Consolation, October 2, 1940
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Contents
New York Post and "Fifth Column" 3
What the Post Asked and Got 4
Further Evidence 11
"They Shall Know that I Am Jehovah" 13
Women Used by the Devil 14
On the Supreme Court's Doorstep 17
George Washington's Patriotism 19
Russia 20
When Government Is Boss 20
Spain 21
Azaña or Roosevelt? 21
Central America, Mexico, West Indies 22
Judiciary 23
Totalitarian FCC 23
Education 24
Selecting the Correct Word 24
From the Rector to the "Locust" 24
Winds That Blow 25
Tornadoes and Waterspouts 27
Squalls, Chinooks, Hail 27
British Comment 28
Air Raids 28
The Waiting Time 29
Jehovah's witnesses 29
Knock, Instead of Lourdes 30
League of Nations 31
History in the League 31
Notice 31
Published every other Wednesday by
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Editor Clayton J. Woodworth
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Appetizers
Bringing Up Mother
Five-year-old William had been taught that Sunday is not a day of play, but one to be set aside for church and kindred matters. Naturally, his mother was surprised and shocked to find him one Sunday morning sailing his toy boat in the bathtub. "William! Don't you know it is wicked to sail boats on Sunday?" she demanded. "Steady, mother," replied William calmly. "This is a missionary boat going to Africa."
Father's Quiet Grief
Mother: What did your father say when he found you had broken his golf clubs?
Son: Shall I leave out the swear words?
Mother: Of course!
Son: Well, then he didn't say anything.
—Kellygram.
All in Proper Order
"Archie," asked the teacher of the new pupil, "do you know your alphabet?"
"Yes, miss," answered Archie.
"Well, then," continued the teacher, "what letter comes after 'A'?"
"All of 'em," was the reply.
Coming Under the Wire
"I got a hundred this morning."
"That's lovely, dear," she said, as she kissed the boy tenderly. "What was it in?"
"Fifty in composition and fifty in grammar."
Circumstantial Evidence
"I don't think the man upstairs likes Johnnie to play his drum." "Why?" "Well, this afternoon he gave Johnnie a knife and asked him if he knew what was inside the drum."
—Die Woche.
Looking for Trouble
"Mother," said little John, bursting into the house, "there's going to be trouble at the chemist's. His wife has got a baby girl and he's had a 'Boy Wanted' sign in his window for a week."
Emphatic
He: What would I have to give you for one little kiss?
She (demurely, after much thought): Chloroform.—Labor.
CONSOLATION
"And in His name shall the nations hope."—Matthew 12:21, A. R. V.
Volume XXII Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, October 2, 1940 Number 549
New York "Post" and "Fifth Column"
THE newspapers of America are tied hand and foot by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and dare not come out in the open and tell the truth, even when they ask for it. This was illustrated in the colloquy between the New York Post and Judge Rutherford, which terminated in two statements to the public, one from each party.
A lifelong experience with the newspapers and their unfairness toward Christians not connected with any of the sects or cults which number their devotees by the millions, has made Judge Rutherford justly suspicious of the motives of reporters who come seeking interviews. The inevitable object of such reporters is to try to find something they can criticize, or even ridicule, if possible.
If this statement seems extreme, just get out Consolation No. 475 and read the leading article on "Suppression, Distortion and Reversal of News". See for yourself the story of how an innocent Italian was done to death by a judge and a millionaire, both drunk, and the event was hailed in next morning's newspaper as an act of justice and a blessing to the community. The object, of course, was to cover the carelessness of a drunken driver who chanced to be both a millionaire and a Roman Catholic. The judge also was a Catholic.
After a lifetime of acquaintance with the kind of "service" the newspapers have to offer, and which they always use as a means of underhanded attack of the innocent, Judge Rutherford, at the Detroit convention, made the following public statement of his attitude henceforth toward newspapermen who come to him requesting interviews. He said:
"The manager of the convention informs me that many reporters for the public press are here and have requested that I give them an interview. Past experiences show that the reporters gather the information, which the paper straightway refuses to print and instead prints many falsehoods against us. If the reporters will bring to me a written and signed statement by the editor in charge of their respective papers, which statement promises the publication of what answers I give in answer to their questions, I will answer every question that they propound and grant an interview for this purpose. Otherwise it would be too bad to take up the time of the reporters to speak with them." [Tremendous and prolonged applause]
Experience with the "Post"
The experience with the New York Post was of the same general nature and had the result that Jehovah's people have come to expect. The Post asked for information which they never intended to use, and took up the time of one of the busiest men in the world with no other object than to try to find some "dirt" that would be of aid to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.
Judge Rutherford took the time to answer patiently and adequately the 25 questions submitted. He was under no obligation to do this, and he knew in advance that the seeming frankness and openness was but hypocrisy; and this turned out to be the case. The Post made four articles, the first fair, the next not so good, and so on down to the last, which was nothing but a dirty dig from first to last under the title "Jehovah's witnesses Ignore Russell, Their Founder". It will be news to Jehovah's witnesses that when Jehovah himself said, "Ye are my witnesses," he was making them followers of any man.
Some of the mean "cracks" in the story of the Post may be gathered from the headings of the stories: "Jehovah's witnesses High-Pressure Satan," "Pale-Face Father Divine," "Slick in Operation," "Making the Kill," "Jehovah's witnesses Glory in Martyrdom," "$10 a Month Allowance," "Plenty of Overtime," "Profits Run High," etc.
What the "Post" Asked and Got
NEW YORK POST
Founded 1801
June 12, 1940
Judge J. F. Rutherford,
124 Columbia Heights,
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Dear Judge Rutherford:
As we agreed in our telephone conversation yesterday afternoon, I am mailing you herewith a list of questions concerning Jehovah's Witnesses. I still feel that a personal interview would be more satisfactory to both of us, but I know that you are a very busy man and am quite willing to defer to your wishes. It is understood that any quotation attributed to you in the articles I intend to write will be accurate and that no effort will be made to distort the meaning of your words. I have retained a copy of my questions and if you retain a copy of your answers, you will be in a position to see that this promise is carried out.
