The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania is a non-stock, not-for-profit organization headquartered in Warwick, New York. It is the main legal entity used worldwide by Jehovah's Witnesses to direct, administer, and disseminate doctrines for the group. It is the parent organization of a number of Watch Tower subsidiaries, including the Watchtower Society of New York and the International Bible Students Association. The number of voting shareholders of the corporation is limited to between 300 and 500 "mature, active and faithful" male Jehovah's Witnesses. About 5,800 Jehovah's Witnesses provide voluntary unpaid labor, as members of a religious order, in three large Watch Tower Society facilities in New York."Jehovahs loses comp case: Church may be forced to pay millions", New York Daily News, January 6, 2006. Retrieved October 3, 2009. Nearly 15,000 other members of the order work at the Watch Tower Society's other facilities worldwide.
The organization was formed in 1881 as Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society for the purpose of distributing religious tracts. The society was incorporated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on December 15, 1884. In 1896, the society was renamed Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society."Report for Fiscal Year", Watch Tower, December 1, 1896, page 301, Reprints page 2077 Retrieved 2010-03-30 Following a leadership dispute in the Bible Student movement, the society remained associated with the branch of the movement that became known as Jehovah's Witnesses. In 1955, the corporation was renamed Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. In 1976, all activities of the Watch Tower Society were brought under the supervision of the Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses.
History On February 16, 1881, Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society was formed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, for the purpose of organizing the printing and distribution of religious tracts. William Henry Conley, a Pittsburgh industrialist and philanthropist, served as president, with Charles Taze Russell serving as secretary-treasurer. The society's primary journal was Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, first published in 1879 by Russell, founder of the Bible Student movement."Encyclopædia Britannica – Russell, Charles Taze" Other early writers for the Watch Tower Society included J. H. Paton and W. I. Mann.Zion's Watch Tower, January 1881, Reprints page 1. The formation of the Watch Tower Society was announced in the April 1881 issue of Zion's Watch Tower.Zion's Watch Tower, April 1881, Reprints page 214. That year, the society received donations of $35,391.18.
Incorporation On December 15, 1884, the society was incorporated as Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society in Pennsylvania as a non-profit, non-stock corporation with Russell as president. The corporation was located in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. In its charter, written by Russell, the society's purpose was stated as "the mental, moral and religious improvement of men and women, by teaching the Bible by means of the publication and distribution of Bibles, books, papers, pamphlets, and other Bible literature, and by providing oral lectures free for the people".J. F. Rutherford, A Great Battle in the Ecclesiastical Heavens, 1915, p. 14. The charter provided for a board of seven directors, three of whom served as officers—a president, vice-president (initially William I. Mann), and secretary-treasurer (initially Maria Russell).
The charter stipulated that the officers be chosen from the directors and be elected annually by ballot. Board members would hold office for life unless removed by a two-thirds vote by shareholders. Vacancies on the board resulting from death, resignation, or removal would be filled by a majority vote of the remaining board members within 20 days; if such vacancies were not filled within 30 days an appointment could be made by the president, with the appointments lasting only until the next annual corporation meeting, when vacancies would be filled by election.C.T. Russell, "A Conspiracy Exposed", Zion's Watch Tower Extra edition, April 25, 1894, page 55-60.
Anyone subscribing to $10 or more of the Watch Tower Society's Old Testament Tracts or donating $10 or more to the society was deemed a voting member and entitled to one vote per $10 donated. Russell indicated that despite having a board and shareholders, the society would be directed by only two people—him and his wife Maria.C.T. Russell, "A Conspiracy Exposed", Zion's Watch Tower Extra edition, April 25, 1894, page 55-60, Russell said that as of December 1893, he and his wife owned 3705, or 58 percent, of the 6383 voting shares, "and thus control the Society; and this was fully understood by the directors from the first. Their usefulness, it was understood, would come to the front in the event of our death... For this reason, also, formal elections were not held; because it would be a mere farce, a deception, to call together voting shareholders from all over the world, at great expense, to find upon arrival that their coming was useless, Sister Russell and myself having more than a majority over all that could gather. However, no one was hindered from attending such elections."J. F. Rutherford, A Great Battle in the Ecclesiastical Heavens, 1915, p. 14.
The influx of donations gradually diluted the proportion of the Russells' shares and in 1908 their voting shares constituted less than half the total. Russell emphasized the limitations of the corporation, explaining: "Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society is not a 'religious society' in the ordinary meaning of this term" He also stated, "This is a business association merely... It has no creed or confession. It is merely a business convenience in disseminating the truth." Incorporation of the society meant that it would outlive Russell, so individuals who wished to bequeath their money or property to him would not have to alter their will if he died before they did. On September 19, 1896, the name of the corporation was changed to Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society.
