SECRETARY OF STATE CORDELL HULL, IN WHAT WAS INTERPRETED AS A REFERENCE TO THE NAZIS, WARNED MONDAY NIGHT THAT IF A POPULATION OF FOREIGN BIRTH TAKES ORDERS FROM GOVERNMENTS OR POLITICAL PARTIES ABROAD, “A SITUATION WOULD ARISE WHICH WOULD FILL US WITH FOREBODING.”
MR. HULL ADDRESSED AN AUDIENCE OF AMERICAN LEGION LEADERS, GOVERNORS, MAYORS, UNITED STATES SENATORS AND OTHER DIGNITARIES AT A DINNER GIVEN BY HARRY W. COLMERY, RETIRING COMMANDER OF THE LEGION, AT THE HOTEL PENNSYLVANIA. MR. HULL SAID, NEAR THE CLOSE OF HIS ADDRESS.
“WE ARE A YOUNG COUNTRY, WITH INFUSIONS OF BLOOD FROM MANY NATIONS OF THE WORLD, OFTEN WITH CONFLICTING PHILOSOPHIES AND DIVERGENT SENSES OF VALUE. AND IT HAS BEEN THE GENIUS OF AMERICA THAT INSTEAD OF LOSING VITALITY FROM A MIXTURE OF THESE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS, WE HAVE DRAWN NEW STRENGTH FROM THEM, AND MERGED THEM INTO A SINGLE NATION, HAVING ITS OWN TRADITIONS, ITS OWN BELIEFS AND ITS OWN INSTITUTIONS.
“MEN WHO HAVE COME TO OUR SHORES AND SETTLED IN OUR MIDST HAVE NOT LOOKED BACKWARD TO THE LANDS FROM WHICH THEY HAVE COME, BUT FORWARD TO THEIR FUTURE AND THEIR CHILDREN’S FUTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. THEY HAVE BECOME AN INTEGRAL PART OF US, ANXIOUS TO ADOPT OUR WAYS, TO THINK OUR THOUGHTS, TO ACQUIRE OUR TOLERANCE, AND TO SHARE IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE.
“IF EVER OUR POPULATION OF FOREIGN BIRTH SHOULD PUT AMERICA SECOND, IF EVER IT SHOULD SUBORDINATE AMERICAN INTERESTS TO THE INTERESTS OF SOME OTHER COUNTRY, BY ACCEPTING DIRECTIONS GIVEN BY GOVERNMENTS OR POLITICAL PARTIES ABROAD, THEN INDEED A SITUATION WOULD ARISE THAT WOULD FILL US WITH FOREBODING.”
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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.
