Jane Addams of Hull House speaks at Manitowoc Opera House in 1920
Manitowoc Opera House, undated (2011.58.24)
Nearly one hundred years ago, on Tuesday, January 27, 1920, The Chronicle of Two Rivers announced Jane Addams, head of Hull House, Chicago, one of the most prominent women of the country, was booked to deliver an address at the Opera House on N. Eighth Street in Manitowoc on Thursday evening. Her lecture was free, the expenses being defrayed by local businessmen.
Opera House, interior (2011.58.25)
During her lecture before an audience that filled the Opera House, Jane Addams told of terrible conditions in the war-ridden countries of Europe following the end of the First World War in 1918. Her message was based on personal observations made during a recent fifteen week stay in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
She told of desolation and suffering in all the countries, and the urgent need for outside help to rebuild and restore industries so that people might work. She observed streets filled with idle men, dejected and hopeless, and facing slow starvation. Food and supplies were lacking and unevenly distributed. She commented children were particularly under nourished, and diseases, particular tuberculosis, were increasing greatly in the stricken countries.
In a follow-up article on January 30, The Manitowoc Herald-News reported “her voice carried to every part of the hall and held her audience in deepest interest throughout.” Jane Addams expressed the great need for action by America to come to the aid of Europe to relieve the terrible conditions the “war to end all wars” had brought to the nations in whose homes it struck the most. She believed this was needed before real peace and reconstruction could come.
The Great War led to the mobilization of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. An estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilians died. Although the war had begun in 1914, the U.S. did not declare war on Germany until April 6, 1917. The U.S. sent 4.3 million soldiers to fight in the war, and roughly seven percent of them were either killed, injured or captured.
News from the fronts and letters written home to loved ones described the results of trench warfare, the deadly use of poison gas and aircraft, fighting along the Hindenburg Line and the sinking of troop transports and passenger liners by German U-boats. Germany signed an armistice on November 11, 1918, ending the war.
In 1889, Jane Addams established a Chicago neighborhood settlement center called Hull House, which became famous for its work with the poor and immigrants. She was a leader in the world peace movement and in 1931 was awarded the Nobel Prize for work in promoting world peace. She died in 1935.
