With additional NOTES and a FULL TRANSCRIPTION

Kingdom News No. 1 (March 15, 1918) — “Religious Intolerance” — A Summary

Publication: Kingdom News, Vol. 1, No. 1 — New York City, March 15, 1918 Publisher: I. B. S. A., 13, 15, 17 Hicks St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Terms: Monthly — 12c a year; single copies 1c Self-description: “An Independent, Unsectarian Religious Newspaper, Specially Devoted to the Heralding of the Kingdom of Christ for the Glory of God and Good of Humanity” Extent: 2 pages, six columns each Masthead slogans: “Published for the promotion of Christian knowledge” · “Teach all nations” · “Devoted to the principles of religious tolerance and Christian liberty” · “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”—Matthew 3:2

The headline block

The front page runs under the banner “RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE — Pastor Russell’s Followers Persecuted Because They Tell the People the Truth,” with the deck “Treatment of Bible Students Smacks of the ‘Dark Ages'” and the text “The Servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”—John 15:20. The whole issue is a single sustained defense brief: the Bible Students are being persecuted, the clergy are behind it, the “German propaganda” charge is a fabrication, and the persecution is itself what prophecy predicted.

Pastor Russell’s career and offenses (col. 1)

It opens with a compressed life of Russell: in 1869 the young Charles T. Russell, “a diligent student of divine prophecy,” discovered that the Bible “contains an outline of Jehovah’s wonderful plan of salvation,” and at the very beginning of his ministry “spent $40,000 out of his own pocket” distributing the booklet Food for Thinking Christians. A few clergymen joined him gladly, but the majority “began a cruel and systematic persecution of this great reformer,” continuing until his death in 1916.

His offenses are listed as doctrinal ones: that eternal torment of human souls is “the fiendish doctrine of the great Adversary and a defamation of God’s holy name,” and that the divine right of the clergy to teach the Bible and the divine right of kings to rule are both “wholly unscriptural” and between them “the cause of untold suffering of the peoples of earth.” He wrote six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures, and shortly after his death the seventh was issued — The Finished Mystery — expounding “the prophecies of Ezekiel and Revelation and proving how the unrighteous ecclesiastical systems have grown up in the earth and oppressed the people,” and pointing out that “Messiah’s Kingdom is near at hand.”

The prophetic claim — the doctrinal core (col. 1)

The central prophetic claim is stated without hedging: “more than twenty years ago” Russell pointed out from the Bible that God “had granted to the Gentiles a lease of power which would legally end in 1914,” that the nations would then become angry and God’s wrath would come, that “a great international war would begin at that time and would be followed by greater trouble,” and that the trouble would usher in Messiah’s Kingdom of righteousness, “which would be the desire of all nations” — adding that it would be impossible for the United States to keep out of that war.

The war itself is then offered as the proof: “The facts, now well known by every man, prove the correctness of Pastor Russell’s interpretation of the Bible.” And that, the paper argues, is exactly the motive for the persecution — the exposition “has greatly angered the majority of clergymen, because it shows that their teachings in the past have been out of harmony with the Word of God; and if he is correct in his interpretation of the Bible teachings, their position as clergymen must soon come to an end.” The clergy were challenged either to prove the interpretations wrong or to help explain them; “this they failed to do. They had no answer.”

The persecution is then typed against Christ: in Jesus’ day the clergy of the Jewish order, “being unable to meet his forceful words, stirred up the people against him and had him arrested, charging him with treason against the Roman government and with blasphemy against God.” The reader is left to complete the parallel.

The catalogue of persecutions (cols. 1–2)

Canada. Early in February 1918 Canadian clergymen began “a systematic denunciation” of the Association and its publications from their pulpits; the Winnipeg papers reported that the Attorney General’s attention had been called to it, he examined the publications, and the public censor banned them — the Winnipeg Tribune being quoted that “the censor’s order is believed to be the direct result of these representations of the clergy.” Arrests followed across Canada, with houses searched and books taken away.

Los Angeles. The Association’s president addressed a mass meeting that one leading paper reported at full-page length; a ministerial alliance called on the paper to prevent further publication and failed. “A few days later, certain officers swooped down upon the Bible Students’ headquarters,” took possession of their publications “including Bibles and hymn books,” and forced entrance into the private office of one of the elders “without even having a search warrant.”

Arkansas. “A poor woman selling books at a small profit for a living was arrested because she was selling ‘The Finished Mystery’ … her bond fixed at $20,000, which was impossible for her to give, and she was compelled to stay for some time in a jail too filthy to house swine.”

The “German propaganda” charge is laid directly at the clergy’s door as deliberate publicity designed to exploit anti-German feeling: the Edmonton (Can.) Journal is quoted printing Rev. Dr. French E. Oliver’s line in bold heading — “Russellism Is Hun Propaganda Under a Cloak” — “An infamous German propaganda under the cover of religion,” delivered to a crowded audience at the First Presbyterian Church of Winnipeg.

Persecution in Germany (col. 2)

The rebuttal to that charge is the issue’s sharpest piece of argument. Under “Persecution in Germany” the paper reprints a notice from a Copenhagen paper, “A Warning Against the Millennium Sect”: the Consistory of Kiel (Holstein, Germany) calls the attention of the Lutheran priests to the sect “which calls itself ‘Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’ and also ‘Bible Students Association,'” states that “the Imperial War Department has recently requested us to keep a watchful eye on the activities of this sect,” which consist in selling the writings of “the recently deceased Pastor Russell, of Brooklyn, North America, in untiring propaganda work, accomplished with American money,” and requests that the priests “take action against it and report to the Consistory their observations of its dangerous activities.” The implicit point is left unstated but is unmistakable: the movement being denounced in America as a German plot is being suppressed in Germany at the request of the German War Department.

The clergy’s lust for power, and the Papacy (cols. 2–3)

“Lust for Temporal Power” charges that the clergy have “for years past diligently sought to acquire greater political power amongst the nations; and particularly is this true in the United States,” and are now taking advantage of “the condition of stress to further their selfish aims.”

