In defense of the OP I was at an apostafest some 3 years ago where this subject drew heated attention. The question was raised as to how old that publication was when it was published. More important, the question was raised as to whether WT had rescinded that teaching. None of us knew the answers.
However, one of the group, a recent exiting elder told us this: that just before he resigned, a soon-to-be disfellowshipped (use of tobacco) person (gender not important) lamented how he/she was told by the elders that if he/she was living in the days of the Israelites he would be getting stoned to death! The person was understandably taken aback at this statement and justified to him/herself that this elder's statement was the key to refusing to attend a subsequent meeting with the judicial committee. Naturally, that person was disfellowshipped.
Getting back home from this fest I dug into my WT Lib for this topic. While this all can be considered anecdotal, I found no evidence from WT publications that they've rescinded what they said back in 1952.
I suppose that can be said of many silly WT teachings of the past. However, the onus is on their back, not ours, to defend teachings they’ve published.
As to quoting old publications, Watchtower literature has no qualms referring to early Zion's Watch Tower magazines when it suits their purpose, reinforcing whatever it wants to show its readers. . A case in point, among many, is from a recent Watchtower magazine: “One of the reasons why Zion’s Watch Tower was first published in July 1879 was to defend the Bible teaching of the ransom. Its pages provided "food at the proper time," for in the late 1800’s, a growing number of professed Christians began to question how Jesus’ death could be a ransom for our sins.” The Watchtower 2010, 8/15 p. 12 par. 2.
That Zion’s Watch Tower reference reasonably implies that there is no statute of limitations for "food at the proper time". And it is only one of some 360 references to the older “Zion's Watch Tower” (1879-1908) within its modern literature since 1950.
[I find it interesting that in an essay I wrote in 2012, the number of WT Library finds to their abbreviation “ZWT” [for Zion’s Watch Tower] was 1,507 instances . Moments ago, however, using my more recent 2013 Library, searching for the term “ZWT” yielded a “not valid” response]