A U.S. journal once commented: "Pastor Russell's writings are said to have a greater newspaper circulation every week than those of any other living man, greater, doubtless, than the combined circulation of all the priests and preachers of North America, even than the work of Arthur Brisbane, Norman Hapgood, George Horace Lorimer, Dr. Franke Crane, Fredrick Haskins, and a dozen other of the best known editors and syndicated writers put together..."
This is probably not an exaggeration. But let's see how it came about.
I suppose the idea to publish his sermons occurred to Russell sometime towards the end of 1903. The Nov. 1 (1903) Zion's Watch Tower (Z.W.T.) first offered "Pastor Russell's Weekly Discourses" published in the Pittsburg (Pa.) Gazette, along with a subscription to Z.W.T. (both for $3.25 per year).
By 1904 (Nov. 1) Z.W.T. Russell's readers elsewhere had begun a postal card campaign to their favorite papers assuring they would subscribe to the papers if the journals would publish the Pastor's sermons. Russell advised: "If you have written a postal card to one paper and it has not responded, it could do no hurt to write similarly to another,--to whichever you prefer..From time to time we will mention the papers proposing the publication of the sermons regularly. Friends in the neighborhood of each journal will, we are sure, be glad in some mesure to show appreciation by patronizing such journals and using among their friends extra copies of issues containing the sermons...So far the following journals have intimated that they will probably publish these sermons regularly:--The Commercial Appeal,--Memphis, Tenn. The Oregonian--Portland, Ore. The State,--Columbia, S.C. The Sunday World,--New York City."
On March 1, 1908 (Z.W.T.) notice is given that the Cincinnati Inquirer had published the White/Russell debates, going so far as to create a Special Edition containing all the debates plus 2 of Russell's sermons. Of course, they could be obtained through the Watch Tower. The Oct., 1908 Z.W.T. reported 9 journals now publishing Russell's discourses weekly and reaching approximately 800,000 readers regularly.
The Feb. 1, 1909 Z.W.T. has more recommendations to Russell's followers: 'When writing to the journals publishing Brother Russell's sermons (of which there are now more than 70), telling them of your appreciation of those sermons, mention the Watch Tower, of which he is editor) and that you get two papers on a clubbing list. Thus interested readers may become Watch Tower readers."
By Dec. 15, 1909, page 370 (see "Your Stewardship and Responsiblity"), it is revealed that more than 400 newspapers were publishing his sermons on a weekly basis. Then follows more instructions from Russell: "The time when our readers should should show their appreciation of the service is especially at the first, when the preachers howl and the public have not had the time to get interested and to express themselves. At first, then is your time to do all you can to encourage the editors. Send subscriptions through our office and send letters direct to the editors and keep it up. If a paper in your vicinity discontinues the sermons, ask the Lord whether or not you failed to do your duty."
Oh! Oh! The old guilt trip!
From 70 at the beginning of 1909 to 400 at the end of the same year is quite an increase. The Bible Students must have been spending a lot of money buying newspapers and doing a lot of editor and publisher recruiting.!
The Dec. 15, 1911 Z.W.T. contains an interesting article entitled "Harvest Work in Newspaperdom""
"Many of our readers appreciate, as we do, the publication of our weekly sermons by the secular press. This is effected by a newspaper syndicate. The prosperity and success of the syndicate depends upon getting sermons into numerous papers and keeping them there. We supply the sermons to the syndicate free, but, additionally one thousand papers which it supplies should have every encouragement our readers can give them. The number of American papers and their circulation is practically the same as a year ago, but the number of British papers publishing the sermons has greatly incresed--to about three hundred. The syndicate estimates that thus our sermons go weekly to over ten million readers..."
Ten million readers. Rather impressive.
The Dec. 12, 1912 Z.W.T states that approximately 1400 newspapers are publishing the sermons and Sunday School comments every week.
The latest figures given by the Newspaper Syndicate (Dec. 15, 1913 Z.W.T.) showed that 1,424 papers were publishing weekly the Sermons and Bible Study Lesson in the United States and Canada. An additional 600 in Great Britain, South Africa and Australia, rounded off the figure to about 2,000 papers.
But, something happens in 1914. There is a considerable drop in newspapers regularly covering Russell's sermons; down to 1,000, but still reaching about 5 million 500 thousand readers. Russell attributes the drop to smaller papers that published the sermons as news. They had to pay 25 cents per column weekly to print and they were beginning to balk about it. So, his plan was to use Watch Tower monies to finance publication of the sermons in metropolitan newspapers--in New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore, Washington and Los Angeles. While there would be fewer papers in the small towns publishing the sermons, more people in the bigger cities could be reached.
The Dec. 15, 1915 Z.W.T. laments the continued decline in the newspaper work. Editors and publishers were beginning to feel that very little interest was really taken in the Sermons by the majority of its readers. And the W.T. didn't have the money to send representatives travelling continously to visit newspapers around the country to show the editors and publishers how "these Sermons are different, and that they appeal to the public while others do not."
With the death of Pastor Russell, the Dec. 15, 1916 Z.W.T. announced the end of the sermon feature in newspapers. It claimed that "...at one time about 2,000 papers were publishing the sermons simultaneously and altogether over 4,000 papers published weekly reports."
Now, from everything I present above, I can see the 2,000 figure, but where does the other 2,000 come from?
Had Russell lived, I wonder if the numbers would have reached such a low that he would have been forced to discontinue.