The American Jewish world. [volume], August 11, 1922, Image 5

About The American Jewish world. [volume] (Minneapolis ;) 1915-current

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
fHE AMERICAN JEWISH WOkL&
I just talked with an American
army officer recently returned from
Germany, having' been one of the
Army of Occupation. The subject of
conversation veered to the Kaplan in
cident at Annapolis, and as the of
ficer in question is a Jew I asked him
whether it is true that Jews in the
army, particularly the officers,. find
evidence of discrimination against
them He answered most empha
tically that he has never experienced
the slightest prejudice in his social
relations with his fellow officers.
That the word "Jew" is never even
mentioned and that the subject is
never thought of. He had also made
it a point to discuss this matter with
other Jewish officers and each one
related the same experience: they
and their wives have never been shown
the slightest discourtesy because of
the fact that they are Jews and their
relations with their fellows, extend
ing over a period of years, have been
of the friendliest and most cordial.
The officer admitted to me that in
the event that a Jew does not con
duct himself properly or is guilty of
some undesirable act the fact that
he is a Jew may for the moment be
stressed, but except for this he states
most positively that there is not the
slightest evidence of Anti-Semitism
in the American Army speaking from
his own experience.
That was a serious charge made
by Abraham Cahan of the Jewish
"Forward" that the funds raised by
the Friends of Soviet Russia for
starving Russians have been diverted
to finance Communistic newspapers.
It seems incredible that the Com
munists who are in some degree re
sponsible for the aggravated con
dition that brought about such an
universal famine should discover
themselves to the world as the lowest
of the low by stealing money that
was meant to relieve starvation for
their own political purposes. This
money that Cahan refers to was con
tributed by all people of every color,
race and creed and all for the benefit
of suffering humanity. A denial has
been issued by those interested in
the Communistic supremacy of Rus
sia but the seriousness of the accus
ation admits of no whitewashing but
should be thoroughly investigated.
The English press says he is
"spoofing", while J. L. Wood, editor
of the "Searchlight" official organ of
the Ku Klux Klan declared after a
trip to London and Paris that "The
Second Hundred Thousand," a British
organization and the Caucasian Lea
gue of France have agreed to join the
Ku Klux Klan in an international
secret fraternity "for the mainten
ance of white supremacy." But the
most illuminating and significant
statement that Mr. Wood made was
"It is possible that the membership
in the new order would not be limited
to Protestants." This is surprising
in view of the avowed purpose of the
Klan to find only evil in Catholics
and Jews. For according to the Klan
program only harsh things are said
against these two religious groups.
"Ifihe Jews don't behave themselves
they will be told where to get off"
rants one demagogue representing the
Klan: but how about a Protestant who
doesn't behave himself? And since
when 0 most Illustrious Imperial Buz
zard have you been appointed by the
nations of the world to be their Mon
itor Who gave the Simmons and
the Clarkes the Seat of Divine au
thority to regulate the religions and
the manners and the conduct of the
men and women of this country. I
ask WHERE DO THEY GET OFF?
At the risk of trying the patience
of my readers I cannot help but con­
,i% V
Random Thoughts
By Charles H. Joseph.
demn out of hand and characterize
as unworthy of his position R. H. Wil
son, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUB
LIC INSTRUCTION of the state of
Oklahoma, who ran for nomination of
governor backed by the Ku Klux Klan.
Where are the Christian ministers of
the nation, where are those outspoken
civic leaders who have charged the
Jews with being a menace because
they sought to eliminate from the
public schools the reading of the Bible
believing that religious instruction of
a sectarian character should be lim
ited to the religious schools? Where
are all these leaders, I ask, who do
not raise their voice in protest against
a man belonging to a MASKED
GROUP whose platform preaches
RELIGIOUS HATRED and INTOL
ERANCE of RACE and who holds a
position of SUPERINTENDENT OF
PUBLIC SCHOOLS? When is this
tragic farce to be brought to an end
It is time that AMERICA asserted
itself.
It is not often that the daily press
has an opportunity to play up scan
dals among the rich Jews of the world.
