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The Southern Israelite Pagt 9 tfr Charles H. Joseph A READER LIVING? IN BROWNS IM SORRY THAT BEING AT THE moment about three thousand miles from the scene of the testimonial din ner given for David A. Brown that I can’t give my impressions first hand „f the occasion. But I can say some thing about David A. Brown. First ,,f a ii I know of no one in American Jewish life who so richly deserves such a tribute from his fellow-relig- innists. He has made an extraordi nary contribution to Jewish welfare the world over. A contribution that is beyond calculation. It is said that every crisis in a people’s life brings to the surface a leader capable of meeting the situation. And it does seem that David A. Brown was the man of the hour when European Jew ry was stricken helpless and hope less by the war. He showed himself to be a leader who had a genius for organization. With uncanny ability he built up one of the most efficient human and humane money-raising machines ever created in this country. And David Brown was the human dy namo that gave it power. And it func tioned so successfully that millions and millions that were poured into Russia bringing to declassed and de spairing Jewry a reason for continu ing to live. 1 HAVE OCCASIONALLY WRIT- ten in a light vein concerning Mr. Brown, calling him the world’s great est super-salesman and giving him other affectionate Rotarian pats. But beneath it all has been great respect for the world’s most successful "schnorrer” for worthy causes. He not alone has had the job of raising the money but he has been farced to map out the campaign of collecting much of it. For there is frequently quite a distance between the pledge and the payment. He has been har nessed to these tasks of collecting huge sums of money for relief that I question, even if he retires to other fields of endeavor, whether he will be able to resist the call of duty when it comes again to him. I was very much interested in reading an account "f a meeting to launch a campaign for the relief of 57,000,000 persons affected by the famine in China. I noticed that David Brown was chair man of the Board of Directors of the China Famine Relief. So when the meeting was called only 150 persons out of the 8,500 invited, were present. This angered Mr. Brown, who in < araeteristic fashion, said that if we a< Power to call a fast of just ' ' nty-two hours then we would un- ' ers ^ an d a little of what starvation He sa id the suffering of the * idren was so great that in many instances they were put to sleep by a at er or mother who cannot stand suffering. It was direct heart peals like these that made him so ^uccessful in arousing groups to a a-ization of the suffering of others. X '* ' n truth, only the fewest of b' u* 16 * ma *D na tion to appreciate vv , \ Laese terrible famines mean scJr, 1 . "r a P e ^ ar remov ed from the anH v, , )av *d Brown is a great leader v : p X ^ aS p en dered his people a ser- > will never be able to repay. ville, Pa., sends me this: “Dear Mr. Joseph: “Your comments are always in teresting, and I would thank you for your opinion of the following incident. “A high school teacher embar rassed his Jewish students re cently by telling the following joke to enlighten his class on a point in ‘Problems of Democracy.’ He said: The captain of the ship rushed about frantically, and speaking to a Jew on board ex claimed: ‘The ship is sinking!’ But the Jew calmly answered, ‘Let it sink, it ain’t mine’. As soon as the teacher finished telling the story the other students turned to stare and to sneer at the Jewish children. Is it possible that anti- Semitism at college begins in the High School?” INSTANCES LIKE THESE ARE being brought constantly to my at tention. They represent in the main merely an evidence of poor taste on the part of teachers. Of course it also indicates a lack of common sense. Some teachers are so thoroughly stu pid about everything except teaching that they fail to understand that children are extremely sensitive to ridicule and to being singled out in an uncomplimentary fashion. The in structor in question should have con sidered that he had Jewish pupils and they might be embarrassed if he re cited such a story. When I was a youngster going to school in a coun try village and the only Jewish pupil in the room, it made me feel uncom fortable to hear the class sing: “Solo mon Levi, Solomon Levi, with his coats and vests, etc., etc.” I can’t re call the teacher but I know that she had no prejudice in her mind and no malice in her heart. Yet she didn’t think. If she had she would never have used such a song as a regular part of the class in singing. But I hasten to assure the young lady who wrote to me that anti-Semitism in the college does not begin in the High School. It begins in the home. And at a very early age. EDDIE CANTOR, WHO WHOOPS it up in “Whoopee,” is somewhat of a philosopher. He’s going to retire next year from active stage work and to devote the remainder of his life to leisure of a constructive kind. He says that he is interested in philan- throphy, and expects to give consider able time to that field of endeavor. He is a director of the Brooklyn Jew ish Hospital. Cantor is only 37 years of age, which is rather young to re tire. But when he says that he has five daughters and he has never seen one of them graduate from school— when one gets caught in the wheel of dramatic performances death is about the only excuse that will go with the management or the audience if the actor fails to appear. So this young man has probably lived and worked (Continued on Page 13) ^ •*>"+** ** **, **, **. ^ ^ Atlanta Merchants Atlanta is a city of more than 340,000 , persons, according to the estimate of The ■ Southern Bell Telephone Company. Mer chants doing business in Atlanta must neces- ^ sarily pay overhead as based on a city of 340,000. Since T he Georgian is read in more than half the homes of Atlanta (last A. B. C. audit) it is impossible to reach much more than half the city of Atlanta unless adver tising appears in The Georgian. This makes the merchant face the following problem: How can he do business on a logical basis when paying all the expenses of busi ness in a city of 340,000 persons and ac tually do business with persons representing about half that figure? All his overhead will * be out of line. It is well-known among merchants who study markets that Atlanta department stores, for instance, do less business than ' should be done in a city the size of Atlanta by $10,000,000 each year. It seems logical in view of the fact that The Georgian covers more than half the city that many merchants are not taking advantage of the regular advertising in The Georgian which they should. The advertising department of The Georgian has compiled figures on the Atlanta market which every merchant should study. Since service to its advertisers is of prime consideration, it welcomes every opportu nity to present figures on the Atlanta mar ket in their logical sense. It is safe to say that the merchant who is doing business in Atlanta without studying these figures is » handicapping his business. li< ■>»—