Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1947-05-08
Mrs. Lewis, Disturbed BY Fuss
Overlooking, Denies Any Guilt
High School Speaker
Claims Love for
u. S. and Russia
By Miriam Gutenberg

L
Russian doll perched atop book
case, Mrs. Shura Lewis pictured
herself today as q woman who
loved both her native and her
adopted land
The youthful looking mother Of
two children, whose speech on Rus
STA at western High School has pre-
cipitated two congressional in
quiries said:
st don't feel myself guilty at all.
I am what I always was. I am up-
set only because 1t is not very good
for both countries to make q fuss
out of nothing"
But Mrs. Lewis was near tears
when the telephone rang and a
voice at the other end told Mrs.
Lewis what the caller thought of
Russian women.
People are horrible she shud-
dered.
Sends Boys to Day Care Center.
| She excused herself long enough
to button Eric, 5, and Paul, 8, into
their coats and send them of to the
public day care center, for which
the parents pay according to in
come and the District government
pays the rest Then she answered
questions readily enough.
No, she had not been member
Eof the Communist Party in Rus
STA, she said. She was not a party
member in this country. In fact,
she didn't know any Communists,
had never written for Communist
publication and had never know
ingly spoken for Communist
group.
She pulled from desk drawer
the outline of the speech she had
given at Western. The outline be-
gan:
TN the Russia of today, there
are no landlords or businessmen
living on rents or on profits. The
whole land is public property. The
whole of industry is publicly owned
and controlled. Every family must
live on the earnings from work"
Discussed Collective Farming.
The outline, typewriter on
single sheet, went on to discuss
collective farms, the elimination of
unemployment through planning,
equal rights for each nationality
among the Soviet states, the eman-
clpation OF women and planning
not only for production but to in
crease the health and cultural level
of the people.
Mrs. Lewis said she had used the
same outline for more than a dozen
speeches but always before there
were good relations" between audi
ence and speaker. Il liked the peo-
pl and they liked me-
She said she knew nothing about
the Institute of Pacific Relations
except that she had received a let
ter from the group asking her to
speak to a group Of teachers at
Wilson Teachers College. The insti-
.tute has been described by Repre-
sentative Mundt, acting chairman
OF the House American Activities
Committee, as a very active pres
sure group in the field of foreign
relations"
Made Same Speech at Wilson.
Mrs. Lewis made the speech at
Wilson High School and there she
met Nathaniel A. Danowsky, prin-
cipal of Western. According to her
story, Mr.. Danowsky told her:
The speech was very interesting
because we never hear things like
that. You really took us inside
Russia"
Mr.. Danowsky, according to Mrs.
Lewis, asked her to make the same
speech at Western. Mr.. Danowsky
subsequently has said he asked her
to steer clear of political aspects"
but Mrs. Lewis said she had never
received such a request.
She said she had told him she
had no permanent job and would
want to be paid for the speech. The
principal, she said, replied that he
couldn't pay her much but offered
$40. The payment, she said, came
from friend of the school" and
took the form of a cashiers check
which she cashed in New York.
The speech she gave at Western.
she said, was the same one she had
given at Wilson.
I kept close to personal opinion,