Mather Hits Innuendoes Of Philbrick Testimony

Kutley F. Mather, professor of Geology, last night charged Herbert A. Philbrick, F.B.I. undercover man, with false implications in his testimony before the Jenner Committee.

Philbrick yesterday named Mather and Dirk Struik of M.I.T. as having been sponsors of the Cambridge Youth Council in 1940, when he learned it was a Communist front organization. "I assumed that if they were connected with Harvard and M.I.T. this organization would, of course, be all right," Philbrick told the Committee.

Mather Replies

"He's trying to imply that because I was in it, he joined. That's not true," Mather asserted. "Read his book. He was responsible for asking me to sponsor it. I'm not sure whether he called me up on the phone or came over to see me, but be asked me in."

Philbrick's book, "I Led Three Lives," tells of the early organization of the CYC. Philbrick describes the trouble in forming an organization, and acknowledges the help of Arthur and Sidney Solomon, and Stanley Beecher.

"These three seemed to have unlimited capacity for work, so much so that I began to feel a little uneasy. While I didn't object to competition, I didn't want my position as prime mover and chairman of the Council usurped."

"Impressive Sponsor List"

Philbrick also told how the CYC sent out letters to Cambridge organizations and people, announcing the first meeting. At the first meeting in December, Philbrick says, "we had an impressive list of loyal sponsors, including Professor Kirtley Mather of Harvard."

The CYC, Mather said, was organized originally by Philbrick as a young people's organization, but then Philbrick discovered that some of the people that he had appointed to executive positions were Communists."

Mather added that he didn't know if there were any Communists in the CYC. "But if he (Philbrick) said there were, why he's probably correct."