A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

German Sunday school or day school for the families of the employees. Consequently the conference authorized a relocation. In 1913 the publishing business was moved to Hillsboro, where a printing plant and the weekly German family paper, 288 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH Vorwaerts, had been purchased from Dr. J. J. Entz. The editing of the Vorwaerts now also fell to the lot of Schellenberg, "a job which he relished above all others in his publishing career."" By 1915 a new two-story building with modern facilities was constructed for the printing business, new equipment was purchased, and the work made steady progress under Schellenberg's able management. By 1917 the war clouds began to cast their shadows on the M.B. Publishing House. The Zionsbote was temporarily prohibited from circulation in Canada."' Editor Schellenberg, an outspoken critic of the American entry into the war, was reported as disloyal to a federal investigating agency. An informer charged Schellenberg with "inciting riot" by some of his utterances, submitting two red-penciled copies of the Zionsbote in support of these allegations. In the July 11, 1917 issue, a passage was marked in an editorial entitled "Questionable Patriotism" which read: "It is a matter of complete indifference to many a person in our highly praised country that in God's word it is stated: 'We must obey God rather than man.' " le The editorial a week later was much more controversial, since Schellenberg described the "Anglophile policy" of the United States government as "a mistake."" The ensuing investigation resulted in an order that Editor Schellenberg file with the local postmaster an English as well as a German version of every item in his paper that pertained to public affairs. Schellenberg weathered the storm from "without," but his editorials as well as his management of the Publishing House caused a minor storm from "within." Schellenberg felt that the criticism of his policies by leading brethren of the conference was unfair, and so he resigned in 1919 as editor and manager of the Publishing House and moved to a farm in Littlefield, Texas. At the time of Schellenberg's resignation the printing establishment had assests in excess of $16,000. The circulation of the papers had increased to 5,500 for the Vorwaerts, and to 3,500 for the Zionsbote. When Schellenberg left, the Publications Committee engaged J. D. Fast, who had served as assistant for several years, as editor and manager. In 1921 the Publishing House, with the approval of the conference, purchased the bookstore which professor D. E. Harder had owned and operated for a number of years in Hillsboro. In 1922 P. H. Berg joined the staff of the Publishing House as manager of the expanded book department, and as assistant business manager. The year 1922 was crucial for Mennonite Brethren publications. Editor J. D. Fast resigned after a service of only three years, and again