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45th
Anniversary Issue-A Personal Message
FromThePlainTruth'sFounderandEditor
E
orty-five years- and still ahead of our time!
Seven years ago 1 wrote on this " Personal "
page: "Suppose you had the urge and the
mbition to start a new, mass-circulation
magazine-but you had no money, no facilities or
resources of any kind to get it published, no means
of gaining subscribers.
"But further, suppose you had the conviction,
because it was going to make the truth (God's
Word) plain, that neither advertising should be
sold, nor subscription price put on it. Further,
suppose you had the conviction that it should be a
magazine with exceptionally fine quality-not only
in its reading content, but in its physical
appearance."
1 think that if you told this urge to the publisher
of a national magazine, he would shake his head in
derision, perhaps call you a fool, and say,
" I r
CAN'T BE DONE! "
Well,
fifty-two years ago,
I had precisely that
"Mission lmpossible" urge.
lt
was the spring of
1927. In sheer faith that it would be accomplished,
1 spent what must have been most of all the money
J had to have a professional letter artist design a
front cover- with the name in clear, bold letters
across the top:
"THE PLAIN TRUTH."
1 had been on the advertising and editorial staffs
of newspapers and magazines since 1911-16 years.
And though I didn't know it then, 1 was to spend
another year and two months as advertising
manager and editorial writer for a daily
newspaper- and still my dream magazine was yet
to appear.
Seven years went by. The Great Depression started
in 1929. How was 1ever tostart this magazine without
The PLAIN TRUTH February 1979
money? Howwould 1get subscribers- even without a
subscription price- because I definitely had principies
against giving it to any who did not subscribe oftheir
own volition? The Depression plunged the nation
deeper and deeper into what seemed a hopeless
economic condi tion.
lf a man lost his job, he could not find another.
People who were buying their homes had to give
them up; instead of inftation, we had unbelievable
DEFLATION-and the value of real estate tumbled
until a home being bought on payments was not
worth anywhere near as much as the homeowner
still owed.
Yes, indeed it was "Mission lmpossible." But 1
never gave up the dream.
It
carne to 1933-the
year President Franklin Delano Roosevelt closed
the banks because the nation had HIT BOTTOM in
the economic plunge. Meanwhile 1 had been
ordained a minister of Jesus Christ.
1 was speaking six nights a week in a one-room
country schoolhouse seating 36. lt was eight miles
west of Eugene, Oregon. Attendance averaged
about 38 or 39- with a few having to stand for the
service most evenings. 1 hitchhiked nightly to the
schoolhouse, for J had no car.
In October 1933 1 learned that the one Ioca·l
minimum-wattage radio station in Eugene, Oregon,
where 1 was staying, had a morning devotional
program, 7:45 to 8:00 a.m., Mondays through
Fridays. And 1 learned the station had difficulty
getting local ministers to get up early enough for a
7:45 morning broadcast, even if no charge was
made to their churches.
1inquired at the station. Awoman secretary said,
"Why, yes, Mr. Armstrong,
(Conrinued on page 44)