The Papacy draws the paper’s most aggressive passage: “Long has the Papacy looked with lustful eye for the control of American institutions. The same ambition that actuates the Kaiser of Germany lurks in the mind of the Pope.” Since the days of Napoleon it has been “the desire of the Papal head to exercise temporal power,” and the paper “sound[s] a warning to the liberty-loving people of the world against the encroachments of the Papal system, aided and supported by a class of clergymen from other systems who have greed for power” — concluding that “success of that Ecclesiastical Trust will mark the end of religious liberty.”

In support it reports that thousands believe “the Pope recently betrayed Italy into the hands of the Kaiser,” and quotes The Literary Digest for Jan. 19, 1918, which in turn relays the London Morning Post: the Allies “should consider with some care what is their position in relation to the Vatican”; the recent Italian reverse “was largely due to the influence of treacherous representations disseminated among the Italian armies,” and “that the Vatican was implicated in that propaganda is also known”; the Vatican’s wartime attitude, “as it was temporarily neutral, was spiritually incomprehensible, inasmuch as violations of law and offenses against humanity were tacitly condoned.”

Catholic and Protestant clergy are said to be “joining hands” against the Bible Students “not because they believe that the Bible Students are disloyal to any government, but because they know that the true teachings of the Bible expose them and show how they have kept the people in darkness for so many centuries.” The summarizing sentence is set in bold type on the page: “While America’s sons are fighting for the principles of liberty, the clergy are seeking to establish a policy of religious intolerance which finds its precedent only in the Dark Ages.”

A careful disclaimer follows: there have long been “some true, loyal Christians” in all the churches, Catholic and Protestant, and the attack is aimed only at “the church trust, composed of the clergy class, that is seeking to crush others who differ from them” — “We have malice toward none, but love for all men. We would not even do our enemies an injury.”

Loyalty and the war (cols. 3–4)

Under “Not Against the Government” the denial is flat: the clergy “have raised a great howl that the International Bible Students are disloyal and against the Government of the United States, and therefore guilty of treason. Nothing is further from the truth. There is not a disloyal one amongst the members.” The paper goes further than neutrality: “We recognize the United States Government as the best on earth and Mr. Wilson as the greatest of earth’s rulers.”

Nor is the paper against the war — and here the doctrine does the work. “We are not against the war. We recognize and have long taught that the Bible, three thousand years ago, foretold the present great war, and that God’s hand would be in the matter.” The illustrative anecdote is Russell’s refusal of President Wilson’s call for ministers to pray for peace, in an address at the New York City Temple: “While I have the greatest respect for our honorable President, I must decline to join in a prayer for peace, because the Word of God shows that this war must come at this time; and for me to pray for peace now would be to ask Jehovah to change the Divine plan.”

For “more than thirty years” Russell and the Association “have been telling the people that the war would begin in 1914,” while “the clergy throughout the land ridiculed and scoffed at the idea”; had the advice been heeded, “the people would not have been so surprised when the war came, and would have been better prepared and fortified for it.” The war is identified with Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21 — “There shall be a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation” — and the loyalty question is then turned into a syllogism, again set in bold on the page: “If it is disloyal to call attention to the meaning of this great trouble upon the earth, then it is disloyal to repeat the Lord’s prayer” — since Jesus taught his followers to pray “thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”

Zephaniah 3:8–9 is then quoted at length for the sequel: God’s “determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy” — with the bracketed gloss “(not literal fire)” — after which “will I turn to the people a pure message, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” The conclusion drawn: “Thus Jehovah points out that after the trouble is over, a great blessing shall come to the people.” The Association is “attempting to teach the people what is going to follow after this war — not teaching according to our own wisdom, but according to what the great Teacher, Christ Jesus, made clear,” while the clergy “cry long and loud about their own loyalty and patriotism, whereas in fact they are really a menace to both governments and people.”

The draft (col. 4)

“The Draft” concedes the state’s authority in plain terms: the Government, “being a political and economic institution, has the power and authority, under its fundamental law, to declare war and to draft its citizens into military service. We have no disposition to interfere with the draft or the war in any manner.” It then notes that members’ attempts to claim the law’s own protection “have been used as another means of persecution,” and points out that the Selective Draft Act passed by Congress in May 1917 itself provides that no person shall be compelled to engage in combatant service who belongs to “a well-recognized religious organization the principles of which preclude its members from engaging in war” — so that “the law makers of the land recognized that there are conscientious objectors.”

The doctrinal reason given is specific: some “have fully consecrated themselves to the Lord and they conscientiously believe if they are faithful to him, they shall have a part in his Kingdom of righteousness, and that if they engage in the taking of human life this will destroy them eternally.” The law, it notes, provides non-combatant service for such.

What Bible Students believe (col. 5)

A compact creed paragraph follows: Jesus Christ is “the great Redeemer of mankind”; he promised before his ascension that he would return and receive his Church to himself; he would then “reign for a thousand years thereafter, during which time he would give every man a fair trial for life,” the obedient being “restored to human perfection, happiness and eternal joy,” the willfully wicked “everlastingly destroyed,” until “ultimately the earth will be filled with a race of happy, joyful people.” The word millennium means one thousand years, “therefore the millennial reign of Christ means the thousand-year reign of Christ mentioned in the Scriptures (Revelation 20:1–4).” And the operative claim: “They believe that the Lord’s reign and great blessing is at hand.”

The paper then states plainly why it thinks this is resented: bringing this hope to the people “has greatly angered the clergymen and they have vehemently denounced it, because, if true, the power of a hypocritical clergy is about to end.”

As its sample of clerical hostility it quotes Dr. Shirley J. Case of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, author of a recent book against Millennarianism: “Two thousand dollars a week is being spent to spread the doctrine. Where the money comes from is unknown; but there is strong suspicion that it emanates from German sources. In my belief, the fund would be a profitable field for government investigation.” The paper asks whether “such representations had anything to do with the investigation of the Bible Students Association’s books” and answers the charge directly: Government officials recently took possession of the books and made a thorough investigation, and “no trace was found of German influence or the use of German money,” all funds being “voluntarily contributed by conscientious men and women throughout the country.”

A cartoon spanning the lower right of page 1 carries the caption “CLERGY WOULD CENSOR THE BIBLE.”

