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The Southern Israelite
An Uncensored Interview with the Editor of the “American Mercury’’
i
This is the first inlcrviciv flint
II. L. Mencken Iws ever given to
any newspaper on matters of
Jewish interest. This interview,
secured especially far the Seven
Arts Teat are Syndicate and 7 he
Southern Israelite, deals in a re
markably straightforward and
frank manner with Mencken's
views on the Jewish people and
on the Jewish problem. I\ noivn
throughout the world for his
savage attacks on Habbitry anil
for his ruthless condemnation of
people and things he does not
like, Mencken, in what is almost
an autobiographical airticle by
him, answers the numerous
critics who have sprung up to
attack him for the viezvs he ex
pressed in his latest book, " Trea
tise on the (iods.” lie does not
withdraw; he does not apologize.
Hr reiterates his opinion in
vigorous, Rabelaisian fashion.
Here is revealed a nezo Mencken,
a man who knows Yiddish and
prepares kosher food for some
Jews who visit his home in Haiti-
more, a man who is acquainted
with the Talmud and has made
an intimate study of the ghetto.
This article will undoubtedly cre
ate a national sensation, for, for
the first time, it puts into un
mistakable language and in final
form H. I.. Mencken’s position
on anti-Semitism.- Till'. Immtok.
This is a strange interview. Perhaps
it is not so much an interview as a
truthful transcription of what 11. L.
Mencken says about the Jews when
in a tete-a-tete with one. After seventy-
five minutes of conversation 1 still don’t
know what Mencken thinks about the
Jews. I merely know how he talks
about them. H. L. M. did not try to
impress me. There was no attempt on
his part to discourse learnedly on
Judaism or even anti-Semitism, lie
made no pretense at literary form or
witticisms in his talk. There was no
sequence in what he said, nor will 1
try to give it any sequence now.
Frequently he contradicted himself.
To be entirely frank, I will tell you—
this is strictly between ourselves—I
gained the impression that Mencken
has done very little thinking about the
Jews. He is too close to them. He al
ways has been, since bis early child
hood. I am sure he almost feels like
one of them. That is why his approach
to things Jewish is straightforward,
betraying no conception of the problem
involved. As a matter of fact, after
seventy-five minutes with the exuber
antly healthy, grinning Baltimorean you
almost become convinced that there is
no problem. At other times his words
sound strangely familiar. He uses the
same turns of phrase and ideology as
one of the Babbitts he caricatures. But
then he grins so broadly that you are
mystified. Is H. L. M. simply having
a grand time at your expense? Is he
trying to poke some fun at the Jews,
the Goyim, and himself? His naive
blue eyes in bis massive head betray
no secrets. So I give you his mono
logue as well as I remember it. Here
he is, the indomitable American rebel
who calls the Jews the most unpleas
ant of races. When you accuse him
of anti-Semitism he smiles, grins, and
laughs out loud. Take him or leave him.
We are sitting on a comfortable
By JOSEPH BRAININ
lounge in the “American Mercury” of
fice, smoking cigars and conversing.
Or, rather, I am listening to H. L. M.’s
monologue. The stocky, robust Balti
morean “Attila”, or “super-egoist”, as
some of his enemies choose to call
him, is in an expansive mood and gives
me his views on the Jews. After the
virulent attacks which had been heaped
upon him for the uncomplimentary
comments on our race in his most re
cent volume, “ Treatise on the Gods,” I
had expected to find him in a repent
ant mood. But the great American
rebel is in the very best condition, de
spite a slight cold, and enjoys his black
cigar in most epicurean fashion. A joy
of life that will not he downed ema
nates from his typically German coun
tenance and an irrepressible vitality
gives a genuine and healthy flavor to
all his words, even to his most banal
utterances.
“There is a great commotion among
the Jewish intelligentsia, Mr. Mencken.
Your calling us the most unpleasant
race on God’s earth has aroused 'all
your former friends to a high pitch of
excitement. 1 have come to ask you
a straightforward question: Are you
an anti-Semite?”