I have asked a few questions about your interpretation of the Bible and your attitude toward war, religious organizations and other similar matters because I have read your book "Salvation" and a number of the Watchtower publications, and I feel that I understand your religious beliefs and their application to present-day events. My questions, as you will see, are divided into three categories: 1, the recent attacks upon Jehovah's Witnesses; 2, the history and growth of your movement; and 3, the direction and finances of the Watchtower organization.
In this third group you will find several broad questions about the finances of the Watchtower society. I hope you will answer them frankly. I have included them because, as I understand your teachings, you hold that religious organizations become materialistic through the acquisition of wealth and that you believe all such organizations to be instruments of Satan. Undoubtedly anything we may publish about Jehovah's Witnesses will be sharply scrutinized and criticized by the churches, and we feel that we must be prepared with the facts to refute any charge that Jehovah's witnesses, while criticizing the churches, has itself built up a large and powerful religious organization, with large revenues.
In our conversation you expressed doubts about the attitude of my superiors here toward you. I am enclosing a recent editorial from The Post which may convince you that we are not unfriendly and that we defend your right to refuse to salute the flag.
Very truly yours,
[Signed] MALCOLM LOGAN
The questions asked by the Post and the answers thereto as submitted by Judge Rutherford are given herewith as published in booklet form under the heading, "Judge Rutherford Uncovers Fifth Column."
New York Post
New York City
Attention Mr. Malcolm Logan
Dear Sir:
You have stated to me that the New York Post has assigned you to get information concerning Jehovah's witnesses. For the past fifteen years, at the request of the public press, I have repeatedly furnished information concerning the work of our organization, and that without any of the facts being published. Frequently the press would misrepresent what had been stated, making us appear entirely in a different light from what the facts show. For ten years I used on an average 240 radio stations each week, detailing important information to the public. The press ignored that information. I have been informed by reporters for the public press—to this effect: "Higher-ups have said to us that nothing shall be published that Rutherford furnishes." During the past twenty years I have written and published books to the number of ninety-nine and which have been published in seventy-eight different languages, and more than three hundred million placed in the hands of the people; yet the public press asks for information. I sometimes wonder what the press tries to find, outside of sensational matters. During the past year I have addressed millions of people in various assemblies throughout Europe and America, all of which the press has had notice of but studiously ignored. The reason was very well stated by the managing editor of one of the largest papers in Seattle, Washington, to this effect: "We know that this copy furnished is the truth, but if we would publish it we would have to close our shop. We have so many men back there that belong to the organization that hates you that we could not afford to publish it." Whether I am in Australia, Europe or America, the same answer comes from the representatives of the press, showing a well-organized determination to keep the people in ignorance of that which menaces the whole world.
In view of these facts you can appreciate why I have hesitated to give answers to your questions. I have nothing to hide, of course, but there seems to be no good reason why I should further waste time and energy to furnish information that will not be used for any good purpose, and the public be kept in ignorance of the facts, so far as the public press is concerned.
This acknowledges your letter of the 12th inst., enclosing a list of questions which you have propounded. I have decided to briefly answer these questions. The Post will not publish what I have to say, of course, but I make this request: that the answers which I am giving here to the questions propounded may be put in the morgue of the Post, and any other public paper that wishes a copy, and when the terrible conditions that now obtain in Europe have come to America, that the managing editor may open the morgue and read these answers, and then never be able to say: "We had no notice that these things were coming." I feel that this is an opportunity to serve notice, once and for all, upon the public press, not for my benefit, but because it appears to be a public necessity and a duty to be performed by anyone who has the facts at hand.
My answers to your questions necessarily must briefly cover the points. For detailed proof I refer you to the books and booklets which I have written, and which contain an abundance of proof. I have at hand much more proof that has not been published, and which the public press would not publish if it had an opportunity. And now referring to your questions by number:
(1) Why, in your opinion, has there been a sudden recent outburst of violence against Jehovah’s witnesses in widely separated parts of the country?
ANSWER: Because the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, operating what they call "Catholic Action", are carrying out a well-laid scheme to destroy everything in this world that publishes the truth, and this the Hierarchy are doing in order to camouflage their own wicked action in attempting to grab control of the nations of the earth.
The Roman Catholic Hierarchy, operated from Vatican City, Rome, have permeated every part of every nation under the sun. Their objective is to establish again the old "Holy Roman Empire". The Nazis, Fascists and Communists are all for a Corporate State and all determined to destroy republics. The "Hierarchy of Authority" of the Catholic system are working with these totalitarians to rule the earth. The Hierarchy claim they are divinely authorized to rule the earth and that therefore the Hierarchy will act as the "spiritual overlord" of the nations of earth, ruled by dictators. If you would read volumes One and Two of my book Vindication there you would find an abundance of evidence to this effect. Again, the book Enemies contains much more information. A book published by an ex-Catholic priest, E. Boyd Barrett, entitled "Rome Stoops to Conquer", contains also an abundance of information showing that the Hierarchy are really a political organization, bent on destroying everything that represents the interests of the common people.
