August 4. 1927.
My dear Miss Addams,
Thank you very much for your letter of July 18th & the interesting enclosures from Mr. Rufus Jones, & Mrs. Zen. We have not yet begun to make any great attempt to raise funds for the China delegation, as we were waiting to see what would be the decision of the September Executive in view of developments in the situation.
We have been advised by some people who know China that it is doubtful whether such a delegation at the present time would achieve its object. It seems that though it would be easy to get to Shanghai, & possibly to [Peking], it would be impossible to get anywhere else, & in these circumstances the expense of sending a delegation would scarcely be worth while. With returned missionaries, Y.W.C.A. workers etc, there are an unusually large enough number of people who take our point of view ↑in Shanghai↓ & some who feel it a special concern [page 2] to try to interpret the Chinese point of view to those who do not understand it -- So in Shanghai we are not needed, & unless things change it would be impossible to reach the real China. It might therefore be better to wait until the country is open again. I wish we had had the imagination to think of the delegation a year ago or more; it might have made a real difference then, & it could have been easy to get about. We have not yet had any letter of invitation from China, but possibly those have gone to Geneva. I think on the whole at the last meeting of our Committee we felt that unless the delegation were certain of being able to get into China, it would be better to postpone that place of work, & perhaps adopt Mme Drevet's suggestion that she & [I could] go to the Balkans. Certainly the visit which Hilda Clark & I paid there last spring shows how very great the [illegible] need is for the peace work generally, & in particular for W.I.L. branches in Serbia, Greece & [Romania] to cooperate with our struggling little Bulgarian Section.
May I thank you very much for your [page 3] appreciation of the efforts at cooperation on the part of the British Section. I am very sorry indeed that the affair of the telegram about the wording of the Liège resolution produced so much disharmony. I was absent from the Committee at which it was decided, & though when I heard about it, I felt it was a mistake, yet I think it quite likely I should have supported the action the Committee took had I been present, as I am always much influenced by Mrs. Swanwick's opinion.
It appeared ↑to↓ me that some members of the International Committee were so indignant with the British Section that they did not appreciate what had really happened, but with the help of Louie Bennett I hope a better understanding has been established, & I believe the "incident is closed."
It is very generous of the U.S.A. section to offer to raise funds for the European Delegates as well as for their own. We shall do all we can in England if it is decided to go on with the Delegation, but I do not think we shall find it at all easy, & there will certainly be doubts about the wisdom of the attempt [page 4] just at this time.
We are feeling very much crushed at the failure of the Coolidge Conference, it is a bad omen for the forthcoming disarmament conferences. I feel more & more that we shall not get any real measure of disarmament until we can get the nations to agree to some such a scheme for "outlawing" war as the Geneva Protocol of 1924. In the meantime all in Arbitration Treaties between countries willing to sign them will clearly pave the way, & we have been using the difficulties of Naval disarmament as an opening for propaganda for an All In treaty between the U.S.A. & Great Britain. But Governments are strangely shy of the idea. I think at the back it all the blockade casts its shadow -- did you see an interesting article in the New Republic for July 20th?
With my love to you & Miss Balch
your affectionate
Kathleen Courtney.
I am at Winchester with my family just now, & today we are entertaining a nice Anglo-American family whom [written up right margin] my sister met at school long ago.
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