Four Harvard undergraduates have recently become members of the anti-Catholic Yankee-American Action, undercover Red Shirt group which was expelled from a meeting place in Phillips Brooks House two months ago, it was learned last night.
Until it was discovered using the college building for headquarters under the guise of a political discussion group, the Yankee-American Action had no bona fide members on its rolls. The student recruits joined the organization after its expulsion from Harvard grounds.
Under the leadership of Edward Holton James '96, the Red Shirts have almost tripled their active membership in the last few weeks. Although the group has been operating secretly, it is definitely known that a branch of Yankee-American Action, has been established in the South End, while another is presently to be founded in Waban.
The Harvard student members belong to the Cambridge branch of Yankee-American Action, which numbers 30 members. The South End branch includes approximately 40 members, largely unemployed inhabitants of the area.
Although several young men belong to the Red Shirts in addition to the Harvard students, the preponderance of the organization membership is composed of persons of 30 to 35 years old.
Weekly meetings have been held under the aegis of James, at which the doctrines of anti-Catholicism, single-party government, and the "restoration of American ideals" are discussed. The organization has been printing pamphlets and mailing them to prospective members.
Chief specific cause of the organization's anti-Catholicism is "the dominance of crooked Irish Catholic politicians" in Massachusetts.
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