Arizona republican., 1918-04-25
Where the People
 May Have Hearing
THE I. B. S. A.
Phoenix, Ariz., April 2S, 19

PhOenlX, A11Z., ApIll -os 4oAo' Editor Arizona Republican,
 Dear Sir-In reference to your state ment that copies of the publication known as Kingdom News" had been folded within some of the copies or The Republican, we would say that we find, on investigation. that one of our members engaged in the circulation Of this paper did place some with papers found on the lawns or porches, solely with the intention to keep the King dom News from being blown away and make more certain that it reached the people. This was done with no thought that anyone would consider that The Republican had anything to do with matter, and without knowing that it was a violation of the law. We are very sorry for the trouble this has caused you and we offer hum- ble apology.
 We regret, moreover, that you seem to misunderstood the nature of our work and we take this opportunity to make a few statements in reference thereto.
 In the first place. the main and prac- tically the sole object of the Interna- tional Bible Students Association, which has branches all over the world, is to get people interested in Bible study. We feel that there is especial need of this, since higher criticism, tDeosophy, spiritism and Christian l Science have been so destructive to the faith of many in the Bible as the word of God
 ] We have never intended to obstruct ! tho f1t-af s,,o i,,%i ,t. 1 The matter of participation in state and civil affairs is left solely to the 1 conscience of the individual, and we have confined our attention, as an as- 1 sociation, to the promulgation of Bible l truths
 We would mention in this connec- tlon that one of our oldest travelling . Bible lecturers has one of his sons in 1 the navy and the other in the army ] fighting in the cause of freedom for l the country we all love. We believe and often publicly declare that the United States has the best government in the world and we believe that the high ideals of America will be far more than fulfilled when Gods glorious | plans and blessings for the world arc more fully inGugurated.
 The federal authorities have made 1 o lull lIlhCSllSdllO1 Ol OUI NOTk ana stated that they had no desire to in- terfere with it in any way. A little later, the Department of Justice de- 1 cided that for a time, the distribution of one of our publications, "The Fin ished Mystery had better be discon- tinued. It is hoped that with the elimination of the few pages. consist ing chiefly of quotations from mer who are not in any way connected witt our work. that the Department will re. move its ban. It was with this end 1T view and to show the public who were really responsible for the false state. ments made against our association that we circulated the paper called ! Kingdom News" This paper is no in any way disloyal and it attempts t, protect the rights of free speech anC free expression of proper sentiment! and teachings-principle for whicl the Associated Press is also working.
 We trust that we have corrected an, misunderstanding you may have hat about our work, that you will accep our apology for the unintentiona trouble we have caused you. and tha you will give this letter publicity, a. your sense of fairness will undoubtedl, lead you to do.
 Respectfully yours,
 Associated Bible Students,
 (Local Branch of I E. S, A. Per C. R. Gaylord, Class Leader.