National Civil Liberties Bureau
New York, Jan. 3, 1918.
Will you be one of about seventy Americans invited because of their well-known liberalism, to serve on a National [Committee jointly] with the Civil Liberties Bureau, in calling a [meeting] on American liberties in War Time, at the Liberty Theatre, New York City, on the evening of January 13? The names of those invited to serve are enclosed.
The aim of the meeting is to call attention, by a most serious and dignified program, to the denial of constitutional rights throughout the country, to the increasing mob violence, and particularly to the insidious use made of the war and patriotism by privileged interests to intimidate labor and radical movements. The further object will be to urge upon Congress an investigation of this whole situation which reflects such serious discredit upon the good faith of the nation. As Secretary Baker puts it, in commenting on the attack upon Herbert Bigelow of Cincinnati,
"The cause of the United States is not aided, but is hurt, by that kind of thing. No night riders are needed, and when the country is at war for liberty and justice they make a humiliating contrast to our national ideals and aims". [page 2]
Addresses will be made by Herbert Bigelow, [Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale], John Haynes Holmes and others.
The speakers and those invited to serve on the Committee represent a wide range of opinion as to the causes and merits of the war and the best way to secure democratic peace, but they are united by the one serious determination that in this war for democracy the domestic record of our country shall be kept as unblemished as possible.
That the denial of the rights of free speech and free press are not necessary to the successful conduct of the war, is shown by the policy of England, which is decidedly more liberal than ours.
We want to make this meeting a milestone in the history of American democracy.
May we not hear from you at once that you are willing to serve on the committee? We should like the reply -- by telegram if necessary -- by Jan. 8th, at the latest.
Sincerely yours,
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