The San Francisco call., 1908-05-07


and inhabitants of the city of New York
in communion of the Protestant Epis-
copal church in the state of New York
In 1914, by some means that no one may
discover, the state legislature was in
duced to allow the tran sformation OF
the title to the rector, church wardens
and vestry of Trinity church in the city
of New York Legal authorities have
questioned the constitutionality of the
act. Up to this time, says the writer OF
the. article, Trinity. as the virtual
trustee of the property. had made de-
tailed and annual reports of her man
agement of 1t; she had made known to
its owners the exact condition of her
trust
HE continues:
The same law of 1914 that secured
her in the possession of what remained
OF Queen Anne's grant relieved the
corporation from the obligation to make
any inventory and account except after
the acquisition of additional property
This seems to have been construed as
obviating all reports of public or semi
public nature; from this time on it has
never been possible for any person out
side of the vestry to gather any in
formation as to the business OF Trinity:
but. withdrawn behind an impenetrable
veil of secrecy, the management for al
most a century has been responsible to
no human authority but itself
UNKNOWN VOTING BODY
THE seat of authority in the conduct
of Trinity corporation, the writer points
out, is the standing committee of the
vestry, and this committee, consisting
of the controller, the clerk and six ves-
trymen, seems never to change except
by reason of the death of a member.
We read further:
The standing committee is consti-
tuted by and from the vestry, and the
vestry is elected yearly on Easter Tues
day Therefore you might think that
after all the source of authority must
lie In the body of the church, after all
the government is representative and
not autocratic.
But elected by whom?
Not by the communicates. certainly:
there are 7.271 of these. and it is not
pretended that more than a very small
percentage of these ever vote.
Who are they? don't know.
There is a list of voters made up
yearly and submitted to the rector;
some persons vote. That Is all any out
slider knows. 1t appears that at one
election 23 votes were cast for the 20
vestrymen and the two wardens; but
there Is no indication as to the identity
OF the twenty-third voter. Not even the
power of the legislature of New York
could discover who. actually constituted
the voting body; but the legislature did
learn that on one particular occasion
the bishop of the diocese had been re-
fused a sight of the voting list
The 20 vestrymen and the two war
dens having been elected Cor re-elected)
and the standing committee having
been appointed Cor reappointed) the
| - F,f to loI 60
as the unknown voting body is con-
cerned and so far as the vestry is con-
cerned. For all the strange features
of this strange business the strangest
is that the vestrynien (outside of the
standing committee) seem to know
nothing about it, They seem to have
almost nothing TO do with the manage
ment of the property.
THREE KNOW INNER SECRETS
The standing committee reports to
the vestry about other matters than the
mystery, but the vestrymen that are not
on the standing committee do not see
the books and they seem quite as ig-
norapt as any communicant regarding
the real business and the real condition
of the corporation.
The real command is centered ex-
clusively in the standing committee and
of the standing committee there seem
to be about three men that know the
inner, secrets of the corporation. So ]
am told II has been ever The present
standing committee consists of the con-
troller. the clerk Edmund D. Randolph,
John T. Lockman, Elihu Chauncey, Rich
ard Delaficld. Nicholas F. Palmer, Fran
els S. Bangs The controller is Her
mann H Cammann; the clerk Is Colonel
William Jay. All of these are men of
high standing in the city OF New
York."