The Southern Israelite. (Augusta, Ga.) 1925-1986, July 19, 1929, Image 5

The Southern Israelite., July 19, 1929, Image 5

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Newspaper Page TextThe So uthern Israelite Page 5 • NEW YORK TOPICS 9 • Thirty thousand garment workers, 11s11 v Jews, are on strike since July The Manhattan district from 23rd t!eet to 40th Street, called the gar- ,nt center, is the scene of daily un- , st _ Nothing fundamentally danger- tn be sure. Those who have wit- . ss ,.d revolutionary labor struggles other centers, with their direct m . a t to society as now constituted, •ill he inclined to view these events s a rather mild occurrence. The fights cvelop, not between the state and ahor as a class, but between organ- ,,.,| labor as a social force, construc- vc and state building in the final na lysis, as against the anti-social .ores of the sweat shops on one side nd the left wingers on the other. The sweat shop was the enemy that tood at the cradle of the Jewish labor no vi olent a generation ago. The in- hvidualism and the innate sense of ustice of the Jewish worker waged t tierce battle against it. Due to the •nergy and intellect invested in the inht against this social plague, it was >y and by recognized that the aboli- ion of the sweat shop is not only in lie interest of labor but perhaps more u tlic benefit of the state, of the indus try as such, and of business in gen eral. Under the influence of these la b"r struggles, social legislation was placed on the statute books of the State of New York which stands out as a shining example of a fair and humanitarian approach toward a so lution of the problems under modern conditions. As a result of the unfortunate 1926 tnke under the left wing leadership, tin ladies’ garment workers, who were m the forefront of progress, seem acain to be threatened with the sweat >h"p menace. The war declared must it is significant in more than « a- direction. It certainly has the sym- I'itthy of the enlightened New York public, who think in social, rather than m narrow class terms. appointment by Governor r l ‘velt of our Lieutenant-Governor, nel Herbert H. Lehman, who was tman of Governor Smith’s board ' the 1924 strike, augurs well speedy and just settlement. It a particular meaning from a Jew- h point of view when it is remem- ared that the welfare of almost 30,- 1 Jewish families directly affected I about as many indirectly inter- l^tcd, is at stake. I A house cleaning in the New York die industry has even greater im- po'tance from a Jewish political point r tw \ ^he outstanding feature in Jewish mass immigration to the ; States during the beginning < ne twentieth century was the com- ' l y, rapid transformation of a l.n ", oumber of our people from the menschen” class into a health> Productive factor in the economic a 0ric of American life. ‘te, alarming signs of an in I he Garment W orkers Strike Draws Attention to a Weighty Problem—The Sweat Shop Is Here Again—The Ameri can Communists Have a Trotsky of Their Own— Light on the Good-will Movement —And \\ hat INext i—Dr. Boris I). Bogen Passes Away emphasis of difference, is a mistake, particularly when there may be ground for an assumption that the good-will movement is parallelled by proselytizing attempts. Dr. Boris D. Bogen passed away. By WILLIAM Z. creasing exodus of many workers and their children into the ranks of the lower middle classes were beginning to be noted. This fact not only tended to undo the work of the first genera tion of pioneers, but also to raise many weighty economic and social questions. The elimination of the sweat shop evil and the raising of the standard in the needle industry may be a step in a direction perhaps beyond the pro gram of the International Ladies Gar ment Workers’ union and the Ameri can Federation of Labor which lends to it its support. Jay Lovestone, formerly the “Amer ican Stalin” in the Communist party in the United States, small and insig nificant as it may be, has now been turned into the “American Trotsky.” He has been expelled from the party at the order of Moscow. He is said to be a brilliant man, a former stu dent at the College of the City of New York. It is difficult to follow the Commu nist phraseology and to know definite ly what led up to the development but one thing is clear, Lovestone disobey ed the Moscow dictatorship and has its heartiest disapproval. In this regard he must be right. Considerable time has elapsed since the question of the good-will move ment, as sponsored in recent years by the official religious organizations, has been reopened with the publica tion of the astounding and no less in structive correspondence between Louis Marshall and the Rev. Alfred Williams Anthony. The question of whether good-will is consistent with Christian missionary propoganda among Jews has been squarely raised. The representative of the Good-Will Committee of the Fed eral Council of Churches of Christ in CANDY STORE OWNERS, LARGE PERCENTAGE JEWISH, FACE CRI SIS IN CIGARETTE WAR New York (J. T. A.)