Declaring war on war, 10,000 men, women and children marched in a week-end parade to give expression to their pacifist sentiments, under sponsorship of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, Norman Thomas, Dr. John Haynes Holmes, Kirby Page and others.
Festive mood prevailed in Madison Square Park, where speakers exhorted the participants in the greatest demonstration for peace ever staged in the city to abstain from participation in the next war.
Placards proclaimed the intention of the paraders to go to jail, if necessary, for their convictions. Particular enthusiasm was aroused when Dr. Holmes declared there is more honor in a conscientious objector’s prison cell than in a trench on the field of battle.
Rabbi Sidney E. Goldstein presided at the mass meeting and Frank Olmstead was grand marshal.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.