The real "fifth column" in America is organized and carried on by "Catholic Action". The facts prove this to be true with what has recently come to pass in Europe. All along the Mexican border "Catholic Action" has planted its Nazi representatives and allies. The same is true along the border of Quebec, and the recent outbursts of violence against Jehovah’s witnesses have come from those points. In this mob violence public officials, sheriffs, police officers, prosecuting attorneys and others have acted in conjunction with the Catholic priests to launch a vicious attack upon Jehovah’s witnesses. Everybody who knows Jehovah’s witnesses knows that they are against the totalitarian state. No one organization has published as much against Nazism, Fascism and Communism as the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY, of which I am the president. The publication of these facts has greatly angered the Hierarchy, and the Hierarchy are determined to crush all of Jehovah’s witnesses. Maliciously the Hierarchy have charged Jehovah’s witnesses with being of the "fifth column", well knowing that they are lying, and they are doing it for the very purpose of camouflaging their own wickedness in their attempt to deceive the people, while they further the "Catholic Action" in America. When the time comes, and that seems to be in the near future, it will be found that there are at least ten million "fifth columnists" in America, and that ninety percent of these are under the absolute control of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.
In 1938 I delivered an address on "Face the Facts" at Royal Albert Hall, London, and which was transmitted by radio to almost all the earth. In numerous states in the United States Catholic priests, together with their radical element under their control, attempted to prevent this address from being delivered by radio or transmitted to halls. If you will read the booklet Face the Facts you will readily see the reason why. Shortly thereafter I delivered an address in New York city, which was transmitted by radio to many other states in America, and the Catholic priests attempted to break up those meetings. On June 25, 1939, I delivered a public address at Madison Square Garden, and the Catholic Hierarchy, together with Nazi representatives, attempted to break up that meeting, as well as others throughout the country that were connected by land wires. If you will read my lectures "Fascism or Freedom" and "Government and Peace" you will find an abundance of evidence supporting the foregoing.
The Hierarchy repeatedly have coerced radio stations in America to prevent me from speaking to the public. The answer, therefore, to your first question, in brief, is this: The outburst of violence against Jehovah's witnesses throughout the United States that took place about the time the decision was handed down by the Supreme Court on the flag-saluting case from Pennsylvania in every instance was started and carried on by "Catholic Action".
(2) Have you been able to identify the persons inciting violence as members of any particular group?
ANSWER: Yes, without any question of doubt. We have photographs of mob violence being led by Catholic priests. Priests have appeared in magistrates' courts in Texas and testified that they sent their representatives to drive Jehovah's witnesses out of the town. More detailed information has been furnished to the Department of Justice at Washington.
(3) Have you appealed for protection to the Civil Liberties Division of the Department of Justice, and, if so, has any help been promised?
ANSWER: The American Civil Liberties organization has voluntarily taken up the fight of Jehovah's witnesses, and the Bureau of Department of Justice is now interesting itself concerning the same; the F.B.I. is also duly informed. Action is awaited.
(4) In newspaper stories from Del Rio, Texas, and Kennebunk, Maine, it appeared that an effort was being made to label Jehovah's witnesses as Nazi or Communist sympathizers. All your publications which I have read emphatically show that you are opposed to all such dictatorships. Why do you think this attempt to distort your position is being made?
ANSWER: In each of the towns named by you in the fourth question, an effort has been made to label Jehovah's witnesses as Nazis or Communist sympathizers. This is another scheme of "Catholic Action". In doing this they well know that they are lying. Not one word can be found in any of our publications, or amongst the utterances of any of our people, that we have sympathy with Nazis or Communists. On the contrary, there is an abundance of publication from our organization showing that Nazis, Catholics, Communists and Fascists are working together.
(5) Do you feel that there is any general plan in the acts against Jehovah's witnesses, since most of these have started with an attempt to force members to salute the flag?
ANSWER: It has always been the scheme of the Devil, as disclosed by history, to begin on the outskirts and bring his forces against the stronghold of righteousness. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy are the chief instrument on earth of the Devil. The compulsory flag saluting by school children was instigated under the direction of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, the purpose being to destroy the liberties of the people. It was begun in a subtle way apparently for patriotic reasons, but the real reason is to break down liberty of conscience and liberty of thought and liberty to worship. For more than 150 years honest people of America have obeyed the laws represented by the flag, and that without being compelled to salute. The Catholic Hierarchy well know the position of real Christians concerning the bowing down to images and the saluting of any flag, and, knowing this, the Hierarchy have seized upon compulsory flag saluting as another means of accomplishing their purpose and discrediting, browbeating and coercing every person who stands for liberty of conscience, liberty of worship. It is only necessary to refer to the book Inside Europe, by John Gunther, and the book by E. Boyd Barrett, Rome Stoops to Conquer, to get an abundance of evidence outside of what Jehovah's witnesses have published, showing that Catholics and Nazis are working together.
I spent much time in Germany from 1922 to 1934. I observed the gradual development of Nazism under Catholic direction there. I have observed the same method carried out in America. "Catholic Action" together with Nazis has destroyed all liberty in Europe. It is going to do the same thing in America!
Let this be distinctly understood: that, when I speak of “Catholic Action”, I have no reference to the people who practice the Catholic religion conscientiously. There are millions of such honest and sincere people. It is only the ambitious, devilish representatives in the Hierarchy organization that are determined to rule the earth contrary to the will of God and against the interests of men.
You probably noticed a United Press dispatch from Berlin, published about the 6th of this month, and which states: “BERLIN, June 6th.—Special meetings of the Roman Catholic bishops throughout Germany have resulted in a decision to hold thanksgiving masses for the German victory in Belgium and Flanders, it was reported today.”
This shows that occasionally a little truth leaks out that “Catholic Action” is supporting Nazis and Fascists, regardless of how much injury may result to the common Catholic people. The population of Belgium is largely Catholic, and yet the Hierarchy connive with Nazis to destroy that people in order to get control of the nation.
