The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-04-28
RED CROSS MIDDLE
THE SUSPENDED MEMBERS Is-
 SUE A STATEMENT.
They Deny that the Executive Com mittee Headed by Walter P. Philips Has the Authority
 to Suspend Them.

Washington. April 7.--The twenty three suspended members Of &he National Red Cross Society have isshed to the public statement showing thf legal status. as they view 1t. of the executive committee of the society which su6pended them. In addition the meeting appointed special committee consisting of Simon Wolf. Hil- ary A. Herbert formerly Secretary of the Navy. Miss Mabel T. Boardman, Mrs. ]. Ellen Foster and B. H. Warner, to collate all the facts at their command to show the abuses that have been prac- ticed by the old management and the un- business like manner 'in which the finan- ces have been collected an1 aisbursed. ? Another statement enfbodying the re- suits of this special committees work will be made public later.
 Todays statement begins with an- nouncing that the following letter has been sent to Walter P. Phillips:
 Walter P. Phillips:
 Sir-The undersigned members of the National Red Cross in answer to your mo- tihcation of their suspension deny your legal power or authority to suspend them
 Yours respectfully,
 This letter as well as the general public statement which is elaborate is signed by the twenty-three suspended members as follows: John M. Wilson. Mabel T. Boardman. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, Mrs. Sarah A. Spencer. Bessie J. Kibbey, A. c. Coffman. Simon Wolf. B. H. Warner, N. T. Tanner. Mrs. Henrietta M. Rose, Thomas F. Walsh, Amy L. Wolf, Betty Harrison. William H. Michael Anna R. Cowles. Ellen Spencer Mussey, Elizabeth T. Pierce, Mary B. Hague. F. M. Ram sey, w. K. Van Reypen, John W. Eos ter H. A. Herbert and Harriet Blaine Beale.
 The suspended members deny the au- thority of Mir. Phillips's committee to act and say that the committee is proceed ing under bylaws illegally alopted and that the new bylaws violate the pur- pose and intent of the charter granted by Congress in that they constitute a system which invades the chartered rights it 1t does not practically disfranchise all the members of the association except the few whom the President may appoint on committees and as one person may serve on several committees 1t is in the power of the President to commit all the cor poration into the hands of less than one tenth of the membership"
 Alter comments on new bylaws" the statement continues:
 These bylaws which begin by assert ing the power of the executive committee to remove the home of the American Red Cross Society from the District of Colum- bia in which Congress should 1t be ended by vesting effectually in one person all those powers which Congress intended should be exercised by the corporators 1t had named and their successors; with an added provision that rendered them practically irrepealable. Such a system we submit would not meet the approval of the American peonle even if these by fa-. kaA Azttf4 NIK ad1 kAA afk debate. But secondly. these new by law were not. we insist fairly or legally adopted.
 ''The extent of our offeuse. is. and the new by laws seem to have heen designed to punish this offense at present and pre- vent Its repetition in the future. that we ventured to criticize the business methods of the society. to insist that these methods should be improved and there should be a more complete &C., countability. that the philanthropists who give and raise moneys for charitable purposes should have more implicit faith in the efic4 ency of our organization"
 The members deny the charge that in their efforts to effect reorganization of the association along business like methods. they are attacking Miss Barton.
 The statement then takes up the cir cular sent out by Francis Atwater rep  resentlng Miss Bar on in October. 1902. asking for proxies because the latter was desirous of having some slight changes made In the bylaws and declares that his letter was misleading and that the changes made at the December meeting following were radical and revolutionary. |
 It is asserted that new bylaws were | rushed through without opportunity fo: | explanation and that the statement con- cludes:
 We therefore insist that we were not | acting against but for the best interests 1, of the Red Cross Society when we statad | to Congress which gave us our charter | how that charter had been used. Un- | less present meth 'ds are abandoned the | society cannot retain public confidence | which is essential to its success. For | such protest to Congress and l for that alone. twenty-three of US have | been suspended by a committee of whlcn | three or on one occasion two may con- | stitIltA nllarurn-"