Mencken’s smile broadens to a grin;
then be laughs. “I never answer critics.
I will make no exception in the case
of my Jewish critics. They can go to
hell. Jews don’t know when they’re
well off. In the three hundred pages
of mv book I have devoted just one
paragraph to them. If the Jews don’t
like what I say about them, what
should the Catholics and Protestants
say? As a matter of fact, they do say
it. The Catholics, I mean. The Prot
estants are so used to being dragged
about and trampled upon that they
haven’t the guts to protest. 1 used my
very best abusive vocabulary on them.
1 called the Jews unpleasant. Well, I
stick to that description. I don’t apol
ogize. \\ hat are you going to do
about it?”
I am not doing anything. IT. I.. M.
looks in the pink of condition. No
body would suspect him of nearing his
fiftieth birthday this September. More
over, he smiles, and seems to enjoy
having been made the target of the
Jewish intelligentsia’s attacks. He
laughed at the cartoon which the Yid
dish daily, “The Day," published about
“Mencken the anti-Semite”, and he
had a wonderful time reading the ar
ticle by Dr. Margoshes attacking him
for his anti-Jewish leanings.
“The trouble with you Jews,” he con
tinues, "is that you have professional
Jews. 1 hey have a special knack for
making themselves unpleasant. They
shout and protest when they should
smile. They smile and look the other
way when they should protest. They
pick on a paragraph in a 300-page book
for no reason whatsoever. They train
their heavy artillery on a sentence that
might well have been overlooked if
they had not projected the spotlight
upon it. I expressed my wonder that
the Jews had produced the greatest
poetry. I said that they don’t look it.
Don’t forget that my book is about
religion, not about individuals. I don’t
like religious Jews. I don’t like re
ligious Catholics and Protestants. So
everything should be in order. And it
would be in order without your pro
fessional Jews.
“But here they are, looking for an
issue. Here they are, creating anti-
Semitism and anti-Semites. It is their
profession. T hey must do it—else busi
ness would be slow. No Jew likes slow
business; here’s another crack that Dr.
Margoshes can add to his collection.
I am really sorry that your profess
sional Jews did not tell me that they
would look for quotations in my book.
I had intended to devote a whole chap-
ler to showing up the silliness of Jew
ish religious rituals. 1 would have had
some real fun. But the book was too
big as it is. I will have to accommo
date them some other time. Besides,
I’ve said much stronger things about
the Jews elsewhere. Look up my in
troduction to the translation 1 made
of Nietzsche’s ‘Anti-Christ.’ That’s one
your professional Jews missed.”
•The super-critic of America was well
started by now. To interrupt him would
have been futile. II. L. M. was having
a glorious debate with himself. “But
Mr. Mencken.” I interjected feebly.
Without breaking off the editor of
"The American Mercury” passed me
his box of matches, and went on :
“I was discussing anti-Semitism in
this country with a friend of mine the
other day. lie told me: ‘A great wave
of anti-Semitism is gathering. The
Americano is getting to believe that
all the communists in this country are
Jews, and one of these days he is going
to hit out.’ I differ with my friend.
I say that one professional Jew is more
dangerous for the Jews than a hundred
thousand communists. Louis Marshall
was worth half a million communists
by himself. 1 remember when he raised
an issue against a two-by-four politi
cian because that idiot had said or done
something about reviving the supersti
tion of the Jewish blood libel. Mar
shall didn’t rest till he had that third-
rate politician scared to death. There
was a typical example of abusing one’s
power instead of meeting the situation
with proud contempt. That is the dan
ger. If the Americano gets the idea
that the Jews are abusing their power
lie’ll accumulate irritation, and one day
he may burst. Communists are no dan
ger. They get hit over the head by
policemen and, in addition to tbeir
humps, get the sympathy of the public.
1 he Americano never kicks an under
dog.