It might be interesting to note that Mussolini declared war against France June 10. On the same date a paper was issued by the American Legion, announcing that the time had come when the Legion must take “summary” action. At the same time riots began and summary action was begun along the Mexican border in Texas, and along Quebec border in Maine. For instance, in Texas, in one prison room ninety men, women and children of Jehovah’s witnesses were thrown in prison, kept there twenty-four hours without food or water, and not even a place to sit down. They were then taken from the jail and driven along a railroad track in the heat, with representatives of “Catholic Action” and American Legion marching on the road beside them, deriding them and not permitting them to stop for refreshments. Many of them fainted. At the same time those that were heckling Jehovah’s witnesses and marching them were howling “Heil, Hitler”. At the same time the riots broke out in Maine, the so-called representatives of the American Legion, and also those of “Catholic Action”, mobbed Jehovah’s witnesses, broke into their houses and burned down the houses in which some of Jehovah’s witnesses resided. Most of the American press either remains silent or speaks in a sarcastic way of Jehovah’s witnesses, as though they were some criminals, and this is done at the instance of influential ones connected with the public press and who are acting under the command of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.
(6) Do you attribute the troubles to a rise in the martial spirit in the country?
ANSWER: Emphatically, No! These troubles do not rise because of the martial spirit in America. The military organization of America is not interested in compelling school children or others to salute the flag. I refer you to the article published by General Moss, Chap. 14, entitled “Patriotism of the Flag”, in which he says: “Another form that false patriotism frequently takes is so-called ‘Flag-worship’—blind and excessive adulation of the Flag as an emblem or image,—superpunctiliousness and meticulosity in displaying and saluting the Flag—without intelligent and sincere understanding and appreciation of the ideals and institutions it symbolizes. This, of course, is but a form of idolatry—a sort of ‘glorified idolatry’, so to speak. When patriotism assumes this form it is nonsensical and makes the ‘patriot’ ridiculous.”
The Hierarchy have seized upon the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning flag saluting, and which applies only to little children, as an effort to discredit Jehovah’s witnesses. The Hierarchy do not wish to know the truth as to the position taken by Jehovah’s witnesses. In that case of Gobitis the American Bar Association filed a Brief and also the American Civil Liberties filed a Brief, as friends of the court, setting forth the reasons why compulsory flag saluting, even in schools, is wrong. As to the position of Jehovah’s witnesses I refer you to the Brief which I filed in that case, and the argument which I made before the Supreme Court; and the position that I took in behalf of Jehovah’s witnesses is exactly the position taken by Wm. Penn when he fled from Europe and founded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “Catholic Action” knows this, but the Hierarchy deliberately lie, exactly as the Lord foretold they would lie. I refer you to the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 28, verses 14-18 inclusive, which, without a question of doubt, refers to the Catholic Hierarchy organization as the one composed of scornful men and who say: “We have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.” RESULTS: Here I am going to venture what will be the result of this fanatical, devilish procedure to destroy democracies, destroy freedom of press and freedom of speech, and destroy all publishers of the truth.
I base my conclusion, not upon human wisdom. I do not claim to have any inspiration higher than others who are devoted to the Lord. I base my conclusion upon the Word of Almighty God, which is true. Prophecies were written long ago and could not be understood until in course of fulfillment. Now the Lord has brought about the physical facts and brought them to the attention of men who are devoted to Him, and it is easy to be seen what will be the result. Based upon this authority, I stated in a public address in Paris more than three years ago that the Nazis and Fascists would overrun France. That has been accomplished. I stated in a public address in Berne, Switzerland, that the Nazis and Fascists would in time grab Switzerland. Watch for that to be accomplished in the near future. At a public address in London, which was transmitted throughout the British Empire, and was delivered in 1938, I stated that the Nazis and Fascists were bent upon destroying the British Empire, and that that would be accomplished. The Nazis have planted their agents throughout the earth. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy have planted their men in every big newspaper office in America, and their men in every department of the government of the United States. Their purpose is to seize the government of the United States, as Holland and other countries have been seized. I ask you now to refer to the booklet Fascism or Freedom, page 14, under the subtitle of "America", and read there what Catholic priest O'Brien has to say about grabbing America in 1940, and mark at the same time how these are coming to pass, showing that O'Brien, in a measure, announced the purpose of the Hierarchy. That booklet, together with Face the Facts and Government and Peace, contains considerable information on this point.
You may expect totalitarian dictators, acting with the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, to overrun the earth, seize control of almost all the nations, if not all, and rule them for a short season, and then will follow the worst trouble that this earth has ever known. Based upon divine prophecy, briefly this will be the result: The big religious institution, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, acting with dictators, will say: "We have accomplished our purpose. We are now at peace, and we are safe." Then the Lord will take a hand. Christ Jesus will lead the forces invisible to human eyes, and there shall result the battle of Armageddon, "the battle of that great day of God Almighty," which will completely clean up the earth of wickedness and destroy everybody that willfully practices wickedness. Jesus described that battle as 'a time of tribulation such as never was'. (Matthew 24:21, 22) The prophet Jeremiah describes it specifically in the 25th chapter. You will read these with some profit and interest. Other prophecies describe that great and terrible time.
The United States was established as a Christian nation, not as a religious nation. It was established by men who loved God and His Kingdom, and who prayed and worked for righteousness. The Supreme Court of the United States, in Church vs. United States, explicitly stated: "This is a Christian nation." Other decisions support that conclusion. The fundamental law writers have so stated. What, however, is the situation today? Every nation under the sun is against Jehovah God and against Christ Jesus His King.
In Kentucky six men are now under arrest, charged with treason, the evidence being that they "advocate a government by one Jehovah God". I cite this as merely one instance. The evidence is too numerous to go into detail. I refer you now to the declaration of Jehovah God himself, recorded in Psalm 9:17: "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."
