New Britain herald., 1918-03-14
MUCK DEFENDED BY
MAJOR HIGGINSON
Sponsor Claims He Never Refused
to Play National Anthem

Symphony orchestra and for thirty
! seven years its suarantor against loss,
financial or artistic, notified Manager
i c. A. Ellis yesterday that ne was
coming TO New York today to be
! present in Carnegie Hall this eve
ming. when the orchestra was to give
. its final evening concert of the sea-
son. followed by two others in Brook
. lvn and Manhattan tomorrow and
| Saturday. conducted by DR.. Karl
! Muck Because of attacks on his
! chief musician, Major Higginson said
! that. if any attempt should be made
! at disturbing tonight's concert he
proposed to take the stage himself,
as he has done elsewhere, and put
the entire case up to the public in
an appeal to the American spirit Of
fair play.
jor Higsinson sent the newspa-
pers a statement in which he an
severed what he declared to be mis-
taken assertions by Mrs. William
lay. a director of The New York
Philharmonic society. conducted by
Josef Stransky. In this rejonder Ma
jor Higginson stood by Or. Muck,
who he said, is a citizen of the Swiss
Republic, and whose status has been
duly examined by officers of the
United States governme emit DR.. Muck,
he further declared. had never re-
fused to play The star Spang]ed
Banner" nor had he ever made any
remark discourteous to the American
flag or people. Those who sub
scribed to the concerts here and in
brooklyn, all sold out by the year, he
added. had been fully informed of
the facts before they bought their
tickets last fall.
The following was Major Higgin-
sons statement:
AS Mrs. Jay and other ladies are
vigorously opposing the two concerts
of the Boston Symphony orchestra
which are due this week, and are
mistaken in various stateme nts which
they make. let me give YOU the facts:
"Followine an attack of The Provi-
0ence Journal in November based on
a false statement that DR.. Muck had
refused to play The Star Spangled
Banner." various people have con-
ceived that DR., Muck is dangerous to
the United States.
Citizen of Switzerland
DIR. Muck was born at Darmstadt
Germany, was made a Swiss citizen in
his child hood, and bears Swiss citi
zenship papers and passport today.
He has exercised his profession in var
ious places. and last in Berlin. He
came here some years ago, stayed two
years. went back to complete his en-
ga f;em ent in Berlin, which he did in
1912, and then returned here. He has
not been loaned by anybody, and IS
under no enga cement to anybody. He
has never refused to play Tho Star
Spangled Banner but, on the con
trary, did so the first time 7 asked
him, which was in Novem Der. Fl
gave me his resignation, which ! have
not refused or accepted.
II put the whole case before the
United States legal authorities and re-
ceived their statement that there was
nothing against any member OF the
orchestra, including DR.. Muck. Later
I went to the Department OF Justice
in Washington. where the whole case
had been stated clearly, and on De-
cember received leave to play any
where in the United States, except the
District of Colum bia, being barred
from that place by a recent law with
regard to aliens, there being some
aliens in the orchestra.
Mrs Jay has seen fit to go to the
newspapers and, therefore, l ask YOU
to publish this statement for me. You
Will see by reading the later articles
in The Herald that various of Mrs.
Jays statements are incorrect. Among
other things she states that various
cities have barred the orchestra out.
the management of the orchestra
gave up those cities, except Balti-
more. because the local managers
feared a loss Of money and possible
trouble.
My last letter to Mrs. Jay is in
The Herald Of Yesterday and I repeat
it: 4 have your letter Of March Z.
It seems to me idle to carry on this
correspondence. AS regards the act
of Trading with tho Enemy. I sought
in person instructions from the De
partmont of Justice in Washington
and have obcyed those Instructions
with care.
1917 Concert Satisfactory.
About March Is 1917, the Bcs-
TON symphony Orchestra played in
New York the Faust Symphony, to-
eether with q chorus of 100 men TAX
ell from Boston. and that concert WIS
received with great applause, and
was satisfactory to the audience. II
is the same orchestra and the same
conductor and all the world knew
that the United States would declare
, War in few days, WHICH II ola.
/ When the tickets were sold last May
and June for the concerts OF the
present season we had declared war
and the conditions were as they are
now. At that time no protests were
made, ard people II buying those
tickets knew what they were to near
and how the orchestra was COM
posed. / contracted to deliver CERTAIN
concerts by certain orchestra and a
certain conductor, and. in honesty,
can do nothing else
How bout the people who bought