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THURSDAY. MARCH 30. 19B1 8 ' A Birch Society MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. ORE. Iiapters in 34 States; Others Scheduled i c? ..ilia Rcnripiv form Editor's note: Followlnj Is the second of three dispatches about the seml-secrei jonn nircu buhuj. an organization that has created controversy across the land be cause of Us methods of fighting n.miinUm. A UPI sneclal re porting team, headed by llarbara ltundscnu 01 me new i . tnrinv nit th SOCletV'S dOC- trlne. membership and various views on Its operations. By BARBARA BUNDSCHU . UPI Corespondent At the start of 1961 the John Birch Society had orga nized one to 100 chapters in each of 34 states and the Dis trict of Columbia, according to its founder, Robert Welch of Massachusetts. . ; . Still to be organized: Ala bama, Alaska, Colorado, Dele ware, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Penn sylvania. Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont. "The John Birch Society is tn be a monolithic body," Welch said in a blue book of the organization's doctrine. -"A Republican form of gov- eminent or of organization has many attractions and ad vantages, under certain favor able conditions. But under less happy circumstances it lends itself too readily to infiltra tion, distortion and disruption. And Democracy, of course in government or organization ... is merely a deceptive phrase, a weapon of dema- goguery, and a perennial fraud "The John Birch Society will operate under completely authoritative controls at all levels ... no collection of de bating societies is ever going to slop the Communist con spiracy." .: - ' ! . Hoped for Milion . He hoped for 1 million dedi cated members to fight the forces of evil with "evangeli cal fervor." Paul H. Talbert, Los An geles insurance executive who is one of the society's council members, estimated recently that it might have 100,000 members by the end of 1961, Its third year. Welch said he wanted to raise a million dollars from sources other than dues dur ing the society's first year "and even that amount is an awfully small drop in the bucket, against what either the direct Communist propa gandists or the Reutherite la bor bosses are spending against us." There is no public account ing of either money or mem bership. Dues are $24 a year for men and $12 for women; life memberships are $1,000, either sex. Appeals for addi tional voluntary contributions accompany virtually all mail ings to members, welch has said he draws no salary. There are 28 full-time employees at headquarters and the society is reported to be the largest single source of revenue for the Belmont, Mass., post of fice next door. Another 35 salaried persons work around the country as coordinators of member groups, and an additional 100 persons work full or almost full time as volunteers. Welch frankly has borrow ed the Communist technique of setting up "front" groups for specific purposes. He ac knowledged that another tcc nique he advocates - the use of loaded questions to smear a suspect he can't prove is a Communist - is "mean and dirty." Chapters operate at widely different levels of secrecy. In North Dakota, meetings are announced on local radio sta tions and everybody's wel come. The North Dakota or ganization, with about 400 members in 19 chapters, was active in a proposal to outlaw the federal income tax which was approved by the state's lower house but killed in the state senate. In Dallas, Tex., a 32-year-old businessman member of the society wouldn't give his own name for publication, however, and explained: "most of our members in Dallas are little people, just like I am. Most of these folks could not take a sustained smear attack. If it came along, they would probably be thrown out of their jobs. For that reason, the thing has been kept pretty quiet. There are no real mil lionaires in Dallas in it as far as I know." He estimated there were 20 chapters in Dallas and said he'd heard there were 100 Inl Houston. Chapters are gener ally made up of 20 members. No Rule of Thumb There is no rule of thumb In Welch's bpok for members to determine on their own who is or who isn't a Communist, or Communist dupe. There are ways of sizing up both Individuals and orga nizations in this battle which come only with experience, a knowledge of the inter-locking pieces and personalities and a feel for the way the Commu nists work, says the blue book." "And while of course I can make mistakes too, I know from the way my opinion of various characters, formed in dependently, has then proved to coincide with the opinion of J. B. Matthews . . , that I have a fairly sensitive and ac curate nose in this area . . . so we do not Intend to be frus trated by indecisions of this nature." t v Matthews is an associated editor of Welch's "American Opinion" as well as the stand ard by which he checks his nose for Communists. He re signed as chief investigator for Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy's Senate committee in 1953 af ter appearance in "The Amer ican Mercury" of Matthews' article "stating that clergymen were "the largest single group supporting the Communist ap paratus" in this country. The "most important activi ty" of the John Birch Society at the moment is its campaign to impeach Chief Justice Earl Warren. In the view of the society's founder and leader, Robert Welch, the