .al. .s. o. 1co.ns1d.. . E!r. e_dt he rec. e.nt d.e. th~ Supreme Court whioh suat,.in~d a !Jchool ~oar<! in ....
tlie'e~ulf!ion ot a Qlld belonging to or inst~ll:C'!ied by Jehovah's
Witnesses who refused to salute t~e flag. Due oonsideration was

ot

.'"'.''-''/: ';/ ;.. "'.''':

,:c.~:z-

also given to the 1'.act tbat at this particular time in our nl.s:- '
. J:9:ry the, complete loyalty of an our people is demanded, and
1there is deep-seated feeling among our citizens about anything
in the nature of: dlsloyalty to the government.

:,. ':::~:.'!:;. ;::<:~S;:;.:~.:'~:~:;:,: ;:;:~-~:;.;<.t . ~-. ::\: .;._.I,}:,~:;~:'. /).~:;'.~:~:j ~ :: :"::;;'.-~\ ,,;,,~ .:~~~.{~~4*; ~::~:.{.: :;~;,:\~, :~;,;:~.~~:.:.; ..': :

~1J,. .9~ th~s .. +eii ~hE! group to ,the conc191cm that

, 1s_ peld a.I!!

1;l'e.~t~n.1ng

fup~l.c ~ro~e~ty. . .. .
;t1~4e~ the ~~rc~st~noes

. .. . . .. . .
. . . .
... .. . .
the ~Hy Comm~ssion, acting w1tli' the
of, the Co1iSeUlll .. d.eterrnined. t4t 1;h~ permit to hold the
llleeM.ng of Jehov:all' s Witnesses on July 24th to 28th shall be
gl"iinted only on condition tlul'!i ~.$50,000 bond be posted to'cqver
'any drunage to.the Colisewn property inwhioh the City has an in..vest1nent. or 111orll' than a quarter ot a .milliop. 'dollars, and on the
f'.arthe'r coriEJ14er11Hon th~t t}lere J>e paid to the City the sum of
$1,500 witli ~h1oh to pay the oost of adequate police protection
4urirm the tiJDe of the holC!.ing of the convention. It is required
t}tat t}le~e, COnditiO?}~ l:)e met promptly and not later tPa:Q ..J:UlY
l~t}). ah~ 1f. ~ot ni~t b~- that time the deposit of $35 will pe ret\1rne,d ~4 permission to use tlie puqding "1ll not be granted.

t~ s~~di~1.f~ ~opf ~f this.lett~r t~

of

your attorney: Mr. N.

tr1'
. . . :yours,

\/~JO.~
. (Jit7 Attol'?leY

.l\DB:JS

}3.

Lennox.

Va~

oui .to 'Be ihe'1act.'xi!e:'

. .,.,. .,:. . ~ .\

U" . suc}l meetJ,ng

ther.e is grave danger of public disturbances
to cause personal 1njurie!3 arid ~lso damage .to the

~chedti1E!4

iJ!'l~Pager-

Bartlett

ate in the' arrangements for

A
this meeting." Everything w~s
~ii.
.all fi~eq up for. the use of te
Coliseum and Jehovah's witnesses relied upon the word
of the mayor, who refused a
down payment, that 'if his
,word was no good the money
would not hold it'. This
turned
'I~
m,~ge his promise on j\.pril 9,
and on July 2, nearly three
months later, when the Roman Hierarchy had been able
to apply the heat to him,
through numerous businessme'n, he had the city attorney
caricel the contract and write
as foolish a letter as any supposed lawyer ever wrote. The
City Commission would carry
out its contract, oh yes! But .
Jehovah's witnesses must ,post
a bond of $50,000 and rgust
pay the city police $J.,500 for
providing police protection.
This unique letter is herewith
reproduced.
.

San Jose, California

''THE convention .in .. San
'
Jose was another evidence of the handofthe ..Almigh ty God. in --the.
af
His people, working to the
erid of glorifying His name."
So said the convention sery;:mt for that city: A year ago
the San JDse Conventi9n and
~.
Tourist Bureau of the San tl.L.
Jose- Chamber ofQ91w11.e,J:~~
invited Jeh.ovah's ,witne$ses.to
include San "Jose 'wheu )lf- ,
. rangements :were made for\ the
next convention. The .Civic
Auditorilim W3:1'.l. offered free
for the purpose, and the

affafrs-

Qhamb~r
to
rneri
t. - of Commerc~'

- 'stuck

_the_ arrange - . .- - .

to break the deadllne and caw,;e -the. abandon,ent of the convention in. Sava.nnah,. It .fa
stated that the employees in the post office at
Savannah are 100-percent \Catholic and that
the' Qity Council is completely dominated_ by
this small minority. A report says:

