Alexander Hume Ford to Jane Addams, February 16, 1925

My dear Miss Addams:

Your letter addressed to Mrs. A. L. Andrews, chairman of the local committee for the Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in 1928, has been turned over to me, as corresponding secretary. Mrs. Andrews has asked me to give you her personal aloha and to tell you we are all looking forward to having you here in 1928 and hope that nothing will interfere.

Of course we are all delighted, and will arrange the stationery as you suggest. It makes a real goal for us to work for, and our coworkers and friends in Australia and the Orient will be delighted too and will work that much harder to make it a success. They are writing us from Australia even now that they know it is going to be the most successful affair ever held in the Pacific. While we do not include India in our Pan-Pacific area, as it is not on the Pacific Ocean, we have been requested to invite women from India this time, and men too, as they are intensely interested in women's affairs.

Mr. Ford asked me to send you the Mid-Pacific Magazine, and anything else I could think of, in fact, send you everything we have, and tell you that he loves you. A newspaper clipping is enclosed, which surely does not do justice to the lovely photograph you sent, but that is the way of newspaper photographs. We are putting you on the complimentary list of the Mid-Pacific Magazine, which in the January, February, March and April numbers is publishing the proceedings of the Pan-Pacific Food Conservation Conference held here last August. We are also mailing you the proceedings of our Pan-Pacific Educational Conference held in August 1921, and the Pan-Pacific Press Conference held in October 1921, also resolutions of our very first Conference, the Pan-Pacific Scientific Conference held in August 1920. Our fourth conference was one of commercial leaders in November 1922, and our fifth and last the Food Conference last August.

This is our method of bringing about better relations in the Pacific, that is, calling conferences which are attended by delegates from all Pacific lands. We keep the number small, about one hundred, so that each one is personally acquainted with all the others, and wonderful friendships are [page 2] made and kept for years to come. Our idea is to call the first conference in Hawaii, and then about three years later, another on the same subject in another Pacific land. This is working out beautifully in the Science Conferences. Our first was held here in 1920; the second was held three years later in Australia; and the third is scheduled for October 1926 in Tokyo. The fourth is now being discussed in New Zealand, and I believe it will soon be decided to call it there in 1929.

At all our five conferences there have been just one or two women delegates, but our Pan-Pacific Women's Conference in 1928 is primarily a women's affair, although there will be men invited. We have a large central committee, including women from all the different races in Hawaii, and representing every organization in town interested in women's work, about seventy in all. Out of this committee [a] smaller executive committee is chosen, of which Mrs. A. L. Andrews is chairman (also of the larger central committee) and Mrs. Francis M. Swanzy is honorary chairman. The executive committee also appointed a representative committee, with Miss Margaret Bergen as chairman, to prepare the agenda, and we cannot do much more at this time until this material is ready in tentative form to mail all over the Pacific, calling for suggestions and additions. We have sent for program of the Women's Conference (Pan-American) to be held in Washington this spring, and I know Miss Bergen is already corresponding with you. We are very fortunate to have Miss Bergen working on the agenda committee. She is a very wonderful person for Hawaii to have.

We have been hearing your name quite a little recently from visitors, namely, Mrs. C. E. Cumberson and a Mrs. Thomas, who, I believe, went with you to Europe on peace work during the war.

Perhaps the enclosed agenda for the Food Conference will give you a better idea of the way in which the men have managed the last five conferences. There were some twelve on the committee, each representing a certain branch of Food Conservation. This bulletin, which is printed monthly and sent out by the Pan-Pacific Union to a Pacific mailing list, which sent with a letter requesting additions and corrections, etc. Perhaps Miss Bergen's committee will have something like this, or they may have their own individual way of doing it. At any rate, we are planning no special conferences except perhaps a Transportation Conference in 1927, and of course the Science Conference in Tokyo in 1926, which of course will be run by the National Research Council in Tokyo, assisted by the Pan-Pacific Association in Tokyo, of which Prince I. Tokugawa is president. He is also an honorary president of the Pan-Pacific Union, as you will see by our letterhead. In fact, I believe you spoke at their weekly luncheon in Tokyo.

So you see the Women's Conference is the most important thing on the horizon, and I hope I have not tired you with this long recital. Mr. Ford says it is all in the women's hands, and aside from raising the money for expenses of the conference, he is not responsible.

With best wishes, and a deep sense of gratitude for your promise to help us, I am,

Truly yours,