D O C U M E N T 4 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 2 2 5 the majority of intellectual workers psychological resistance to the restoration of internationalist scientific labor associations is still too powerful to be overcome by the minority among them inspired by grander motives and feelings. They can serve the greater cause of the recovery of internationalist societies by maintaining close contacts with like-minded fellows from all the other countries and by persistently advocating international interests within their own spheres of influence. Overall success will take its time but it is sure to come. I would not like to let this oppor- tunity pass without pointing out with admiration that, particularly among a large number of our English fellow professionals, the effort to uphold the intellectual community has remained alive throughout all these difficult years.[8] Everywhere, official proclamations are worse than the mentality of the individ- ual. The well-intentioned should bear this in mind and not let themselves be irri- tated and led astray: senatori boni viri, senatus autem bestia [the senators are good men but the senate is a malicious animal].[9] If I am full of confident hope with regard to the advancement of organized inter- nationalism in general, this is based less on trust in reason and the nobility of con- victions than on the despotic pressure of economic development. Because it is based to a high degree on the intellectual efforts even of backward-minded scien- tists, they too will involuntarily help make organized internationalism a reality. 4. From Max Born and James Franck[1] Göttingen, 1 January 1922 Dear Einstein, We, Franck and Born, are extremely crushed by the content of your letter, even though, in our stupidity, we cannot replicate the setup for the canal-ray experiment for ourselves.[2] We have 1,000 questions on our minds and all sorts of consider- ations for which we need you as a tranquilizer. As this letter cannot become 50 pages long and we are also afraid that we mustn’t expect a 100-page reply, we had the brilliant idea of having you officially invited to visit us in Göttingen at the expense of the Wolfskehl endowment to deliver a talk in an informal manner. We have the secondary motive of having you here for Hilbert’s 60th birthday, a thought that put the old gentleman in raptures.[3] The birthday is on January 23rd the talk could be on Tuesday the 24th, while you would have to devote at least Sunday the 22nd to us. Perhaps your wife feels like coming along. It would be wonderful if you