"To the Defense"

"My distinguished colleague, Henry Norris Russell [said] that until last year he concluded that [the world] looked like Bedlam. In view of recent events he now concludes that it looks like Hell, with only one difference in favor of Satan's domain. In Hell at least there is no shedding of innocent blood. . . . Science, humanity have already suffered too much through suppression of freedom of inquiry to make any policy of appeasement possible. ... On that issue we hereby declare war."

Thus to some 3,000 of the smartest people in the U. S. spoke Princeton's Dean Christian Gauss in Manhattan one night this week. The group he summoned to war was the sober, scholarly Phi Beta Kappa Society, which was emerging from its ivied sanctuary into the thick of world affairs, launching a campaign to scotch "isms" and preserve intellectual freedom in the U. S. Campaign title: "To the Defense !"

In this cause, Phi Beta Kappa had brought together an odd collection of conservatives, liberals, jurists, admen, politicians who had nothing outwardly in common but their little gold keys. Two Supreme Court Justices, Hughes and Roberts,* broke their rule against participating in partisan causes to join the sponsoring committee. Among their associates: Republicans Bruce Barton, Mark Sullivan, Charles P. Taft; Conservative Democrats Carter Glass, John W. Davis; New Dealers Charles E. Clark, Claude D. Pepper; Leftish Stuart Chase, Stephen S. Wise.

To finance its defense of intellectual freedom, Phi Beta Kappa wants $300,000. It also has another reason for appealing for funds: When the U. S. Government upped the price of gold, Phi Beta Kappa kept the price of its key at $5 to $7, has been losing money thereby, although it reduced the gold content from 14 to 10 carats.

The society plans no spectacular maneuvers in its war for freedom. Biggest weapon in the Phi Beta Kappa arsenal is the power to withhold its coveted charter (owned by only 132 U. S. colleges and universities). This week Phi Beta Kappa announced that it had refused to charter local chapters in two large universities that had denied to professors and students freedom of thought and action. It would not say which two.

*Only non-Phi Beta Kappamen on the Supreme Court Bench are Justices Black and Reed.

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