How you can resist funding the government → the tax resistance movement → birth of the modern American war tax resistance movement → Grace E. Rhoads

I haven’t yet visited any archives that hold material from the Peacemakers, that group that coordinated the early modern American war tax resistance movement beginning in the late 1940s. But while I was following another thread, I found the following article which gave the most complete membership run-down of the tax refusal committee of Peacemakers that I have yet seen:

43 Pacifists Won’t Pay U.S. Tax in Arms Protest

Special in The [Philadelphia] Inquirer and New York Herald Tribune

New York, March 13 [1949]. — Forty-three pacifists throughout the United States declared today that they would refuse to pay all or a part of their Federal income taxes this year as a protest against the Nation’s military expenditures.

The group, including a number of Quakers, conscientious objectors, and several who have refused payment of taxes before, issued a statement through Peacemakers, [a] national pacifist group with headquarters here, in which they said:

“Believing that men are accountable for their actions, and that laws requiring immoral acts should not be obeyed, we have after serious consideration determined upon a course of civil disobedience with relation to the income tax laws of the United States.”

Headed by Pastor

Forty-one of the tax refusers acted under a tax refusal committee of Peacemakers, headed by Rev. Ernest Bromley, of Wilmington, O. Their statement was issued by Rev. A.J. Muste, secretary of the organization, and also secretary of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. Mr. Muste, former director of the Presbyterian Labor Temple, and one-time president of the defunct Brookwood Labor College at Katonah, N.Y., has long been known in the labor movement, and as a pacifist and campaigner against military conscription.

Two additional persons were listed as tax refusers in a statement issued on behalf of 11 Philadelphians by Walter C. Longstreth, Philadelphia lawyer. The other nine were all included in the Peacemakers list.

Some Withhold 36.4 Pct.

Mr. Muste, who said he personally would refuse to pay any income taxes this year, as he did last, declared that some of the signers would follow his course of action; while others will withhold the 36.4 percent estimated by the Bureau of the Budget as that portion of tax money expended for military purposes.

Others on the list issued by the Peacemakers were:

Ross Anderson, of Portland Ore.; B. Bargen, of Newton, Kas.; Marilyn Blaise, religious education director, New York City; Marion Bromley, of Wilmington, O.; Lindley Burton, of Bryn Mawr, Pa.; Horace Champney, of Yellow Springs, O.; Miriam Keeler Cornelius, labor economist, Washington D.C.; Aleck D. Dodd, clergyman, of Toledo, O.; Margaret E. Dungan, of Wallingford, Pa.; William Bacon Evans, of Morrestown, N.J.; Caleb Foote, of Arden, Del.; Hope Foote, of Arden, Del.; Marion C. Frenyear, clergyman, of Plainfield, Mass.; Robert C. Friend, religious education director, of Schenectady, N.Y.; Walter Gormly, of Mt. Vernon, Ia.; J. William Hawkins, of Winters, Calif.; Ammon Hennacy, of Phoenix, Ariz.; George M. Houser, of New York City; Sander Katz, of New York City; Raymond E. Kinney, of Los Angeles; Emily Longstreth, of Philadelphia; Walter Longstreth, of Philadelphia; Mary Bacon Mason, of Newton Center, Mass.; Milton Mayer, of Chicago; Mary McDowell, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Wallace Nelson, of Cincinnati; James Peck, of New York City; Paula Beck, of New York City; Caroline Philips, of Wilmington, Del.; Lydia Philips, of Wilmington, Del.; Grace Rhoads, of Moorestown, N.J.; Francis B. Riggs, of Cambridge, Mass.; Valerie Riggs, of Cambridge, Mass.; Igal Roodenko, of Bronx, N.Y.; Max Sandin, of Cleveland; Laurence Scott, of Kansas City, Mo.; Ralph Templin, of Yellow Springs, O.; Louise Thomas, of Cherry Valley, N.Y.; Mrs. Caroline Urie, of Yellow Springs, O.; Beverly White, of Wichita, Kas..

Many of these names I’ve encountered before, but several were new to me.

There were fewer than 3,000 people living in Yellow Springs, Ohio at the time, and three of them were among the 43 public war tax resisters in the United States. I wonder what that was all about.

