chapter X 



i 



N. 



1 EARLY everybody believes theoretically in Internationalism, 

 and there is no movement that leads toward international under- 

 standing more than the tendency to hold international meetings 

 and conventions on all sorts of topics. I once wrote an address 

 on the evolution o£ Internationalism, but I shall tell about that 

 later. 



It is true that the big international gatherings of representa- 

 tives of different nations brought together for political pur- 

 poses are likely to break up in an indecisive way. But the 

 smaller gatherings of people interested in some special line of 

 endeavor bring about personal friendships among people of 

 different countries, expose a community of ideas that are ex- 

 tremely enlightening, and promote an international understand- 

 ing the extent of which can hardly be realized. 



I have been lucky enough to attend a number of these gath- 

 erings, and I am sure that the work of the Federal Bureau with 

 which I have been officially connected has been greatly helped 

 by the contacts made. I am sure also that the same thing holds 

 for organizations from other nations whose representatives have 

 come together in this way. 



The first international gathering of the kind that I ever 



[184] 



