Asserting that the United States had lost its position of moral leadership of the world, Jane Addams, noted feminist, urged that women in clubs and other groups work toward "a higher patriotism which shall be founded on internationalism,” at a luncheon given yesterday by the United Neighborhood Houses of New York at the Hotel Pennsylvania.
"There is a new type of patriotism being evolved in all parts of the world," she said. "It is quite as devoted and loyal as the old type, but it believes that certain humanitarian ends can be achieved only through [cooperation] between all nations and all races."
"In the United States we are held back by certain inhibitions that are very difficult to shed. We say that we believe in brotherly love, in international [cooperation] and goodwill; and these are very good words; but we need something beyond words. We need what I may call an emotional shove that will bring us to a reassertion of our birthright, the moral leadership we have always assumed we had."
"Other countries are for the moment showing more devotion to the advancement of humanity than we are, and to regain our place we need leadership, not so much by the individual as by the group. Women in groups, joined together not only for settlement work but for every other kind of high minded endeavor, can break down these inhibitions in the public mind so that we can assert our moral leadership, and, while working for the best interests of our country, advance the world."
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