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Talk Has Failed to Check Wars, Goldstein Says

May 4, 1934
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Vigorous denunciations of war were delivered by Rabbi Sidney E. Goldstein, Kirby Page, Rabbi Leo Jung, and Professor Reinhold Niebuhr at the Jewish Theological Seminary last night where, for the first time in the history of New York City students representing the theological seminaries of six religious beliefs held a rally to protest against war and war preparations.

“War cannot be ended by arms reductions or by degrees,” declared Dr. Goldstein, “it must be ended altogether or not at all.

“We must recognize,” said Rabbi Goldstein, “the failure of the instrumentalities in which we have trusted during the last generation. The League of Nations was organized to establish international cooperation, to reduce armaments, and to end war. But while the League has solved some minor controversies, it has failed in the greatest crises that have arisen on every continent. The peace pacts, including the Briand-Kellogg Treaty, have also failed because of the conditions, compromises, and reservations attached to the treaties.

“The disarmament conference has likewise failed chiefly because the delegates assumed the validity of the war system, and spent their time discussing reductions in tonnage and guns.

“There is only one way in which we can end the age old evil of war. In spite of all great inventions and modern devices of warfare today, war cannot be fought without manpower in the field and factory. When we withdraw the manpower from the service of the government in the prosecution of the war program, war will come to an end. Wars will cease only when men refuse to fight.”

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