Jehovah's witnesses are not a sect, not a religious organization. They are in the class of faithful men mentioned in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews; whose sole purpose is to inform the people of God's purpose to establish a righteous government on the earth, and in obedience to God's commandment to warn the people of the impending disaster upon the nations. America, with the other nations, is in for the worst trouble it has ever had, and the ones most reprehensible for bringing that trouble upon America are those men who compose the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, which men have hypocritically claimed to represent God, but who, in fact, represent the Devil.
The American press will not publish the truth because the press is either owned or controlled by the power and influence of the Hierarchy and allies.
Jehovah's witnesses obey every law of the land that is not in conflict with God's law. They are for Almighty God and Christ Jesus.
They do no injury to anyone. They have nothing against individuals because of their religion. They simply tell the truth in order that the people might find the way of escape. They are hated by the Devil and all the Devil's agencies. The Hierarchy are in the same class as the Pharisees, to whom Jesus addressed His words in John 8:44.
ESCAPE: There is but one means of escape from the terrible trouble that is coming upon the earth in the very near future, and that is the Kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ Jesus, which Kingdom is THE THEOCRACY, because it is the government of the great THEOCRAT. No one in America or any other nation will escape that terrible condition of distress, resulting from Armageddon, except those who seek the Lord God and who devote themselves to Jehovah and to Christ Jesus His King.
I sound this warning now, and let the press put it in their morgue and take it out when it is desired. God has declared that they shall all know that He is the Most High. Honest and sincere Catholics, Protestants, Jews and others who desire righteousness and life will abandon all religious institutions and put themselves under the protection of Almighty God and Christ Jesus. There is no other means of escape.
As to your other questions, "Part 2, Organization and Growth of Jehovah's witnesses," question 7 is fully answered in the Yearbook, one of which is issued each year, and which you may obtain at 117 Adams St., Brooklyn, N.Y. That also contains the answers to Nos. 8, 9.
(10) How long have you been active in the movement? Please include a brief biographical sketch.
ANSWER: More than thirty years. The WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY has been in existence for more than sixty years. It is merely a corporation, acting as publishers for Jehovah's witnesses.
(11) How many copies of your books have been sold? How many copies of your phonograph records? What is the circulation of The Watchtower and Consolation?
ANSWER: Books and booklets published in 78 and more languages, in the hands of the people, to the number of more than 300 million copies. The information on questions 11, 12 and 13 is contained in the Yearbook; also answer to No. 14.
(15) We understand that at one time you bought time on many radio stations but that you do not do so now. Is this because any group forced commercial stations to keep you off?
ANSWER: It seems passing strange that a big public newspaper should ask such a question. It is well known that for more than ten years I used over 240 radio stations every week. It is well known that more than two million people protested against the efforts of the Hierarchy trying to put me off the air. This Petition, signed by two and one-half million people, was presented to Congress. In 1937 I voluntarily withdrew from national broadcasting for the reason as stated in my speech delivered at that time and published. I was not put off the air by the Catholic organization.
(16) When did you adopt the name "Jehovah's witnesses", and what were you called before then?
ANSWER: Jehovah's witnesses have been on earth as an organization for more than 5,000 years. (See Isaiah 43:10-12; Hebrews 11th chapter; John 18:37.)
All true Christians are Jehovah's witnesses.
(17) How many members in Germany have been imprisoned or executed for refusing to acknowledge the supremacy of the Nazi state?
ANSWER: More than 6,000 imprisoned by Nazi-Catholic action, and many of them shot.
Answers to your questions 18 to 22 inclusive contained in the Yearbook above mentioned.
(23) Do receipts from the books copyrighted in your name go to you or to the Society?
ANSWER: Books are copyrighted in my name and the copyright transferred to the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY, the only consideration being that the publications be put in the hands of the people at the least possible cost. I do not receive any royalty whatsoever. All work of the organization of the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY is done in the interest of making known the truth. All the workers receive their food and housing, with a nominal allowance of $10.00 per month for incidental expenses. All the income is voluntary contributions. The donations received for the books and booklets are less than the cost of publication. The deficit is made up by voluntary contributions.
In answer to your questions about the money of the WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY, we own a small amount of property, which is mortgaged. We spend all the money we get to make known the truth of God's Kingdom and to try to help the people. There is no individual who reaps a financial or pecuniary profit from the Society or its work.
Referring to finances, why does the press not publish the truth concerning the material wealth of the Roman Catholic organization? At Vatican City there is stored more gold than in any other place on earth, and this has been extracted from the people by claims that prayers for the dead can help them, and by other wrongful means. Throughout the earth the Hierarchy own more property than any other institution. This is particularly true with reference to America. The Hierarchy are supported in great luxury, the money being extracted from the poor upon wrong representation as to the ability of the clergy to intercede with Almighty God.
The Hierarchy have builded tremendous and expensive structures throughout the United States. They are a military organization. In their cellars or crypts are stored a great number of guns and ammunition ready to act against all opponents in due season, their opponents being classed as those who publish the truth about them, and also all who stand for freedom in America.
Why not let the public press demand of Congress an investigation of the cellars and crypts of the Catholic cathedrals in the United States and prove to the public whether or not they have stored away a great amount of arms and ammunition to use against the government?
Why not the Dies Committee go after the Hierarchy and the Nazis? If the Hierarchy deny that they have a large amount of guns and ammunition stored, then they should not object to being investigated. If they do vigorously deny it, that is the best reason why an investigation should be had. There are many persons in the United States who have worked in building these crypts or cellars, and others who have helped unload what appeared to be piano boxes, which were filled with rifles and are stored in these crypts. I am not interested in carrying out such an investigation, because my time and energy must be used to advertising God's Kingdom, the only means of blessing of humankind.
If the public press is so interested in getting at the facts, then INSTITUTE A SEARCH AND INVESTIGATION DISCLOSING WHO ARE THE REAL ENEMIES OF AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS. The time will come in the very near future when the Lord himself will pull the shroud completely off those hiding behind the "refuge of lies" and disclose a great and hypocritical religious institution that has defamed His name and devoted its power to unrighteousness.