“Wireless Seized” (col. 6 → p. 2)

The last front-page column rebuts the widely-printed story that a raid on the Bethel Home in Brooklyn had found “a powerful wireless receiving station … in the cellar and a sending station on the roof,” intimating it was maintained in the interest of pro-German work. The facts as given: about three years earlier Mr. Edward Kuser of Pottstown, Pa. presented Pastor Russell with a receiving radio set, erected on the roof of the Bethel Home; “there never has been a sending apparatus about the premises”; not even the receiver had been used except by younger members learning to operate wireless, and not even that within the past two years; more than a year ago it was dismantled, the poles sawed up and used for other purposes, and the instrument stored in the art room — where it “was voluntarily produced and by consent removed, because we have no use for it.” Nor is there “a person about the Bethel Home, nor has there been for two years, who knows anything about the use of a wireless instrument.”

The rebuttal is then documented with a notarized affidavit from Kuser himself (sworn March 1918 before Thomas F. Keenan, Jr., Notary Public, Bronx County), which continues onto page 2. He states that in 1915 he made a present to Pastor Russell of the set found at the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society’s Bethel Home, 122 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, “as my own personal gift”; that being a manufacturer of wireless equipment he “can positively state that there was no transmitter connected with this instrument. The instrument was purely a receiving one. Messages could be received, but could not be sent.” He adds that no one residing at Bethel Home could operate it intelligently; that when he visited in August 1917 the aerial system was already dismantled and “the poles being sawed off even to the roof”; that the set had been out of commission for over a year; and that on personal inspection of the instrument taken from the Home on March 16, 1918, he found “the detector bulb upon which the success of the apparatus entirely depends is the original one I furnished in 1915, and is completely burned out, hence rendering the instrument of no practical use whatever.” A telegraph key found with it “was not a part of the said receiving set, being used to practice the code.”

The Finished Mystery and the censor (p. 2)

Page 2 gives the Association’s account of the book’s censorship, and it is a claim of full cooperation: “At the first intimation that there was any objection to the language used in ‘The Finished Mystery,’ a special representative of the Association was sent to Washington, D. C., and took the matter up with the Censor Committee of the Intelligence Section of the War Department. That Committee, after looking over the book, would not declare that any part of it is seditious, but advised that pages 247 to 253 be removed.” Nearly all the matter on those pages, it notes, “is quotations from two ministers of New York City, written prior to the United States’ entry into the war, and who there discussed the advisability of war.” The Association “immediately proceeded to instruct all of its Colporteurs throughout the country to remove the pages above mentioned, before offering the book for sale,” and notified the manufacturers to hold up work until new plates could be supplied — “and thus every effort has been made to comply with the advice of the public censor.”

Babylon, hell, and the hope held out to soldiers (p. 2)

The Association’s purpose is restated: “not in any wise to interfere with the war and its progress,” but “to teach the people the plain meaning of the Bible.” The doctrinal frame is then spelled out: the Prophets “described Mystic Babylon and show that the ecclesiastical systems constitute Babylon”; The Finished Mystery is the commentary on those prophecies, “particularly Ezekiel and Revelation,” which “expose the clergy and show that their doctrines are misleading, without hope, and confusing”; and “Babylon means confusion.” The clergy are charged with “preying upon the people and collecting money from them upon the pretense of teaching them the Scriptures, whereas they have kept them in ignorance of the Bible,” their creeds holding out “no hope for anyone except the few that go to heaven,” with the mass of humanity condemned to “spend eternity in hell — a lake of burning fire and brimstone.”

Against this the paper makes its most emotionally direct argument, aimed squarely at wartime bereavement: “in obedience to their country’s call, thousands of young men of America are facing the enemy upon the battlefield. Doubtless many of these do not claim to be Christians; and if the teachings of the clergy are correct, then those boys would have no hope.” The Bible Students’ answer is that “only the consecrated Christian is now on trial for life,” and that when Messiah’s Kingdom is in operation “all the living will learn the truth, and all the dead shall return from their tombs and have an opportunity to gain everlasting blessings” — soldiers who die on the battlefield, those who die at home of disease, “in fact, all, shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth from the tomb.” (Cited in the paper as John 5:33 — evidently a misprint for John 5:28–29.)

Satan is given the agency behind the whole episode: “The great Adversary, by his various machinations, has kept the people in ignorance of these great truths for centuries. Now in this hour of great stress upon the world, he is desperately striving to throttle those who are earnestly and faithfully trying to open the eyes of the people to this consoling message contained in the Bible. It is the Adversary’s old trick of intolerance in the name of religion.” As a sample of the hope in question, a long passage is quoted from Russell’s first volume — “Close your eyes for a moment to the scenes of misery and woe, degradation and sorrow that yet prevail on account of sin, and picture before your mental vision the glory of the perfect earth. Not a stain of sin mars the harmony and peace of a perfect society … and weeping bereaved ones will have their tears all wiped away, when thus they realize the resurrection work complete.” The contrast is drawn explicitly: “How different is this sweet message to that of endless torment taught by the clergy and which had its birth in the Dark Ages.”

The closing appeal (p. 2)

The close shifts from doctrine to civics. “Surely the people do not wish to return to the Dark Ages and have a few bigoted clergymen tell them that they should not read what the Bible says” — in the early days of the Papacy “it was made a crime for a man to have a Bible,” and now the clergymen “would take away the Bible explanation from the people.” The forefathers “braved the storms of the Atlantic in open boats and came to wild America that they might find here a safe retreat and establish an asylum of religious liberty where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience”; those principles were embodied in the fundamental law of the land, the Constitution guaranteeing the right of petition and redress and freedom of speech. On that basis “all order-loving, law-abiding people” are called on “to protest against this unholy persecution of innocent men and women, who have but one desire, and that to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his glorious Kingdom — now at hand.”

The final argument is a warning by example: “Religious intolerance has brought Russia to her present condition. An arrogant, religious intolerance has made German autocracy possible.” While the peoples of the Allied nations fight for principles of justice and right, “let all see to it that these principles are not denied to order-loving men and women who are attempting to help their fellow-men to a better understanding of God’s purposes.” The people are urged to assemble “everywhere in calmness and sobriety” and consider the great truths of the Bible, “because ‘righteousness exalteth a nation,’ and nowhere can righteousness be so well learned as from the Word of God.”

A small boxed notice on page 2 adds that “Ministers of the I. B. S. A. render their services at funerals free of charge,” and invite correspondence “from those desiring Christian counsel.”

