The CHAIRMAN. Did you carry on propaganda, or educational work, with reference to any of the issues of the present campaign? Mrs. MORRISSON. Both those organizations had worked for the World Court, of course, for a long time; and after the measure was won-it was not originally an issue in the campaign. Mr. Smith's first statements on the subject were quite guarded. After the measure was won and attacks on the court became more vehement, some of our women became rather confused and did not understand; and so I did get out, through the League Bulletin, a personal letter to the president of the federation. I got out a letter, a copy of which I have here, if you wish to see it, asking them, if possible, to put on a World Court meeting so that the matter could be explained to their members so that they would understand it; and I also informed them of the stand of all four candidates for the Senate on the measure, thinking that would be an item that might interest them in making their decisions; and I enclosed a statement concerning the court, and what I believed entry into the court really involved, for them to read at their meetings if they were not able to have a special World Court meeting. I did not attempt to influence anyone's decision or anyone's vote for a candidate, but I had thought, inasmuch as we had worked for this measure for a long time, and inasmuch as some people were becoming confused by attacks on the court, that it was my duty to give them such additional information as might help them in making up their minds. The CHAIRMAN. No one challenges your right to do that, Mrs. Morrisson. Have you the letters you said you would show me? Mrs. MORRISSON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. May I have these copies? Mrs. MORRISSON. Yes. I have some additional copies if you want them, Senator. The CHAIRMAN. You may mark the letter and the paper, which the witness states was inclosed, with the appropriate exhibit number. (The documents above referred to were marked Exhibit No. 268. They are as follows:) EXHIBIT No. 268' ILLINOIS FEDERATION OF WOMEN'S CLUBS, [Mrs. George Thomas Palmer, Springfield, president; Mrs. James W. Morrisson, 1431 North State Parkway, Chicago, chairman of international relations] DEAR CLUB PRESIDENT: If there is any possibility that you can put on a speaker on international affairs between now and the 13th of April, I very earnestly urge that you try to do so. Two excellent speakers are available-Mr. Alden Alley, a former officer in the American Expeditionary Force, who can be reached at the Hotel Grenada, and Mrs. Lucia Ames Mead, who can be reached at Hull House. Both will come for expenses only and both are thoroughly familiar with their subject. If this is impossible, then will you please read at your next meeting the inclosed statement about the World Court situation? You know how hard we have worked for this measure. We must not let ourselves be frightened into tamely giving up a thing which has cost so much to win. Very cordially yours, MARY FOUKE MORRISSON, Chairman of International Relations. STATEMENT ON THE WORLD COURT SITUATION Mrs. JAMES W. MORRISSON As you know, in spite of the fact that both political parties strongly indorsed the World Court in their platforms, opposition to it is being used as an issue in the present campaign. Of the Democratic candidates for Senator, Mr. Monroe states that he is opposed to it--Mr. Brennan that it is unimportant compared to the repeal of the Volstead Act. Of the Republican candidates, Mr. McKinley lived up to his platform pledges and voted to get us in with reservations, while Mr. Smith is making his campaign principally on the issue of getting us out of the court as quickly as possible. In the midst of all this hurly-burly it behooves us to keep a clear head and remember where we stand. Work for American entry into the World Court has been one of the major measures of the federation for three years. We have campaigned for it steadily. We have sent petitions to Congress and we have bombarded our Senators with requests that they vote for the measure. Its opponents are reviving all the old arguments which we thought we had downed when the matter went into the party platforms, stating that the court is a creature of the league and going into it will necessitate joining the league; that the court can compel us to change our immigration policy and other domestic policies; and that it is not possible for us to get justice on a court that has 14 foreigners to 1 American. As to the latter charge, the same holds true of every other country in the world. The judges are just as much foreigners to each other as they are to us, and most countries that have joined the court have no judge of their own nationality on this bench, although one may be appointed to help try cases affecting them if they so desire. What is more, many, if not most, of these nations are hereditary enemies that have fought each other off and on since the beginning of history. We are the only great power with no hereditary enemies. Why is the danger to