Once more let me say that the ONLY MEANS OF ESCAPE from the terrible troubles of Armageddon, AND THE ONLY PLACE OF SAFETY AND THE MEANS OF LIFE, IS IN GOD'S KINGDOM. Note the declaration of the Lord in the prophecy of Zephaniah 2:1-3 and Zephaniah 3:8, 9.
If you desire further information, call at the Society's publication office, 117 Adams St., Brooklyn, and see Mr. N. H. Knorr. Our publications are open to all who desire information. We are not trying to get members. We are informing the people. We know from God's Word what will be the result. The persecution by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy does not deter us in our efforts to make known the truth. The Hierarchy are doing everything that is within their power to prevent our organization from having a convention this year. Doubtless the press will ignore that, instead of standing for freedom of press and freedom of assembly and freedom of worship of all, which the Constitution guarantees.
Respectfully submitted,
J. F. Rutherford
P.S. CONVENTION: Since dictating the above I have received a message from Columbus, Ohio, which shows further vicious Roman "Catholic Action".
Columbus had invited Jehovah's witnesses to hold their annual convention there in July. In three previous years our conventions have been held there, greatly to the pleasure of Columbus. The invitation was accepted and a contract signed by the State Fair Association for the use of the Fair Grounds July 24-28. Business men, hotel managers, and the majority of the citizens, enthusiastically supported the coming of the convention there. From thirty to fifty thousand persons would attend, from every part of the country.
HIERARCHY ACTION: Bishop Hartley, "Reverend Father" Murphy, the Knights of Columbus, and others of Columbus have brought pressure to bear on the Fair management to repudiate the contract for the use of the Fair Grounds. Their purpose, of course, is to prevent any speech concerning the Word of God, and to crush the only people in the United States that are standing firmly for the fundamental principles of the Constitution for freedom.
dom of worship, freedom of speech, and freedom of press.
The Nazi-Hierarchy influence is so great in America that public assembly and freedom of speech and press can be shut down anywhere, even as Hague did it in New Jersey, and as Hitler and Mussolini have done all over Europe and are intending to do in the United States with the co-operation of the ROMAN CATHOLIC HIERARCHY.
Will the public press remain silent? I presume so! Next will be the complete control of the press and speech.
Jehovah's witnesses are not complaining, but sounding the warning. From Divine Prophecy, recorded long ago in the Bible, we know what will be the result. The American people must awake to the great danger that now threatens. For further information about cancellation of convention, call N. H. Knorr, Triangle 5-1474, Brooklyn. Because Jehovah's witnesses are vigorously fighting for the principles of righteousness and the opportunity to inform the people of the great impending danger, the NAZI-HIERARCHY crowd are trying to silence them. If the public press wishes to co-operate with them, that is its privilege.
Further Evidence
Following up the above closing suggestion, we have obtained further information from the vice-president of the WATCHTOWER, upon which the following is based:
The proposed Columbus assembly was advertised as the "THEOCRATIC Convention of Jehovah's witnesses". This is the first time in American history or world history that a "Theocratic" convention was ever projected. Jehovah is the great THEOCRAT, His promised Government by Christ Jesus the King is Theocratic, and this advertised convention is for the purpose of announcing more intensively to all America that Theocratic Government for the blessing of all people of good will toward God. That very fact dissociates this convention and the conventioners from all worldly things political and secular, and absolutely rules out, debars, and precludes all "fifth column" connections and activities, which fifth column is worldly and political and bent on ruling the world in opposition to Jehovah's Theocratic Government. Hence those who are back of all the opposition which is concertedly made against the holding of this Theocratic Convention at Columbus brand themselves as either the allies or tools of the "fifth column", or even the "fifth column" themselves, who try to throw off suspicion from themselves by falsely accusing innocent men and women who are a small minority.
Who, then, is back of the effort to break up this Theocratic event at Columbus, Ohio? Judge Rutherford boldly names the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, who must bring the United States under the control of the Vatican if they are to gain their objective of ruling the whole world, particularly "Christendom", with the pope as the temporal and spiritual lord thereof. Bishop Hartley has not forgotten that the Watch Tower Society has sued him for $100,000 damages because he exercised his power and influence to cause Columbus radio station WBNS to break its contract to broadcast the speeches of Judge Rutherford. One of the priests under his hierarchical jurisdiction is the said "Father" Murphy. Sworn affidavits bear out that this priest visited the business manager of the Convention Bureau of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce during May, after learning that Jehovah's witnesses would convene at the Fair Grounds, and he used every argument to try to discredit them so as to adversely influence the Chamber of Commerce. He then used his influence upon the State Fair manager to instigate his cancellation of the contract for their use of the Grounds.
The Catholic priesthood do not exercise the American spirit and show consideration for the will and desire of the people. The hotel, newspaper, food supply, and other business men, and the common people, wanted the convention. But the Roman Catholic Hierarchy did not want the convention. To whom did the political arm of the state yield, to the people whom it is sworn to serve, or to Roman organized religion? Director Brown of the State's Department of Agriculture and Manager Kinnan of the State Fair Association arbitrarily canceled the contract.
Brown and Kinnan offered as excuse for their action, not the real reason, Catholic Action, but the fear of "disturbances". Granted that "disturbances" were feared, are there no State police in Ohio to call on for protection of orderly, peaceful Americans in the exercise of their right of assembly and of worship of Almighty God? Does Governor Bricker use that kind of argument in the case of a strike of laborers against employers and forbid the strike? Fear of riot or disturbance does not empower any official to break contract and debar Americans from the exercise of constitutional rights and liberties. This has been affirmed by the unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court, of May 20, 1940, in the case of three of Jehovah's witnesses vs. the State of Connecticut.