The advertisement (p. 2, full width)

The back page closes with a full-width advertisement whose headline deserves noting on its own account: “MILLIONS Now Living May NEVER DIE!” — a free lecture by “HON. J. F. RUTHERFORD, Member New York City Bar,” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lafayette Ave. & St. Felix Street, 3 P. M., Sunday, March 24; “ALL SEATS FREE … NO COLLECTION.” Its selling copy goes to the same bereavement the editorial matter works: “Thousands of America’s sons are gone to the battlefield. Many may die there. Mr. Rutherford’s lecture gives conclusive proof of future blessings for them, whether they die Christians or not.”

The prophetic frame, pulled together

Five doctrinal moves tie the 1918 situation to prophecy, and they interlock:

1914 as a fixed terminus. The Gentile “lease of power” “would legally end in 1914” — stated as a prediction made “more than twenty years ago” and verified by the war. The register is certainty, not expectation, and the word “legally” is already doing the hedging work that later volumes would rely on.
The war as scheduled, not to be prayed away. Because the Bible “three thousand years ago foretold the present great war,” praying for peace “would be to ask Jehovah to change the Divine plan” — which lets the paper claim it is not anti-war while refusing to support peace.
Persecution as its own confirmation. John 15:20 is at the head of the page, and the Jewish clergy’s arrest of Jesus on a treason charge is laid alongside the 1918 sedition charges. The arrests are thus not a setback but evidence the identification is correct — an unfalsifiable structure: opposition proves the message.
Babylon = the ecclesiastical systems. The Finished Mystery‘s reading of Ezekiel and Revelation converts the clergy from opponents into prophesied characters, and the persecution into “the Adversary’s old trick of intolerance in the name of religion.”
The Kingdom “now at hand,” with the resurrection as the wartime offer. Against the clergy’s hell, the millennial reign guarantees that all the dead — including the unconverted soldier — return from the tomb for “a fair trial for life.” This is the issue’s real commercial argument, and it is the one the Rutherford advertisement sells by name.

Note: “Millions Now Living May Never Die” appears here as a lecture title in March 1918 — roughly two years before the 1920 booklet that made the phrase notorious. That predates its usual dating and is the kind of item your near-term-prediction thread tracks.

Note: the paper twice makes the “you cannot have it both ways” argument well — the German Consistory of Kiel notice, and the Government’s own audit finding no German money — but it does so while simultaneously running an anti-Papal attack (“the same ambition that actuates the Kaiser … lurks in the mind of the Pope”) that is structurally identical to the charge being answered.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

“Millions Now Living May Never Die” is here in March 1918. It’s the headline of a full-width back-page ad for a free Rutherford lecture at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, 3 P.M., Sunday, March 24 — roughly two years before the 1920 booklet that made the phrase famous. Its pitch is aimed straight at wartime bereavement: “Thousands of America’s sons are gone to the battlefield. Many may die there. Mr. Rutherford’s lecture gives conclusive proof of future blessings for them, whether they die Christians or not.”

The hedge is already in place in 1914’s own sentence. Russell is credited with showing that the Gentile lease of power “would legally end in 1914″ — the word is doing its work here, in the first issue, not retrofitted later.

Persecution is made self-confirming. John 15:20 heads the page, and the Jewish clergy’s arrest of Jesus on a treason charge is set directly alongside the 1918 sedition charges. The arrests become evidence rather than setback — opposition proves the message, which is unfalsifiable by construction.

The Kiel document is a genuinely good argument, deployed alongside a structurally identical smear. The paper reprints a Copenhagen notice showing the German Imperial War Department asking Lutheran priests to watch the Watch Tower Society — a clean refutation of the “Hun propaganda” charge, reinforced by the U.S. Government’s own audit finding “no trace … of German influence or the use of German money.” It then runs an anti-Papal attack in the same issue (“the same ambition that actuates the Kaiser of Germany lurks in the mind of the Pope”) built on exactly the enemy-sympathy logic it just dismantled.

The advertisement’s main headline is “THE WORLD HAS ENDED.” The text layer has none of it. “Millions Now Living May Never Die!” — the line I flagged to you last turn — is the italic sub-head underneath it. So the March 1918 ad leads with the stronger of the two claims, and it’s the more interesting one for your purposes: not that the end is near, but that it has already occurred, invisibly. That is the same move as “the Gentile lease of power legally ended in 1914,” applied to the world itself, and it is running in the movement’s own newspaper two years before the 1920 booklet.

The wireless set was taken from Bethel on March 6th. The affidavit was sworn on the 14th and the paper is dated the 15th — it went to press the day after notarisation, which is worth noticing for how fast this was assembled.

FULL TRANSCRIPTION

Kingdom News, Vol. 1, No. 1 — New York City, March 15, 1918

Full transcription

How this was made. The PDF is a 2011 Adobe Paper Capture scan of a six-column broadsheet. Its text layer is badly damaged and, read in file order, interleaves all six columns into nonsense. This transcription was made by isolating each column from the word bounding boxes (column gutters at x ≈ 178, 346, 507, 667, 833 pt on both pages) and then reading each column off a rendered image of the page rather than trusting the OCR. Every figure, date, name, scripture citation and quotation below was verified visually.

Conventions. Text is given in reading order, column by column; [col. N] markers show where each column begins. Original spelling, punctuation and capitalisation are kept, including the paper’s own errors, which are marked [sic]. Square brackets are mine; the paper’s own parenthetical asides are in round brackets as printed. Headings and sub-headings are reproduced in the case the paper used. Nothing has been silently corrected, added or omitted.

Note on the OCR layer. Two things are missing from the text layer entirely and exist here only because they were read from the image: the whole “THE FINISHED MYSTERY” column on page 2, and — more importantly — the advertisement’s main headline, “THE WORLD HAS ENDED.”

PAGE ONE

Masthead

[left ear] PUBLISHED FOR THE PROMOTION OF CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE — “TEACH ALL NATIONS”

KINGDOM NEWS

[right ear] DEVOTED TO THE PRINCIPLES OF RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE AND CHRISTIAN LIBERTY

“The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”–Matthew 3:2

Vol. 1 — NEW YORK CITY, MARCH 15, 1918 — No. 1

Headline

RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE

PASTOR RUSSELL’S FOLLOWERS PERSECUTED BECAUSE THEY TELL THE PEOPLE THE TRUTH

Treatment of Bible Students Smacks of the “Dark Ages”

“The Servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”—John 15:20.

