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tin" I had been issuing for our scattered
church brethren in the Willamette
Valley into
The Plain Truth.
My idea for this magazine from
the s tart had been to publish a
magazine, not for church members,
bul for the genera l public - the un–
converted and unchurched - an
evangelistic-type publication to
bring the world God's
TRUTH -
making it PLA IN!
I
began with the firsl broadcas t,
that first Sunday in 1934, inviting
listeners to write for a new maga–
zine,
The Plain Truth.
At the same time
I
began work on
producing Vo lume
1,
N umber l of
this magazine o f my dreams.
1
did
not even have a "scope" for hand–
lettering the headlines. I was s till
living with the Fishers on their farro
seven miles wesl of Eugene - my
wife and children s till al the Hall
Street house in Salem. I had
to
hold
the mimeograph s tencils up against
a window and try lo cut the head–
lines with my right hand wh ile I
tried to ho ld the s tencil without slip–
ping aga ins t the window pane with
my left. The headlines were a little
shaky. That first issue of
The Plain
Truth
was a pretty a maleurish,
homemade looking sort of thing.
Probably no one but myself would
have dignified it by ca lling it a
"magaz ine."
But fina lly
The P/ain Truth,
homemade a t Fishers' farm o n a
bo rrowed mimeograph, made its
humble bow to the world February
1,
1934. I have no record of the
exacl "press run" of tha t firs t edi–
tion, bul it was in the ne ighborhood
of 250 copies.
No publication cou ld have had a
more humb le or a smaller s tart. But
it was a s ta r t.
lt
g rew. lt was im–
proved as scanly funds permitted.
lt
took yea rs before we were able to
have it printed on a printing press.
But lhrough lhe years it has been
ins trument a l in making dras ti c
changes
in thousands of lives!
It
was sorne time later, in 1934,
tha t a few specia l offerings made it
possible for us to purchase a very
old, used. outdated Neostyle. ll was
predecessor to the mimeograph. l t
PLAIN TRUTH January 1975
THE FIRST
Plain
Truth
was "printed " on a used
$
1
O
neostyle, ancestor of
the mimeograph.
was entirely hand o perated . The
sheets of paper had 10 be fed into it
one at a time by hand. There was
nothing
au toma tic aboul it. ll cosl
$10. We had also fina lly been able.
before th e firs t issue of
The Plain
Truth ,
to raise enough money to
purchase a secondhand typewriter
for $10.
*
*
* *
* *
J a nuary
l .
1938. we fin a lly were
enabled lo bring
The P/ain Truth
back to life !
It
was the firsl issue in
two a nd a half years!
Bul it st ill had lo be a hand-pro–
duced mimcographed "magazine ."
A le tte r se nt o ut with it sa id: ' ·We
canno t. ye t, afford to have it
printed. So we mimeographed it
o urselves. This work has been done
mos tly by Hel en Starkey, Mrs. Arm–
s trong, a nd myself. with a few o f o ur
good friends coming to th e office for
volunteer wo rk the past few days. to
help with the fo lding, addressing,
s tamping, etc." Mrs. Sta rkey was
s till working d a ily withou t sa lary.
A bul lelin senl lo local Oregon
membe rs, dated January 1938, an–
nounced
The Plain Truth
mailing
lis t was now 1,050.
I t had o utgrown M rs. Armstrong
and me.
lt
was becoming too large
to mimeogra ph. In February 1938,
we were forced to reduce
The Plain
Truth
down lo 3 pages - its sma lles t
size ever. There were two sheets of
paper. and t he back page was de–
voted to a leller!
At this t ime
1
learned 1ha1 we
could have th e March number
primed
al a loca l prinling plant on
cheap paper, 8 pages. for $30 more
th an the cost of mimeographing.
But we didn't have the $30!
So the Ma rch and April numbers
were s till mimeographed.
March 19. 1938.
l
sent o ut a lelter
showing that 1he ex penses of the
work (includ ing our family living)
had risen to $300 per month. But we
were running behind o n part of the
famil y li vi ng. Legal action was
being instituted to foreclose and
take from us ou r small home. In
sorne manne r
1
do not now remem–
ber , lhis trouble was mel, and we
managed lo keep the home. But th is
only added to the harassing discour–
agements in the st ruggle to keep the
work go ing.
F in a lly. after more than fo ur
yea rs on the ai r. we managed to
produce the first rea lly p rintcd
Plain
Truth.
So, even if it had to s tart wi th
about 250 copies done by hand on a
mimeograph. it s tarted! Like lhe
grain of mustard seed, il began. ve ry
possibly the smalles t of magazines.
But il has grown into a top-quality.
full-color. internat ional magazine
whose c irculat io n reached 3.200.000
in June 1973. O
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