An appeal for “a love as rich as that of mother” in the growing wave of intolerance and factional hatred was made by Estelle M. Sternberger, executive director of World Peaceways, speaking at the Mother’s Day dinner at the Hotel Astor.
She said in part:
“I, for one, refuse to bow to those who would substitute the will of man for the will of God, the rule of the jungle for the rule of humanity. Knowing as I do that in my blood there is the commingling of many races, how can I utter any doctrine that stamps another people as organically inferior and doomed to grovel in the dust? Our country is again astir with the spiritual kin of the Ku Klux Klan. What a betrayal of mother love-these movements that set race against race, religion against religion, in this democracy!”
Mrs. Theresa Mayer Durlach, president of World Peaceways, demanded “foresight rather than hindsight” in a determination to secure the welfare of the children
“Let us forever beware of backward glances,” she said, “lest we find ourselves actually turning backwards and descending to those depths of tyranny and barbarism exemplified by the present day worshipers of the glories of ancient Rome and barbaric Germany.”
Mrs. James Roosevelt, mother of the President, was guest of honor, and Bainbridge Colby presided as toastmaster of the affair.
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.
