Newspaper Page Text
The Sor thehn Israelite
Page 3
■
CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE
Again millions of people are grate
ful, or at least should be, to Samuel
Untermeyer. Known within the past
ft-w decades as the champion of the
people’s interests, Untermeyer has
von his last great battle: the struggle
between a great transit corporation
L n d the public. When the Supreme
Court of the United States recently
decided that the Interborough Rapid
Transit Company of New York City
Las exorbitant in its demand for a
keven-cent fare, and that a five-cent
■are was sufficient, even the most
Conservative metropolitan newspapers
blared forth the news in glaring
streamers. It might not be of interest
Ko other citizens throughout the
Country, but the five-cent fare had
b< en a social, political and economic
roblem for many years in New York
itGreat legal talent, headed by
harles Evans Hughes, former Secre-
try of State, declared that the five-
?nt fare was confiscatory, and that
u* company was entitled to a higher
fn e. New York City had assembled
U al counsel, of greater and lesser
Hghts, but it is well known that the
in n whose ideas gave heart to the
bi ef presented to the Supreme Court
of the United States was Samuel Un-
krmeyer.
I There was a time when Untermeyer
Was actively interested in Jewish af-
fa rs. Rut rumor has it that the ag-
gr ssiveness which he displays in his
Wgal battles made him persona non
gr a with those organizations which
Itk ■ to transact their business through
Btensive committees, endless red tape
•n similar paraphernalia. Unter-
nn yer has his own ideas on every sub-
jet : and is very likely to withdraw
interest from a project when his
Jews are not promptly put into exe-
CO' ion.
ith the exception of the pait he
Ux k in solving the New York transit
Ur gle, Untermeyer has absented him-
^Pf > n large part from public affairs
fci several years. But at the age of
ie\enty-one, a birthday he but re
cti ly passed, he is still the vigorous
attorney who is always looking for
conditions to investigate and corpora
te to attack.
^Bhat he is a millionaire is a fact
^■ich many people must remember
abbut Untermeyer, and that others
leeringly remind him of. They
*tgard it as incongruous that this
^Bn who has gathered huge sums in
practice of law, defending most
^Bbody should now permit himself
accepted as the guardian of the
defenseless. Though Untermeyer to-
is not by any means losing his
^Bome, the basis for his large fortune
H* the days when he repre-
^■ted giant corporations and rail
■ s - as well as art collectors and
^rces. He is credited with having
e possible one of the greatest mer-
s of its day, that between the Utah
P er Co., and the Boston Consoli-
• Mr. Untermeyer very proudly
ts to the fact that his lawyer’s
alone on this case amounted to
Moo.
A Character Sketch of Samuel Untermeyer
Hy JOSEPH SALMARCK
Again the name of Samuel Untermeyer in in the headlines. This time it is in
connection with the recent decision of the United States Supreme Court declar
ing that a five-cent is sufficient for New York City. This disposition of an im
mensely important cause is credited to the legal talent of Untermeyer, some
of whose characteristics are touched upon i)i this sketch.
The Editor.
But, having acquired his wealth,
Untermeyer very readily turned to
less compensatory tasks. He under
took to act in almost any case where
the constitutional or personal rights
of the public and individuals were
threatened. It was he who made the
Joint Legislative Commission on
Housing held some years ago in New
York an important factor in cleaning
up the building industries. And when
Untermeyer takes part in an investi
gation, there is room for nobody else.
He considers it fair that since he gives
his personal time voluntarily to the
case that he be permitted to carry it
through to its conclusion according
to his own plans.
Perhaps his -most famous case,
which brought him national attention,
was that in which he acted as counsel
for the Commission on Banking and
JERUSALEM ELECTRIC COM-
PANY AGREES TO EMPLOY
JEWISH LABOR
Jerusalem (J. T. A.).—A promise
to employ fifty per cent Jewish labor
in future undertakings which are to
be started shortly was made by the
Jerusalem Electric Corporation, fol
lowing the objections raised by the
Vaad Ha’ir against the company’s
failure to employ Jews in the Jeru
salem electrification work. The new
work will begin as soon as new ma
chines arrive.
London (J. T. A..)—The Palestine
representative of the Electric Corpor
ation makes no distinction between
Jews and non-Jews, but employment
of labor is purely a business matter,
declared Mr. Shearer, director of the
London branch of the Jerusalem Elec
tric Corporation to a representative
of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The company works closely with the
Jewish people in England, he added.