All America was to be specially convenienced so as to be able to take advantage of this convention and to hear Judge Rutherford's public speech on "RELIGION AS A WORLD REMEDY—The Evidence in Support Thereof", July 28. More than thirty other cities on the American continent and the Hawaiian Islands were to be tied in by private land wires direct to the State Fair Grounds at Columbus, making it one simultaneous nation-wide assembly. It was so advertised. At once Catholic Action started working.
EL PASO, TEXAS. Here Jehovah's witnesses contracted for free use of Liberty Hall. Why has now the County Commissioners Court revoked its order granting free use of the Hall? Again it is a case of those busybodies in other men's affairs, those deniers to others of their rights and liberties under federal and state constitutions. One Catholic priest, Schuler, bishop of El Paso, wrote to the County Commissioners Court to "express my abhorrence" of allowing Jehovah's witnesses free use of Liberty Hall.
Bishop Schuler does not understand what intolerance means. He speaks in condemnation of "the ignorant intolerance of Jehovah's witnesses". Outspoken, published criticism of one political party by another opposing political party, and a free and open condemnation of political policies of one party by another, this is not intolerance; not here in America, not here to Americans who "can take it" and who have not sworn spiritual allegiance to a foreign potentate, who is head of a religious organization and also ruler of a temporal state, which spiritual allegiance is superior to and more obligatory than any civil or national allegiance.
Intolerance does not mean the exercise of the American right of free speech; it does not mean honest, sincere criticism which is based upon the Holy Bible and which is against the published beliefs, opinions and doctrines of other individuals, parties, and organizations, religious or otherwise. Intolerance in fact means the limiting, hindering and suppressing of the rights and liberties of individuals and organizations to freely express themselves differently from and in disagreement with and in opposition to others as to belief and opinion. Jesus was not intolerant when He roundly denounced the religious priests and clergy of His day as hypocrites, serpents, robbers of widows, sons of the Devil. The intolerant ones were the religious clergymen who had Jesus' mouth silenced by murder. Intolerance is what Bishop Schuler and the Roman Catholic priesthood are practicing in this instant case. Judge Rutherford has never suppressed them. In 1936 he proposed that there be a public hearing of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy over a nation-wide radio network, through a radio debate, an elevated official of the Hierarchy to defend their teachings and Judge Rutherford to present the Bible argument, he and his friends to bear half the expense of this radio hookup, to let all Americans hear both sides and decide for themselves what is truth. Over 2,600,000 signed a Petition demanding this debate, and in November, 1936, the Petition was presented at Washington, D.C. But the Roman Catholic Hierarchy of America have never responded. Jehovah's witnesses have never tried to break up meetings of Catholics, as Catholics and American Legionnaires did recently in Texas and California and in other places in America. Jehovah's witnesses have never tried to prevent or interfere with meetings of Roman Catholics or other religionists, either directly or indirectly or under cover. Their criticism has been voiced and circulated openly, publicly and aboveboard, and not by use of secret, undercover pressure upon the politicians.
It would be well for the members of the El Paso posts of the American Legion and of the Veterans of Foreign Wars who joined Bishop Schuler in protesting to the County Commissioners Court to read Texas' declaration of independence from Mexico. They would learn something as to what it means to be real Texans and Americans. Let them note this:
The unanimous Declaration of Independence made by the delegates of the people of Texas in general convention assembled, March 2, 1836, in its first paragraph condemns the Catholic government from which it broke loose and associates despotism with "the priesthood—both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the ever-ready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants". In the third paragraph it speaks of "the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood". In its twelfth paragraph it says of that Catholic government: "It denies us the right of worshiping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience; by the support of a national religion calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries rather than the glory of the true and living God." Thus the Texans that signed that Declaration were witnesses of Jehovah, who is "true and living God". If those Texas signers were alive here today they would show the Department of Justice and the FBI where the "fifth column" are located and who they are.
PUEBLO, COLORADO. Here the Elks Lodge, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, and the American Legion have protested to the City Council against granting the City Auditorium for the Theocratic Convention. One member of a committee of five, just appointed by the local American Legion post to investigate "fifth column" and un-American activities, told the WATCHTOWER representative that there are two factions in the Legion there; one faction, the better element, believes Jehovah's witnesses are all right; the other element is controlled by the Catholic Hierarchy. That, he said, is the element that is trying to prevent Jehovah's witnesses' convention there.
All this helps to make clear who is stirring up the mob violence against Jehovah's witnesses, numerous cases of which are regularly reported in the news. This occasioned a protest by the United States Solicitor General, Francis Biddle, Sunday night, June 16. Speaking over a network of the National Broadcasting System, he pledged the Department of Justice to see to it that the rights of free speech, worship and assembly were protected. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy must gnash their teeth with chagrin at his exoneration of Jehovah's people, when the Solicitor General said:
"Jehovah's witnesses have been repeatedly set upon and beaten. They had committed no crime; but the mob adjudged they had, and meted out mob punishment. The Attorney General has ordered an immediate investigation of these outrages. There is no cause for mass hysteria, no justification for mob violence."
Honest, order-loving Americans of good will are grateful for these timely words, and will refuse to lend themselves to any religious incitement to mob violence and anarchy directed against Jehovah's witnesses and in opposition to THE THEOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.
RIGHTEOUS RULER
THE NEW GOVERNMENT
"They Shall Know that I Am Jehovah"
(In Two Parts—Part 2)
Monessen Wants More
MONESSEN, Pa., already infamous for its mistreatment of Jehovah's witnesses (see The Golden Age No. 452), has not had enough attention. It wants more. The school board met and solemnly and unanimously decided that little children who revere God more than any earthly power must violate their consciences by saluting the flag and that if they fail to do so they are to be turned over to the police. The intent is to make them submissive, like the little Italian Balilla under Mussolini or the Hitler Youth under the Maniac of Berchtesgaden.