Margaret E. Dungan was one of the founders of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and one of the earliest war tax resisters in the modern era (she started resisting in 1940). While trying to find more information about her and her resistance, I came across this article, from the 14 March 1949 Chester [Pennsylvania] Times:

Group Protests Military Spending, Won’t Pay Taxes

Because they believe that present military spending in the U.S. is leading toward a new war, 11 persons in the Philadelphia area have refused to pay part of their 1948 federal income tax.

Among the 11 taking this stand of protest is Margaret E. Dungan, Providence rd. and Willow la., Wallingford, a school teacher in Philadelphia.

In a letter written to President Truman, the 11 declare that “in a world filled with fear and suffering we want our dollars to fight for the eradication of disease, not to invent new and more devastating bacteriological weapons.”

Calling upon other citizens to “turn back from the suicide of militarism while there is yet time,” the tax refusers protest that the spending of “billions for armaments, conscription, and military alliances is a policy which can lead only to war.”

Oppose Totalitarianism

Continuing, the group writes the president that they are utterly opposed to all forms of totalitarianism. To oppose it, they suggest that the United States spend the billions, now allocated for military purposes, to “feed the hungry, promote economic rehabilitation, and allay the fears of the world by leading the way to disarmament.”

The Delaware County teacher says that “to every annual income tax return beginning with 1940 I have attached a statement that, for religious and moral reasons, I cannot voluntarily pay taxes levied for military use, and have always, except once, added that I would gladly pay an equal amount if I were assured that the sum would be used for the constructive works of peace.”

She adds that “the amount of the taxes that I refused to pay for 1940 and ’41, were seized, about a year later, with interest from my bank account. Since then, although I have received many notices of unpaid taxes, and several statements of the receipt by the deputy director of a warrant for distraint, no seizure has been made.”

In addition to Miss Dungan, those who refuse to pay the taxes and have written to the president are: Lindley and Emma Burton of Bryn Mawr; Caleb and Hope Foote of Arden, Del.; Walter and Emily Longstreth of Philadelphia; Caroline and Lydia Phillips of Wilmington; Grace E. Rhoads jr., Moorestown, N.J.; and William Bacon Evans, also of Moorestown.

While I wasn’t paying attention, someone scanned in many back issues of Friends Bulletin, the journal of the Pacific Yearly Meeting and Pacific Coast Association of Friends. This has allowed me another window onto the state of American war tax resistance, Quaker war tax resistance in particular, in the last half of the 20^th century.

Here, for example, from the April, 1951 issue, is an article on an early Peacemakers tax refusal pledge that includes a complete list of signatories, including several I hadn’t heard of before:

Tax Refusal

On March 15 there were among those who did not pay their Federal income taxes the following 59 persons who joined together to support a statement distributed by the Tax Refusal Committee of Peacemakers, 2013 Fifth Ave., N.Y., N.Y. Reverend Ernest Bromley is chairman of this subcommittee of Peacemakers: A.J. Muste is secretary of Peacemakers. A part of their statement is: “Feeling that war must inevitably come unless something drastic is done by individuals to show their unwillingness to go along with war-making policies of their governments, we the undersigned state hereby that we are not going to pay our federal income taxes due March 15. For some of us this means that we will not pay that percentage which corresponds to the nation’s outlay for militarism; for others of us it means we will not pay even the first cent for the maintenance of a government whose main business is preparation for annihilation…”

The signers were: Ernest and Marion Bromley, Golay Rd., Gano, Sharonville, Ohio; Lindley and Emma Burton, Low Buildings, Bryn Mawr, Pa.; Horace and Ava Champney, 512 Phillips St., Yellow Springs, O.; Sara Chase, 1525 Sutter St., San Francisco, Calif.; Samuel and Clarissa Cooper, 214 Eastbourne Terr., Moorestown, N.J.; Dorothy DaPonte, Rte. 4, Box 374, Mobile, Ala.; Margaret E. Dungan, Wallingford, Penna.; Arthur Evans, Awbury, Penna.; Rebecca Winsor Evans, Radnor, Penna.; Fyke Farmer, Bellevue Dr., Nashville, Tenn.; Rev. Marion Frenyear, So. Hartford, N.Y.; Henry and Beatrice Dyer, Yellow Springs, O.; Walter Gormly, 412 N. 3^rd St., W., Mt. Vernon, Iowa; Konrad Halle, 76 Pinehurst Ave., New York 33, N.Y.

