The Washington herald., 1920-05-02

the Mother Church large suus Of
money due from the trustees, and
also that the trustees made false
entries In their own books
April IL, two more actions were
brought in the Supreme Court in
the case. One was a petition brought
by ]. Weston Allen. attorney gen
eral for Massachusetts. as the To-
gal representative Of the bene1cia-
ries Of a public charitable trust.
asking leave to intervene in the
trustees suit
The other was q bill in equity
brought by the directors and the
church treasurer. Edward L. Rim
ley, asking the court to remove All
the publishing society trustees and
appoint new ones They also ask
that the trustees be ordered 20 make
financial accounting. Notice 20
issue against the defendants was
oroered by Judge Pierce to be re-
turnable May ,.
Aim 10 Protect Name,
In the directors bill II is asked
that the trustees be enSotnsds fssu
taking steps in any county 10 OBJ
tain registration or the exclusive
right to use the name, description
or designation The Christian Sci
ence Publishing Society. boston. L.
S. A, Sole Publishers of all Chris
tian Science Literature as Estzb-
lished by Mary Baker EDDY" or
any description which would imply
that the trustees are sole publish
ers Of all authorized Christian Sci
ence literature.
The bill alleges that in her deed
of 1895 Mrs. Eddy provided that
the trustees should be loyal faith
full and consistent advocates Of the
principles of Christian Science; that
all moneys received from pubIica-
tions should be deposited IN some
bank or banks and that once in
every six months the surplus prohts
should be turned over to the treas
urer Of the church.
The directors charge the trustes
with mismanagement of the busi-
ness of the publishing society and
il Is said that many members OF
the church have cancelled their
subscriptions to periodicals issued
by the society because of their be-
lief that the trustees are not loyal
and consistent Scientists and are
not living up to the doctrines pro-
claimed by Mrs. Eddy.
The trustees are also accused OF
having employed the trust funds TO
a large extent for the purpose OF
purchasing stocks of material for
use in an enterprise forming no part
OF the business contemplated by the
trust deed. 1t is further declared
by the plaintiffs that the trustees
have refused TO pay over to the
treasurer Of the church the net
profits Of the publishing society, and
the plaintiffs believe that the trus-
tees now have on hand more than
s325,ooo belonging to the church.
The directors assert that they
have, under the Manual. the right
TO remove the trustees, but that
they are temporarily enjoined from
doing so by the Supreme Court. The
facts now complained Of, the direc-
tors say, have arisen since they
were enJoined and require prompt
removal of the trustees.
Asks Finance Probe.
The attorney general in his petit
tion asked leave to intervene as a
party defendant. His petition was
denied by Judge Pierce, April ! ;. the
judge ruling that the issues raised
by Mr.. Allen were not germane to
the decision. He declared that in
his opinion the attorney general
should bring a separate suit rather
than intervene in any OF those now
pending.
This question OF a separate suit
by the attorney general is causing
much interest. Early in April. Mr..
Mary Beecher Longyear, of Brook
line. who was an intimate personal
friend of Mrs. Eddy, and who is said
to have given more than $500. 900 20
the Christian Science cause. wrote
-
gate the finances of both the direc-
tors and the trustees. She sad she
did this in order to seL at rest the
rumors OF charges and nismanaEe-
ment which have risen through the
present litigation. She feels that II
there has been such nismanaEemeut
by either board II should be stopped
and If not that IT is equally import
ant to have the truth stated author
itatively
The attorney general considered
undertaking such an Investigation
by means OF an information in
equity but eventually decided in
favor of his petition to intervene
II is not yet known whether he will
take further action.
other suits are in contemplation
and in the meantime there is much
unrest in the church body. The
propaganda instituted against tbs
trustees of the publishing society
has had the effect of causing thou
sands of Christian Scientists all
over the world to cancel their sub
scriptions to the publications.
As a result of Judge Dodge's de-
cision more than 200 employees Of
all kinds have left the publications
and q committee has been appointed
to care for these strikers" In
fact, a very large fund has already
been subscribed for them. About
100 of the strikers" have found
satisfactory employment The others
will receive two-thirds their former
wages until they are satisfactorily
placed