Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1922-04-28
TEN MILLION READ
SCRIPTURE VERSE
IN NEWSPA { RS
BIBLE BUREAU OF CINCINNATI
SETS GOAL AT 10000, 900 READ
ERS a DAY-ENLlsTS AID Oc
NATIONS PRESS.

Cincinnati, Ohio, April 2S.-At an
expense Of 81 for every million read.
Crs, the Back to the Bible Bureau Of
Cincinnati is getting one verse Of
scripture daily printed in about 1000
American newspapers and magazine.
It's total daily scripture readers are
estimated az 100000 now. two years
after the bureaus inauguration.
A goal of 100000 Bible verse
readers daily is announced, with a
iive-year program to make IL effective
The bureaus idea is that daily
reading Of one Bible verse makes To-
good citizenship, and that the hes.
pulpit through which to reach all per
sons IS the daily press. The organiza.
ticH is uon-sectarian, rs daily yer9es
going TO publications of all faiths, free
Of charge, aud not only to newspapers
hut TO trade journals and to society
and labor publications.
How the idea started and It's rapid
growth is described by George W.
lIartZell, a Dayton. Ohio, manutactur.
or, an advisory member Of the bureau
The chairman is James \. Gamble Of
the Proctor & Gamble company.
The bureau was inaugurated two
years ago by Addison Y. Reid Of Gin.
cinnati. who is now its secretary. He
had been conducting a propaganda for
. prohibition, sending daily contribu
tiOns to a number of newspapers, and
paying for their publication. With
the adoption of the prohibition amend
ment Mr. Reid stopped that work. but
decided to try campaign Of biblical
verse.
At first he paid for the publication
Of daily Bible verses Just the same
as he had paid for the propaganda I
The verses went to only few news .
papers. After about six months paid
publications. other newspapers. be. F.
coming interested and discovering tina:
Mr.. Reid was furnishing the scriptur4l
quotations. asked him TO supply them /
also, Offering to make publication with /
out charge. Thereupon Mr.. Reid stop /
ped paving for insertion OF the verses I
and the present bureau was inaugu-
rated.
Mr.. Hartzell said that in these two .
years the bureau has expended .
10000 all of it for printing and post
age, as there are no other expenses,
all the work being voluntarily done by /
a group of Cincinnati residents. The /
response to the bureaus letters offer T
ing the scriptures has been uniformly I
from all sections of the country, Mr..
HartzeIl stated. The daily papers now
publishing them include forty-siX In
Canada and publications in Hawaii,
the Philippines and Korea. :,
Many papers have been putting the
daily verse at the head of the editorial
column, but not all.
"A large Ohio daily" said Mr.. Hart /
zell, is running the verse completely /
across its daily comic page. When | /
asked the editor why he chose that po I
sition, he replied:
Why, don't you want it in the |
most conspicuous place"
This editor added laughing, Per. /
haps the readers Of the comics need |
balancing more than anyone else
The editor of a Bellingham, Wash /
PAPER made a personal Investigation /
to discover whether subscribers really /
read these daily verses He reported /
that ne found that thousands actually |
read them.
"The verses are selected by Mir |
Reid, who, before having them mailed.
submits them to committee Of minis
ters and church officials for approval"
Mr. Hartzell said that the bureau is
now engaged in raising a fund Of $780,
600, the amount it is estimated the
work Of extending the publication to
a 110000,0 600 daily circulation will cost
III the next five years.