[col. 1]

IN 1869, young Charles T. Russell, being a diligent student of divine prophecy, discovered that the Bible contains an outline of Jehovah’s wonderful plan of salvation which will ultimately bless mankind. So enthused was he with the message of hope that he at once devoted all of his time and money to making it known to others. At the very beginning of his ministry, he spent $40,000 out of his own pocket to distribute freely in the city of New York and other parts of the world a little booklet entitled, “Food for Thinking Christians.” A few clergymen saw he was right and with gladness joined with him in the work. The greater majority of clergymen, instead of explaining these Scriptural truths to the people and helping them, began a cruel and systematic persecution of this great reformer, and thus they persistently continued to persecute him until his death in 1916.

Pastor Russell clearly proved from the Scriptures that the doctrine of eternal torment of human souls is the fiendish doctrine of the great Adversary and a defamation of God’s holy name; that the doctrine of the Divine right of the clergy to teach the Bible and the Divine right of kings to rule is wholly unscriptural, and that both have been the cause of untold suffering of the peoples of earth.

Pastor Russell wrote and published six volumes of Studies in the Scriptures, and shortly after his death the Seventh Volume of the series was issued, the latter more particularly explaining the prophecies of Ezekiel and Revelation and proving how the unrighteous ecclesiastical systems have grown up in the earth and oppressed the people. This volume also points out that Messiah’s Kingdom is near at hand and that soon indescribable blessings will flow out to mankind.

More than twenty years ago Pastor Russell pointed out from the Bible that God had granted to the Gentiles a lease of power which would legally end in 1914, and that then the nations would become angry and God’s wrath would come; that a great international war would begin at that time and would be followed by greater trouble, and that the trouble would usher in Messiah’s Kingdom of righteousness, which would be the desire of all nations. Long ago he showed that it would be impossible for the United States to keep out of that war. The facts, now well known by every man, prove the correctness of Pastor Russell’s interpretation of the Bible. His exposition of Scripture has greatly angered the majority of clergymen, because it shows that their teachings in the past have been out of harmony with the Word of God; and if he is correct in his interpretation of the Bible teachings, their position as clergymen must soon come to an end. The clergy were challenged to show the people that these Scriptural interpretations are wrong, or to join in explaining them to the people and thus to help in leading them into greater light and happiness. This they failed to do. They had no answer to the clear exposition of Scripture given by Pastor Russell and those who joined with him in the work.

In Jesus’ day, the clergy of the Jewish order of that time, being unable to meet his forceful words, stirred up the people against him and had him arrested, charging him with treason against the Roman government and with blasphemy against God.

Early in the month of February, 1918, the clergymen of Canada began a systematic denunciation of the International Bible Students Association and its publications. For instance, the Winnipeg (Canada) papers announced that certain clergymen had denounced the publications of this Association from their pulpits and stated that the attention of the Attorney General had been called to the matter. Later, the Attorney General examined certain of the Association’s publications and the

[col. 2]

public censor placed a ban upon them in Canada. The Winnipeg Tribune says, “The censor’s order is believed to be the direct result” of these representations of the clergy. Shortly thereafter, in various parts of Canada, members of the International Bible Students Association were arrested, their houses were searched and their books and other publications taken away from them.

About the same time the President of the Association addressed a great mass meeting at Los Angeles, Cal., one of the leading papers of that city carrying a full-page report of the meeting the morning following. The ministerial alliance waited upon that paper with a view to preventing further publication of the Bible truths as proclaimed by the International Bible Students Association. The clergy failed in this mission. A few days later, certain officers swooped down upon the Bible Students’ headquarters, took possession of their various publications, including Bibles and hymn books, and took them away. They forced an entrance into the private office of one of the elders of the class, without even having a search warrant. In various parts of the country, men and women were arrested and thrown into jail. In Arkansas, a poor woman selling books at a small profit for a living, was arrested because she was selling “The Finished Mystery,” the seventh of Pastor Russell’s series of books; her bond fixed at $20,000, which was impossible for her to give, and she was compelled to stay for some time in a jail too filthy to house swine.

In big headlines, the clergymen have advertised the publications of Pastor Russell as “German propaganda.” Their evident object was to stir up the minds of the people against these Bible Students, because of the enmity that exists against the Germans. As an example, the Edmonton (Can.) Journal printed in bold heading, this statement of Rev. Dr. Oliver: “Russellism is Hun Propaganda Under a Cloak.” “‘An infamous German propaganda under the cover of religion,’ said Dr. French E. Oliver to a crowded audience at the First Presbyterian Church of Winnipeg.”

PERSECUTION IN GERMANY

To show a well-organized effort on behalf of the clergy to persecute these Bible Students, we see their activities have not been confined to our country alone, but to many countries. For a number of years the International Bible Students Association has maintained an office in Germany and in many other foreign countries. A paper in Copenhagen, Denmark, recently published the following:

“A Warning Against the Millennium Sect

“The Consistory of Kiel (Holstein, Germany) is calling the attention of the (Lutheran) priests to the activities carried on by the Millennial sect, which calls itself ‘Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society,’ and also ‘Bible Students Association.’ The Imperial War Department has recently requested us to keep a watchful eye on the activities of this sect, which consist in selling the writings of its founder, the recently deceased Pastor Russell, of Brooklyn, North America, in untiring propaganda work, accomplished with American money. The Consistory does, therefore, call the priests’ attention to this sect and requests that they take action against it and report to the Consistory their observations of its dangerous activities.”

LUST FOR TEMPORAL POWER

It is no secret that the clergy for years past have diligently sought to acquire greater political power amongst the nations; and particularly is this true in the United States. They now take advantage of the condition of stress to further their selfish aims.

