Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1918-03-29
Books Under Govt
Ban Unearthed
Here in Durant
chief Of Police Wright and Assist
ant jacks Dig Up Number Of
Copies Of 1.-THE Finished
Mystery" in This City.


Since the first part of last week
Chief of Police Dave Wright and
Assistant Chief J. o. Jacks have
seized two lots of Pastor Russells
book. THE Finished Mystery. the
book which has been put under ban
by the Department OF Justice.
Chief Wright has been working
on this matter ever since 5,270 COP
les of the book were seized in Okla
homa City last week. and while two
lots of the books are known to have
been seized 1t is believed there are
several other lots in the county and
every effort is being made to get
them.
The Department of Justice has
ruled that distribution OF this book
is violation of the law. Persons
who distributed it before the ruling
from Washington did not violate the
law. but 1t is damaging evidence
now for any person to have copy
OF the book in their possession.
Some of the agents for this book
or converts of Russelism, have tried
To get by in distributing the book
by cutting out the seven pages that
the Government especially AFFECTED
to. A ruling from the Department
of Justice is that II is Just as much
violation OF law to distribute the
books with these seven pages re-
moved as with them In the book.
In the fifty or seventy-five copies
of the book seized here yesterday.
all Of them, with one exception. had
these seven pages cut out. AS 1t is
believed the converts here who had
the books in their possession were
innocent of evil intentions. and as
they had not violated the law by
distributing the books since they
were put under the han. the officers
have made no arrests, and will not
give out the names of any connected
with the affair
United States Attorney General
Gregory last week advised the au-
thorities to stop the distribution OF
the book all over the country. even
If the pages objected to had been
removed. The Attorney General ad-
vised that "The Finished Mystery"
is dangerous propaganda.
The chapter in 1.-The Finished
Mystery which is asserted to con
tain the selitious propaganda begins
at page 247. Those who have OK
amined copy of the book in the
possession OF the officers here. and
which has not been mutilated. state
that the objectionable pages are thc
rankest kind Of scditious utterances
The editor of this rapcr h'e road
almost all of the passages in that
s,,, nf he. al. ..,Ix 1,
deemed especially ohlnc' innah'" and
of seditious character. and retains
from publishing any excerpt; here
with for the reason tina: their seem
inglv authoritative dictum and very
speci0ns arguments might find a'
least temporary consideration In the
thoughts of some people who have
thus far failed To grasp the real mo-
tive of this Government in the prnS
ent conflict. and thus furthering the
general scheme of German prOpa
ganda which is ever seeking plastic
minds upon which to Great" wrong
impressions. After perusal Of the.
infamous sentences and SeditiOus
mOuthinrs. the editor however feels
moved IN say that their scditiou
character and falee premises ar"
dangerous reading for vacillatinp
people those to- whom any speciouS
argument appeals when it comedies
with their point of viow or their in
most desires. The language of th.,
passages is not only anti-British. an
tiAmerican. and antihuman liberty
and real Christ like instincts. but it
is prO-German in the extreme. and
of such nature that its dissemina
tion even in the smallest part coull