<':.~ Sometime before the convention opened the

ttu1nager of the Auditorium. was approached
:i:
- regarding'the probability of mob violence. It
. \V::ts his thought that no violence WQuld OCQ1JX,
b'?-~ J eh,ovah's witneSSE$ nevertheless took preCity officials are mere tools of , the Hierarchy.
ca-gtfons,,trusting Jehovah todo for th~ni what This was made manifest today. One councilman
they could not do, but meanwhile doing what stated that the committee is always made up of
!hey could. There was no disturbance, though two Jews,two Irishmen, two Germaus and. 6 Georgia Crackers. The first si~ always stick together
-tlie' nianager had been threatened.
._ \
Tl:ie first srprise of the convention, the new a~d the balance act at their cmnm~n,d,
phonograph and its demonstration; was asjoyfully received at San Jose as at Uet:rgit.
~~~uJe,
ashinston
The seco:<l surprise, the Author's Edition
EHOVAR'S name and wo'rd have. been fur of Religion, n;iet with enthusiastic reception.
ther magnified by the convention acti~ities
'}1he, conv.entioners gave assurance that they of His people in the Pacific Northwest who
would do their part in giving the country assembled in Seattle, Washington, July 24W:hat)t professes to need-:-more "Religion".
28, 1940. Included in this assembly were full__ San J oseconventioners had their ow.11 c.aJe~ blood American .Indians, and natives of the
teria, in spite_ of efforts ~o prevent it. :A doc- Philippine Islands and Hawaii. Private wir.e
t6r ,in theHealth Department made i.t cle;:tr from the key .assembly of the Theocratic contP,at he . would not permit such an arrange- vention at Detroit, Michigan, broughfto those
ment if he had anything to say about it. He assembled in the Seattle Mas<mic Temple all
didn't; for arrangements for.his vacation took the main features with clear .and. perfect rehin:i out of' the city at the right time, and a ception, and with no interference whatev~r !n
license for the cafeteria, wa,.is$11ed, without the local auditorium.

objection by those left in charge. As at Detroit,

Only
a.
very
few
publishers
were able to
pioneers received their meal_s free, others paycome from Canada, the majority being refused
ing for theirs at a reasonable rate.
TJ;iere were 142 immers~d at San Jose, and permission to enter, although local publishers
_aft~ndance at the 'Suri.day public lecture on made every effort to assist them Mross the bor"Religion as a World Remedy" was heavy. der, even to guaranteeing their expenses 'while
'
The audience, including the public., manifest- here.
The
management
and entire staff of -the
ed intense interest~ -Many expressions of apMasonic Temple were kind and hqspitable,.
proval were overheard.,

Qne man retitar]\~d to a wit11ess, "Your pam- Courtesy' was extended -by the police departphlet says 'Religion' as a World R$1edy' and ment of the city of Seattle in removing all
your sign says the contrary. Please explain." parking restrictions around the building for
cars that displayed banners advertising the
~- T}ie publisher reminded him how Jeh decoyed
t}ie W()rshipers of Baal into the temple of Baal, Theocratic convention. Officers who were sta_professing to have a "feast unto 1,3a~l". "I get tibned in and around the building to direct
traffic and maintain order had nothing serious
the .Point," he r:epUed.
<\
to COP:tenq -with~
I.
.. S~me of our billboard ~igns were~ mutilated
,
or destroye_d with tar, knives,'stones, etc., and
THE \Qha:rnber of Commerce watl deJighted one night a stone was thrown through th~ win~:,_
with the idea of a convention; sixty days dAowf of tffihe localh compandyd's Kingdom Hall.
- )~ter thl=)y were completely opposed to it. Many
ew ru ans w o atten e.. our ip.eetings re\'a,ttditoriums, were contraytedfor, but an con- .mained
silent and caused no disturbance.
1
;-y~cts broken, ''repair''--~icus~~ and other e_~- __ . 1.he.''Jeli~", sound-boat of:_s~~tti~, pii~attiie
>'.<;uses being manufactured t6 fit the occasion. waters of. the .Puget Sound area, testifying to
~,A~length, at the last minute, an auditorium _,thousand!:!. alc>ng the more than 193 miles_ of
<'W~s erigaged and the contract wold haYe. J;>~~-n $e~~tle'~. water. front, not only by the sound
- f-lfilled, but the mail was helq in the Savan- _- equipment mounted on the cabin, but by the
Fi1ah post office twenty-four hours, long enough large sail upon which was s~itche9- letter!ng

..w

,h: . . . . .

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The. ):fESSENGER

56

r'equired for the book room, hospital, steno~

graphiG and filing department, field service,
advertising, treasurer's office, nursery, ,~tc.
The information desk, p<Jst~ offic:e, and rooming desk were set" up ill the lobby.
Telegrams to the main. conventi.on .aL De~.
troit : (1) "Perfect reception; vowels, cpnso~
nants true and clear." (2) "May Jehovah's
name be glorified by new phonogpwh. Pup.:
lishers overjoyed. Convention running smoothly. Speech was thrilling. Reception perfect."
( 3) "Deepest appreciation to Jehovah for
Brother Rutherford's inspiring message clearly heard. Greatly enthused with new book~
No interference." ( 4) "Lecture thrilling; like
