September 23, 1911, Brooklyn Eagle:
SKEPTICAL UNCLE SAM SEEKS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT 'MIRACLE' GRAIN
Postoffice Inspector Dickson Will Have the Wheat Sold in Tabernacle Tested, He Says.
PASTOR RUSSELL IS LOYAL,
But He Doubts the Faith of Those Who Are Not Members of His Faithful Band.
Uncle Sam has decided to make an official test of the "Miracle" wheat sold at $60 a bushel at Pastor Russell's Tabernacle in order that the faithful who have invested their money, and a waiting world as well, may learn more fully of the astonishing merits of the precious grain.
W. W. Dickson, chief of the postal inspectors in Manhattan, has received a communication regarding the notice which appeared in Pastor Russell's semi-monthly, The Watch Tower, setting forth the unusual qualities of "miracle wheat." He promises to set going the wheels of inquiry. He says the Watch Tower notice may or may not represent grain that yields from ten to fifteen times the amount sown, and may be worth $1 a pound, as advertised. But he wants to find out. Accordingly, he has mapped out a plan. It is likely that Inspector John N. Parsons, who generally conducts investigations into Brooklyn affairs, will have the task of testing the yielding qualities of "miracle wheat." Pastor Russell said today that he had full confidence in the qualities of the grain, as noted in the Watch Tower, but he admitted that his confidence was based only upon letters written to him by “brothers” of the "millennial dawn" sect, and that he had never supervised the sowing and growing of "miracle wheat.”
Inspector Dickson will ask that he be furnished with a sample of "miracle" wheat. It will be analyzed by Government chemists in Manhattan. Along with the sample, Inspector Dickson's men will find out who bought “miracle” wheat from Brother Dockey, the watchdog of the cereal treasury, so that it may be learned what interstate shipments were made of "miracle" grain.
Brother Dockey Says Supply of Wheat Is Limited.
Pastor Russell could not state today just how much "miracle wheat" there was on hand at the Tabernacle. He telephoned Brother Dockey to come right over to Pastor Russell 'shome [sic] at 124 Columbia Heights. Brother Dockey did so. Brother Dockey announced that the supply was limited. It is still selling at $60 a bushel, only there isn't enough for any one person to buy as much as two bushels. So Brother Dockey is selling preferably by the pound, still at $1 a pound. He had 20 pounds left a few days ago, but someone—he thought it was another "brother"—telegraphed from California that he must have 100 pounds. So Brother Dockey is reserving 100 pounds until the Californian sends on $100. This leaves 100 pounds still in sale at the Tabernacle. Brother Dockey was loath to name the amount until Pastor Russell gave him permission.
An Eagle reporter yesterday bought one pound for $1. Brother hockey wouldn't sell it for less, though the reporter shamelessly tried to "beat him down." Today Pastor Russell, in Brother Dockey's presence, made an offer to the reporter.
Pastor Russell Would Buy Back Reporter's Wheat.
"If you will bring that pound of wheat back I will pay you what you gave for it," said Pastor Russell. The reporter indicated that his pound of "miracle wheat" was not for sale.
"It's pretty late to plant it now, unless you send it down South," reminded Brother Dockey.
Brother Dockey stated that less than 5 per cent of all the "miracle wheat" sold at the Tabernacle went to people other than Pastor Russell's followers. "Other people than my own," explained Pastor Russell, "wouldn't believe that this wheat contains extraordinary qualities. It is too much of a miracle for them to comprehend."
"It wouldn't do to try to fool our own people, either," Brother Dockey interpolated. "If we did that they would never have confidence in us again."
Pastor Russell says that as long as Brother Bohnet, Brother Flemming and other "brothers" continue to display generosity enough to hand over the proceeds from the sale of "miracle wheat" to the society, the grain will be sold' at the Tabernacle. Regarding the advertisement in the Watch Tower, Pastor Russell says that, as Brother Dockey said yesterday, no guarantee is offered that "miracle wheat" possesses powers of extraordinary yield. Pastor Russell does say, however, that he was responsible for the notice being inserted in the Watch Tower and that he believes in "miracle wheat" and intended to have his readers, all over the world, fully understand that he thought highly of it.
Here we see that Russell had fears that the Miracle wheat was not going to work, he had elitism even for the wheat, he was deluded to think that wheat would produce or not based on "faith", that there WERE ads placed in the Watchtower, that he had responsibility for the ad, and that he knew he was respected. It also shows that there was a "cult of personality". If Russell liked it, than people would buy it.