Gerald Haynes, R.R. No. 3, Freeport, Maine; Ammon Hennacy, Rte. 3, Box 227, Phoenix, Ariz.; Rev. George Houser, 21 Audubon Ave., New York 32, N.Y.; Woodbridge O. Johnson, Jr., 106 W. 3^rd St., Parkville, Mo.; Sandy Katz 232 W. 29^th St., New York 1, N.Y.; Ruth C. LaBarrer, 6 Nutt Ave., Uniontown, Pa.; Sarah B. Leeds, 28 E. Main St., Moorestown, N.J.; Walter and Emily Longstreth, 140 N. 15^th St., Philadelphia 2, Pa.; Mary Bacon Mason, 31 Pleasant St., Newton Center, Mass.; Rev. Maurice F. McCrackin, 1111 Dayton St., Cincinnati 14, O.; Mary S. McDowell, 555 Ocean Ave., Brooklyn 26, N.Y.; Rev. A.J. Muste, 21 Audubon Ave., New York 32, N.Y.; Ax Nelson, 501 Benvenue, Los Altos, Calif.; Wallace and Juanita Nelson, Golay Rd., in Gano, Sharonville, O.; Ray and Jean Olds, Yellow Springs, O.; Raymond F. Olds, Monterey, Mass.; Storrs F. Olds, Monterey Rd., Great Barrington, Mass.; Jim Otsuka, Rte. 1, Cloverdale, Mich.; Mrs. Gordon Parker, 1401 Wood Ave., Colorado Springs, Colo.; Mabel G. Parker, 1804 Wood Ave., Colorado Springs, Colo.;

James and Paula Peck, 552 Riverside Dr., New York, N.Y., Miriam Pennypacker, 6420 Drexel Rd., Philadelphia 31, Pa.; Grace Rhoads, Box 90, Moorestown, N.J.; Elizabeth and Edward C.M. Richards, Nur Mahal, R.D. 3, West Chester, Pa.; Francis and Valerie Riggs, 23 Coolidge Hill Rd., Cambridge 38, Mass.; Margaret Schauffler, 100 S. Cedar St., Oberlin, O.; Robert and Marjorie Swann, R. 1, Cloverdale, Mich.; Ralph and Lila Templin, Box 125, Yellow Springs, O.; Caroline F. Urie, 128 S. Walnut St., Yellow Springs, O.; Ellen Winsor, Radnor, Pa.; Abraham and Jean Zwickel, P.O. Box 232, Pismo Beach, Calif.

And here’s an early example of a plea for a “peace tax”-style accommodation for conscientious objectors to military taxation, from the January, 1951 issue:

Tax Petition

On Saturday, December 9, in Whittier, Calif., there was combined with the annual meeting of the southern California office of the Fellowship of Reconciliation a program sponsored by the Peace Board of California Yearly Meeting. One of the results of the day is the following petition:

To the Congress of the United States of America

We the undersigned citizens of the United States of America believe:

That present tensions between the free enterprise and communist group of nations are the result of reliance upon military force as an instrument of political determination;

That the threat or use of such force can never result in a just or mutually satisfactory resolution of these tensions;

That the labor and material expended in building up military might would have and still might lead to a peaceful and mutually satisfactory solution if used instead indiscriminately to rebuild the homes and industries destroyed in the last war.

We further believe:

That the military way violates the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” and the Golden Rule by which a Christian must live.

That to supply the means to induce of compel another to do that which we cannot do is equally a violation of those Commandments.

Therefore relying on our Constitutional Bill of Rights which our nation is this week honoring, and the Right of Petition thereby guaranteed, we humbly pray your august body that you pass legislation exempting all of like religious belief from income tax to be used in support of military establishment and substitute the use of that portion of our tax which is to our total tax as the amount used for military is to the national total, to that committee of the United Nations seeking a peaceful abatement of these tensions, thus giving the citizens of the United States the opportunity of paying taxes for the support of war or peace according to the dictates of their own conscience.