great hammer pounding doW11 walls of ReJi"'
gion. Packed to sidewalk. 117 immersed."
'1

Spokane, Washington
I_IIS convention, well advertised, mov. ed
smoothly. Only once was there any trouT
ble. At the one time when the guards
wer~

off duty, i.e., at th~ time of the principal ad. dress Sunday, when
were in the auditorium;
evil . persons poured sug~r into the gasoline
tanks .of four of the automobiles, in ~n at.:
tempt to 'Yreck the motors. The a.ttem.pt did
not succeed. Police were friendly, having al.,
ways one officer on duty, and on the last day
several in. uniform and in plain clothes, as well
as a unit of the fire department, with their
truck parked right by the convention building.
Here 124 .were immersed.
A witness from Canada arrived at the con"'.
vention after trying for thirty days to. get.
across the l,ine~ This was a grand surprise to
all. He was given a place on the program.
When .Judge' Rutherford spoke of the evil
work . of .the American Legion prie :hran took:
his Legion card out of his pocket and tore: 'it
up; sayirig, "If that is the kindofan outfit I
am associated with; l had better: get rid of
th\s."

. ..

........ .
Just before the worst rainstorm e)werie11ced
in years in.Spokane,anopportunity wasgive11.
; ' t";: ''i' :.fh~~!f;'~! :~~[iJ.t :J.dt~~~~ to :go out in an information march. Despite
the storm, 125 volunteered, and by the.. time.
they were 'down town the storm had ceased ..
; They did not get wet.
.

all

4.

"ii\'or~~f,~~ . ~iiKl ~u{:~;.::~,..,./t~ili[;~:~li~,~:.~~~~~w ~J[~ri~~"1T~rH~:i'~f-.

i);>::;: . .: :; .' : . :.~: :;, . ...\.::;;;:;., :~'.; ......:

dls~~~~;rJdf~!;~t i,1:ig]1b~ tht'fJ(1

<

~~a:t:~~ .,

. g"'t.ti~

>

11n ay ecture. .. .......... . .... . : .....

.: . . Sititable rooms . 4~yl .b~.~n ..$et ~f!lide~jn )Jle~
Masonic Temple for departments which a:a.;
ministered the variol1s det~p~ of the.work, and
the,se' were furnjshed bf the focal witnesses' as_

: Tampa, Florida

'T'
..' HE Tampa section of the Theocrati(:~oii~ '
. . ventiort.su~ceeded in having its meetings
ill spite of strong opposition from .a motley

. The MESSENGER

c:r:owd of pseudo-patriOts. First a petitfon was to the boa~d, to decide 'on July 23, at 8 p.m.
circulated by a group of self-styled "Defend- Due to the nearne,ss of the convention, Jehoets of the F'lag" that sought to have the use vah'.s witnesses sent for their lawyer at Jackbf the Municipal Auditorium denied Jehov;;ih'ys SOilyiHe to be @,,hand, prepared to go irito
wjtnesses .. This outfit was heg,ded by one W. J. Federal Court if the contract was. broken.
The,'' B,oard, de~i4ect,th~t ... the,. Ol).ly- one' who
Doran.
:~ Next came the Centro .Asturia,no Club, a could cancel the contra~t was the !Ilayor. A
Latin .health society. Manifesting the spirit of co.!hmittee. fro!Il the aforementfoned publicly
the Spanish dictator Franco, they wanted to '"patriotic" groups called on the _mayor the
. 'stop anyone from us,ing public buildings to next day, demanding that he cancel the con-
attack the flag or trom putting out literature tract: The. lawyer for Jehovah's witnesses .. ar.:onthe streets .atta~king "the Christian reli- rived .while tP.is co~wittee waf:r w,aiting to be .
. gion''. Since Jehovah's :wi~nesses attack 11either he,~rd, a~ when they weTe called into the .
te flag nor the .non-existent Christian reli- mayor's' office, he also was . invited i:n.' ''he
gion, neither objection affected them. The Ci- mayor impartially heard both sides and then
gar' Makers Union, realizing this, protested sai<l he did not, intend to interfere "\VHP. ,~Y,PJ>the Centro Astu;riano's action. Just to show . va,h's witnesses' use o~ the M:unicipal AudHo~'
his meanness the Devil (through his.foy~l sup- rium,. although- he did .not agree with their
porters) arranged tp cam~el the use to the reg"'.' stand on the :(iag'salute. He .had investigated
ufar zone assembly of the City; Auditorium at and fow1d that Jehovg,h's witnesses were)1ot
Qi'la,ndo. That .complicated matters further. lawbrea~ers'. H they did break the laws. he
'fhe Tampa Cigar'Makers Union protested this would be the first to canc_el their. con,traGt. fol'
al~o; and the local politicians quite naturally
the. u~e ?~ Jhe &11.<l.ito!iTI,:rr,i'. I!e t~~!l tqld., *~
ac~used the Uni~n o'fbeing Communistic, but
"patr10t1e" .orgamz.aJions that if they were
falsely so. .
. .
. . .
really patriotfo they '\Vould co-operate to .see
. /.. The Tampa Committee. on Public :Relations that there wa~ no violence, and he made them
of the. Board of :Representatives called a 'hearil}~ on the protests for July 22. Those in fa-:vtjrof:sfopping Jehovah's.witnesses from us:.
ing the:.Auditorium were the American Legion, ,
the Qentro.Asturiano,a group ~romtheAmer.-.
ican Federation of Lapor, the Veterans of
. . ;Jrpreig:n Wars, .and the Defenders of the Flag.
Dora,n openly attacked Jehovah's witnesses:
Th.ere 'Yere, however, a number of defenders
bf freedom of asse,mbly yvho. spok~ against the
protests. A local attorney, Mr. Grayson, was
l!iftong them.
:The. Committee referred the matter back
Tampa a11<iitorJum
1

'

'<

,.

'

The MESSENG1Ut
'

'

'