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Long has the Papacy looked with lustful eye for the control of American institutions. The same ambition that actuates the Kaiser of Germany lurks in the mind of the Pope. Since the days of Napoleon Bonaparte, it has been the desire of the Papal head to exercise temporal power. We now sound a warning to the liberty-loving people of the world against the encroachments of the Papal system, aided and supported by a class of clergymen from other systems who have greed for power and who are willing to persecute any who seek to enlighten the people upon the true teachings of the Scriptures. Success of that Ecclesiastical Trust will mark the end of religious liberty. There are thousands in the world today who believe that the Pope recently betrayed Italy into the hands of the Kaiser; but when his wrongful course was discovered, he faced about. We quote from The Literary Digest for Jan. 19, 1918:

“A scapegoat has been found for the recent reverses in Italy in the person of Pope Benedict XV., and one of the leading English papers does not hesitate to accuse him of having turned from a passive Austrophil into an active worker for the Austrian, as against the Italian, cause. In a long editorial in the London Morning Post the Vatican and all its works are roundly denounced. The London Tory organ says: ‘The time has come when it is necessary that the Allies should consider with some care what is their position in relation to the Vatican. That the recent Italian reverse was largely due to the influence of treacherous representations disseminated among the Italian armies is known; that the Vatican was implicated in that propaganda is also known; and the result was a disaster so grave that its effects cannot yet be measured. Since the beginning of the war, the Vatican, in so far as political action is concerned, has maintained an attitude which, as it was temporarily neutral, was spiritually incomprehensible, inasmuch as violations of law and offenses against humanity were tacitly condoned.'”

It is no secret that the Catholic and Protestant clergy are joining hands in the persecution against the International Bible Students, both in America and other countries; not because they believe that the Bible Students are disloyal to any government, but because they know that the true teachings of the Bible expose them and show how they have kept the people in darkness for so many centuries. Now the clergy, posing as patriots and suporters [sic] of the government, are really taking advantage of the occasion to further their selfish purposes. We take this opportunity to warn the American people and order-loving people everywhere against a bigoted class of men who have systematically endeavored to prevent the people from understanding the Bible and to throttle all Bible teaching unless it comes through them. While America’s sons are fighting for the principles of liberty, the clergy are seeking to establish a policy of religious intolerance which finds a precedent only in the Dark Ages.

We are glad to recognize that in all the churches, Catholic and Protestant, there have long been some true, loyal Christians. But it is the church trust, composed of the clergy class, that is seeking to crush others who differ from them. We speak here against the church trust and in the interest of the common people generally. We have malice toward none, but love for all men. We would not even do our enemies an injury; but we conceive it to be our duty to call the people’s attention to these facts, that the principles of religious liberty may still be recognized in this government.

NOT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT

These clergymen, Catholic and Protestant, who are joining hands together to gain greater political power in the land and who are unable to answer the teachings of the Bible concerning themselves, like the persecutors of our Lord, have raised a great howl that the International Bible Students are disloyal and against the Government of the United States, and therefore guilty of treason. Nothing is further from the truth. There is not a disloyal one amongst the members of the International Bible Students Association.

We are not against the Government in any sense. We recognize the United States Government as the best on earth and Mr. Wilson as the greatest of earth’s rulers.

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We are not against the war. We recognize and have long taught that the Bible, three thousand years ago, foretold the present great war, and that God’s hand would be in the matter. When President Wilson asked the ministers to pray for peace, Pastor Russell, in an address in the New York City Temple said, “While I have the greatest respect for our honorable President, I must decline to join in a prayer for peace, because the Word of God shows that this war must come at this time; and for me to pray for peace now would be to ask Jehovah to change the Divine plan.”

For more than thirty years, Pastor Russell and other members of the Association have been telling the people that the war would begin in 1914. The clergy throughout the land ridiculed and scoffed at the idea. Had the advice of Pastor Russell and the International Bible Students Association been heeded, the people would not have been so surprised when the war came, and would have been better prepared and fortified for it.

We recognize that this war, foretold by Jehovah, will be overruled by him and result in much good to mankind. The Bible says, “There shall be a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation, even to that same time.” (Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21) If it is disloyal to call attention to the meaning of this great trouble upon the earth, then it is disloyal to repeat the Lord’s prayer. He taught all his followers to pray, “thy Kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.”

Furthermore, the Lord said: “Wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey; for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy [not literal fire]. For then will I turn to the people a pure message, that they may all call upon the

[the cartoon interrupts columns 4–6 here; see below]

name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zephaniah 3:8, 9) Thus Jehovah points out that after the trouble is over, a great blessing shall come to the people.

Now we are attempting to teach the people what is going to follow after this war—not teaching according to our own wisdom, but according to what the great Teacher, Christ Jesus, made clear. Again the clergy are trying to keep both the governments and the people in ignorance. The clergy cry long and loud about their own loyalty and patriotism; whereas, as a matter of fact, they are really a menace to both governments and people. The American people can be trusted with all the knowledge possible to be given them. Knowledge of righteousness will do good and not harm. Let the people understand what the future holds and their fears will be calmed. The International Bible Students Association is earnestly endeavoring to help the people along this very line.

THE DRAFT

We recognize that the United States Government, being a political and economic institution, has the power and authority, under its fundamental law, to declare war and to draft its citizens into military service. We have no dis-

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position to interfere with the draft or the war in any manner. The fact that some of our members have sought to take advantage of the protection of the law, has been used as another means of persecution. Congress passed the Selective Draft Act in May, 1917, and in that act provided that no person shall be compelled to engage in combatant military service who is a member of a well-recognized religious organization, the principles of which preclude its members from engaging in war. Thus the law makers of the land recognized that there are conscientious objectors who cannot conscientiously engage in mortal combat. The reason for this is that some have fully consecrated themselves to the Lord and they conscientiously believe if they are faithful to him they shall have a part in his Kingdom of righteousness, and that if they engage in the taking of human life this will destroy them eternally. The law provides that such shall be given non-combatant service.