—The war now raging between the large cigar store companies and the chain grocery stores over the cut in the price of cigarettes has caught in its vise the small sta tionery and candy store keepers throughout the country, eighty per cent of whom are Jewish. The 400,000 small stores and stands throughout the country and the 40,000 of this number in New York City are facing a crisis due to this rivalry, es pecially between the United Cigar Stores and the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company. The small store keepers find their difficulty in meeting the slashed prices on cigarettes offer ed by the A. & P. and the counter reduction of the cigar company, bring ing the price down to the wholesale cost to the small dealer. SPIEGELMAN America, though he was not speaking in behalf of the Committee, as it was later explained, decidedly insisted on the continuation of missionary propa ganda among Jews. He not. only saw no inconsistency, but, to the contrary, emphasized the obligation resting on every professor of Christianity to propagate the gospel among the non believers and the Children of Israel in particular. It is a sad comment on the depth of interest taken in the question when one observes that this exchange of opinions has stirred no one to attempt to clarify the situation. Neither the Federal Council nor the Central Con ference of American Rabbis have, of ficially or otherwise, seen fit to en lighten the public on the course of future action. The July weather may have something to do with this apa thetic stand, but it does not explain the matter entirely. The Central Con ference of American Rabbis happened to be in session in Detroit several days after the correspondence came to light, but its action on the subject was limited to a platonic statement that “other arrangements” will be sought in co-operation with the Federal Coun cil for furthering the good-will move ment. This is more than surprising. Let there be no mistake about it. The Jews have never rejected any move to increase and to spread “peace on earth and good-will toward men.” Their very existence for cen turies depended on peace on earth. Their attitude toward non-Jews was ever that of good-will. If a movement for good-will is to be inaugurated, it is more incumbent upon those whose lack of good-will creates danger to those who do not share the beliefs, views or opinions of the majority. It seems, however, that to intrust the furtherance of good-will by special measures to religious organizations whose very foundation rests on an FOURTEEN JEWS ELECTED TO COMMONS London (J. T. A.)—Fourteen Jews were elected to the House of Com mons in the elections which have just taken place in England. The Liberal Party gained three prominent Jews in Parliament in the persons of Sir Her bert Samuel, James Rothschild and Major H. L. Nathan. All previous Jew ish members of Parliament were re elected with the exception of E. A. Straus, Liberal, and Samuel Fin- bourgh, Conservative, who did not seek re-election. The Labor Party gained a Jewish member, Dr. G. Spero. Three Jews now represent the Labor Party in Par liament. There were twenty five can didates for election on the Labor Ticket who failed to gain seats, among them Leonard Stein and Philip Guo- dalla. His death will be mourned and re gretted in many Jewish circles in the United States and in Europe. It was he to whom the task of administering the American Jewish relief fund dis tribution in Europe during the most critical moments of the world war and following it was intrusted. His admin istration under conditions constantly changing and under regimes newly in augurated, amidst conflcts of the local Jewish groups, parties and interests which cannot properly be understood and appreciated by an American ob server unless especially trained and dedicated to the task, was not entire ly free of criticism at the time. It was to be expected under all conditions when large groups are administered to. Complete impartiality under such circumstances ami fairness to all, Or thodox and assimilationists, Zionists and Folkists, Yiddishits and Hebraists, Socialists and.Communists would have been beyond human reach. His was the responsibility and his was the great privilege to be at helm of the great est piece of humanitarian work per formed by American Jewry in behalf of a large section of our people in Eastern Europe. When it is assumed that American Jewish relief work on behalf of East European Jews was inaugurated only during the World War, an error of historic interpretation is committed. In reality, the relief work for East European Jews was started as early as 1881 when the first wave of Rus sian Jewish refugees reached these shores. It was for their sake and, be cause of the social problem their presence created for the earlier Jew ish settlers, that the entire apparatus of Jewish welfare work in the United States was developed and extended, through the Federations system and their constituent societies, becoming, in time, one of the major Jewish con tributions to American life. When the world war broke out and the need of East European Jewry, locked between the war fronts, be came crying, the relief work was transferred on a large scale to Eu rope itself. The work for East Euro pean immigrants in the United States was extended to those who had re mained at home and became the vic tims of the war and the social upheav als which followed in its wake. An outstanding social worker, with a Russian background, thoroughly Americanized, a Columbia Ph.D., the most successful in his profession, Dr. Bogen was the logical choice for the tremendous responsibility. His was the understanding of the American giver’s psychology as well as that of the East European Jew who, because of the world events, was transformed over night into a recipient of organized charity. He understood them both and acted as a bridge between them. —Copyright 1929 by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.