pledge themselves to that. Some of them said

they wer~ against v:~ole;i~e, but could not s~aLte
what . act10ns some mdlVldual .111ein~ers .nirnht
take. Th~ mayor then took down the riames
ot al~ present. Arter they had
left. the
:i:rt~ycir showed the lawyer or Jehovah's 'witM
rie$~es a very strong letter rom the Knights
o~ Ooltimbus attacking them.'
.
. .
The. mayor gave. orders for police protec. tion, and while some persons showed :UP at
tlie i\_uditorium \Vhowere evic1ently there !or
nd go6d reason, they did nothing. The mayor
informed the ,vitnesses that in addition to the
, police on duty at the Auditorium he was hold"
, ing a detail. in readiness ~t police headquar~
ters, and had also . ordered the fire. cl1ief to
have a fire hose r.~ady. The converitioners en-.
joyed a peaceful time during the e~tire five
days; nor was there any interference with the
'forkers , as. they engaged in field_ service'. .
, . Telegrams sent by the Tampa Convention
to ~he De~roit key convention :finish this ac~
count: . ( 1) uReception [or programs] perfect
Wed,n,esday and Thursday'. Vigorous . opposi~
ti on failed." ( 2) aThrilled by new book!'' ( 3)
"In spite of. ma,ny threats, no interierenee.
dony~11:tion perfect success.''

all

. Tui';~,

Oklahoma

f1awaiiafl Jnformation marchers

io

Honolulu by shortwave and land lines was

enthusiastically received. Immediately preparations were 1Jegun, painting tire signs, and
large signs ~ feet by 9 feet, advertising "Religion as a World Remedy".
Those 0 good will in other islands were
notified . so that they could prepare to hear
and to advertise, that others could hear, too.
Cos~ of trav~l between the islands being pro1.

re-

EA~LY inApril J~hovah's witnesses

) . . cejved . a very rfondly two-pag~ letter
from the Chamber 0 Commerce . of Tulsa,
pointing out the advantages of holding a convention there,. and. suggesting (a) the Convention Hall, (b) the Fair Grounds, and. ( c)
the Coliseum, then in the. ha.nds 0 receivers.
The11, the st~rm bro,!te an4 manhood w.4s. at a
premmm,. with few candidates. The city fat.hers not only broke a contract for use 0 the
(jonvention--:Hall, but put the witnesses out
of 'the City Hall, where they. had. beeh good
ten~nts for many years. Then the Fair Grounds
. ' refused the lease Of i}1eir property or MfiV'ell.
tiop purposes and the receivers for .the Coli' s~lim. preferred to lose the .$600. they .would
' hay~r~ceived, ra,ther:.tpal! to p~rmit.p~rsecuted
O~i:1st~~!ls.. to .asserrlk!e. Vt tge J:r1~dJng they
~ontl'9LJ.rr tfie . e,ar!y days 0 the .west, and
iii_)he early .d.ays or Tulsa itself, there were
. :triahly, A~ericans fa those parts. How hnve
the rrnghty. fallen !

ri .. ,

~:, :.: :~. :lt9~9,u!~; Hawaii

I NFORMATION that

the public address by

;fudge Rutherford, to be delivered at the
Theocratic Convention, July 28, ~o~ld be sent

H!hvaii. Pubiicity. by truck

') '

'\

The

MESS~N'GEB

59

Hawaiian,
Kihgdotn
publishers advertising "Religion as a Wprld Remedy"
..
\
.

;,

hibitive, .those .of good. will prepared. to . assemble on the other islands at these places:
. Hilo,Hawaii; Pahala,Hawaii; Wailuku,Maui;
Kapaa,Kauai; Makaweli, Kauai. The address
being delivered by radfo beam to Honolulu, it
could be picked up by shortwave at these other
pfaces. Publishers ifi' E;amoa also were notified1
so that they might endeavor to listen in.
A total ot 37,250 printed invitations. were
distributed from house to house, ifi stores, of'.'
fices, government buildings, and at the entrance of large canneries. Lar~e.. signs, tire
signs, autos and trailers with la:rge signs and
SOl:J.nd .effects Were. used to notiy of . the important occasion. A very thorough advertising .job was done. The brethr~nw():rked early
and late and thoroughly enjoyed the privilege,
despite the heat. The youngest participant in
the information marches was 6, and the' eldest
well over 70. These marches were held in the
bfl?:~~.s. ~ectiop~ of . .fiq:nqJ~+,:u, Hilo and Wailuku,and in the more t.hickly populated r~si:1'
d~:Qtial. s~ctiqns, to good advantage. . ... ..... '";
~im~ of, 'th~ . ~ddress c*a.~ Il.10t Jayc)~~}Jle;
10:, 39 a.m. Sunday, HonolUlu time. All.w,ere
joined in hoping for clear weather, since st~.tic
would greatly interfere with good receptfon.
In addition to the loud~speaker in the. hall,
1

two others were used ou;tside. Kingdom Hall

filled up an~ the brethren were glad to give
up their seats so that others could have them.
A little after 10 a.in. the music from the convention auditorium at Detroit came through,
and from. then until' time ,of closing (12: 10
noon) there was not the slightest break or interference at the Honolulu end.
Those . assembled requested. a message be
sent Judge Rutherford at Detroit, and this
was done.* The few wprds it was possible .to
send were not at all adequate to express .how
we all felt, and our thankfulness that the timely message of The THEOCRA~Ic GovERNMENT
had been sent down here for our benefit.
A reporter from the Honollliu morning
newspaper, The Advertiser, was present, and
the write-up publish~d on, the -front page is
attached. He expressed his enjoyment of Judge
Rutherford's address, and stated he inte~ded