Supreme Court's school decision and all the ra cial troubles in the South have been brought about by Com munists to foment civil war. "Civil Rights" is a Commu nist slogan, "an exact parallel to the slogan of 'Agrarian Re form' which they used in China," he has told members. In his bulletin for March he urged them to write "more letters to the same congress men . . . the same letters to more congressmen" and to the newspapers to prepare the way for undisclosed "specific actions" to come. "There is plenty of evidence that we already have the pot of the Warren impeachment boiling," he said. "What we need now, by adding more fuel and blowing on the fire, is to give that pot a head of steam that will be looked at askance by anybody who might want to sit on the lid Looking Askance Congressmen, recently made aware of Welch's old ac cusation that former President Eisenhower was a Communist, are already looking askance at what they describe various ly as a "trickle" or a "flood" of "lmpeace Warren" mall. Republican Whip Sen. Thomas H. Kuchel of Califor nia, who said he had received about 200 such letters since October, described the cam paign as "contemptible and vicious." "One may,- if he chooses, disagree on occasion with de cisions of the Supreme Court, the votes of a member of Con gress, or on a position which the American President takes," Kuchel said. "That is part of our right of free speech. But to attempt to heap slime and abuse on any public figure poses an extremely dangerous problem for self government in this country." Rep. Ken Hechler (D-W. Va.) told the House on March 13 that the desks of many of Its members "have been flooded for the past few weeks by a great deal of junk mail which maliciously and unfairly re flects on the Integrity of our great Chief Justice of the United States, Earl Warren. "I would like to know who is paying for all of these mimeographed and duplicat ed letters and cards . , ." Rep. Edgar W. HIestand (R- Calif.) is listed by the society as a member of its committee of endorsers." HIestand said he has been a member of the society for several years. "It is a society of individu alists dedicated to fighting Communism," HIestand told United Press International. "They make up their own minds. They arq violently an What entered 88 of all U.S. homes " yesterday? i ' ( TO I ' 'i''iU,'(',',ii'i't!iH'''i cWto.' 'M W fr 4 mMttHUlM sMMIf HMIsMIMislll MMIMII.iisM'iii.i'''--- jftyl"r W!HWwi-.vtMiwH t f fca ,.'"i ANSWER: THE DAILY NEWSPAPER. A recent study uy me juaricei Kcsearch Corporation of America revealed that "88 of all U. S. families had a news paper in their homes yesterday." And Sindlinffer & Company, analysis, report that on an average day, some 100,000,000 people (12 years old and over) read the newspaper ! The daily newspaper comes closer to reach ing all customers than any other medium under the sun. MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE ti-Communlst. That is the one thing we have in common." HIestand said "a lot of prom inent people have been mis led by misinformation" and he Is considering putting into me record a "well document ed" reply to charges against the organization. Rep. Gordon Scherer (R- Ohio), a member of the House Un-American Activities com mittee, also listed as an en dorser, said he was not a mem ber of the society, but "I look with favor on It." The Senate Internal Secur ity subcommittee is replying to inquiries "With a form let ter over the signature of its chairman, Sen. James O. East land (D-Miss.). It reads: "The John Birch Society, about which you asked, is known to be a conservative anti-Commu-nlst organization officially. We are happy to state that it seems to be, from our records, a patriotic organization. Very truly yours : . ." All Senators are not so sure. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) told the Senate: "Something ought to be done to lay the facts before the American people so they can judge this organization for what It is. Brown Asks Report In California, Gov. Edmund G. Brown said on March 21 that he has asked state At torney General Stanley Mosk to look into the organization and report to him. "Unless they violate a law, they have a right to speak;" Brown said. Welch telegraphed Brown the following day demanding a full-dress investigation by the state Senate's Un-Ameri can Activities committee and promising "a dozen or a hun dred or a thousand of our members in California will gladly testify." Paul H. Talbert, Los An geles insurance man who is a member of the society's coun cil, said that if any members plead the Fifth amendment "we would just love to find out just who these Infiltrators are so that we can get rid of them." Talbert said, "we all believe In loyalty oaths, preservation of the Connally amendment, restoration of the investiga tive powers of the FBI and any other government commit tee for the purpose of investi gating subversion . . . "What is happening to cause supposedly reputable newspapers to refer to us as Fascists, Neo-Fasc!sts, Silver Shirts, Red Shirts, Black Shirts, Subversives, and even to compare us with the Ku Klux Klan?" Stirred To Protest Congress was stirred to pro test by the John Birch Soci ety's campaign against Chief Justice Earl Warren. But It is the society's attack on the nation's churches that appar ently has brought It to the at tention of more communities -than any of its other