The same year that the colporteur service began, Brother Russell had a number of tracts (or booklets) printed for free distribution. Outstanding among these was Food for Thinking Christians, which was distributed to the number of 1,200,000 in the first four months. The work involved in arranging this printing and distribution gave rise to the formation of Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society in order to care for necessary details. To prevent disruption of the work in the event of his death, and to facilitate the handling of donations to be used in the work, Brother Russell filed for legal registration of the Society, and this was officially recorded on December 15, 1884. This brought into existence a needed legal instrumentality.

As the need arose, branch offices of the Watch Tower Society were established in other lands. The first was in London, England, on April 23, 1900. Another, in Elberfeld, Germany, in 1902. Two years later, on the other side of the earth, a branch was organized in Melbourne, Australia. At the time of this writing, there are 99 branches worldwide.

Although the organizational arrangements that were needed to provide quantities of Bible literature were taking form, at first it was left to the congregations to work out any local arrangements for public distribution of that material.

The March 1, 1917, issue of The Watch Tower announced that, henceforth, all territory to be worked by colporteurs and by pastoral workerse in the congregations would be assigned by the Society’s office. Where there were both local workers and colporteurs sharing in such field service in a city or a county, the territory was divided up among them by a locally appointed district committee. This arrangement contributed to a truly remarkable distribution of The Finished Mystery within just a few months in 1917-18. It was also valuable in achieving a lightning distribution of 10,000,000 copies of a powerful exposé of Christendom in a tract that featured the subject “The Fall of Babylon.”