to attend further meetings. The newspaper is
much opposed and we were much surprised
at their publishing anything at all.
All publishers in the Islands feel we,.should
take the fullest advantage of the comparative
peace that now exists here, and push on hard*RADI0(1RAM: "Fearle.ss message. joyfully heard.
HalUilled: Religio'tli gratefully received.'.'
(

 The MESSENGER

60

er than ever ~erving T;EIE 'rHEOC.RACY, and, by

the grace of Jehovah,' that we will do, daily
reme!llbering those the ~ord has placed in
~harge of His work in .the earth, and our
bre.thren in all lands, particularly those faith~
, fully ~i_ving testimony w~ile under~oing much
; ~- nppos1t1on and persecut1<?n.
.

. . Ki!lgston, Jam~ica

.HIS city, though not hooked up with De. .. troit by.radio or by direct wire,.insists.that
in its"convention of, July 27"28 it had direct
cop.nection with the spirit of. the event 'at De~
troit. At the public meeting the lecture "Government and Peace", given by Judge Ruther:ford in 1939 at Maaison Square Garde, was
reproduced by phonograph. The release of
Religion was a great surprise ; only three
persons' in the island knew of the existence
()f the book prior to its presentation to the
convention.
/ 1'','
. .

Group of

conventi~ners

at Shanghai, China

Shanghai, China

"EAST is e.ast,. and west iS' west, and

never the twain. shall meet" does. nq~
apply to the Theocratic convention. In the in.:
ternational settlement of this great seaport o;f:
the Orient, on Chang Ping road, a two-day:
Sydney, Australia
convention was hel(l Goinciding with the la~t
two days of the American assembly, July 27
E. VERY effort wa! m. ~de to take the Petroit
lectures to Australia by land wires and and 28, showing the absolute unanimity. of
radio communication, but up to the last min- Jehovah's faithful people in the Orient with
ute H was impossible; however, t.he Auskalian thosE) in the 0.ccide:n,t. 'l'he .Je:rvent spirit of
brethren went right ahead with the convention th.e: c.QUY.e;rr.tiQI.LWiHLJ1QL!\t.~~ll ~g!ipsed by. the
previously arranged at Sydney 1 July 24~28: he~,t of Shangha:i summer, and many respo11dThe new book, _Religion, arrived in AusfraJi~. .eQ;.J9 . Jlrn. ~.~llJ.:rr .. :fiElkl~<:itY!~~' sdfile for the
'on. time for .the convention, and 30,000 copies firstJim~ .... .
. ........ .
...
In .the.' .clQsirig sessio:n the convention''lis.:We;re. taken away by the conventioners, Conventioners well supplied with Religion went tened to the same. public speaker as .their
t9 _all parts Of the country and, beginning American brethren, but by electrical tranAugust 1, joined in world,. wide distribution ~criptiOn of .. Judge .. Rutherford's speech on
luring the "Religion's Doom" Testimony Pe- "Jictory", ..delivered at th,e New York .cQ.hriod.

vention last . year. A . resolution was :unanim91.i~ly adopted, as follows :

'
Cables .from.. Switzedand
"Re~,0lve~ that. we, the Shanghai company
CABLE came th~ou~h to. the :6etroit con- of Jehovah's witnesses, in convention <as.$~tjl
vention from Berne, Switzerland, reading bled, do hereby reaffirm our determination to
as .follows: "Wishing richest. blessings . roJU f,;;iitWully Bi.id joyfully heed the comni~d
the great Theocrat. Since yesterday, Wednes- ~~:Qt.)to ,of(erJhe sa~f,i.fice of praise, even. the
day, we are experiencing Psalm 44-:.16-:18 tWit of rlips, giving thanks unto hisn~me'.
,and J ererniah . 30 : rn, 17 .''
'
' ' . .. ''We appreciate the. times in which w~ live
'.A cable from ~ar::.menaced. B:asel saiq: efn.q,the \it.terneed.?f giving the closes~ -a,tte;n ~.'Gruss: [Greeting] . Psalm 37: 4; 2~E2~~. In tioil ~Q the;inst~~tioiis Qf. The Thebcratic ,(!o,ydiesen denku;u,erdigeir "Tag en der Theokratie e1i~me~t .~~ aii~9nc.~d. .po us throtigh Bis. vism;it Eu,ch verb'lCnden, gruessen mit [In. these i~le o;rga~iza t1ori. . (:
. . . . :,: ~ :.)ci
noteworthy days of The The:ocracy, united
'',Tlir9.gh.ih~ '~()hvi.rri~ .of The'. w at9lit~JV.~r
wit,h you, we greet with]. l Samuel 12: 22; a yiyi(l picturej$ giveii 'to 'us of the' hideh~s
'.Psalm 89: 15, 16.;. Psalm 13.3; Ezekiel 3.: :8- mtn1str9sity .that has. lifted up the . 11.~ii<l:jo
. 11; 1 Chronicles 17 : 20. Gruss . ['Greeting] de~t~oy. 'jJhy. hidden pnes'. and to h,utl di};Psalr 7fi :.l9; Philippians.4: 2L .Gruppe:Basel, aifoe against 'Jehovah and The Theocracy.:We
&h'weiz {Basel; Switzerland;:groupJ/'
. .
are J'fSoJvgd, RY IIif? grac~ and in His str~ngth~
.
\
.
/

... .
A

The MESSENGER

fully united W'ith o}lr brethren. tliroughout the

61

convention in America, and on the same day.

thousands of miles of
to. un~.ove:r t4i~. ugly makeshift of the Thus, regardless
... peyiL Weknow: the way is dangerous, .but we ocean span, those devoted to The' Theocratic
~l1jpy. the fight; for we are mindful of this
Government were equallyfavored of the.Lord,
uiishakable truth that 'they shall figh,t against without partiality. Certainly the vicious action
thee, but they shall not prevail agaillst thee; of the enemy !ails to break up the unity
foriam with t}iee, saith the Lord, to deliver of action of Jehovah's army of "locusts".
thee'.

,\ /
-Joel 2: 7-11.
