Evening star., 1948-03-24

For more than a decdde the
newspaper and political toorlds
haze buzsed from time to time
NTH pague stories about a series
of letters purportedly ,oritten by
Henry A. Wallace to members OF
NetD York cult.
Last year, Westbrook PegLef
began tDriting columns about the
letters and demanding that Mr..
Wallace affirm or retute them.
The colunanist finally published
the letters, renetDing his demand
that Mr.. Wallace acknowledge or
deny authorship.
Although foe OF the 10 prin-
cipals are dead, facts pertaining
to them haze been obtained from
persons closely associated tDith
them in the case.
The touotDing story is reprinted
from NeDsweek Which published
TOR the first time details of the
history of these letters. Another
installment toill appear In The
Star tomorrow.
NEW YORK, Mar. "a (NANA).-
Henry A. Wallace was born q
United Presbyterian, but 1t was too
staid a religion for him, and too
Unconditional. Attracted by the rit-
ualism Of Roman Catholicism, he
dabbled for a time with the idea of
joining the church. As a compro-
mise he became a high Episcopalian
and an acolyte instead. He wore
cassock and surplice on Sundays,
led Bible classes, and regularly
served 8 o'clock mass.
His spiritual hunger remained
unsatisaed. Mr.. Wallace studied
Buddhism, Judaism, Confucianism,
Mohammedanism, Zoroastrianism
and Christian Science. He sought
out remote Oriental cults. His re-
ligion became an amalgam Of these
beliefs; 1t became intermingled with
his ideas on politics and science.
Mr.. Wallace himself called it
'pantheism-the conviction that ma
ture, science and religion are one"
Astrologists claim that he now con-
suits them.
In 1888, shortly after he became
secretary of agriculture, Mr.. Wal
lace met Miss Frances r. Grant.
She was then doing publicity for
Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich,
little man who looked like a
Buddhist monk, with deep-set, small
blue eyes, egg-shaped head, white
face, long white goatee, and a soft
voice. He was a Russian. born in
Petrograd (now Leningrad), in 1874.
Fascinated by Symbol.
Mr.. Roerich was promoting what
he called the Roerich pact for the
protection of cultural treasures and
the promotion OF world peace. His
idea was for the nations of the
world to agree not to attack re-
ligious and cultural buildings in any
future war, just as they had long
since agreed to spare hospitals. AS
Roerich's press agent, Miss Grant
asked Mr.. Wallace to back the idea.
He did.
One thing that fascinated Mr..
Wallace was the symbol which
Roerich had devised to designate
religious and cultural buildings-a
red circle enclosing three spheres
on field of white. To Mr.. Wallace,
symbols have "a power unknown to
science" He pushed the Roerich
plan so enthusiastically that all the
Latin American nations eventually
adopted it.
Mr.. Wallace was as taken with
Roerich himself as with his symbol.
Roerich, painter of about 5000
spectral canvases, had travelled all
over the Far East-through Kash-
mir, Sikkim, Tibet, China, Turkes-
tan and Notwithstanding about
eternal Krishna, the Regeneration,
the 1853 local gods of the Kulu VAL
ley, and the pharmacopoeia of the
Himalayas. Among his admirers
were Rabindranath Tagore, the No
bel Prize winning Hindu poet, and
the composers Nikolai Rimsky -Kor-
sakof and Igor Stravinsky.
Built $2,S00,o0o 'Temple."
In New York in 1929, his admirers
built a $4,000, 900. 29-story apartment
house in honor of Roerich on River
side drive and 103d street. The
building was financed largely
through loans as nonproflt educa-
tional institution and most Of It's
activities were, in fact, educational.