June 20th, 1917.
<Copy of this letter sent c/o Thomas. Another copy of this letter sent again on June 27th 1917.>
My dear Miss Addams,
Your letter of January 24th. has never reached us, but on May 5th. we received a copy of that letter from Miss Macmillan. It just came when we were moving to our new bureau and therefore we were not able to answer it immediately. Probably more of your letters have been lost, because the last letter we received from your hand was dated December 1916.
The misunderstandings which have arisen must no longer be discussed, we better try to work together in building up our international peace-work.
As you will admit that the proposed international meeting in June or July could not take place on account of the same difficulties we have always mentioned, we hope you will in future have more confidence in our judgment. The referendum vote on the ballotsheet has therefore been partly a loss of time and money.
We two, however, have another proposal, which we submit to your approval.
Being sure that the women of the allies cannot obtain passports to travel to any international meeting, and being of opinion that no meeting can be successful if only one side is represented, we propose to hold a meeting in the International Headquarters in Amsterdam of the 5 neutral branches of the I.C.W.P.P., to discuss different plans for the future. The date of such a meeting can only be fixed after we have received your answer, because it is so uncertain when this letter will reach you and your answer will come in our hands. [page 2]
We shall not take any action upon this proposal before we know your opinion.
It will of course be absolutely necessary that the 5 countries all send at least one member of their board and as it may be that one or more of them cannot pay the expenses of the voyage, we would like to know if you approve that the [traveling] expenses in such a case shall be paid by the I.C.W.P.P. For the lodgings of the delegates we will take care.
A copy of this letter will be sent to Miss Macmillan, as an officer of the Board, and another one to Mrs. Thomas in case the letter to you will be lost.
We hope you have received our circular letter No. 22, so that you know that our National Congress for Peace, held at The Hague, April 28, 29, was a great success.
Another number of the "Internationaal" with a lot of very important reports of different countries will be sent out this week.
Our Secretary "Liesje" married and is now Mrs. Bartels, but in this last capacity she is just a good and active secretary in our bureau as before. We have decided to raise her salary from Fl. 65. -- to Fl. 75. -- a month.
We sincerely hope that your health is daily improving and that you will get a restful time in your country-home.
With kindest regards from both of us,
Cordially Yours,
P.S. We very much hope that you will have received the financial statement from May 1st. 1916 -- May 1st. 1917. As you will see from it we need more money and it is necessary that donations come in.
Please cable when this letter has reached you.
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