Timing it with the convention program in
''And finally, to our.dear, 'Brother R~ther
ford ~nd hi,s faithful supporters at Brooklyn America, every company in Britain called a
alJ.4 tJiroughout the earth we desire to convey special meeting for July 28, at.4 p. m. British
d'Ur f ~rvent greetings and warmest Christian time, corresponding to the hour when Judge
lov~ and. to assure a~l of. our keenest desire to . Rutherford in Detroit should adress the
GO-operate .w-1th tpem in advancing the inter- public on''R~I,igion as a World Remedy". All
of Jehovah;s witnesses and persons of good
ests of The Theocracy."
will were encouraged to attend, and special
invitation cards were sent out~
England
The procedure at each, company meeting
AR and censorship made/it iniposs1ble was the . same. After song and prayer for
.. to tie in the British Isles directly with Jehovah's blessing upon the Theocratic conthe Detroit assembly by means of transoceanic vention then in session world-wide, the comradio .beam. But here too the hand of the pany servants announced they had a pleasant
great Theocrat wa:s not shortened, and He surprise for the audience, to wit, that
:Provided that His. witnesses and their com- Jehovah's people in the E,nglish-:speaking
panions .throughout .B.ritain shared. in the world in convention assembled have. the joy
great .treat that .came at the climax of the of receiving Religion. Then the new book
itself was flashed before the delighted
assembly, with announcement that supplies of
the autograph edition were right then and
there available. The response was instan'."
taneous. The books were immediately placed.
After distribution the meeting was brought
to order and a .half-hour study of Religion
followed, first the author's letter to the
"Theocratic am.bassadors" being read and its
high'points stressed, and then an the beautiful pictures turned to and briefly explained
according to the text, and also the first four
.pages of Chapter I read ,as an appetizer.
In fine sequence to this came a half-hour
study of the August issue of the Informant,
just .released and detailing the "Religfon's
Doom" testimony period for August, during
which the public edition of Religion would
be distributed throughout the land. Supplies
of thiS edition had already been consigned
to all companies for this purpose.
Before closing this ; joyous season .the
assemblies voted to send Judge Rutherford
and the Detroit convention greetings a:nd
thanks for. Religion. Five group cables were
specially arranged for all the companies
'Participating, one group cable for each of the
following regions : Greater Lon~on, England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, the signatures
of all companies.in said regions bein.g append-

of

~arth,

_._

.,.;,,,, ,.,>

,,.,,,

"'"'i" :, 1~t,J./;V-

I.,

The MESSENGEtr
-

. ed. The. cable for ,England generally bore ,the the 'principal Irish companies, the cable read:
nairie~ of 332 cities .and to'Yns, and read : ' ,
uTheocratic King's ambassadors in Ireland
."Joyfully united in hearty greetings to you overjoyed with _new provision heralding doom
and Theocratic copventio:. English 'locusts' Of religion. Eager to tell '1azarus' of Theocto a' man thrilled, arid 'deeply grateful for racy's protection. Struggling as you against
new book Religion. Determined to complete green monstrosity to victory. Warm gree;tings
o.ur task warning people of g_ood will. Multi- to all in convention."
'tude here growing rapidly. Standing for
The group of -principal Welsh companies
.. Theo'cracy. Loyal to Jehovah and 'Christ cabled: .

Jesus.".
.
"Warm greetings from 'locust' ambassadors
-' . From the company. of Greater London in Wales. Religion received witfr- gratitude
itself 'and>signed by all service units therein and much enthusiasm. Keenly anticipate our
the. ,cable read :
.
. _ ..
. _ share in distribution. With you heart and
"Londo: Theocratic ambassadors shou.t ~or .soul until victory for Theocra~;y." .
._ .....
joy receiving book' Religion. Eager to accom-.
From Trowbridge and the London . office
modate religionists by giving them moxe came cablegrams, . . the latter reading:
.i 'Religion'. Wi,th you in disrobing old 'harlot'.
- "British 'locusts' send greetings to first
Two th~rnsand London 'locusts' stand firm Theocratic convention. Go after Hierarchy
'for Theocracy. Send greetings to all at first gangsters. With you. Ultimate victory for
'
Theocl'atic convention'." .
Theocracy."
' The cable from Scotland~ signed by all the
(The .receipt of these cablegrams wa,~
principal companies there, said : ,
ahnounced' by Judge Rutherford himself on
._"Love ~nd greetings to you and the The'o- that platform that very same afternoon in
.cratic. convention. Scottish brethren thrilled his e:xtemporaneos speech" immediately folat, pr'ospect o:f sealing religjon's doom w{ili lowing adoption of the Resolution at the pub:rie-W"weapoh. Wholeheartedly with you in the
lic meeting. ) . . . _ . . .
,
.
. .
fight." '
'
' '
foregoing blessings operated, to whip
From the Emera1d Isle, and signed
zeal and enthusiasm for a general conI

'

,'(

~-"_._, ,_..,.,....". ~it- M:~J!{~h~1~t,e:[' ~

