The Watch Tower , February, 15, 1913, page 62 "AS DECEIVERS AND YET TRUE" Some of our readers purchased seed from Mr. Stoner at $1.25 per pound and approved it. In 1910 one of the friends of our Society, who had raised some of this wheat, sold it for seed at $1.00 per pound, and donated the proceeds to our Society. In 1911 the same friend, having raised more seed, asked that THE WATCH TOWER give the benefit of this to its readers at $1.00 a pound post-paid, and appropriate the net results to the furtherance of its work. Another friend, who had some of the same seed, also donated similarly, the total amount being twenty bushels.
For the accommodation of our readers, we allowed this seed-wheat to be put up in pound packages and mailed from THE WATCH TOWER Office, just as the U.S. Government handles such seeds at Washington. We did the business at the request of others and in their interest, and credited them on our books with the results, setting aside to them proportionately voting shares in our Society. We made no claim for the wheat on our own knowledge. We merely gave the report of the Government expert, of the originator, and of our friends who had tried the wheat. We merely acted as intermediary.
Sincerely, and undismayed, I remain a servant of God.
CHARLES T. RUSSELL.
Brooklyn, January 29, 1913.
1915:
A GREAT BATTLE IN THE ECCLESIASTICAL HEAVENS
COPYRIGHTED, 1915 BY J. F. RUTHERFORD NEW YORK CITY
UNITED STATES INVESTMENT COMPANY
"Much ado has been made by his enemies about business corporations with which Pastor Russell is connected, particularly with reference to the UNITED STATES INVESTMENT COMPANY.
The fact is that this company was never a corporation in the strict sense of the word. It was a limited partnership organized under the Statutes of Pennsylvania. Its capital stock was $1,000. Pastor Russell furnished that $1,000 out of his personal means.
This company was organized for the purpose of taking title to certain property which it did take over and afterwards disposed of, and every dollar that was received therefrom went into the treasury of the WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, and was used for its religious work.
Pastor Russell did not receive one cent profit therefrom, nor has any other person ever reaped any pecuniary profit therefrom.
This company has been out of existence for more than two years, and does not own anything today, even its capital stock being expended by the WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY in its religious work.
There is no corporation in existence anywhere in the world in which Pastor Russell owns a single share of stock, nor in which anyone else holds any stock for his use or benefit."
1917: "Knowing that the law required three members of the Board to be residents of the State of Pennsylvania, and that the appointment should be made in Pennsylvania , I went to Pittsburgh, and on the 12th day of July, 1917, there appointed Dr. W. E. Spill and Brother J. A. Bohnet, of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and Brother George H. Fisher, of Scranton, Pennsylvania; and Brother A. H. Macmillan, of New York, as members of the Board of Directors.
Each of the above named brethren signed a written acceptance of such appointment. We then had a full and complete Board of seven members, to-wit: Brothers Van Amburgh, Pierson, Spill, Bohnet, Macmillan, Fisher, and Rutherford. All of these brethren signed a statement consenting to a meeting of the Board of Directors, agreeing that meeting of the Board of Directors should be held July 17, 1917."
On 1917 July 17 Rutherford claimed that since the Society charter provided for the election of directors annually, only the three officers of the board (having been elected officers that January) were truly board members. He therefore appointed A.H. MacMillan, G.H. Fisher, J.A. Bohnet, and W.E. Spill to the board positions occupied by Ritchie, Wright, Hirsh, and Hoskins.
The annual election of Society officers and the first election of the Board of Directors came 1918 January 5, during the Pittsburgh convention January 2-6. R.H. Barber nominated for director: J.F. Rutherford, W.E. VanAmburgh, A.N. Pierson, A.H. MacMillan, W.E. Spill, J.A. Bohnet,...
