The efforts recently displayed by the Publishing Committee so clearly reflected in the minutes of their meeting of November 2, 1924, a copy of which I have read with the closest attention, indicate the efficiency, the zeal and the determination with which they are conducting this vital branch of Bahá’í activity. The scope of their effective work is expanding rapidly, and I wish to assure them one and all of my prayers for the fruition of their labors and the further development and consolidation of their work.

There have been of late no fresh developments in the situation of the House of Baghdád. The case, which is now before the court of First Instance, has been postponed for some time and we still await anxiously the decision of the court. Any hope of an immediate and final solution of this intricate problem seems for the present remote. In the event of our success the case may still be referred by our powerful opponents to the Court of Appeal—the highest in the land—and should its decision be in our favor the government may at any time—as it does not seem unlikely—decide, by retaining the keys in its custody, to postpone indefinitely the execution of such a verdict in order to allay the fierce hostility of the clerical element as well as the Shi’ite population of ‘Iráq.

Should a crisis occur, I will immediately inform you and endeavor to define more clearly any measure that I feel should be taken by the American Assemblies to insure the security of the House of Bahá’u’lláh.

Regarding the publication of Bahá’í periodicals in America, there is no doubt whatsoever that every individual Bahá’í is free to inaugurate and conduct any magazine of his own provided that nothing is published therein which in the estimation of the National Assembly tends in the least to become detrimental or injurious to the highest interests of the Cause. Within these limits, and these limits only, private initiative should in no wise be discouraged and is indeed highly praiseworthy. It is for the National Assembly, however, to exercise its judgment as to what extent the resources at their dis-