Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau (1854-1943) who received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1913 because 'he was the effective leader of the peace movement in Europe.' Interesting ALS, signed “H. La Fontaine,” written from Brussels and penned on both sides of a peach-colored 6.75 x 4.75 album page, September 16, 1937. In full: “If you are collecting autographs only because they are, without discrimination, the names of known personalities, I would deeply regret to have fulfilled your wish. In former centuries, when all men were foreigners to one another, no one did know what was happening even in a nearby country. But now mankind is a vast community and our small world has become one city, the only city. Among its inhabitants a few are troubling the peace and placing each of us before the most terrible menaces. They are nevertheless among the famous persons you are speaking of! In my opinion we have not to commemorate them even in a collection of autographs. We have to forget them. The only persons who are worthwhile to be remembered are those, ever modest and remote, who are devoted to the welfare of men of all races, trades, opinions and creeds. Among them I agree to be mentioned.” In fine condition, with some staining and a central vertical fold.
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