A long standing controversy between Dr. William Norman Guthrie, rector of St. Mark’s church in the Bowery and Bishop William T. Manning, is bringing about the end of medical aid to Jewish poor in the vicinity of the church located at Tenth Street and Second Avenue.
Dr. Guthrie, involved in many quarrels with the Bishop, has yielded on the question of the Body and Soul Clinic in the church building, to pressure from the vestry and has acquiesced to the closing of the clinic.
The official announcement of the clinic’s closing stated that economic reasons were responsible. The clinic was established by Dr. Edward S. Cowles, some nine years ago, who paid all expenses involved. This was made known in a communication addressed to the Vestry by Samuel Untermyer in behalf of Dr. Cowles, wherein he openly charged that the vestry ordered the clinic closing because the majority of the patients are Jewish.
Mr. Untermyer challenged the “Christianity” prompting this action and stated that the vestry stand was taken because the chief beneficiaries of the church are Jews.
A number of meetings have been held in protest against the action of the church.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