~~~!:pt(~n~!J!Fl' l~' H'["'ra

ft~T

'f;Yhh

al

The M~SS$NGER

iiJlL P.011r.:ari4- ~orty- minutes' proceedings

..l "'~.;,\ : .; ~.:~'.;.'. .~ :~. <.,:, thi.
ft~,' t!ie ~?etioit public J1leeting inscribed on ~.
..

..

.. ... ......

~~;,~:.:;

$~t. of light discs and air-)llailed, a.t consider-

able

cpst, to the London office. The :Gord s#e.;

guarded those records from destruction , b;y
~tf~;+~;~0~,~4}~,;~ a~i: air a t.t~,~~' .and they reach~d destina~ion
~:~r::<'t?:.\'i;'t:',~aely Thursday'. Next day, Friday evening,
:'.;,!S"::~\';::~';'H':: the British extension of the Theocratic. conve:n.~.",itl~ ti on a'ctually got under way. The: !ollowin.g
e?Cchange of cablegrams briefly tells the story.
,,.,Fi

,
51

)?1 ,;:.' .: .

ft~( 1r ~'~~~~hrds~~y:f~~ie~fa,~ ka;ihe~f:::d't~

New

.
\~;;1;'~1;,:~1 ~udge 1'tutherford at Brooklyn,
York:
~tfa'} 1 f: , :; ~"Ma!lche_ster Theocratic cor.wel;lti,0n had most

~fr~~,t;'.,: :. ::~:i~;fv~~~~t~~e1ipe~b~~sd~~a~v~:ff~~~. ~!~~tf;

rI~:,~,;~,~':::/'i Ja'Yaits public meeting Sundf1Y .to hear your

, greatest speech. Ambassadors request love and

greetings be sent you. Your letter August 17
prought tremendous applause." .

,.Nw~t day, Sunday, September l, Judge

Rtherford cabled this response for transmittal to .the convention:
,."Theocratic.conventioners, rejoiCe. Children
ot light, you are proclaiming the only .hope
for humanity. The King leads you. Help all
of good will .. Fascism and r~ljgion shaH perish.' / Righteousness shall frilimph. Ame;riCan
brethren love you."
.. , . ..
. . .
Back comes a cable from, Manchester that
sa!lle day, time 8 :.42 p. m., advisfog Judge
1
Rutherford as follow~: ......... . , .
.''Rqur . . thousand arribassadors. ,,asse!n1'>1ed
iy.tanchester Theocratic c6nve11tion.sendfoving
, 'gr~etings. Unitedlyadopt Resofotion. Support
you and American brethren in yout :fight
against Hierarchy. [signed] Watch Tower
Soe,iety."
',, There . i;1 .pcrrb"'.sci;trred, besieged Britafo,
as t~ey listened' to the electrical transcription
of, ''~~ligion a~ a . World Remedy", those.

.~~lY f~~~~~~PJ:~ai~~n~iN~~~0ia~~~i~~fAc~~l,

statement, which was. greeted with wild

enthusiasm and applause : "England. alone
stands firm, .battl~ng against the. religic>ustotalitarian com biile and in. her fight ,I<;)r .the
rights . of a free people .. ,England lias beeri
1 kind to Jehovah's' witnesses; and because . of
that ki11dness show'n'it may be expected that
AJ,pi~ghty God w;ill show some specialfavor
to:, England in. her hour 6 terrible 'distress."
. . ''T1le safe delivery through mlne~s6wri, sub, rnarin,e-infested waters of ample supplies of
the new book Religion and the holding of that
TheocratiC convention in Manches;ter were a

marvelous part of that "special favor" from

Jehovah Go<]. to "~nglafid in her ho-ur of
terrible dis_tress". The Lord's "other sheep"
in Britajn will all benefit.
In a Jetter just received before The Messenger went to press, the British branch office
,
reported-'."We . had .our gre~test c01:lventio:h; . 3,500
brethren attended, of which 1,000 were pio-'
neers. Practically every pioneer iri the country got there one way .or another. Enthusfasm
fa:ti 'high throughout the convention.
"At the public meeting with 'Religion as a
W9rkl, ~~rne.dy',. we could only pack in 500
:nio:fe ;ind had an audience of 5,000. Many had
to be turned aw,ay. The press and their photographers were in attendance.
''!>r:ing the past week-end we had our heaviest air raids, with much destruction. At
Manchester there were air raids each night.
A large theater was s,truck .100 yards from the
~Free Trade Hall; wli'ere we had our sessfons.
The experience is like going through an American thunderstorm. However, the, Lord gave
complate protection to His people and everything went off ,according' to schedule. It was
. indeed a mirade that we were privileged to
hol~ such a ,large assembly 'in the heat of war."
1

Sheep and Goats

Some interesting experiences were had _by
different publishers. A taxi driver. was seated
in his taxi ne-ar the curb. An information
marcher had passed several times without offering li~m an invitation to attend the Sunday
m~eting. But on passing this time she held out
one to .him, and upon seeing them he opened
the glove compartm~nt of his car, removed
several of the. same, and stated : "I give them
to my passengers; could I have more of them~''
The publisher replied that she was glad to do
thiit ; then had the pleasure of hearing' him
say, ''We are with you. people. We know that
'you are being used as a target, but we keep
our eyes openand know your' purpose is good.
The Fifth Column booklet is sure a scorcher."
While out w.ith hapqb_ills, advertising the
Sunday lecture we came to a place where we
had left a Judge Rutherford Uncovers Fifth
Column booklet a few days before. "I have
rea~ the .booklet you le~~/; .!he man sai4J ''and
I wish I had. a. dozen of tliem. 1'11 bef1 a hun".'.
dred people, have read my copy.'' He did. re~
ceive his dozen copies in short order.