WHAT BIBLE STUDENTS BELIEVE

The International Bible Students believe that Jesus Christ is the great Redeemer of mankind; that he promised before his ascension into heaven that he would return again and receive his church unto himself; that he would reign for a thousand years thereafter, during which time he would give every man a fair trial for life and all the obedient ones would be restored to human perfection, happiness and eternal joy, the wilfully wicked being everlastingly destroyed; that ultimately the earth will be filled with a race of happy, joyful people. The word “millennium” means one thousand years; therefore the millennial reign of Christ means the thousand-year reign of Christ mentioned in the Scriptures. (Revelation 20:1-4) They believe that the Lord’s reign and great blessing is at hand. The bringing of this hope to the people at this time has greatly angered the clergymen and they have vehemently denounced it, because, if true, the power

[cartoon]

of a hypocritical clergy is about to end. As a sample, we quote from Dr. Shirley J. Case, of the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, who has recently written a book against Millennarianism, and who, speaking against the work of the International Bible Students Association, says: “Two thousand dollars a week is being spent to spread the doctrine. Where the money comes from is unknown; but there is strong suspicion that it emanates from German sources. In my belief, the fund would be a profitable field for government investigation.” Have such representations had anything to do with the investigation of the Bible Students Association’s books? Something has caused it. We have nothing to conceal. We here mention that recently the Government officials took possession of the books of the Bible Students Association and made a thorough investigation. No trace was found of German influence or the use of German money. We gladly state that all the money used in our work is voluntarily contributed by conscientious men and women throughout the country who regard it a great privilege now to declare the message of peace and hope that the Bible holds out, to the poor, groaning creation.

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“WIRELESS SEIZED”

About the same time that arrests were being made in other places, the public press throughout the country announced that a “raid” had been made on the Bethel Home, Brooklyn, and a powerful wireless receiving station was found in the cellar and a sending station on the roof, intimating that this was maintained in the interest of pro-German work. The facts are these: Some three years ago, Mr. Edward Kuser of Pottstown, Pa., presented Pastor Russell with a receiving radio machine and it was erected on the roof of the Bethel Home. There never has been a sending apparatus about the premises; not even the receiver has been used, except to experiment with by some of the younger members who were trying to learn the operation of the wireless, and not even this has been done during the past two years. More than a year ago, the wireless was dismantled and the poles sawed up and used for other purposes, and the receiving instrument safely stored away in the art room. It was voluntarily produced and by consent removed, because we have no use for it. There is not a person about the Bethel Home, nor has there been for two years, who knows anything about the use of a wireless instrument.

We here insert the affidavit of the person who manufactured and erected the wireless:

COUNTY OF NEW YORK) STATE OF NEW YORK) : ss

I, Edward Kuser, being duly sworn, do depose and say, as follows:

In 1915, about the first of the year, I made a present to Pastor Russell of the wireless receiving set which was found on the premises of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society at Bethel Home, 122 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York, as my own personal gift. Being a manufacturer of wireless equipment I can positively state

[cartoon]

that there was no transmitter connected with this instrument. The instrument was purely a receiving one. Messages could be received, but could not be sent. This was more or less between Pastor Russell and myself. Several of the residents there also knew of its presence. I know certainly when I presented the instrument to Pastor Russell that there was no one residing at the Bethel Home who could operate it intelligently. I was at the Bethel Home in August, 1917, and I saw at that time that the aerial system was dismantled, the pole being sawed off even to the roof, but I did not see the instrument and was informed that the apparatus had been out of commission for over a year.

The sealing of wireless apparatus consists of taking down the aerial system and placing the apparatus where it would not be possible to use it. As near as I remember, the said receiving instrument has not been in use as a receiver for the last twenty months.

I have just now made a personal inspection of the instrument, which was taken from the Bethel Home on March 6th, 1918, and find that

[continues on page 2, col. 1]

The cartoon (spanning the lower half of columns 4–6)

A drawing of a giant open Bible lying face-up. The left-hand page is headed “THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL”; the right-hand page “REVELATION OF ST. JOHN”. Four clergymen in clerical dress and top hats are attacking it — one at the left hacking at the page with shears, one clambering over the top of the leaves with a blade, one kneeling at the foot of the spine sawing into it, and one at the right fleeing, hat flying off, with scissors in hand. A great blank leaf has been torn loose and rises between the two pages.

Caption, set across the full width beneath:

CLERGY WOULD CENSOR THE BIBLE

PAGE TWO

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KINGDOM NEWS

I. B. S. A., Publisher. 13, 15, 17 Hicks St., Brooklyn, N. Y. Monthly—12c. a year. Single copies, 1c. An Independent, Unsectarian Religious Newspaper, Specially Devoted to the Heralding of the Kingdom of Christ for the Glory of God and Good of Humanity.

Ministers of the I. B. S. A. render their services at funerals free of charge. They also invite correspondence from those desiring Christian counsel.

[the Kuser affidavit, continued from page 1]

the detector bulb upon which the success of the apparatus entirely depends is the original one I furnished in 1915, and is completely burned out, hence rendering the instrument of no practical use whatever. Twenty months ago I was asked to renew this said bulb by Mr. Crosby, but it was not renewed and has been out of commission ever since. In order to renew this bulb it would have been necessary to send the old one to the factory and procure a new one in its stead, this being the requirement of the manufacturer, De Forest Company. The De Forest Company have the patent on this bulb and they would not have renewed it without the return of the old one, and this was the original one I furnished. I found with the instrument a telegraph key, which was not a part of the said receiving set, being used to practice the code, as it is neces-

[col. 2]

sary to know the telegraphic code before any one could intelligently receive or send a message.

(Signed) EDW. A. KUSER.

Sworn to before me this 14th day of March, 1918

(Signed) Thomas F. Keenan, Jr. Notary Public—Bronx County No. 51; Certificate Filed N. Y. Co. No. 295; Term Expires March 31, 1919.

“THE FINISHED MYSTERY”

At the first intimation that there was any objection to the language used in “The Finished Mystery,” a special representative of the Association was sent to Washington, D. C., and took the matter up with the Censor Committee of the Intelligence Section of the War Department. That Committee, after looking over the book, would not declare that any part of it is seditious, but advised that pages 247 to 253 be removed. Nearly all of the matter on these pages is quotations from two ministers of New York City, written prior to the United States’ entry into the war, and who there discussed the advisability of war. The Association immediately proceeded to instruct all of its Colporteurs throughout the country to remove the pages above mentioned, before offering the book for sale. The manufacturers were notified to hold up the work until new plates could be supplied for these pages. And thus every effort has been made to comply with the advice of the public censor. The purpose of the Asso-

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ciation is not in any wise to interfere with the war and its progress, but its mission and purpose is to teach the people the plain meaning of the Bible

The Prophets of the Lord describe Mystic Babylon and show that the ecclesiastical systems constitute Babylon. The book that has recently been so much commented upon in the press, “The Finished Mystery,” is a commentary upon these prophecies, particularly Ezekiel and Revelation. These two great prophecies expose the clergy and show that their doctrines are misleading, without hope, and confusing. Babylon means confusion. The Bible proof shows that the clergy have been preying upon the people and collecting money from them upon the pretense of teaching them the Scriptures; whereas they have kept them in ignorance of the Bible. The creeds taught by the clergymen have held out no hope for any one except the few that go to heaven. They have taught that the mass of humanity would have to spend eternity in hell—a lake of burning fire and brimstone.