The Monessen board distinguished itself on the same occasion by passing a resolution that all employees of the city must be residents of the city, and then, within a few minutes, appointed a school physician who was not a resident of the city. Monessen is eager to prove to the world that it always has been inconsistent, is inconsistent now, and intends to be inconsistent forever. Its "forever" will end at Armageddon, and is at the door.
Concerning the jailing of women and children in Texas because they believe as do Jehovah's witnesses, the Dallas Journal of June 4 said:
When we were at war, we jailed conscientious objectors who wouldn't respond to the draft with an oath to fight for their country. But we did not extend the action to women and children who thought as did those men who wouldn't fight. Those citizens who do violence to or threaten violence to these groups of religious zealots are themselves the ones who violate the constitution and the law. There is no law against speaking against war. There is no law compelling a salute to the flag—which is no idol, but a symbol of democracy. There is no law against putting religious belief above all else. There is in Germany and Russia, but not here. Moreover, saluting the flag will not make a patriot out of a religious zealot. Putting his women and children in jail will not make him want to fight.
for his country. In our stand for patriotism, loyalty to our country and its principles, we are inconsistent and actually lawbreakers if we hold people without warrant and compel action which the law does not demand. Surely you can't salute the flag with one hand and slap down a citizen who disagrees with you with the other.
Speaking of Jehovah's witnesses, the St. Louis Star-Times comments on the fact that they have been harried, mobbed and terrorized from Texas to Maine without effective protection by law, and wants to know:
Have freedom of assembly and freedom of the press been canceled out, so that public officials can doubt their duty to defend such a minority in the exercise of peaceful activities?
It is too bad for Monessen that the St. Louis Star-Times is not published there, so that a few of the inhabitants might get the correct idea of what it is that makes an American.
The New York Herald Tribune of June 13 harked back to the better and nobler days of its early history when it said that because of their flag decision (that little folks must place the country first and God second—not stated in just those words, but meaning just that to the common people)—
We have the "liberal" members of the Supreme Court to thank—at least in part—for the religious riots which have been breaking out in Maine.
If the Supreme Court did not see that their decision on flag saluting would have the effect of starting riots against Jehovah's witnesses all over the country, then they did not have the discernment of the viciousness of religionists which every one of Jehovah's witnesses has been made to clearly understand. It is that decision that made the Monessen school board so brutal and hypocritical.
What About Lawless Police?
The question has yet to be settled as to what is to be done in America about police who break both the laws of God and the laws of the land. Iowa City, Iowa, has such police. In violation both of the Supreme law of Jehovah God and of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, they arrested and finger-printed Christian men and women under a null and void ordinance. If the matter is pushed, these police can be fined and imprisoned for their activities against Jehovah's witnesses.
In the Bridgeport Post, June 15, H. J. Wiley, apparently an old-style, hardheaded, down-East Yankee, writes comically that the decision of the Supreme Court has put every American's soul under the supervision of the State, and that now, since there is no law on the subject, "any group of fanatics in public office can make you salute" and "can make you stand on your head if they want to". He then gets down to brass tacks with this common-sense statement:
In spite of the Supreme Court decision it appears that this compulsory flag-saluting business is unconstitutional. A study of the Constitution seems to indicate that it was designed for the express purpose of protecting the liberty of the individual to think for himself, work for himself and bargain for himself in the exchange of goods and labor.
When the new patriotism of the flag-saluters gets under full headway this man will probably find himself in a concentration camp along with Jehovah's witnesses, and wouldn't be such bad company, even at that.
The Chicago Tribune showed considerable courage in its statement that—
Mr. Roosevelt has created a court which resolves doubts against the citizen and for the coercive state. It is a Supreme Court which believes that the bureaucrats are almost always right and the individual is almost always wrong. That kind of court can be called socialist, but it should never be called liberal.
This statement, be it noted, was made with reference to the decision on the flag salute, in the Gobitis case, which decision at once put all Jehovah's witnesses on the spot at the hands of Vatican and other religious fanatics.
The police of Tillamook, Oregon, seem to have taken their stand with the lawless. The Oregon Journal mentions the gathering "quietly at 2:30 p.m." of a mob of 50 persons that without a shadow of right or legality ordered four of Jehovah's witnesses, two men, a woman and a girl, out of town. It would have been everyway as lawful (more so, in fact) if the witnesses had stood their ground and ordered the unlawful mob to leave town. Of course, that was impractical and the witnesses had to yield temporarily. But one wonders what Tillamook does for police. Do they receive salaries? and if so, for what? Why stomach lawless and indifferent police that allow or encourage "quiet" mobs to act lawlessly?
Women Used by the Devil
Women are much more "religious" than men. The Roman Catholic Hierarchy found this out long ago, and hence operates its racket by controlling the men through the women. Many women will do things that no man would stoop to do unless he were a shameless religionist dressed partly in female garb. At Litchfield, Illinois, where Jehovah's witnesses were terribly beaten and their cars destroyed,
One woman said that the American Legion had run members of the group out of town about a week ago.
A woman resident said that she had phoned the police and had been told that "the Legion and others are out rounding them up".
These are two sentences from the "Special to the New York Times", dated at Litchfield, June 16. They speak for themselves.
The Emporia (Kans.) Daily Gazette, June 17, calls for shame on the mobsters at Litchfield that by their lawlessness did much more to trample the flag in the dirt than they could otherwise possibly have done. "For the flag, first, last and always, stands for laws and not for mobs." The St. Louis Star-Times of same date said that "Litchfield's action was shameless and un-American". The women, the Legion and the priests that pulled off the Litchfield stunt had better take note.
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