activi ties. It is an attack that has been made for years by some relig ious fundamentalists and eco nomic conservatives who see as both heresy and commu nism the preaching of a "so cial gospel" which attempts to apply biblical teachings to current secular and political problems. The people of Arizona are getting two barrels at the mo ment. It is one of the Birch Society's "biggest" states. And it is receiving similarly con centrated attention from the American Council of Christian Churches, a fundamentalist group which has been waging a hot war of words for many years against the larger Na tional Council of Churches. The division has been intensi fied by controversy over the House Committee on Un American Activities' motion picture, "Operation Aboli tion," which Is being promot ed by the Birch Society, among many others, and which the national council of churches, also among others, has recommended not be shown without presentation of serious questions about its accuracy. The Rev. Carl Mclntyro, a defrocked Presbyterian minis ter who is a spokesman for the American council, devoted his nation-wide radio program on two successive weeks to the situation In Phoenix, replying I to a defense of the national council issued by 122 Phoenix : clergymen. j Received Questionnaire In Santa Barbara, members : of the First Presbyterian ! church received through the j mail a Birch Society "qucs-; tlonnaire" attacking its own ! church leadership and that of j the national council. The Rev. Eugene Carson Blake, stated clerk of the Presbyterian ! church In the U.S.A. and a former national council presi dent, flew to Santa Barbara to accuse the Birch Society In a sermon; his text "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness . . ." 'If you let these propagan dists have their way they will rlluifln thie phnrnh riffht rlnwn the middle bctwtcn Commu nists and Fascists hating each other, labeling each other, and distrusting each other,- uibkc said. At Amarillo, Tex., Brig. Gen. William L. Lee, retired commander of the Amarillo Air Force base is head of the local Birch organization. He denied the society has any thing to do with the rumored circulation of a list charging five prominent local men are Communists. Lee said there are no Com munists in Amarillo.' But he acknowledged that the society is stirring up friction in local churches. "We have documented proof that the national council has been infiltrated by Commu nists and some of these minis ters Just won't listen to us," Lee said. "Until we carl con vince them that the national council has some Communist followers in it, there is going to be some friction." Church leaders in Amarillo have said they are fearful that congregations may be split in to warring camps.' The Amarillo group has been less successful in another campaign. The public library refused to yield to its demand that it call off a "Great Deci sions" discussion series spon sored by the 42-year-old For eign Policy association. At Wichita, Kan., the so ciety has moved to battle in policy matters in PTAs, the library and college. According to George H. Lewis, assistant professor of economics at the University of Wichita and di rector of the Kansas Council for Industrial Peace, they "vir tually control the Wichita Chamber of. Commerce and seem to have a dominant influ ence in the state chamber organization. One of their major objec tives in the state is to destroy collective bargaining. They are preparing to push through some vicious anti-labor legis lation during the next ses sion." . Members Undisturbed Members of the society from coast to coast have professed themselves undisturbed b y Welch's pre-society charge that President Eisenhower was not a dupe but a Communist. "If he (Eisenhower) is one, he doesn't know it," said a Santa Barbara woman. ) . ftoruille Braden, former U.S. Ambassador and a mem ber of the society's council, said he didn't agree with the charge but that it in no way led him to question . Welch's judgment on other matters. "He may exaggerate some times," Braden said of Welch. "When you're in a barroom brawl no holds are barred. You don't fight by the Marquis of Queensbury rules." ' Friday: Welch gives hit opinion on Eisenhower, Taft, MacArthur and Goldwater; ac tion of the opposition. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1IIIH GRAND t if si -itjy "if lliJ This Friday & Saturday The biggest news in Medford's appliance history is the grand opening of the MONARCH RANGE STORE. Now MONARCH, the oldest line in ranges, offers you cooking that is fun and time saving! Visit the new store today and look over the wide selec tion of top' range buys. Register Now .. . You may win absolutely FREE this big, beautiful MONARCH Modernique range with all its exclusive features. NOTH ING TO BUY . . . just register at the GRAND OPENING or any other time be fore the Crater Lions HOME SHOW. You may be the lucky winner. Drawing will be held the last day of the HOME SHOW. mm COFFEE ii COOKIES ! jjfcal o re N Don't forget the CAL-ORE BONUS on your range purchase. Cooking Demonstrations See exactly why MONARCH is tops . . we'll have cooking demonstrations by GOLDEN SWARTSLEY of the COP CO HOME DEPARTMENT and our MONARCH Factory Representative. 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Use the Want Ads . . . they make the profitable difference! MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE
