Protests are continuing to pour in at Milwaukee State Teachers’ College against the plan of the college’s band to accept a purported German government subsidy to tour Hitlerland.
Letters of criticism have been sent to Dr. Frank Baker, president of the college, from members of the Milwaukee Musicians’ Union, from the Committee to Aid Victims of German Fascism, the John Reed Club, National Students’ League and other organizations. Raymond Brown, concert director of the Milwaukee Philharmonic Orchestra, also has protested.
The executive committee of the League Against War and Fascism in a communication to Dr. Baker expressed its alarm at learning that the college, “a government supported institution, contemplates sending a fifty-two piece band on an extended trip through Germany. This tour, sponsored by the Hamburg-German Lloyd Lines, direct agents of Hitler’s Fascist government, is clearly designed to propagandize for a favorable impression of the Nazi regime.”
“We hold this to involve direct fraternization with Fascism and urge immediate measures to cancel the contemplated tour,” the league added.
Dr. Baker refused to heed appeals, denying the tour was subsidized, though the students will pay but $100, it was reported, for a tour normally costing $563. Dr. Baker declared the remaining cost is to be made up by concerts the students are to give in Germany. The trip is to be made this summer. More agitation against it is expected in the next few weeks.
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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.
