142 American College Presidents and 77 Social Scientists Send German Colleagues Protest Against into

In a “statement of belief”, addressed to the heads of every institution of higher learning in Germany, 142 presidents of colleges and universities and 77 of this country’s leading social scientists in every section of the United States have signed a declaration inspired by the recent political developments in Germany affecting Jewish and other minority elements, which is today being forwarded to the German educators by the National Conference of Jews and Christians.

Accompanying the statement, which was characterizeod as being “in no sense a protest but rather a scientific approach to a problem and an appeal for common sense”, are individual expressions of opinion from a number of the signers, as well as a declaration from Newton D. Baker, co-chairman of the National Conference, “It looks now as though attention had turned away from the Jews to the Catholics. After a while, it will be against some other group until those who are generating the hatreds will be in a minority. Then all of the victims will get together, constitute a majority, and the episode will end with the biter being bitten until he cries for mercy.”

The statement, originally worked out and signed by the social scientists and later concurred in by the college and university presidents, notes that minorities are suppressed and discriminated against to some degree in every land. It then proceeds, “But the growing interdependence of the world makes it appropriate that individuals far from Germany should express their concern about the intense anti-Jewish campaign. As different cultural and racial groups come into close contact with one another, conflict is a frequent result. There are always those who want to destroy, or render impotent those who greatly differ from them. Such an effort is likely to be an emotional and not a rational reaction, and is diametrically opposed to principles of sound statecraft.

“A poverty stricken world cannot afford bitter hostility and the denial of civil and religious rights. We believe that the general welfare of Germany—as of every other nation—will best be served by a friendly policy toward all minorities. Indeed modern society is discovering that civilization means the increasing provision for minorities. The world is too small for persecution. Intolerance in every nation is a world concern.”

Among the signers who made individual expressions of opinion to the National Conference:

President Henry Noble MacCracken of Vassar College, who said: “We must not be party to a dishonest education, a liberty of lies, a religion rotten at the core. There is no quarantine against passion. The world has become a social unit and, if we want to live honestly in America, we must make our stand known throughout the world.”

The social scientists who drafted and those who signed the statement, are:

Edward J. Allen, Nels Anderson, William L. Bailey, Walter G. Beach, Howard Becker, W. S. Bittner, Herbert Blumer, Emory S. Bogardus, Neva L. Boyd, Henry M. Busch, William F. Byron, J. McKeen Cattell, Walter J. Campbell Helen I. Clarke, Joanna C. Colcord, Wray H. Congdon, George A. Counts, Jerome Davis, Earl S. Dellman, Edmund de S. Brunner, Robert C. Dexter, Edwin L. Earp, Thomas D. Eliot, Charles A. Ellwood, Sarle Eubank,

Also Mildred Fairchild, James H. Gilbert, J. L. Gillin, Willystine Goodsell, Charlotte Gower, Elsa Beatty Grove, Ernest R. Groves, Francis J. Haas, Fred S. Hall, Frank H. Hankins, Ralph S. Harlow, Hornell Hart, George E. Haynes, Frank W. Hoffer, Roy H. Holmes, Floyd V. House, Earl Dean Howard, Ralph G. Hurlin, Henry J. Jeddeloh, Howard E. Jensen, Eugene M. Kayden, William H. Kilpatrick, Susan M. Kingsbury, E. L. Kirkpatrick, J. H. Kolb, Benson Y. Landis, Ralph Linton.

Also Robert Lynd, R. M. MacIver, Ernest R. Mowrer, Lowry Nelson, Reinhold Niebuhr, W. F. Ogburn, Frederick A. Ogg, Constantine Panunzio, Walter W. Pettit, Charles N. Reynolds, E. A. Ross, Frank A. Ross, Edward Sapir, Newell L. Sims, Samuel A. Stouffer, Robert L. Sutherland, Arthur Swift, Walter A. Terpenning, Arthur J. Todd, W. Russell Tylor, Mary Van Kleeck, Louis Wirth, W. H. Worrell, Dale Yoder, and Donald Young.