Probably you have noticed how little
space such news occupies in our up
to date press. So the affair of James
Henri Rothschild, "Jimmy," as so
many know him, came as a shock to
most of us. A five hundred thousand
dollar breach of promise suit brought
by a French girl against a Rothschild
is enough to ornament the front page
of any journal. It's a pity that one
who came to this country on an im
portant mission for the Jews should
have become involved in such a light
headed scandal.
I don't see why we as Jews
shouldn't rejoice over the fistic supre
macy of Benny Leonard as we do
over the high honors achieved by fel
low Jews in the scholastic arena? It
isn't so much that Benny is such a
good prize fighter that interests me
as it is that it is encouraging to note
the PHYSICAL advancement of the
Jew as exemplified by the Benny
Leonards of the country. The Jew
for many generations has been "top
heavy," too much mind and too-little
matter. He has over specialized in
brains. For a long period in history
he didn't have much chance to
straighten up then, too, he always
had an army held in protective atti
tude in front of his head not know
ing where the next blow of the enemy
would be struck. Then, too, his occu
pations were rather limited to those
that forced him to mental exercise
only and the physical side was neg
lected. But of late he has broadened
out he is taking his place among1 the
outdoor men of the country. He excels
in a great many instances in college
athletics. So why shouldn't we take
more than passing interest in the suc
cess of a JEWISH prize fighter mere
ly as an indication of the ever increas
ing development of the Jew along
physical lines
Dr. Walter LaidlaW, Special United
States Census Agent, devotes consid
erable time to computing church sta
tistics, that is with reference to mem
bership. He finds the arriving at the
membership of Jewish conerregations
in this country rather difficult, be
cause some report in terms of fami
lies and some congregations in terms
of individuals. So in the current is
sue of the "Literary Digest" I notice
where he questions the growth of
Jewish congregational membership
from 100,000 in 1906 to 357,000 in
1916. I am sure that even the lat
ter figure is entirely too low. Of
course there are so many kinds of
"memberships" that it is hard to col
lect accurate data. Yet having in
mind affiliation with a synagogue or
temple I believe that we have in this
Country today over five hundred thou
sand MEMBERS or possibly ONE
MILLION FIVE HUNDRED INDI
VIDUALS. I would ask Dr. LaidlaW
to consider and if possible investigate
these figures and I am sure he will
find that my results are not improb
able.
If it is of any comfort to the read
ers of this column I am of the opinion
that the wave of anti-Semitism in
this country which rose to perilous
heights the latter part of last year
and which maintained its position un
til the early part of this year is grad
ually receding. How do I know this
There are some things that we can
not measure with a foot rule but a
careful observation of every day oc
currences, the lessened activity of cer
tain inimical forces, the obvious ne
cessity for labored effort among cei
tain elements to stimulate prejudice,
and the gradual reassertion of the
common sense of the nation all point
to a much more comfortable situa
tion for the Jew. The attitude of the
daily press of the nation, as well as
that of the representative weeklies
and the monthly magazines, on the
question of prejudice against the Jew,
has warned promoters of such anti
Jewish movements that public opinion
in this country will not tolerate them.
Some newspapers express surprise
that Henry Ford would attempt to
bribe an officer arresting him for
speeding to avoid appearing in court.
Why should we be surprised at a man
doing that when he has done a whole
lot worse by bribing men to tap wires
running to the White House in order
to listen in on fabled conversations
that might occur between Justice
Brandeis and the President? Why
be surprised at anything that man of
the ethics of Ford would do? He has
stooped about as low in digging re
fuse out of garbage cans that any
man presumedly decent could possibly
do This country will some day
realize just what sort of an individual
this very much self-advertised egotist
is and then they will place him in the
class that he belongs: a mechanic
whose money has gone to his head.
Balfour Einstein, Balfour Cohen,
Balfour Winston Churchill Levy, Bal
four Adler, Balfour Rabinowitz, these
will soon be the best known names
among the very young set in Jerusa
lem. Exactly as so many parents in
this country name their infants after
the President so are Jewish families
in Palestine naming their newly born
after the Earl of Balfour, who has
been so much a factor in enabling
them to settle in Palestine.
