Wyne Lauds AFSC

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

I was amazed to read that the Combined Charities had dropped the American Friends Service Committee from its list of recommended charities. For years the Combined Charities have supported the AFSC. The latter has scarcely changed over the years. What could have been the new factor that made the AFSC suddenly "controversial" because of its "political overtones?" I could scarely take seriously the charge of Benjamin F. Stapleton that the AFSC was embarked on a program of "propagandizing for world peace." It has been encouraging discussion of problems affecting peace for forty-five years. This is nothing new--though is new and disheartening to learn that Harvard students believe that such discussions are "controversial," have "political overtones," and constitute "propagandizing."

But on second thought I am heartened. Often during its lifetime the AFSC has been called "controversial." It fed German children in 1918-19. It helped the Finns after the Russian invasion. It helped victims on both sides of the Spanish revolution. It helped refugees from the French. These were indeed "controversial actions" in the eyes of the political adversaries of the people who were helped. The AFSC has helped thousands of students to understand problems involved in the northern slums, in the mining towns of the Kentucky mountains, in race problems in the south, in forgotten American Indian communities in Iowa...Perhaps such an understanding may have political implications...

Nevertheless the AFSC has come to be rather widely accepted, as one of the charities to whom people give money because it is not controversial. And for such an organization not to be controversial is death to its spirit. Benjamin F. Stapleton and his committee reassure me: the American Friends Service Committee has not been conventional.

Therefore, I should like to suggest that any of you who are interested in supporting such unconventional organizations (but still tax-deductible and not considered subversive by the government, Mr. Stapleton to join me in increasing your support for the AFSC this year. I don't know the address of the office, but its on Brattle Street back of the Brattle Theater, and your check will find it--and help pay for part of the services the AFSC has traditionally offered to Harvard and Radcliffe students. Laurence Wylie   C. Douglas Dillon Professor   of the Civilization of France