The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume], February 13, 1953, Image 1

About The Southern Jewish weekly. [volume] (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1939-1992

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AN INDEPENDENT WEEKLY SERVING AMERICAN CITIZENS OF JEWISfI FAITH
• THE OLDEST AND MOST WIDELY CIRCULATED JEWISH PUBLICATION IN THIS TERRITORY
VOL 30 NO. 4
PLAIN TALK
By Alfred Segal
ABE THE OPTIMIST ,
There was a moment when it
wasn't so good in the New York
clothing district, and clothing
workers were sighing with sighs
well known in Jewish life ....
"Oi. oi, oi," and "ai, aL aL"
The price of clothing had been
getting almost prohibitive on ac
count of the inflation. So that
thrifty gentlemen were managing
to make the old suit last awhile
longer, even with the patch in
the pants.
Os course, that wasn't any good
for those who worked in the
clothing trade. There were weeks
when there wasn't much work to
be had in the clothing factory
and that was no good at all where
there were five or six children—
and maybe B—in the family, one
of whom would have to be raised
up to be a doctor or, anyway, a
lawyer.
That’s the situation Morris and
Abe were discussing one day at
one of the street corners in the
suit making area of New York. I
know New York only as a city
which I have visited for a few
days now and then and have es
caped from as soon as I could. So
I am in no position to say exactly
at what street corner in New
York Morris and Abe had their
conference. (Neither Morris nor
Abe had any way to escape from
New York, being stuck there as
old inhabitants.)
Morris was doing all the sigh
ing at the street corner that day.
He was asking what it was all
coming to if men weren't going to
buy new suits any more? ....
"And what becomes of us, Abe,
I'm asking you. I think of my
boy Lawrence, already 13 years
old, who I cut out to be the head
doctor of Mt. Sinai Hospital. If
people ain't going to buy no new
suits anymore, how can I send
him to school to become the head
doctor at Mt. Sinai? And what
are you smiling at, Abe? He
stands here smiling in the world
the way it is."
Abe’s face was beaming like
sunlight breaking through clouds
on a dark day. Abe always had
been what you call an optimist.
There had been the time when
his wife gave birth to twin boys,
even when they already had five
children. Abe said that was all
right with him; it meant he
would have more doctors and
lawyers to give to the world. In
his old age all the children would
honor him with their success. His
oldest boy would be a professor
in the Rockefeller Institute. You
might say Abe was the type
image of Jewish character that in
(Continued on Page 8)
DON'T foISS SEEING
America's Foremost Cantor
David Kusevitsky
JAX JEWISH CENTER
MARCH Bth.
Southeast Fund-
Raisers to Meet in
Atlanta, Feb. 21st
Representatives of the organ
ized Jewish communities of the
Southeast will gather, in Atlanta
at the Biltmore Hotel on Febru
ary 21-22 for the 17th annual Re
gional Conference of the Council
of Jewish Federations and Wel
fare Funds.
Stanley C. Myers, past presi
dent of the CJFWF and Benjamin
B. Rosenberg, Director of Field
Service, CJFWF, and other na
tional Jewish leaders will partici
pate in the conference which will
take up a number of matters of
vital concern such as—
Southern Jewry's 1953 Cam
paign Responsibilities What ef
fect will the new wave of Soviet
anti-Semitism have on us? How
shall we stimulate new leadership
to help us meet new needs? How
shall we organize more effective
campaigns for 1953?
Developing Local Community
Relations Programs How shall
we deal locally with such prob
lems as are presented by the Mc-
Carran Act on immigration?
To secure reservations for the
dinner meeting on Saturday, Feb
ruary 21st or the luncheon on
Sunday, February 22nd, please
write to the Regional office at
601 Chamber of Commerce Bldg.,
Atlanta, Georgia. For hotel reser
vations write to same address.
Local Boy Makes 100 Millioo Dollars
The February 9th issue of Time Magazine
has a column about Louis Wolfson, handsome
41-year-old financier of Jacksonville. While
Louis has been making terrific headway in
the economic world, his brother, Sam, has
reached the top .in local sports circles. Sam
is a past president of the Gator Bowl associa
tion and recently purchased controlling in
terest in the local baseball club. Sam is a past
president of the Jewish Community Council
and was instrumental in recent negotiations
when the Wolfson family contributed a quar
ter million dollars for local hospital facilities.
So many people have expressed an interest
in the Time Magazine article that we are re
printing herewith its reference to Louis:
In the last 20 years, big-dealing Louis
Wolfson has built up from scratch an empire
with assets he estimates at SIOO million plus.
Among tljem: Manhattan’s famed building
firm of Merritt-Chapman & Scott (Wolfson
is chairman), a chain of 21 Florida theatres,
Washington’s Capital Transit Co., which con
trols the streetcars and buses in the capital.
On New York Shipbuilding, his golden
touch began working fast. He paid $16.50 a
share for 124,700 shares (62.4%) of the voting
stock, which last week was selling around 20,
giving Wolfson and associates a paper profit
of $350,000.
End Runs. Handsome Lou Wolfson has
been scoring ever since his days as a football
star at Jacksonville High School and the
University of Georgia. He quit school in his
senior year <1932) to organize the Florida
V
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1953
jßgiigg.jv
On Sunday, February 15th, be
ginning at 8 P. M. at the Jackson
ville Jewish Center, a special
Z.O.A. meeting will be held fea
turing a panel discussion on the
topic, Religion in Israel. Those
participating in the panel will
be Mrs. Herman (Gladys) Klaus
ner, representing Hadassah and
the woman’s point of view. Harry
Kolitz, the orothodox; Philip Sel
ber, the conservative; and Her
bert Panken, the reform. Jack
Becker, chairman of the educa
tiorftl committee, will serve as
moderator.
