Branch Letter

Dear Kingdom Publishers:

Did you have a share in the first Watchtower subscription campaign? Likely not, for that was in the year 1939. But the 35,466 who reported service that year were having such fine success that the campaign was extended an extra month. The final result of that five-month campaign was that over 93,000 subscriptions for The Watchtower were obtained.

Watchtower subscription campaigns have continued to have success right down to the present. Since the year 1939, 24,745,991 subscriptions for The Watchtower and Awake! have been obtained. No doubt the majority of these have been obtained during special campaigns and these have been instrumental in boosting the circulation of The Watchtower to over 10,000,000 at the present time. Many of us were first introduced to the truth through The Watchtower and are overjoyed with its increased distribution.

The Watchtower has obviously had Jehovah’s backing since its first printing of 6,000 copies in July of 1879, when it was known as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. Although the magazine has not been supported by financial aid through commercial advertising, the annual subscription rate has always been very reasonable. At the start it was a monthly magazine and the subscription rate was $.50. This was increased to $.60 in 1891. Then in the November 1891 issue there appeared a notice that, beginning with January 1, 1892, the magazine would change from a monthly magazine of 16 pages to a semi-monthly one of 28 pages with an annual subscription rate of $1.00. The subscription rate remained unchanged until August 1, 1971, when increased prices of paper and mailing caused the subscription rate to go up to $1.50 a year.

Because of the effectiveness of magazines as instruments to get the truth into the hands of the people the Society’s equipment is geared to increased magazine distribution. Three new M.A.N. presses are being installed at Watchtower Farms. These, along with a large Cottrell press recently transferred from the Brooklyn factory, bring the total of presses at Watchtower Farms to fourteen. These are used exclusively to print magazines, and so we are ready for even greater increase.

How about paper? There is no shortage at the present, and so we are ready to do our part in the thirty-eighth annual Watchtower subscription campaign. We are confident that Jehovah will richly bless this campaign as he has all others.

Your brothers,

BROOKLYN BRANCH OFFICE