Dear Miss Addams,
I am following up my letter of yesterday with a note in regard to finances.
Our balance of August seems pretty favorable, all things considered, but we must look ahead.
First: the question of financing our new house. We propose to keep 4 rooms for offices and the kitchen and bath room take off two. This leaves 8 rooms to dispose [of]. Of those the proprietor reserves two (besides two almost useless rooms in the garret.) Miss Thornton who will run the house for us takes one room and Mrs. Charles Roden Buxton [takes] one as a pied à terre at Geneva for herself, her husband or her sister [Miss] Jebb. This leaves 4 rooms to rent. 1 chamber on the second floor, 2 on the third and a studio entered separately from the garden.
My idea is that the rental of the 8 rooms ought to cover heating (very expensive) light, water, [care], etc. for the whole house, leaving us to carry a rental of 2,800 (instead of, as formerly, 3000 plus heating.
The great question remaining is furnishing. The furniture for the offices I will take squarely out of our funds which will make a bad [hole].
Of the eight rooms to be let, [M. Rerard] takes care of his two and Miss Thornton of hers. (besides paying rent and [giving] her services. She is most generous.) This leaves 5 to furnish (or we may let some unfurnished). We have bought old things, tables, chairs, 1 bed etc. etc. from the old occupiers to the extent of about $200. I think Miss Cheever's gift will go to pay for this. We may have a loan of furniture, linen and so forth and some of our sections propose to send us some things but I doubt if it amounts to any serious help.
Still we have to face the necessity of paying out quite a sum ↑soon↓ for furniture. There ought to be represented in the rental and repaid in the course of say 8 or 9 years.
I wish it might interest an individual here and there to furnish one room, even if necessary roaming it.
The cost of furnishing a room would be here not far from the expense of the same thing in the U.S. I cannot tell you more precisely than that.
I propose of course to establish an entirely separate accounting for our League [premises] and for the house.
Have you anything to suggest on this head of furnishing. I would [page 2] write a personal letter ["documents"] to any [person] or persons, if any, that you would think well to approach.
2). The Balkan Mission. If this is put off till spring it gives us more time to turn round.
I wish we might secure support for the plan in America. It does seem to me an interesting one. We should try to find individuals and as far as possible organize groups, for [reconciliation] among the Balkan peoples to act as branches of our League and to work for our [program]. Mr. Nasmyth reports our Bulgarian friends very active, the Athenian Lyceum wants to affiliate with us, we should try what we can do in [Romania] and Serbia. Dr. Patrick and Miss Joannides will be [invaluable] in Constantinople. The expense will be relatively small it seems to me. If $1500 is really enough it does seem as if we ought to secure this especially as Mr. Buxton will give something toward it. The support by the perhaps foremost authority in the Balkan out to be a good talking point. I think Mrs. Wertheim, Morgenthaus daughter, might help.
The role of the Executive Committee was to the effect that this mission should be undertaken only if the funds could be raised ad hoc.
3. The question of general expenses and the future.
a). I shall try to make the money in hand and incidental receipts carry us through our full two years that to May 1921. I will do better if I can of course. But we shall have printing etc. hard to estimate beforehand, 100 was offered to Miss Marshall for expenses for a stay here.
b). We must collect money for the forthcoming congress -- $6000. This is a very rough estimate. It was voted to have a special paid organizer.
c). The expenses for continuing our work -- May 1921 till the Congress of 1923. Do you think we should try to raise this money or a large part of it along with the money for the congress? or at the Congress? Last time we did no money raising at the Congress but I think we could do so.
I do not get the impression that it will be easy to get any considerable sums from any of our sections.
At the same time we are constantly gaining new friends and I think have reason to feel that our somewhat romantic venture is worth maintaining.
My idea is to issue a financial statement and request to collect funds to all our Sections as soon as the summer hiatus is at an end.
I shall be very grateful for any suggestions (or draft) for such an appeal and of course I count on your personal devotion, much as I do hate to propose any new burdens.
There is another matter I ought to speak of: my oldest sister who has always carried the whole family on her shoulder has had a bad breakdown and we must probably face an immediate and radical change in all the arrangements involving the living plans of my aunt, over 80, a widowed cousin and 3 unmarried sisters besides myself, with [a] big old house and barn both crammed full of family gear accumulating in them for just 40 years! Except myself there is not one person in good health in the group. It is quite a problem and it looks to me as if it might be impossible for me to continue here after the close of the two years service, 1919-1921. If we can afford to pay an adequate salary and $2000 is that, we can find a good person to take the position. But who? We must also be considering that problem.
You will not find anyone who will be happier in the work than I have been or who will feel it a great privilege.
Affectionately yours,
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