us greater than it is to them? With reference to the other objections, please remember the reservations under which we go in: First, that entry into the court be not taken to mean entry into the League of Nations nor acceptance of any responsibility under the covenant. Language could not be plainer. In the second place, one of the few matters on which international law is perfectly clear is that immigration is a domestic policy only, and under the terms of the statute constituting the court the court has no jurisdiction over domestic policies. Therefore it could not under any conceivable circumstances direct our immigration policy. In the next place, our reservations state that we will not be bound by advisory opinions for which we have not asked, so that the court could not express an opinion on any matter affecting us unless we wished them to do so. The treaty constituting the court explicitly says that it will try only those cases that are referred to it by all the nations involved, and one of our reservations is that before any matter can be referred to the court the Senate must first vote to submit it by a two-thirds majority. We have not surrendered one iota of our rights by going in. We are the absolute judges as to whether or not we will submit any case to the court and on what terms. Our going in merely means that we thereby help to strengthen a piece of international machinery which is vitally necessary to the cause of world peace. We all know that the only alternative to the use of force between nations is a world court of justice, permanent and efficient, and educating the nations to use it. We know that this court was established finally in accordance with the plans drawn up by Elihu Root in 1907. It is an American idea, not European, as its opponents claim. We have worked to secure American entry because obviously it is not a World Court as long as the greatest, richest, and most powerful nation in the world is out of it. We must lend it our moral support. We must use it whenever possible, but in so doing we have not abandoned even a shadow of our rights. For three years the club women of this country have been working for this thing. Are we going to allow ourselves now to be stampeded into tamely giving up a thing we played so large a part in securing? The CHAIRMAN. You endeavored by the means that you have just described to reach the members of your organization, I take it, Mrs. Morrisson? Mrs. MORRISSON. Yes. We had never been able to supply requests for speakers. We had always had more requests for speakers on the World Court than we were able to supply, you see, and I thought this might help reach the general membership.. The CHAIRMAN. In carrying on this propaganda for the World Court, did you have some funds? Mrs. MORRISSON. This is an account of the moneys spent through the Federation of Clubs. There should be two additional items which I paid for; personally an item of $60 the first year I was in office and an item of about $20, which was the cost of mimeographing and sending out that last letter. I do not remember exactly what it was, but is was not more than $20 or $25 at the outside. The CHAIRMAN. Well, the total of all of it Mrs. MORRISSON. Was about $83. The CHAIRMAN. Was less than $100. Mrs. MORRISSON. I think so. The CHAIRMAN. All right. Mrs. MORRISSON. This is for the Illinois League of Women Voters [handing document to the chairman]. The CHAIRMAN. And the total of your receipts for the League of Women Voters is what? Mrs. MORRISSON. You see, this World Court came under the work of that department of international cooperation, and they had a good many other things that they did. That is as near as I could get to the outside sum that we spent on the World Court work. The CHAIRMAN. You are handing me, then, a statement, not of the total expenses of the league, but of that part of the expenses which you think ought to be allocated to the league work? Mrs. MORRISSON. Yes, Senator Reed. The CHAIRMAN. And you figure that to be $145? Mrs. MORRISSON. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. But you have had other funds outside of this which you employed for the purposes of your league? Mrs. MORRISSON. Oh, yes. The CHAIRMAN. Can you tell what the amount of that expense was? Mrs. MORRISSON. What; the federation or the League of Women Voters? The CHAIRMAN. The two organizations. Mrs. MORRISSON. You see, this letter was sent out to the Federation of Women's Clubs. I was their chairman of international relations, and that represents the total expense for the federation. The federation does not rent a large office. The CHAIRMAN. How about the League of Women Voters? Mrs. MORRISSON. The League of Women Voters had a larger office. Of course, we put on citizenship schools. The CHAIRMAN. You put on what? Mrs. MORRISSON. We put on citizenship schools. We do a lot of straight educational-work politics. The CHAIRMAN. This letter went out to the papers? Mrs. MORRISSON. That is the federation-the Federation of Women's Clubs. The CHAIRMAN. It did not go to members of the League