To members of the Executive Committee.
Geneva, February 27th, 1925.
Dear Friends,
I. Czechoslovakia. Please find enclosed copies
a) of the answer of the Czech group to my enquiry about the "National Committee,"
b) of my letter to both the Czech and the German group.
I cannot remember to have heard of anything but their joint application for admission, nor could I find any mention of their declaration in the Minutes of either the Executive Meeting or the Congress. Perhaps Miss Balch will remember what it was they handed to her.
II. Next Executive Meeting.
Miss Addams and Miss Balch both suggest to hold our yearly Executive Meeting in the first half of July, when Miss Balch will be in Europe and could attend it. (She will be in Tunis, c/o. Crédit Lyonnais, in the first half of March).
Place of the Executive Meeting.
It would be delightful to have you come to Geneva, if railway-fares and living expenses were not so very high. (An article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, states that since 1914 prices went up in the Switzerland by 72, in England by 71, in the United States by 59%). Mme. Duchêne would be very glad if we could have the meeting not too far from Interlaken where she is staying in summer, because she can leave her chalet only for a very short time. I wonder whether Austria, near the Swiss border, would be more convenient for the delegates coming from Eastern Europe, and the journey there perhaps cheaper even for those coming from the West.
Date. It seems to me that Monday, the 6th of July, would be quite convenient as opening day, because it would give some days for preparations and journey to those delegates who as parents or as teachers are dependent upon the end of school-time.
As soon as I receive your answers, I shall issue the invitation to the sections, in order to give due time for an exchange of opinions and for their suggestions.
Agenda. Besides the reports on work and finances and their discussion I think the following questions must be discussed:
a) the new wording of our object. Although it was put on the very first Preliminary Agenda of the Washington Congress, acknowledged by the British Section on January 21st, 1924, and there is no reason whatever to change the resolution of Washington before our next Congress, it is necessary to discuss it frankly with one another, as some doubts have arisen about the origin of the resolution.
b) Appointment of an acting International Secretary. Since some time I have been feeling that I do not possess the full confidence and approval of either all the members of the Executive Committee, or of all the sections. This may be entirely my fault; the work of almost [page 2] 20 years as president of our Association for Suffrage and Peace in Hungary, in a very close comradeship with fellow-workers who gave absolute confidence to one another, I have perhaps become too informal in my ways of proceeding. The horrible amount of suffering I have seen [nearby] during the war and two revolutions have made me impatient whenever I see the slightest possibility to bring some help and to prevent some suffering; friends in happier countries have found me perhaps inconsiderate therefore. And then there is the difficulty of corresponding in foreign languages which can often be a source of misunderstanding, especially as confidential letters cannot always be corrected by an outsider from the linguistic point of view.
You remember perhaps that it was not the ambition to be the responsible head of our Central office that brought me to Geneva; it was the great kindness of Miss Addams and Miss Balch who wanted me to get out of Hungary and to whom I shall always be most sincerely grateful for their invitation and for their help to come here. I meant to help with the work Emily Balch and Marguerite Gobat were doing here; but when I arrived, Marg. Gobat had left the office and I thought I should have to replace her; but as another sad surprise, Miss Balch was in such a bad state of health that after less than a month of working together she had to leave and I was left in charge, very little informed and instructed about the traditions of work.
I do not allow myself to be sensitive about what probably is the natural outcome of circumstances and individual nature. But as there is in me much faith ↑in↓ and devotedness to the principles on which the foundation of our League has been based, and as it is my ardent desire to promote their [realization], I feel that we want at the Geneva office a personality possessing the confidence of all our fellow-workers around the world and inspiring them to take part in our work with enthusiasm, I beg to [illegible] suggest therefore:
that each of you should kindly look around among the fellow-workers well known to her, and propose one of them to be appointed acting International Secretary at the Executive Meeting. I should work with her for a short time and give her all the information about local conditions of work in and outside the office, she would stay here as acting Secretary until the next Congress and if her work proves to be satisfactory, we shall then propose her for election.
III. Next Congress. It is high time to agree upon place and date of our next Congress, if we went to get out all kinds of information to the sections in time to avoid recriminations afterwards. ↑(↓The International Woman Suffrage Alliance has just decided to have their next Congress in 1926 at Paris↑)↓. So the Executive Meeting will have to decide about that too.
In view of a very busy summer and of serious questions which are to be settled with my family and with the Board of Education in Hungary, I am leaving for Budapest one of the next days. As I have seen (after long agonies) the last profits of the Half-yearly Report and prepared the manuscript of the next News Letter, I hope Mme. Tunas will be able to post them in the first half of March. As soon as I have your answers, I shall draft the Circular Letter to the sections and send it back for duplication. If you agree with the suggestion to have the Executive meeting in July, I shall have to cable to the oversea-sections, in order to give them the time for sending in suggestions and to provide for delegates.
With kindest regards
yours very sincerely
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