New-York tribune., 1921-02-16
civic Federation Is Told
Radicals Invade Y. Nj.
e. A., Red Cross, Labor
Temple and Ascension
Findings Result of
10 Months Labor
Evidence Called SUnmis-
taxable; E. p. Wheeler
Headed Investigation


bolshevism and other forms of rad
lcallsm have gained strong and suc-
cesstul foothold in the churches of
America and these churches are baino
utilized for a widespread pronapanda
the purpose of which is to accomplish
the overthrow of the government of
the United States and the entire nres-
ent social order, according to q report
submitted by a committee to the Civic
Federation at its session at the Hotel
Astor yesterday.
The report, which is the result of
ten months study and Investigation.
was offered by Everett P. Wheeler,
chairman of the committee.
Several churches and RELIGIONS or
CARNATIONS in this city were singled
out particularly in the report as ex-
amples of organs of revolutionary and
radical propaganda. Among those
named were the Labor Temple, Sec
ond Avenue and Fourtee: tn Street
headed by DR.. Jonathan Day, formerly
Commissioner of Markets; the Episco.
pal Church of the Ascension, of which
the Rev. Percy Stickney Grant is rec
tor; the Community Church, at the
head Of which stands the Rev. John
Haynes Holmes; the Christian Social
lst League OF America, and the Chris
tian Socialist Fellowship.
"Unmistakable evidence" of Bolshe-
9ik and radical activities in the Y. M.
G. A, the Y. W. G. A. and such philan-
throplc organizations as the Red Cross
were also found by the committee.
The committees investigation has
disclosed the fact" says The report,
that efforts to gain a foothold for
Rolshevism and radicalism in the vari-
Gus churches have been most success
full in the Presbyterian, the Episcopal
and Methodist churches, and that indica-
tions are not wanting that the same
tendency is manifesting itself in the
Roman Catholic Church. 1t is a mat
ter of concern to the committee that
there is a small but active and we'll
organized element in the churches
which appears to be impatient with the
slow and orderly process of political
and economic evolution and has es-
poused MARKHAM doctrines as supplying
the only solution for existing prob
lens"
The report continues. in part,
"a typical example of the use made
of the Presbyterian Church by radical
and revolutionary groups is to be found
in the Labor Temple, at Fourteenth
Street and Second Avenue, in the Bor-
ough of Manhattan, City Of New York.
In this center there has been organized
a regularly constituted Presbyterian
Church, known as the American Inter-
national Church, at which certain
church services are held.
at appears from investigation that
the neighborhood served by this organ
ization is made up largely of foreign
ers from different lands, OF radical and
revolutionary tendencies. Those in
charge, apparently feeling the neces-
sity of reaching the unchurched, have
building during the past year freely to
those who wished to spread revolution
airy and subversive doctrines.
"An examination of the advertised
meetings held at this center discloses
that the vast majority of the speakers
have been identified with one or an
other of the radical or revolutionary
groups. Such speakers as William D..
Haywood, Ralph Chaplin ard others of
the I. w. w; Henry Jaeger, Algernon
Lee, Gregory Zilboorg, Norman Thomas
and others of the Socialist party, and
such independent radicals as Elizabeth
Gurley Flynn, Arthur Giovanitti and
others have been freely granted the
hospitality of the building.
at should be pointed out that in this
and similar instances, which may be
found in other cities, the funds of con-
servative, and w-abiding citizens and
members of the church are supporting
a platform from which seditious and
revolutionary doctrines are constantly
being disseminated. Such a condition
of affairs would not be possible if those
in charge had not lost their perspec-
tive from close contact with the prob
lens they are called upon to solve.
"a similar tendency has been noted
in certain Episcopal churches. For ex-
ample, public forum, analogous in
many ways to that of the Labor
Temple, is conducted in the Church of
the Ascension, at Tenth Street and
Fifth Avenue, New York City. There
free scope is given to the preaching
of subversive doctrines in the apparent
belief that granting of freedom of dis
cussion will reconcile contending ele-
ments.
Freedom of discussion is often
Continued on page sye)