of Women Voters? Mrs. MORRISSON. No; it did not. The CHAIRMAN. I do not want to obtrude into business that is not purely the business of this committee. I will ask you this general questions, and perhaps that will clear it up. Did the League of Women Voters take any part, as an organization, in the last senatorial primary or the present senatorial contest? Mrs. MORRISSON. Not at all. The CHAIRMAN. Did you send out letters or propaganda of any kind indicating a preference of any kind for any candidates? Mrs. MORRISSON. No. We published the candidates' records, Senator Reed [handing a document to the chairman], stating the stand of all of the candidates for Senator on a good many different issues, you understand. The World Court was only one. The CHAIRMAN. After you publish the candidates' records you make some comment then, do you not? Mrs. MORRISSON. No. The CHAIRMAN. About principles? Mrs. MORRISSON. No. The CHAIRMAN. The principles that your organization stands for? Mrs. MORRISSON. No; not at all. We send out to the candidates a questionnaire, asking not a yes or no promise, or anything of that sort, but asking more or less how they stand on a number of measures. Some of them are measures in which we are particularly interested as women, and some of them are of general interest, because there are lots of very good men who as yet do not see all of our program, and we do not want to simply have people think that because they are opposed to some of the things we believe in they are not necessarily good men. Then we boil that down and print it, and we make no comment beyond that at all. I did have an editorial, after the World Court measure had passed, in one of the other numbers of the bulletin, stating the fact that it had passed and what I thought it meant, but nothing more than that. There was an article in one of the newspapers stating that I had hired those two speakers and got them to put on World Court meetings for Mr. McKinley, but that statement was very incorrect. I did not. That was the Federation of Women's Clubs. The CHAIRMAN. Did either of these organizations that you mention, the Federation of Women's Clubs or the League of Women Voters, receive any funds for any candidate for office? Mrs. MORRISSON. No. The League of Women Voters carries candidates' advertising in their bulletin, but it is an equal amount from all candidates. They sell them space. That is no contribution whatever. The CHAIRMAN. They do sell space? Mrs. MORRISSON. We sell advertising space, but we try to have it the same amount of space to all the candidates for the same office. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. Mrs. MORRISSON. We do not have one candidate for Senator buy more than another, for instance. The CHAIRMAN. What compensation do they pay? Mrs. MORRISSON. I am not sure. I think it was about $40 for the space they had. The CHAIRMAN. It was not a large sum? Mrs. MORRISSON. Not a large sum; no. The CHAIRMAN. About the price of a good hat. Mrs. MORRISSON. It depends on who is buying the hat. The CHAIRMAN. I am speaking of the modest individual like myself, not of a really good hat. Mrs. MORRISSON. I am speaking of my hats also. The CHAIRMAN. I think that is all, Mrs. Morrisson. TESTIMONY OF F. SCOTT MCBRIDE-Resumed (The witness was sworn by the chairman.) The CHAIRMAN. I believe you have testified in these hearings before, Mr. McBride, have you not? Mr. MCBRIDE. I did, at Washington. The CHAIRMAN. I will ask you to state again your connection with the Anti-Saloon League. Mr. MCBRIDE. I am the general superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of America. The CHAIRMAN. The duties of that office, I presume, are such as naturally would be suggested by the title? Mr. MCBRIDE. Yes: I would think so. The CHAIRMAN. And, of course, you know Mr. Safford? Mr. MCBRIDE. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know a Reverend O'Brien-- The CHAIRMAN. Who resides in Chicago? Mr. MCBRIDE. I know him slightly. I met him once. The CHAIRMAN. When? Mr. MCBRIDE. I do not remember the exact date. Some time in September. I can refresh my memory on that from a memorandum-September 26, 1926. The CHAIRMAN. Where did you meet Reverend O'Brien? Mr. MCBRIDE. I met him in our Anti-Saloon League office here. in Chicago. The CHAIRMAN. Where is that? Mr. MCBRIDE. 1200 Security Building. The CHAIRMAN. Who was present? Mr. MCBRIDE. Doctor Safford, Mr. O'Brien, and myself. The CHAIRMAN. Who arranged the meeting? Mr. MCBRIDE. As I recall, Mr. O'Brien called me by telephone and asked to see us. He arranged it through Doctor Safford. I happened to be in the city-going through. The CHAIRMAN. Were you at this conference as a matter of accident or were you requested to be present? Mr. MCBRIDE. Doctor Safford invited me to be present. I was in the city and in Doctor Safford's office that morning and he told me that a committee from some group interested in the candidacy of some independent was going to call at 3 o'clock-2 or 3 o'clockand asked me to attend. The CHAIRMAN. An independent candidate for the Senate? |