COOLIDGE REPLIES TO LEGION ATTACK

In reply to the statement of American Legion head Roane Waring attacking Harry Bridges' Armistice Day lecture here, A. Sprague Coolidge, Chemistry lecturer and head of Teacher's Union which co-sponsored Bridges' visit, justified the labor leader's talk as both valuable and proper at the time.

Citing Bridges' excellent work in the war effort and in bringing order to the West Coast unions, Coolidge said that "it was highly appropriate that he should speak on the topic of 'Labor and War' on Armistice Day" even though he was giving a regular speech for the occasion.

Calls Legion Head Wrong

Moreover, the Legion head's statement about Bridges was "utterly false" in many other respects, he said. The talk was not sponsored by Harvard, but by a recognized University group which had been allowed, in accordance with the usual custom, to use a College room.

Most of all, however, Coolidge objected to the attack on the right of freedom of speech which the Waring statement entailed. "The Bill of Rights allows freedom to all regardless of their views," Coolidge said, "and no man can criticize this right for any group or person without criticizing the right for all groups and persons."