From 1908, Russell required the directors to write out resignations when they were appointed so Russell could dismiss them by simply filling in the date. In 1909, Russell instructed legal counsel Joseph Franklin Rutherford to determine whether the Watch Tower Society's headquarters could be moved to Brooklyn, New York. Rutherford reported that because it had been established under Pennsylvania law, the corporation could not be registered in New York state, but suggested that a new corporation be registered there to do the society's work. Rutherford subsequently organized the formation of the People's Pulpit Association, which was incorporated on February 23, 1909, and wrote the charter which gave the president—to be elected for life at the first meeting—"absolute power and control" of its activities in New York. The society sold its buildings in PittsburghAllegheny City was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1909. and moved staff to its new base in Brooklyn. Although all New York property was bought in the name of the New York corporation and all legal affairs of the society done in its name, Russell insisted on the continued use of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society name on all correspondence and publications.
The move from Pennsylvania to New York occurred during court proceedings over the breakdown of Russell's marriage. His wife Maria had been granted a "limited divorce" on March 4, 1908, but in 1909 returned to court in Pittsburgh to request an increase in alimony, which her former husband refused. Authors Barbara Grizzuti Harrison and Edmond C. Gruss have claimed Russell's move to Brooklyn was motivated by his desire to transfer from the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania courts. They claim he transferred all his assets to the Watch Tower Society so he could declare himself bankrupt and avoid being jailed for failure to pay alimony."Girl's midnight visit to Pastor Russell", Brooklyn Eagle, August 14, 1909, "His wife, whom he married 30 years ago, when she was Maria F. Ackley, obtained a limited divorce from him in Pittsburg on the ground of cruelty. The judge who decided for Mrs Russell granted her $100 a month alimony. Pastor Russell was slow in coming to the front with payments and finally stopped paying alimony altogether. An order was ordered for the pastor's arrest in Pittsburg, but Brooklyn is a comfortable enough place and Pastor Russell didn't like going back to Pittsburg where a yawning prison awaited him. He said that his friends had paid the alimony, anyhow, and that he was purged of contempt of court thereby."
In 1914, the International Bible Students Association was incorporated in Britain to administer affairs in that country. Like the People's Pulpit Association, it was a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania parent organization, and all work done through both subsidiaries was described as the work of the Watch Tower Society. The Watchtower noted: "The editor of The Watchtower is the President of all three of these Societies. All financial responsibility connected with the work proceeds from [the Pennsylvania corporation]. From it the other Societies and all the branches of the work receive their financial support... we use sometimes the one name and sometimes the other in various parts of our work—yet they all in the end mean the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, to which all donations should be made."
Leadership dispute
Russell died on October 31, 1916, in Pampa, Texas, during a cross-country preaching trip. On January 6, 1917, board member and Watch Tower Society legal counsel Joseph Franklin Rutherford, aged 47, was elected president of the society, unopposed, at the Pittsburgh convention. Under his presidency, the role of the Watch Tower Society underwent a major change. By-laws passed by both the Pittsburgh convention and the board of directors stated that the president would be the executive officer and general manager of the society, giving him full charge of its affairs worldwide.
By June 1917, four of the seven Watch Tower Society directors, Robert H. Hirsh, Alfred I. Ritchie, Isaac F. Hoskins and James D. Wright, had decided they had erred in endorsing Rutherford's expanded powers of management, claiming Rutherford had become autocratic. Hirsh attempted to rescind the new by-laws and reclaim the powers of management from the president, but Rutherford later claimed he had by then detected a conspiracy among the directors to seize control of the society. In July, Rutherford gained a legal opinion from a Philadelphia corporation lawyer that none of his opposers were legally directors of the society.
On July 12, 1917, Rutherford filled what he claimed were four vacancies on the board, appointing A. H. Macmillan and Pennsylvania Bible Students W. E. Spill, J. A. Bohnet, and George H. Fisher as directors. Between August and November, the Watch Tower Society and the four ousted directors published a series of pamphlets, with each side accusing the other of ambitious and reckless behavior. The former directors also claimed Rutherford had required all headquarters workers to sign a petition supporting him and threatened dismissal for any who refused to sign. The former directors left the Brooklyn headquarters on August 8, 1917. On January 5, 1918, Rutherford was returned to office.