My dear Miss Addams:
Having just returned from Europe as a delegate to the [Ford] Peace Conference I am desirous of taking up the fight against Militarism. I have made a study of military education in the neutral countries and in Germany, and I have come to the conclusion that military education is the first step to militarism. The people of this country are rapidly becoming educated to the military point of view. Schools and colleges are being encouraged to devote time and money to the formation of a military organization.
We are forming the Association for the Prevention of Military Education. The object of this association shall be, first, to arouse sentiment among educators, parents and pupils in order to prevent the introduction of military instruction in the schools and colleges; second, to introduce wherever possible text books which are pacific in character and do not glorify war; third, to change the character of the boy scout movement from a military to a pacific nature.
It is our intention to carry on a publicity campaign by means of descriptive literature, moving pictures depicting the horrors of war, magazine articles, and lecturers, the object of which will be the formation of a large association whose members shall be opposed to militarism [page 2] and who will pledge themselves to oppose it in the schools, colleges, and elsewhere.
I should like to include you among the charter members as I know that you are with us in spirit.
Sincerely yours,
Willis G. Conant [signed]
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