When he retired, Peter Drummond set up the Trust to administer the remaining assets of his Enterprise. His intention seems to have been that the Trust would continue the work of publishing as he had understood it, but, notably, Trustees were given wide discretion as to how to interpret his wishes. In the early 20th century, a Trust policy statement described as a key aim that the truth to which Drummond referred, should be presented ‘in the forms … of the present time and not of a bygone age’.
As written by the founder himself:
I request and direct them to prosecute and carry on the said undertaking in all its branches that is to say, in the publication of periodicals and publication and distribution of tracts, and these generally in the same manner and to the same extent, as has been done by myself, the particulars of which my trustees will have no difficulty in ascertaining; and I desire them specially to see and provide as far as in their power that the doctrines advocated in all publications issued from the depot are none other than those set forth in its present issues, and are in accordance with the standards above referred to; it being always a rule that the gratuitous distribution of publications heretofore made shall be continued to an extent equivalent in value to the amount received by the undertaking from friends and the public by way of donation; and it shall be at all times in the discretion of my trustees to enlarge or to abridge the operations of the undertaking as circumstances may permit or require.