Three well known books were sup
pressed last week, but I am not going
to give their names fearing that the
local book stores would be mobbed on
Monday morning with eager custom
ers. As a result of this it has been
suggested that the authors select a
censor or some pooh bah of respect
ability as in the case of base ball,
movies, and now the spoken drama
with A. Thomas as head. The publish
ers, that is, some of them, have agreed
to co-operate with some well known
author or critic who shall say wheth
er a book is fit to be published from
a moral standpoint. I am utterly
opposed to any one man, such as
John Sumner, for example, to estab
lishing the standard of any book's
morals. There are books being circu
lated today that ought to be sup
pressed and many that ought to be
circulating that have been suppressed.
We are being "mothered" to death.
It's about time we stopped being
"petted"—and began to show some
signs of being old enough to take care
of ourselves.
The death has occurred at Lengnau,
Switzerland, of Mr. Jules Wyler, the
first Jewish officer in the Swiss army.
The deceased was ninety-one years
old.
Page Pm
RABBI ABBA HILLEL SILVER TO
TOUR WEST IN THE INTER
EST OF THE RUTENBERG
PROJECT
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, President
of the Central Committee, Palestine
Development Leagues, who from the
outset has been conspicuously associ
ated with the work of the Palestine
Development Council, will, beginning
August 21, make a flying trip through
the West. Rabbi Silver, who occupies
the pulpit of the Euclid Avenue Tem
ple, Cleveland, Ohio, and is recog
nized as one of the most eloquent of
the younger men in the Jewish pulpit
in this country, will speak in the ilK
terest of the financing of the Ruten-:
berg project for creating hydro-elee-i
trie power in Palestine.
The Palestine Development Council,
which took the initiative in this coun
try in undertaking to raise capital for
this great enterprise, and whose legal
representative, Mr. Samuel J. Rosea»
sohn, has recently been in England,
for the purpose of conferring on the'
organization of the Rutenberg corpor
ation, is raising capital for this proj
ect by the sale of trust cei'tificates in
$50 units. The Palestine Development
Council campaign opened very quietly
recently for this purpose, and at the
outset reported immediate subscrip
tions amounting to over $300,000.
Kabbi Silver will visit St. Paul and
Minneapolis on Tuesday and Wednep
day, August 22nd and 23rd, arriving
in Seattle on Friday, the 25th, Port
land Monday, the 28th, San Franciscb
Thursday, the 31st, and during his
stay there will visit Oakland. Wednes
day, September 6th, Rabbi Silver will
visit Los Angeles, and before return
ing home, will make a trip to San
Diego. The local arrangements are in
the hands of the local Palestine De
velopment League, the secretary of
which is Dr. Thomas Ziskin, 410 La
Salle Bldg., Minneapolis.
On some part of his tour, Rabbi
Silver will be accompanied by Mr.
Jacob de Haas, Secretary of the Cen
tral Committee, Palestine Develop
ment Leagues, but in a good many
places, Mr. de Haas will travel well
ahead, or independently in the same
interest.
NEWS FROM PALESTINE
Jews Give Balfour's Name to Children
Jerusalem (J. T. A.)—A large num
ber of Jewish children born in Pal
estine during this month have had
the name of Balfour given to them
as their first names in recognition of
the Earl of Balfour who is the authoy
of the Zionist Declaration bearing his'
name and who is also credited with*
the approval of the Palestine Man
date which secures the establishment
of the Jewish National Home.
Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Rishon
Le Zion
Jerusalem (J. T. A.)—The celebra
tion on Wednesday of this week of
the 40th anniversary of the founding
of Rishon Le Zion, the first Zionist
colony in Palestine, will be marked by
a large number of festivities. This
celebration will also mark the, 40th
anniversary and arrival from Russia
of the first group of the "Bilu," the
young Jewish pioneers, whose slogan
was "House of Jacob Arrives, imt
Us Go."
Palestine Immigration Only Half in
June
Jerusalem (J. C. B.)—Only 474
Jewish immigrants entered Palestine
during June, figures published by the
Zionist Executive show. This repre
sents a considerable decrease, the
average number during recent months
having been about 900 a month.
The decline is explained by the un
employment which prevailed during
June, compelling the Zionist authori
ties to issue only half the number of
certificates allotted for each monthr