362 Harvard Street, Cambridge, Mass.
Miss Jane Addams, International President of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Headquarters of International Congress.
[April] 17th 1924.
My dear Miss Addams: --
Accept our sincerest thanks for your invitation to send a delegate to the Congress of the Women's Intern. League for Peace and Freedom.
Your invitation, addressed to Vienna and reforwarded from there to our provisional American headquarters, reached me during these last days; kindly excuse therefore the delay of our acknowledgement.
I myself have with greatest interest attended the Congresses of your League in Zurich (1919) and Vienna (1921), as a member of your Austrian branch and an admirer of your efforts since many years.
May I be permitted however, in the name of our organization, to ask for some information which will enable us to decide if we can participate in the Congress at Washington. We desire, of course, to contribute some practical value to the common cause. Therefore we take the liberty to ask you, if you think it possible to offer us an opportunity to explain the method of "voluntary disarmament" for which we stand. We would be so thankful for a critical examination of our arguments either through one of your Commissions or in any other way you may prefer. Be kind enough to inform us, whether [page 2] you see your way to agree with our desire. We will be very glad, in that event, to take part in your Congress. (Miss Amy Woods, Nat. Sec. of your League, invited us last October to send a representative to the meeting of your Executive Board, held in Chicago on November 5th and 6th, to explain our cause. Unfortunately just at that time no qualified member of our Union was able to go to Chicago. We would be so glad if that lost opportunity could revive at the Congress in Washington.)
I include some data of our way of proceeding. May I add, that Rev. Herbert Dunnico, M.P., who in 1922 organized the World Peace Congress in London, has since that time accepted the leadership of our British section, and Mr. René Valfort, secretary of the Union populaire pour la paix, the leadership of the French section. The secretary of the Disarmament Section of the League of Nations writes us regularly asking for information on the progress of our endeavours.
The signatures of disarmament-volunteers, collected by our national sections, are filed and used for the formation of International Battalions of Disarmament by a special registration-bureau under the supervision of Dr. S. Puchleitner, chairman of the local branch of your League in Graz (Austria).
A few weeks ago the Women's Peace Society registered its entire membership as disarmament-volunteers. (Correspondence included).
Thanking you in advance for any consideration you may give to our proposal and looking forward with hope and confidence to your answer, we are, dear Miss Addams,
most sincerely yours
(Miss) Erna Jüllig [signed]
Hon. Secretary.
Ps. Our Statistical Key for the formation of international battalions of disarmament will be forwarded to you under separate envelope.
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