Dear Miss Addams,
When I was over in the States in the fall of 1918, to interpret Avril de Sainte-Croix, I had the pleasure of meeting you at Miss Wald's Settlement in New-York City, & afterwards at Hull House, where you so kindly made us welcome & showed us so many splendid activities. I have often seen your name since, in various papers, & know how strenuously you, & Miss Emily Balch (whom I also met in N.Y. City &, later, at Geneva) & others whom I have the privilege of knowing (such as Mme Gabrielle Duchêne & [Mde] Gobat), or of having heard (like Mme Ragaz) are working in the interest of peace. That is what encourages me to write to you.
I have been much struck lately by the great increase of ill-feeling among many apparently sane members of the "leisured & cultured classes" in France, Germany & Switzerland. Meanwhile communism is -- unfortunately, for it might be so splendid -- busily spreading thoughts of violence among the ↑industrial↓ workers (of France & Germany especially), while the members of "civic leagues," & "fascists," & nationalists of all sorts, are doing their level best to stir up all dormant hatreds, & fan [page 2] sparks into flames.
Another thing that strikes me, as I meet people belonging to different peace associations on the Continent of Europe is what a multiplicity of unimportant societies there are -- some of them of quite respectable age -- & how very little contact the members of one society seem to have with those of another; at any rate in France & Switzerland, how sadly lacking in funds most of those societies are, how few members they have, how ignorant even cultured members of peace societies are of what books & newspaper articles are being published by others (even in their country & their language), that would be useful to them in their own propaganda work.
For instance, not one of the members of French or Swiss associations that I have met knew of Marie Lenèru's splendid play: La Paix, so useful for lending in French-speaking countries, among "intellectual" patriots & Roman-Catholics. Again, in the Progrès Civique (a Paris weekly paper) of 17th January 1925, there appeared a wonderful article of General Percin, on organizing the teaching of peace in schools. (I enclose it thinking that it will interest you.) Probably only five or six thousand people will read it in France & not even a handful in Belgium & Switzerland. I would give you many more examples of first-rate propaganda material remaining almost unused.
Peace-propaganda on the Continent of Europe is distinctly weak, only touching small groups. It certainly is so in France & Switzerland. It is probably even more so in [page 3] a number of other countries. Yet there is no time to lose. So many very good & peaceable people over here think we are heading straight for war & conclude that it is inevitable, that nothing can be done; they are helping to set up a very dangerous state of public-opinion. Since September last, when hope ran so high at Geneva, we have seriously gone back. There is a frightful amount of ill-feeling & bad faith even among citizens of the same nation, between members of different political groups for instance. Very violent language is the order of the day even among quiet, law-abiding people. (I am speaking of course of Europe, things may be better over in America.)
Do you not think it would immensely benefit the cause of peace if a central international Peace-Bureau were created, say in Switzerland, at some handy get-atable place -- Lugano or Locarno, for instance -- to centralize all information, from all countries, publish a small paper in French, German, English & perhaps Italian & Spanish, giving the titles of books, papers, etc. available ↑for various sorts of propaganda↓ & linking up all the peace-societies, at least in the Western World? -- In France, they are not even nationally linked up! In Switzerland, only recently so, & very insufficiently.
Could it not be set up a little after the pattern of the International Council of Women, all the peace-societies being invited to belong (as societies, not their individual members), thus contributing something towards expenses, & sending news & receiving every useful information? The Bureau itself could take the initiative of great propaganda campaigns, -- especially in those countries where such propaganda is particularly inefficient, -- or even of creating peace-societies where they do not [page 4] exist, & of helping in financial campaigns for existing leagues & speeding up their propaganda. It would encourage & assist every sort of [illegible] effort on behalf of peace in all countries, all religious bodies, all associations of teachers, trade-unions, etc. It would see to it that no book, or first-rate article, useful for propaganda, passed unnoticed.
So many people keep on starting, or trying to start, new little leagues or societies for promoting peace, many of which come to nothing, many of which are probably unnecessary, because they are meant to do exactly the same work as already existing ones. -- An International Peace Bureau would need to be backed by prominent names (outside government circles of course) & to have at its disposal considerable funds, in order that it might undertake, once at least in every country, a really efficient advertisement campaign (of striking posters & bills, stuck up all over the place, & of paid advertisements in all the nationalist & militarist papers). Nationalist and purely economic leagues manage to do this, & do it right royally, why not pacifists?
Such a Bureau would make for economy as it would do everything in its power to prevent overlapping in peace-[organizations]. As things stand at present, is there not even a danger of rivalries & jealousies among pacifists? -- for example between the members of a new, active, energetic, but small society & those of an old, rather dead -- & -- alive one, in the same country & with the same [program]. Such friction is particularly dangerous for the cause of peace: it spreads unpeaceful thoughts & creates a mentality that makes for strife, & it gives adversaries a splendid grievance. An International [page 5] Peace Bureau would [endeavor] tactfully to bring old & new leaders to work together harmoniously, & if may be in one society.
If I were wealthy, I should at once get into touch with peace-leaders & try to start this Bureau. Could not your league take the initiative of starting such a centralizing & quickening organization? I should think men like John D. Rockefeller Junior, Mr Ford, Mr Edward Filene in the U.S.A. & the Rothschilds, Frys, Wedgwoods, Levers in Great-Britain, & suchlike, would be willing to give large sums of money towards its establishment & upkeep, provided it were conducted on really business-like lines. The great thing would be to keep it absolutely independent of the influence of any government whatever.
Knowing all you have done & are doing in the interest of peace, I should be glad to know whether you think there is something in the above idea. I myself should prefer working for the cause of peace to anything else in the world -- having retired from the teaching of modern languages & being entirely free from family ties --, but, not being a person of means, I do not know how to set about it; at present I supplement my very small income by translation & other literary work in French.
With best remembrances, I am, dear Miss Addams,
Yours sincerely
Marie Butts
P.S. I should have written to Mr Rockefeller or Mr Ford but feel sure a letter would only reach a secretary's eye, not [theirs].
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