The program includes audience
participation during the discus
sions.
Cantor A. Marton, district pres
ident, will report on the recent
Atlanta regional conference on
the present day danger of Soviet
anti-Semitism.
Will Appear on
Local Panel
Mrs. Herman Klausner
Pipe & Supply Co. with his father and older
brother. His brothers, Sam, Sol, Cecil and
Nathan, became his partners, and they rode
the crest of the wave of the expanding chem
ical and pipeline industries.
By World War ll’s end, Wolfson was able
to plunk down $1,000,000 to buy the war-sUr
plus Tampa Shipbuilding Co. Within two
years, he and his brothers" liquidated it for a
profit of $4,000,000. They also liquidated the
supply company for another $2,500,000 profit.
With wealthy. business friends, they organ
ized a “Florida syndicate” to buy control of
Merritt-Chapman & Scott. Wolfson, who
grew up with Politician Fuller Warren, con
tributed SIOO,OOO to Warren’s successful cam
paign for governor, and later, on a low com
petitive bid, won a contract to build a $3,000,-
000 bridge for the state. But after a furore
was raised over Warren’s campaign contribu
tions, Wolfson says he dissociated himself
from Warren and “the whole mess.”
Golden Trolley. Three years ago, Wolf
son’s syndicate raised $2,100,000 to buy con
trol (45.6%) of Washington’s transportation
system, found it a gold mine. The stock had
been paying only 50c a year, but Wolfson’s
group has since paid out a total of $22.60 in
dividends. The stock has soared, with a paper
profit to the group of more than $6,000,000.
Some critics thought the profit came out of
money needed for new equipment, and spoke
darkly of “scuttle & run” operations. Wolfson
blithely answered that the dividends should
have been distributed before. Wolfson’s sim
ple secret of success: “I work hard.”
HASS RALLY FEBRUARY 16
Y 0 DEHOUNCE SOVIET
ANTI-JEWISH CAMPAIGNS
Twenty-four national Jewish organizations, with a combined
membership of more than 3,000,000 American Jews, including
Zionists and non-Zionists and embracing the orthodox, conservative
and reform branches of American Judaism, will jointly sponsor a
mass meeting at the Manhattan Center next Monday evening (Febru
ary 16) to denounce the stepped-up anti-Jewish campaign in Soviet
Russia and its satellite nations, it was announced by Louis Lipsky,
Chairman of the American Zionist Council.
Christians Protest
Against Soviet
Anti-Semitism
♦
The American Christian Pales
tine Committee condemned the
anti-Jewish policy in the Soviet
Union and expressed concern for
the fate of Jews behind the Iron
Curtain in a statement issued by
Dr. Carl Hermann Voss, Chair
man of*the Executive Council.
“As Christians intent on pre
serving the democratic values of
the Judaic-Christian tradition and
extending them as widely and
deeply as possible in our common
life, we are'impelled by our faith
to condemn and oppose this re
surgence of anti-Semitic activity,”
the Committee declared. “We con
sider it as parallel to the bestial
pogroms of the Nazis; and, as
two decades ago, so today we af
firm our unalterable opposition to
such cruelty which violates all
that is worthful in democracy and
Christianity.”
The decision to sponsor the
mass meeting under the joint
auspices of major Jewish organi
zations followed an emergency
meeting of representatives of
these groups at the American
Zionist Council at which it was
decided to open a “counter-offen
sive” against the growing threat
of pogroms and terror behind the
Iron Curtain, Mr. Lipsky said.
He added that the February 16
mass meeting would be the first
sponsored by so many major Jew
ish organizations since the early
years of Hitlerism when all-inclu
sive Jewish protest meetings
were held to condemn Nazi anti-
Semitic programs in Germany
and other countries.
He reported also that efforts
had been made to secure Madison
Square Garden for the forthcom
ing rally to accommodate the
many thousands expected to at
tend, but that no evening dates
were available at the Garden
until mid-May. Special arrange
ments will be made to provide for
an overflow meeting at the Man
hattan Center, he said.
Mr. Lipsky said also that the
meeting would be addressed by
outstanding national figures as
well as by leaders of the Protest
ant and Catholic faiths. If possi
ble, he continued, a refugee who
had fled a Soviet satellite coun
try in the last month would be
flown here to present an eye wit
ness account of the anti-Jewish
campaign.
He said also that the Manhat
a
tan Center rally would be “only
a forerunner of additional actions
to be taken jointly by national
Jewish organizations to combat
the Soviet’s new anti-Jewish
war.”
Included among the sponsors of
the meeting are: American Jew
ish Congress; American Zionist
Council; B'nai... Zion;_ Farband-
Labor Zionist Order; Free Sons
of Israel; Hadassah; Hapoel Ham
izrachi; Independent Order Brith
Abraham; Jewish Labor Commit
tee; Jewish War Veterans; LZOA-
Poale Zion; Mizrachi Organiza
tion of America; National Com
munity Relations Advisory Coun
cil; National Council of Young
Israel; New York Board of Rab
bis; Progressive Zionist League;
Rabbinical Assembly of America;
Rabbinical Council of America;'
Synagogue Council of America;
United Zionist Labor Party;
Workmens Circle; Zionist Organi
sation of America; Zionists-Revi
sionists, and Zionist Youth Coun
cil.
$3.00 A YEAR