Evening star., 1939-10-17
Finch Reelected
Head Of D. {.
Suffrage Association

Letter to Dies Denies
Communist Porty Role
In Vote Compoien
Election Of Wilbur s. Finch a.
president and the naming of q 30
member board of directots marked
last nights, special meeting of the
District Of Columbia Suffrage Asso-
ciation, held at the boardroom Of
the District Building. More thar
go persons took part in the balloting
The special meeting was the first
held by the suffrage group since II
assumed a strict illegal" place ir
community life. The association
was incorporated under District laws
on September 26, thereby taking or
new legal stature, not possessed
by the old group bearing the same
name.
Other officers elected included
Harry N. Stull, first vice president;
William H. Mondell, second vice
president; william A. Maio, third
vice president; william NICK. Clay
ton, fourth vice president; Harry s
Wender, fifth vice president, and
Mrs. Clara Wright Smith, treasurer
A secretary, to be appointed by the
board, will be announced later. All
officers and board directors were
unanimous selections.
Pledges Work Toward Goal.
Mr.. Finch, who served the last two
years as president of the old associa-
ton, presided after announcement OF
his election. In a brief speech OF
acceptance, he pledged his personal
efforts and those of his fellow OIL
GERS to "a constant program Of i'm
partial, unrelenting effort to ad-
vance the suffrage cause for the cit
izens of the District" He thanked
the group for honoring him with the
Office.
Mr.. Finch's first official action was
to reveal contents of q letter writ
ten by him (as president of the for
mer suffrage group to Chairman
Dies of the House Committee on
Un-American Activities in which he
emphatically denied any connection
between the association and the
Communist party. That idea, he
said, might have been given the gen.
eral public following the reading OF
reports by Dies committee agents
after recent raid on Communistic
headquarters in which Communist
literature and reports were seized.
He said that he was concerned for
the most part in the Communists
alleged efforts on behalf of District
suffrage, which was mentioned in the
following statement by committee:
ITO work up program to unite the
various elements around it, to arouse
the people =. And this was a
period Of mass meetings, confer
ences, the dramatic poll"
Letter In Part.
Mr.. Finch's letter said, in part:
"Just what mass meetings or con-
ferences the Communists themselves
may have had on the question OF
District suffrage, I am unable to
know. But, If they mean by their
statements that the Communist
party had anything to do with the
various meetings of the District OF
Columbia Suffrage Association, some
Of which might be classed as mass
meetings, or the two very successful
meetings of the Citizens Conference
on District Suffrage, then wish, on
behalf Of my colleagues and myself.
to express to you our emphatic de-
nial of any such participation by the
Communist party.
"The only dramatic poll on Dis
trict suffrage of which I am aware
was the unofficial suffrage referen-
dunn held in this city on April 30,
1888. This referendum was initiated
and sponsored exclusively by the
Citizens Conference on District Suf-
rage, with the financial and other
assistance of some of our local daily
newspapers. Therefore, If the Com
munist party means by its statement
that 1t had anything to do with this
referendum, then it is guilty of a
deliberate falsehood.
Those of us who have been re-
sponsible for the formation and
activities of the present District
suffrage movement are American cit
liens interested not only in our
American system Of Government but
also in securing our own admission
to that system. And the published
report Of the Communist party re-
garding their so-called participation
in our movement is nothing more OF
less than an attempt to horn in for
their own ulterior purposes on an
activity which Is purely and simply
100 per cent American"
Asks Admission to Record.
The suffrage leader requested
Dies to place the letter on the COM
mittee record so that "deceitful
statements of the Communist party
may not remain unchallenged
- with the records of your COM
mittee."
A motion of approval and COM
mendation, made by Mr.. Stull, fol
Mr.. Finch's loyalty to the group and
for preparation Of the letter was
passed unanimously.
The associations bylaws were
read by Mr.. Mondell and passed after
q short debate and discussion o1
several points.
The original draft pertaining
to membership requirements was
amended. Only persons who are cit
izens of this country or who have
filed q formal intention Of becoming
citizens can be members.
Objects Of the association, as writ
ten in the bylaws, were listed Al
follows:
1. To secure self-government 70,