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Expanded Facilities for Printing the Word of God

GOD’S Word the Bible is inseparably linked with the history of printing. For it was apparently the first book to come off Johann Gutenberg’s newly invented printing press, using movable type, in Germany about 515 years ago. Observes The World Book Encyclopedia: “The publication of this Bible in the 1450’s marked the beginning of the history of the modern book.” How significant! For, in all the years since, no other book has come close to matching the number of Bibles printed.

In just the printing plants of Jehovah’s witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, nearly fifteen million copies of the Bible in seven languages have been printed in the last twenty-five years. Over nine million of these have been complete Bibles, including the King James Version, the American Standard Version and the modern-language New World Translation. No other people on earth are more interested in printing and distributing the Word of God than are Jehovah’s witnesses.

For this reason, Wednesday, January 31, 1968, was a very special day in their lives, especially for those who are associated with the headquarters organization in Brooklyn, where most of the printing is done. For on that afternoon a new eleven-story printing factory with 226,000 square feet of floor space was dedicated. How greatly this newly completed structure expands the facilities for printing Bibles and aids to understanding the Bible!

Jehovah’s witnesses were already using to capacity three large factory buildings totaling 436,000 square feet of floor space. So now the total floor space in the four factories equals about 15.2 acres! Perhaps another way to help visualize this 663,000 square feet of area is to compare it to a standard football field, which is 360 feet long and 160 feet wide. There is floor space equal to more than eleven such football fields in the Watchtower Society’s Brooklyn factory buildings!

THE DEDICATION PROGRAM

The dedication program was held in the three dining rooms of the home called Bethel, at the international headquarters of Jehovah’s witnesses. This Bethel home includes two attractive twelve-story redbrick buildings overlooking famous New York harbor. These are just a ten-minute walk from the factories. Here, and in quarters nearby, live the nearly 600 factory workers, and the more than 250 persons who work in the offices, laundry, kitchen and other departments of the Bethel home. Living and going to school in this home are also the 101 students who attend the five-month Gilead missionary school course, and the 50 students of the two-week Kingdom Ministry School course for congregation representatives of Jehovah’s witnesses. How happy these more than a thousand persons were to be present at the dedication program!

The three dining rooms are connected by closed-circuit television, so all could both hear and see the program. After a morning of regular work, at 12:15 p.m. a special meal was served to the family. Afterward, while everyone relaxed at his seat, the Watch Tower Society’s president, Nathan H. Knorr, opened a delightfully interesting two-hour program. The entire session focused attention on the expansion of the facilities for printing and distributing the Word of God. How clear it is that the blessing of Jehovah God has been on this growth!

SMALL BEGINNINGS

With the visual aid of old photographs, N. H. Knorr gave a brief description of the modern beginnings of the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He showed pictures of the Bible House, a structure built by the Watch Tower Society in 1889, which was used for their headquarters for twenty years. He also showed a copy of the first Watchtower magazine of July 1879, originally known as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. In those early days almost all printing for the Society was done by commercial publishing houses.

Fred W. Franz, the vice-president of the Watch Tower Society, was then called upon to tell about the Society’s early days in Brooklyn following World War I. In 1920, the very year he arrived at Bethel, F. W. Franz noted, the Society began printing magazines on their own rotary press. Lloyd Burtch who worked on this press told some of his experiences. The whole space available for factory operations was then only 3,000 square feet in a building at a location just a few blocks from the present Watchtower factories.

As the program progressed, N. H. Knorr observed that, when he came to Bethel in September 1923, the Society’s small printing establishment had been moved a few blocks away, to 18 Concord Street. Soon, however, even these larger quarters were too small, and plans were made to build the first of the present-day Watchtower factories. This eight-story building was completed in 1927, and contained 70,000 square feet of floor space.

CONTINUED EXPANSION

Grant Suiter, the Watch Tower Society’s secretary-treasurer, was called upon to continue the story of the expansion. Significantly, neither he, nor any of the other speakers, credited the remarkable growth of the organization to the wisdom or ingenuity of any man or groups of men. Rather, they all gave credit to Jehovah God and his angelic forces for making possible the expansion of facilities for printing and distributing Bibles and Bible literature.

G. Suiter gave a brief, yet comprehensive, report on the purchase of property and its subsequent use. In 1937, he observed, a small four-story addition was made to the 1927 factory building. But this was only a start, he explained. In 1949 a large, nine-story addition was tied into the factory, filling out the entire city block. But increased demand for Bible literature necessitated further major expansion of the printing facilities. In 1956 a thirteen-story factory, including 192,000 square feet of floor space, was completed. And in October 1958 the nine-story building on an adjoining city block was purchased; it is presently being used almost exclusively for paper storage. Max Larson, factory manager, also gave some most interesting experiences on some of the problems in getting paper during wartime. To keep a large factory in operation is a task.

As you can well imagine, feeding the staff of workers and the students, a total of more than 1,000 persons, three times a day is no small task. George Couch, the Bethel Home supervisor, was called upon to talk about this. He explained that the family will eat one steer at a meal, three hogs, or 165 chickens, depending on the meat being served. Also, he added, the family consumes 12,000 eggs, 1,000 gallons of milk and 400 pounds of butter a week! This food is provided by the nearby Watchtower Society farms, which presently total about 2,100 acres.

A DEDICATED FAMILY

All of those who live at Bethel or work on the farms are ordained ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses. And, like their more than a million fellow ministers world wide, they are keenly interested in seeing the message concerning God’s kingdom printed and distributed “in all the inhabited earth,” as Jesus Christ prophesied that it would be. (Matt. 24:3, 14) For that reason they have volunteered to serve as members of the Bethel family, and count it a privilege to perform any task to advance that preaching work. They do not work for monetary gain, but each one is provided food and shelter and an allowance of $14 a month for personal necessities. A fine expression of appreciation of what the Bethel family enjoys daily was made by Karl Adams. He said what everyone present felt.

A highlight of the dedication program was the showing of a 1926 photograph of the Bethel family, thirty-one of whom are still serving at Bethel today. True, their outward appearances may have changed considerably, but their heartfelt desire to have a share in printing and distributing the Word of God remains as strong as ever, even after forty-two years of Bethel service.

It was encouraging for these older ones, as well as the newer members of the family, to consider evidence presented during the dedication program showing that Jesus’ prophecy is presently finding fulfillment. Yes, the Kingdom message found in the Word of God truly is being printed and proclaimed on a scale that Jesus had foretold for this time—“in all the inhabited earth”!

All were now eager to get over to tour the new factory and view the expanded facilities for spreading the Kingdom message earth wide.

[Picture on page 249]

Watchtower Society’s Brooklyn printing plant with new addition at the front left