Mather Denounces Legion Pickets At Western U. Speech Last Week

Kirtley F. Mather, professor of Geology, last night attacked the action of "pickets" who protested his speech at Western University in Ohio last week.

Referring to the three men and one woman who handed out mimeographed literature at a forum where Mather spoke, he said, "It's a free country and they have a right to their opinions."

"But if they do protest and picket, they ought to make their handbills accurate," Mather charged. "Those leaflets they handed out under the American Legion and Protect America League seals were just filled with factual inaccuracies and erroneous references."

The forum was entitled "Man's Right to Knowledge and the Free Use Thereof."

There was no heckling during Mather's speech, and the Legion representatives made no attempt to prevent the public from attending.

One handbill which they distributed listed 18 organizations which the American Legion claimed Mather has been cited by the Attorney General as "subversive." The other paper denounced Mather for coming to the defense of M.I.T. mathematics professor Dirk J. Struik, who in 1951 was charged with advocating the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.

In his speech at Western, Mather stated, "It is not surprising for one scientist to defend another for alleged disloyalty, even if he does not agree with the scientist's beliefs."

According to an Ohio paper, the protest followed a speech in nearby Middletown, where a research specialist for the Legion had bitterly attacked Mather.