I was able to extract the text about Beth Sarim from the 1931 Messenger. This is how they sold it to JWs at the time:
THE MESSENGER, SATURDAY, JULY 25, 1931
Beth-Sarim — Much Talked About House in San Diego
The House of the Princes
Somebody Paid a Hundred Thousand
Dollars for Advertising the Resur-
rection of the Old Testament
Saints. But Not Us.
Ccme Again, Reporters
no use in expecting men to exercise faith
when they do not have it. At the present
time there is only a handful of people
in the world who really know that the
Bible is the Word of God. Since the
Bible is the Word of God, then we may
depend upon it that it was especially
written for us who are living just now,
when Satan's organization is slipping
down into the abyss from which it will
never arise.
God has a people in the earth at this
time. These people are his people, and
not the Devil's people. They look like
other men; but they are not the same.
They are governed in what they do by
the Word of God. Their desire to do
God's will as they find it recorded in his
Word is the all-consuming passion of
their lives; it means more to them than
all else in the world put together.
We know who the people o£ God are.
They are, collectively, God's "faithful
and wise servant" in the earth at this
time. Collectively this "servant" goes
to make up the Watch Tower Bible &
Tract Society. There is no other "ser-
vant," God does not have fifty-seven
or even two different ways of doing his
work in such an hour as this.
It is the positive conviction of the "ser-
vant" that the Watch Tower Bible &
Tract Society is being used and will be
used by the Lord to proclaim God's name
and Word and his judgments in the earth
and to help God's people, both those who
are free and those who are in the Devil's
cages, to grasp the blessings and to see
the duties and privileges of the hour.
Judge Rutherford, president of the
Watch Tower Society, is one of the hard-
est-worked men in the world. Anybody
can be a Christian in peace-time, but
Judge Rutherford was one of the war-
time Christians; and, for daring so to
be, went to Atlanta Penitentiary under
four sentences of twenty years each.
When he emerged he was in poor physi-
cal condition, and even now has the use
of but one lung. Since his return from
Atlanta, prudence and good common sense
dictated that, working as hard as he con-
stantly works, he should have the bene-
fit of the most equable winter climate to
be found. It is a matter of com-
mon knowledge among meteorologists
(weather experts) that San Diego, Cal-
ifornia, is as near perfection for a win-
ter climate as it is possible to get. About a
a quarter of a million people besides
meteorologists have made the same dis-
covery and make the city their winter
home.
For years after he emerged from
prison, Judge Rutherford went to San
Diego to work during the winter months,
renting such quarters as could be se-
cured. His physician, Dr. A. G. Eckols,
of San Diego, urged him to make the
city his permanent winter home; and in
the latter part of the year 1929 some
brethren, out of their own personal funds,
arranged for the erection of Beth-Sarim,
"the house of the princes," of which sev-
eral illustrations appear in this issue.
Before Judge Rutherford would ac-
cept and use the home, he insisted upon
writing the deed that it shall forever be
held in trust by the Watch Tower Bible
& Tract Society for the use of the Lord's
work in the earth, with the expectation
that in due time Abraham, Melchisedec,
Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Isaiah or
some others of the patriarchs or proph-
ets of olden times will appear and will be
glad to use this home which has been
prepared for one or more of them in the
western edge of the new world.
The climate is the same as that of
Palestine. The place is planted with
date and palm trees, such as would be
familiar and pleasing sights to these
men. On the part of Judge Rutherford,
the dedication of this home to God's
work and for the use of these men was
a simple act of faith. To a few news-
paper men this exhibition of true faith
in God and in his Word has seemed to
give occasion for a little display of semi-
mirthful incredulity; but for the most
part the newspapers have treated the
item with dignity, and the story of Beth-
Sarim has gone around the world, con-
veying to millions of people the thought
that shortly David and others will no
doubt be awakened from the sleep of
death.
Whatever the motive of the newspaper
men, their action resulted in giving free
world-wide publicity to a Bible truth, the
resurrection on earth of the faithful
Old Testament saints, publicity such as
would have cost the Society thousands
and thousands of dollars.
Another feature, an ominous one for
those caught in Satan's toils, is that the
"evil servant" class, instead of being
glad to see the preparation for and the
use of adequate equipment for doing the
Lord's work, seem to have the spirit of
Judas when he said, "Why was not this
ointment sold and the proceeds given to
the poor?"
The record shows that Judas cared
nothing about the poor. What he really
wanted was to get his hands on that
money for himself. And the reason he
wanted it for himself was not so that he
could use it to the glory of God. His
thought in the matter was wholly selfish,
wholly indefensible. And the Judas
class are like Judas himself. They are all
of the same stripe.
One permanent location to download the 1931 Messenger (complete with pics)
is at:
http://www.archive.org/details/1931MessengerBethSarim