“Jews should learn from what hap
pened to the German-Americans. They
were a decent lot, just like the Jews.
But for every 2,000 Germans one could
find about five professional German-
Americans. That proved their doom.
They be came chesty and supersensi
tive. American politicians exploited
them for their own political ends. These
politicians were always on hand, at all
German functions, and never failed to
praise old Bismarck. They were always
ready to drink Bruderschaft with the
German-American voters. But when
the United States entered the war and
overdid itself in Germanophobia these
Bruderschaft-drinkers were in the front
ranks of the hysterical anti-Germans.
Bismarck suddenly became a Hun. I
enjoyed it. I was one of the Huns—
I fought that hysteria. But my Ger
man friends, my professional German
friends had the lesson coming to them.”
H. I,. M. did not mention the fact
that due to his unrestrained comments
lie was listed in Washington as a rep
resentative of Wilhelmstrasse, that his
mail was opened and his telephone
tapped. He fought Wilson to the bitter
end. Mencken was one of
few German-Americans who
his views on the Allied war
enjoyed the battle in which h< was n:
against all, and despite the ; ardshins
he suffered now laughs at the who!
thing.
"Don’t be surprised if you find vour
‘good friends’ on the other side of the
fence as soon as trouble starts
Mayor Walker could make capital'out
of anti-Semitism he would not hesitate
a second.”
The author of “Prejudices" took time
out to light his cigar, so 1 swiftly
delivered my question: ‘‘But why
are we such a disagreeable race, Mr
Mencken ?”
Mr. Mencken corrected me. "I used
the word ’unpleasant’, and advisedly
It’s a nice word,” he chuckled. "That's
exactly what you arc. The Jews go
about like sandwich men carrying big
signs: 'I am a Jew.’ They parade ii
in front of you. They shout it into
your face—not as an answer to a ques
tion. but aggressively, without solicita
tion. Now I am a German, hut I don':
recite aloud from morn to midnight
‘Every day in every way I am becom
ing a better and bigger German.’ But
these professional Jews insist on yell
ing: ‘I am a Jew. Make no mistake
about it—don’t think that I’m one oi
you fellows. I am a Jew.’ It sound?
as if they were saying: ‘I am a Jew
and you’re a swine that eats unclean
food.’ It has the same tone as: ‘I am
a Jew and on speaking terms with God.
but you’re just a goy (Mencken used
that word). It’s just like those Catho
lics clamoring that they are the only
people who will go to heaven. If !
have to spend my time in heaven with
Jesuits or some old ear-locked Jews
who know less about life than a public
school boy, then write me down for a
ticket to hell.
"I am against prohibition. The Jew
ish religion harbors hundreds of pro
hibitions, only they have the word tret
for it. You tell me that after all the
big majority of the Jews is not strictly
religious. That’s true. That s why they
are the more unpleasant, because they
follow these prohibitions just out o
silliness. They tell you: ‘I am a Je"
and I can’t eat with you—I am a Jew
and can’t ride with you on Shabbc*
or on some holiday.’ All that rna e
them downright unpleasant, ^nen
come to my New York office on otr ‘
Kippur I enter a morgue. I cant use
the telephone. There is nobody to con
nect me with the outside world. 1
dead, just like the rest of New ® r .„
Well—isn’t unpleasant the right word
The American Bernard Shaw. as H
admirers call him. smiled. Rcinne ..
burst out laughing, but his l eU
blue eyes looked genuinely ann ^-.
We were sitting in a sort ot rj’CJPjJ -
room. His publisher. Mr. Altrei
a man of typical Semitic a lH xa .
crossed the room. An inten><
long-nosed young man was ». c .
with an agitated elderly son * ^
in a corner of the room. thetic
face of H. L. M. was almost 1 v oW
sight, all alone in a Semitic nv ;
his pargraph about the Jew- . .. .
as a rather feeble protest a-
Semitic environment that ha it
him like a ghetto walk Lo ]
animal of the jungle the Ge.
(Continued on Page