Mayor LaGuardia repeated to the American Jewish Congress Women’s Division today the words that aroused an international furor a year ago that Hitler is a menace to world peace — and he expressed the certainty that world opinion would soon crush that menace.
In an impromptu address to more than 1,000 women who crowded the Hotel Astor’s grand ballroom for the women’s division’s fifth annual luncheon, the Mayor denounced Germany’s conquest of Austria and oppression of minorities, and ridiculed a plebiscite supervised by storm troops.
Mayor La Guardia’s address, which had been awaited as the feature of the luncheon, came after Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, noted Christian liberal, had proposed the use of United States warships to transport German and Austrian refugees to this country. It was followed by the adoption of a resolution pledging support to the Government’s plan for international aid to refugees and an address by Dr. Stephen S. Wise who criticized the Archbishop of Canterbury for calling Hitler’s methods in Austria “peaceful.”
The Mayor, who promised in a recent speech that he would leave international politics to the State Department, appeared unwilling to launch into the type of anti-Nazi attack for which he has become noted. But the audience shouted “No!” when he remarked that it must be weary of speeches, and protested when he suggested that he leave “the artillery” to Dr. Stephen S. Wise.
Accordingly, after a sally regarding the Nazi attacks on American women by saying, “Let the record show you all come from respectable homes,” and after lauding Mrs. Catt’s speech, the Mayor declared:
“It is indeed a sad commentary on present civilization that we witness the conditions that exist in Europe today. It is almost unbelievable that in this day and age, after all the world has gone through, that it is possible for one nation to move into another and to conquer what was once a free and happy people. And no one can be happy in the world as long as such conditions are permitted.
“That brings up constantly before us the great question, if the democracies are to survive. Brute force, arrogance, greed, selfishness and brutality have taken the place of international law, comradeliness and nobleness.
“We stand here as a living proof that democracy is possible if the people have their will, and no plebiscite means anything when it is conducted under the supervision of machine-guns and bayonets and storm troops.
“Our country naturally is interested in oppression of minorities. You know, it doesn’t take a brave man to take an innocent, elderly, scholarly professor out of his home and make him do menial work. That displays all the bestial traits of a contemptible coward, and one who is the first to squawk when anything is said here. I feel confident, somehow, that these conditions cannot endure. The decency of the world revolts against them.”
He concluded: “I am sure that the great message of the great President of the United States a few days ago made a profound impression on the chancelleries of Europe. At least there is one land that says, ‘Shame, shame on your outrageous conduct.’… I said there was a menace a year ago, and you see there is a menace. In spite of all the machine-guns, all the tanks, all the brute force, I am certain that all the enlightened opinion of the world will soon crush that menace.”
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