A proposal for a poll of members of the West Side Tennis Club to determine whether they support the club’s announced policy of barring Negroes and Jews from membership was the latest development today in the mounting controversy over those policies.
At the same time, a former club president, Renville McLann, who is also a past president of the United States Lawn Tennis Association, asserted that there was nothing in the club’s constitution or by-laws to bar anyone from membership because of race or religion. He made this known as the club faced the possibility of losing the Davis Cup and national tennis championship matches.
Mr. McLann said he planned to meet with club officials to discuss the controversy as the New York City Department of Licenses began an investigation to determine whether a city license was needed to hold the tennis matches at the club in suburban Forest Hills, Queens. Thomas M. O’Neill, acting License Commissioner, said the club was private and exempt from the licensing law. However, he said he was also seeking to learn who sponsored tennis tourneys at the club. Sponsors who rent a private club for events at which admission is charged must have a license.
Acting New York Mayor Abe Stark said he was preparing a resolution of censure of the club for the City Council meeting Tuesday. He added he planned to introduce legislation banning the issuance by the city of a public exhibition license to any organizations, except a religious institution, which has membership policies based on race, color or national origin.
The proposal for a poll among club members was made by Mrs. LeRoy Wagstaff, member of the club for 12 years. She said she wanted to see how many members would resign if Dr. Ralph Bunche, Nobel Prize winner and United Nations Undersecretary, would become a member. Dr. Bunche revealed last Wednesday that he and his son, Ralph, Jr., 15, had been refused membership on grounds they were Negroes. Dr. Bunche said he had been told by Wilfred Burglund, club president, that if Negroes or Jews were admitted, hundreds of members would resign.
In proposing a poll of members, Mrs. Wagstaff said: “If we feel strongly, I believe we should speak up, not to grind our own axes and not to keep a thing like this boiling but to show where we stand. I would like to see a poll of membership and see who would resign if Dr. Bunche became a member.”
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.
