Page:Strike Against War speech.pdf/1



Helen Keller “came back” to New York last night, and before an audience that crowded Carnegie Hall handled the militarist propaganda in a manner that staggered opposition and left it, at least metaphorically, with its feet kicking in the air. The things that Miss Keller, the wonderful blind and deaf girl Socialist, had to say about the why of the militarist propaganda and the interests that are backing it were revelations to many who heard her. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Woman’s Peace Party and a group from the audience of the Labor Forum.

She Asks No Quarter.

Miss Keller’s speech follows in full:

“To begin with, I have a word to say to my good friends, the editors, and others who are moved to pity me. Some people are grieved because they imagine I am in the hands of unscrupulous persons who lead me astray and persuade me to espouse unpopular causes and make me the mouthpiece of their propaganda. Now, let it be understood, once for all, that I do not want their pity; I would not change places with one of them. I know what I am talking about. My sources of information are as good and reliable as anybody else’s. I have papers and magazines from England, France, Germany and Austria that I can read myself. Not all the editors I have met can do that. Quite a number of them have to take their French and German second hand. No, I will not disparage the editors. They are an overworked, misunderstood class. Let them remember, though, that if I cannot see the fire at the end of their cigarettes, neither can they thread a needle in the dark. All I ask, gentlemen, is a fair field and no favor. I have entered the fight against preparedness and against the economic system under which we live. It is to be a fight to the finish, and I ask no quarter.

“Throw Off These Burdens.”

“The future of the world rests in the hands of America. The future of America rests on the backs of 80,000,000 workingmen and women and their children. We are facing a grave crisis in