“America is inclined to be tactless. Her international legislation sometimes is offensive to her sister nations, but she does not consider their reaction. She judges her own acts, and is surprised when some nation judges to the contrary.”
Jane Addams, social worker and founder of Hull House, Chicago, smiled when she made that declaration last night before an overflowing crowd at the open forum of the Linwood Boulevard Christian church. Her criticisms were many; they all were sympathetic. “Peace” was her subject.
“I made a tour of the world a year ago,” she said, “and I found an astonishing lack of cordiality toward the United States. In Calcutta I spoke before Hindus. After my lecture a Hindu asked, in Oxford accent, whether we still believed that all men were born free and equal. Others repeated the question in other words. I asked the chairman why they heckled me. I learned the United States just had enacted a law which forbade the naturalization of a Hindu.
“When I addressed Japanese, I wished in my heart my country had found some other way of dealing with their problems. It was too bad we excluded them. We might have accommodated a small quota; they could have been widely scattered.”
Miss Addams explained the League of Nations and the World Court, and urged citizens to write to their congressional representatives before the convening of congress December 17, asking them to advocate America’s entry into the World Court.
“Why don’t our politicians set us right on such matters?” a man asked from the floor. “They twist and distort facts. We don’t know what to advocate.”
Miss Addams answered:
“The politicians have their ear to the ground, listening for you to advocate. There is plenty of honest information on the World Court available.”
“There are two major objections to our entry into the World Court,” Miss Addams declared. “One is the possibility of our becoming entangled in the League of Nations, since the court is appointed by the league. It is generally agreed now that we can enter safely, able at any time to shake the dust of the league from our feet. The other is the objection to our World Court judges being paid from the League of Nations fund. This, too, can be dealt with satisfactorily; the league will make concessions.”
Miss Addams dealt briefly with the movement for the outlawry of war.
“It would be the first time in the history of mankind that war was outlawed,” she said. “That is something.”
After her address, questions were asked from the floor.
One man said:
“For thirty-five years the name of Jane Addams has been a household word in my family.”
“Don’t make it too long,” said Miss Addams.
“And I want to know,” he continued, “how Hull House got its name. We could never find out.”
“It was the name given by the neighborhood,” she explained, “to the old abandoned residence we selected for a social center. It was built by Charles J. Hull. Hence the name. His heirs have been very generous. They have given us the house, land and gifts of money.”
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