Now–editorial Notes

The Madison Square Garden meeting at which Hitlerism was tried and convicted by representatives of American public opinion was impressive and dignified. The voice of America made itself heard in denunciation of the Nazi crimes against civilization. The conscience of America expressed itself in unmistakable terms.

Judge Samuel Seabury, who summed up the case of civilization against Hitlerism, delivered a masterful address. He marshaled the facts of Nazi iniquities with the genius of a great jurist and demanded with inspiring eloquence and stirring sincerity the conviction of the Nazi regime of terror by the civilized world.

“Hitlerism is determined to establish its supremacy in Germany and throughout the world even though, in order to accomplish this result, it must pass over the corpse of civilization,” Judge Seabury exclaimed. “The public opinion of the world will stop this advance. Hitlerism shall not pass over a highway strewn with the wrecks of Western civilization. It shall not pass that way–no, not until the stars have darkened and the sun has set in the heavens, never to rise again.

“The reason why Hitler cannot succeed is that a force greater than he will overcome him. The force that shall overthrow him is the public opinion of the world… But public opinion must be aroused. It must be organized. The emergency is great; the need for immediate action vital. It must be crystallized at once and it must find expression in a boycott against Hitlerism–a boycott as wide as civilization and as powerful and as strong as humanity.”

And Judge Seabury concluded thus:

“Public opinion as the force and boycott as the weapon will break the power of Hitlerism. It will clear it from the pathway of developing and advancing civilization which it now obstructs and thus accord to the world the only opportunity it has for the preservation of world peace.”

Senator Tydings, who introduced the resolution calling upon the United States Senate to express its protest against the horrors of the Hitler regime, also stirred the huge gathering by striking the right note of true Americanism in his powerful address.

“Some, of short vision, will think this meeting vain and ill-conceived,” he declared. “They will hold the tenets that what happens without our country, no matter how grievous the occurrence, how great the disaster, how inimical it may be to the peace of the nations, or how such policies may eventually affect our own citizenship, that, nevertheless, we should remain quiescent until the disaster overtakes us. To them I would say that the ostrich is not a human being nor a fit leader for human beings, and the actions of the ostrich should not be a guide for the actions of intelligent people anywhere.

“The unerring finger of history shows us over and over again that group hatreds, once engendered, do not stop at boundary lines, for hate is a disease of the mind no less than plague is a disease of the body. Generally speaking, we cannot secure tolerance for ourselves without safeguarding tolerance for others; we cannot secure peace and happiness for ourselves with out safeguarding in so far as we may properly do so peace and happiness for the 600,000 persecuted Jews of Germany.”

All the addresses delivered at the Madison Square Garden meeting were effectively representative of American public opinion. Some were oratorical masterpieces. But the addresses of Judge Seabury and Senator Tydings were outstanding achievements. They went to the very root of the problem. They examined with profound understanding the outbreak of barbarism in Germany and its inevitable effect upon the civilized world. They made it absolutely clear why the civilized world, why America must not remain silent any longer in the face of the growing menace of Hitlerism. And they proposed the remedy.

The epidemic of Hitlerism must be isolated. The battle of public opinion for civilization and peace, against Hitlerism and war, must now be organized.