The Jerusalem Electric Corporation
cannot see its way to co-operate with
the Ruttenberg Electric Corporation
which is a distinct and separate under
taking. It is expected that the work
will be concluded by the end of the
year when power and light will be
available within a 20 kilometer radius
from the Church of the Holy Sepul
chre.
Currency of the House of Representa
tives. It was called the Pujo money
trust investigation, in which a num
ber of banks and several members of
the Stock Exchange were charged
with manipulating the money market
in America. Never a respecter of per
sons, Untermeyer summoned such
men as the elder J. Pierpont Morgan
and so cleverly cross-examined the
witness that several damaging admis
sions were elicited from the great
financier. Mr. Untermeyer’s investiga
tion may not have resulted in any
actual beneficial results, but at least
it provided the country with a sensa
tion and temporarily brought the pub
lic’s attention to regretable conditions
in the money market.
Samuel Untermeyer is perhaps the
most curious character in American
Jewry. He is a member, with Louis
INTER-COLLEGIATE GOODWILL
CONFERENCE HELD AT
SOUTHERN COLLEGE
Winter Park, Fla. (J. T. A.).—Over
three hundred students and faculty
members of Southern colleges par
ticipated in the intercollegiate confer
ence held at Rollins College here April
19-21 for better understanding and
relationship of Catholics, Protestants
and Jews. The suggestion that similar
parleys be held at colleges throughout
the country was voiced by a number
of the speakers.
Rabbi Solomon Goldman addressed
the session, contrasting Judaism and
Christianity, calling Judaism a cul
ture while Christianity is a religion.
The religion of the Jews is eclectic,
Rabbi Goldman said. Father Ross of
New York represented the Catholics
and William Adams Brow r n, the Pro
testants.
“Philosophy and Religion” was the
subject of an address by Cornelius
Kruse. The Rev. Everett Clinchy, sec
retary of the Committee on Goodwill
between Jews and Christians of the
Federal Council of Churches of Christ
in America, spoke on “Religion and
Social Relationships. Round table dis
cussions were led by each of the
speakers. Several of the sessions were
held in the home of President Hamil
ton Holt of Rollins. The other sessions
were held on the campus.
Marshall, in the firm of Guggen-
heimer, Untermeyer and Marshall, but
he has not taken as active a part as
Marshall in the Jewish community.
For a time he was President of the
Palestine Foundation Fund, in the
days when Louis Marshall would not
be associated with the Palestine en
terprise. But he severed his public of
fices, is high in the councils of his
party, the Republican, and is often
thought of when honorary rewards
are to be distributed. Charles Evans
Hughes, furthermore, is regarded as
a benefacter of the public for the part
he has taken in seven investigations
of trusts and monopolies. Untermeyer
has been responsible for more prob
ings in to business misfeasance but
seems to be promptly forgotten when
the investigation is over. Though a
Democrat, who has attended many na
tional conventions as a delegate, he
has apparently never been thought of
by his party in connection with high
office. And even when Samuel wanted
his son, Irwin, to get some political
office, he was rejected at the polls.
The secret of the situation is that
Untermeyer is not content to confine
his aggressiveness to investigations.
Charles Evans Hughes has been
known to compromise, to soft-pedal
and to evade issues. Untermeyer, how
ever, is always straightforward. He
thinks that most politicians are
crooked, and publicly says so. He
speaks his mind openly on public
questions even at a time when it might
embarass his party. The result is that
Untermeyer is considered too unreli
able for public offices, which would
require pussyfooting and reticence.
To the public, Untermeyer is a
stern, ruthless prosecutor. There are
few who know him as a sort of coun
try gentleman, who reserves his emo
tional moments for his estate outside
of New York, where he reveals him
self to his family as nothing like the
man the people know. In this garden,
one of the most famous in the coun
try, which he himself cultivates,
Samuel Untermeyer is an old Jewish
patriarch, forgetful of suits and coun
tersuits, corruption and incompetency,
content with the beautiful home he
has made for himself and the hours
of triumph he has enjoyed.
By the time he was twenty-one Un
termeyer had argued several impor
tant cases. Now that he is seventy-one,
he is still engaged in large contests,
with this difference: He usually is not
paid for them. Some time ago Unter
meyer was reprimanded by the Su
preme Court for his conduct in a cer
tain case. It appeared that nothing
that had occurred for many years so
upset the veteran of the bar as did
the pronouncement of the Court. The
decision of the Supreme Court with
regard to the New York five-cent fare
may be held by Untermeyer as sooth
ing balm, and plenty of it, for an out
raged spirit.
(Copyright, 1929, by Seven Arts Fea
ture Syndicate.)