On the contrary, the Scriptures hold out a wonderful hope for mankind. In obedience to their country’s call, thousands of young men of America are facing the enemy upon the battlefield. Doubtless many of these do not claim to be Christians; and if the teachings of the clergy are correct, then those boys would have no hope. The International Bible Students are

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trying to teach them and every one also that the Bible proves that only the consecrated Christian is now on trial for life, and that when Messiah’s Kingdom is in operation all the living will learn the truth, and all the dead shall return from their tombs and have an opportunity to gain everlasting blessings. Soldiers who die upon the battlefield, those who die at home from disease and other causes; in fact, all, shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth from the tomb. (John 5:33) [sic — evidently John 5:28, 29] The Bible is full of consoling promises for mankind. The great Adversary, by his various machinations, has kept the people in ignorance of these great truths for centuries. Now in this hour of great stress upon the world, he is desperately striving to throttle those who are earnestly and faithfully trying to open the eyes of the people to this consoling message contained in the Bible. It is the Adversary’s old trick of intolerance in the name of religion against he [sic] glorious hope that God has set before those who love righteousness. As a sample of the teachings of the Bible Students and of Pastor Russell’s writings concerning this hope set before mankind, we quote from his first volume:

“Close your eyes for a moment to the scenes of misery and woe, degradation and sorrow that yet prevail on account of sin, and picture before your mental vision the glory of the perfect earth. Not a stain

[col. 5]

of sin mars the harmony and peace of a perfect society; not a bitter thought, not an unkind look or word; love, welling up from every heart, meets a kindred response in every other heart, and benevolence marks every act. There sickness shall be no more; not an ache nor a pain, nor any evidence of decay—not even the fear of such things. Think of all the pictures of comparative health and beauty of human form and feature that you have ever seen, and know that perfect humanity will be of still surpassing loveliness. The inward purity and mental and moral perfection will stamp and glorify every radiant countenance. Such will earth’s society be; and weeping bereaved ones will have their tears all wiped away, when thus they realize the resurrection work complete.”

How different is this sweet message to that of endless torment taught by the clergy and which had its birth in the Dark Ages.

Surely the people do not wish to return to the Dark Ages and have a few bigoted clergymen tell them that they should not read what the Bible says. We are reminded that in the early days of the Papacy it was made a crime for a man to have a Bible; and now the clergymen would take away the Bible explanation from the people. Our fore-

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fathers braved the storms of the Atlantic in open boats and came to wild America that they might find here a safe retreat and establish an asylum of religious liberty where they could worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. These great principles were embodied in the fundamental law of the land. The Constitution guarantees the right of petition and redress, the right of freedom of speech in the interest of humankind. We call upon all order-loving, law-abiding people to protest against this unholy persecution of innocent men and women, who have but one desire, and that to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his glorious Kingdom—now at hand.

Religious intolerance has brought Russia to her present condition. An arrogant, religious intolerance has made German autocracy possible. While the peoples of the Allied nations are fighting for principles of justice and right, let all see to it that these principles are not denied to order-loving men and women who are attempting to help their fellow-men to a better understanding of God’s purposes concerning their future welfare and blessing. Let the people asemble [sic] everywhere in calmness and sobriety and consider the great truths of the Bible, because “righteousness exalteth a nation,” and nowhere can righteousness be so well learned as from the Word of God.

The advertisement (full width, lower two-thirds of page two)

Set inside a heavy ornamental border.

THE WORLD HAS ENDED

MILLIONS Now Living May NEVER DIE!

FREE LECTURE

By HON. J. F. RUTHERFORD Member New York City Bar

[left panel] In order that the people of New York City may have an opportunity to consider his convincing and heart-cheering message, the INTERNATIONAL BIBLE STUDENTS have arranged for Mr. Rutherford to deliver his great lecture FREE to the public.

[centre: a framed half-length photographic portrait of J. F. Rutherford, in a dark suit, facing slightly to the viewer’s right]

[right panel] Thousands of America’s sons are gone to the battlefield. Many may die there. Mr. Rutherford’s lecture gives conclusive proof of future blessings for them, whether they die Christians or not. This message will bring joy and comfort to every heart.

BROOKLYN ACADEMY of MUSIC

LAFAYETTE AVE. & ST. FELIX STREET

3 P. M. – – SUNDAY – – MARCH 24

ALL SEATS FREE . . . . NO COLLECTION

Transcriber’s notes

“THE WORLD HAS ENDED” is the advertisement’s primary headline “MILLIONS Now Living May NEVER DIE!” is its italic sub-head, not the top line. Both are dated March 15, 1918, for a lecture on March 24, 1918 — roughly two years before the 1920 booklet that made the second phrase famous.
The paper prints John 5:33 where John 5:28, 29 is plainly meant. Kept as printed.
Two other compositor’s errors kept as printed: “suporters” (p. 1, col. 3), “asemble” (p. 2, col. 6), and “against he glorious hope” for “against the glorious hope” (p. 2, col. 4).
The Zephaniah gloss “[not literal fire]” is the paper’s own, and is set in square brackets in the original.
Rev. Dr. Oliver is given as “Rev. Dr. Oliver” in the headline quotation and “Dr. French E. Oliver” in the body.
The affidavit’s dates are worth keeping straight: the set was given in 1915; the aerial was seen dismantled August 1917; the instrument was taken from Bethel March 6th, 1918; the affidavit was sworn March 14th, 1918; the paper is dated March 15, 1918 — i.e. it went to press the day after the affidavit was notarised.
Page 1 carries six columns of text with the cartoon occupying the lower middle of columns 4–6; page 2 carries six columns across its top third only, the remainder being the advertisement.