A publisher on a street corner with her

1

. ,'

j.,:\

~2~~,;,~,;},,,., 64
,,~:~:;.':

;''

The MESSENGER

'<'

,.

i~' ~';~',;.~~l~~'--..-!~\'.';,

,J11ag~~ine bag was approached by a young ~an

1

platform helped to soothe their overwrought

~1\:';: ::Ir~~a~~;e~1 "f ;Jet~ ili:nJu1~e~~~{yT:~ac~~~; ~~~;e~e~fno~iy~~~e~ dfJe:e~~r!~~kw~~ t~=f~

>are s11re talking about you folks over there." faces and were heard laughing and talking
., .I,;I,e 9bta_f:ed _the latest Watchto'UJer a,..n~l'Oon- to each othe,r as they went along. ~
'solation a:d Judge Rutherford Uncovers Fifth
When on the magaziniq work in Seattle,
Ooly,mn~
.
.
.
.. .
- ~a1.1 took a magazine an? then came back an
'. Just after t~e public address started, two mv1ted us to come to his restaurant and ge
rrien c.ame into the auditoriurn at Seattle. qur meals. "And you can't pay for them el
. They went into the rear of the gallery. One ther/' he stated.
. .
.
!
carrie,d a box from whic];i he rewoved a large
A publisher was warped .by a police offic(
-Am~riGan flag .. They began to look around on Boston Common that if he gave out anothf
and one said, ':I wonder w_here there is a loud- flyer he would be arrested. A well-dress1
_speaker." They looked sullen for. a while, but busim~ssm~n immediately came. up and. ~
. with the words coming in from the public ad- quested a flyer. Wade gave it to him. :r1-~ryss :;ind tlie wonderful spirit manifest all
man then turned to the police officer. "].
. .
aro.und theIJJ.they began to thaw out. Finally a. taxpayer here and you are my se:r:vant," le-... . _,__,_/
whe,n Judge Rutherford made a good point said. "If you prevent the public from getting
re,lative t9 the Roman Catholic Hierarchy one this inform~tion, I'll report you to federal
wa,s. hea,rd to say to the other: "I know that authorities." With that he walked away and
,CatholiG outfit' and I know that's true." Per- Wade continued, unmolested by, the police of hap_s the nicely draped -American flag on the fleer? to distribute flyers .

. A'LL. PERSO.NS OF

GOOP WILL, do you grasp

,.:-_: . ' .the yitatsignificance ()f the foregoing re .,.port? Is it no_t undeniable proof that the
l(ingdom long prayed for is here, that The
' Theocracy is in operation, of which the Theo:cratic conventio_n in .America was visible, tangible and Goncrete evigence?
:< :poes it not further prove; to wit, that the
judgment of Ame,rica and -.~ll other mttions is
01f; .that the great multitude of sheep-like peopl~ of good will are fleeing this doome,d worldly organization :and becoming "companions"
?~ .J.~hgy~.h'~ 'Yite.ses; and that the "goats"
are openly identifying themselves and hard, _'.~!ling themselyes in their opposition to tlie
~Thep~ratic Q6yerp.me11t ~nd are filling up a
rinilr,talre.cord. of persecution and demoni'ii,faYvfolence ,such as tojustify the great Je};ig_y~fi. ~11Q. :ms Judge Christ Jesus. in utterly
. 1-_
(le.stl:!;>ying these "goats"_ at A,.ri;nageddon?
.,
, ;s:'. Ql(=);:trly, !h.en, The .1heoc_racy .is The Issue,
~~:y,:_ JH19- t..he '.\l..e~ls.1,y:~;E,$h,Q-w;down. fight is now neare_r
r;:<:,:
Jll,~i;i .. everJ 4~.. "{;Q w,:h<;> shall .win, there is no
A':, ..... ''q1iestion'.. -~~forE\ th,()~~ .gy~:t.f1.l1.days of July
(:. ".;; .,,, i;g~:28, a; FasC,i~t-l!lin(l~d AIJlerica:Q. Legionnaire
;1.:, ,.;~(P~'t:rs~Xt .~_qck~pi(~ly pro:Qos_ed a bet with one
~>e :Bf :.:'.teh~_ryah's vy}tnesses that there would he
.)/;:<:' 'z-h:b,:'.'{Tll.eo~~atfr~ _cqfri~~t1~:n;1. held. i11 the united..
1

States. All the nevif's refigious organization

were determined that there should be no such
assemply, thereby to prove that Jehovah's witnesses wer>e liars ,~nd not the earthly representatives of Almighty God. Contrariwise, as
stated in the Watchtower announcement, J ehovah's will was that there should be a Theocratic convention in America in 1940. R9rnan~
3: 4 says: "Let God be true, bu( every man
a liar." July 2.4~28, the scheduled events went
through; Jehovah_ demonstrated His supremacy and all-might; the Devil and his religionists and patrioteers emerged as liars before
the onlooking world. The Armageddon result
sarg1ot,,.pe '.gtherwise, and shall not! Whereat,
in the language of the 1940 year text; Jeho-
vah's witnesse.s sing more heartily than ever:
"My heart shall rejoice in t.hy salvation."
Your enjoyment of the above historical convention rec9rd will not be complete unless you
read also the new book Rdigion and the new
booklet Conspiracy Against Democracy, and,
better still, hear the faithful phonographic . /'
recordings of Judge Rutherford's addresses
on "T.he End" and "Religion". Such will aid
a!1? streng~hen y~u in ma~ing the wise .
c1s10n durmg this ID()st important crisis~
QHQQSE. TJIE. ':tlIEQCE'Acy .ANU.LlVE ! . . ...

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