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The Southern Israelite
Clarence Darrow, World-Famous Lawyer, on the
Jewish Question
An Exclusive Interview
By JOSEPH BRAININ
tor the first time. Clar-
Darrow. liberal torch-
speaks on the Jewish
idem and on why anti-
ism is rampant. In this
mate conversation Ameri-
oatstanding attorney and
lvl for individual free-
" fearlessly speaks his
\l on a topic of interest to
i thinking Jew or non-
i harrow, world-famed crimi-
uncompromising agnostic,
"keptic, is a gentle old man,
: words, utterly human and, as
• cred, an incurable optimist. As
there in the lobby of a modest
; k hotel, sprawling comfortably
■ ( p club chair, he might have
■ a superficial observer, the
! a small American town, or,
matter, a retired political boss,
lie looks at you. calmly and tol
ls septuagenarian’s face takes
ulitv. His high, rounded fore-
that of a thinker. His square,
" 1 marked by high cheek-bones,
stht nose and upward-slanting
•\s. his fine, long, graying hair—
i which occasionally slips down
•"less his brow—give Clarence
a Mongolian or Indain appear-
ancient Indian warrior.
‘ < ie a Jewish question, Mr.
/•f >ear-old fighter for toler
ant. His clear, gray, youthful
'•me clouded. He suddenly
an old sage, skeptical and
His eyes seem to say: "You
interview. I'm quite ready to
give you as good copy as
! mt we’re not going to solve
u'and-year-old question.”
v actually says is: “There is
1,1,1 a Jewish question. There is
1 • identical with the problem
mating stupidity and ignorance.
as man will accept prejudice
et nds without attempting to
M’. to think for himself, there
prejudice, anti-Semitism and,
Jewish problem. The average
Harrow used the word “goy”
triumphant smile—“well, he
know anything about a Jewish
It doesn t mean a thing to
fe is ready to call any one who
different a Jew, a wop or a
as the case may be. Cohen
um * n business competition, so
no good. Our goy will shrug
'•aiders and mutter to himself:
a Jew. And he feels that with
that sentence lie has explained the
whole incident. It implies: ‘What can
one expect of him? He’s a Jew; there
must he something wrong with his
business methods.’
"As for the Jew, on the other hand—
if a goy likes him he behaves as if
something extraordinary had happened
to him. He will make the goy feel
that lie (the goy) is a wonderful fellow,
quite out of the ordinary. But our Jew
will be waiting for something to break
this harmony. It is too unusual to last,
he thinks. When the break finally
conies—no one can escape enmity—he,
the Jew, will turn victoriously to his
coreligionists and say: '1 told you so.
The goyim don’t like us.’ lie will be
right. It all comes down to this: Fail
ure to think for oneself on the govish
side, and the Jewish reluctance to as
similate.”
"Then you believe in assimilation, Mr.
1 farrow ? ”
Again the veil came over Harrow’s
eyes. I could almost hear him say to
himself: "I hardly believe in anything
today, after half a century of fighting
human ignorance." But audibly he
answered :
"Well—you cannot stop it. And why
should you? It is a normal and mutual
process. We must assimilate you and
you must assimilate us. Anti-Semitism
is on the decrease just because of that
mutual assimilation. I know that there
is still plenty of discrimination. But
as the liberal element increases, petty
anti-Semitism decreases. Besides, the
type of the Jewish immigrant has
changed. He, or his son, is not the
same as fifty years ago.”
Harrow leaned back; a dour smile
flitted over his face: “I’m not telling
you anything new. I’ve never bothered
about the theoretical aspects of the
Jewish problem. I’ve never thought
about it. Sometimes, in a club, I hear
a voice say disparagingly: "He is a
Jew.’ I don’t even turn around. I don’t
try to argue it out with that voice.
Of course, I could tell it: ‘He is a
Jew—well, what of it? It means that
most probably he is more intelligent
than you, who despise him. He has the
same failings as you, and more abili
ties.’ That would be all I could tell
that voice. It wouldn’t mean anything
to the Babbit who has been repeating,
parrotlike and continuously: ‘He is a
Jew,’ without knowing that he isn’t
saying anything. Many years ago I
also used that same stupid sentence:
*He is a Jew,’ to close an argument
‘definitely.’ Was I an anti-Semite? No.
I too, was repeating, without giving it
a second thought, something that had
filtered into my make-up. Hue day I
said it, quite innocently, in the presence
of a Jewish friend of mine. He asked
me: ‘What do you mean by that?’
This simple question made me feel a
fool. I had to confess that I had never
thought about it. that it didn’t mean a
darn thing. We fell to discussing Jews.
It occurred to me then that I liked my
Jewish friends better than many of my
govish friends. I admired them for
their intelligence.’’
“Are Jews more intelligent than other
people?” I asked; as soon as the ques
tion had slipped out, I became aware
CLARENCE DAKBOW
that it was utterly foolish, and that I
was blushing like a girl fishing for. a
cc >mplimcnt.
“Well, if you want to know, they are
the most intelligent people I know,”
countered Harrow. “They always form
the major part of my audiences, regard
less of the subject I speak on. So
they must be intelligent.” For the first
time duirng the conversation the tense
face of the great lawyer relaxed. He
chuckled. His skeptical expression gave
way to a naive, happy smile. The joke
changed his mood. He looked around
cautiously, extricated some cigarettes
from his pocket, whispering confiden
tially: “The wife objects to it.” He
lighted his cigarette with the enthusi
asm of a little boy "putting one over”
on his teacher.
"The Jews are dreamers, practical
dreamers. Perhaps that is the reason
why they accomplish so much in sci
ence. They are intensely hungry for
knowledge, and restless research work
ers. They have a directness that does
not shrink from demolishing a barri
cade if it bars their path. Tradition
loving though they are, they submit
readily to scientific evidence; they have
the courage to liberate themselves from
mystical superstition. I speak of the
intelligent Jews.”
"Are the Jews less subject to religi
ous fanaticism?" I prompted.
"1 think that they are less slaves to
religion, if that is what you mean. It
strikes me now that anti-Semitism is
furthered by the range of types among
Jews. The Jews themselves don’t agree
as to what they are, a religion or a na
tionality. Do they want to be accepted
as full-fledged citizens of their adopted
country? That is the question which
some ignorant Americans ask when
they hear all that talk about Jewish
nationalism. Another day our Babbitt
gets the idea, as my friend Mencken
puts it. that Communism and Judaism
are one. Of course, the thinking man
knows this to be ridiculous. But to a
befuddled mind and a parrot mentality
the preponderant percentage of Jews
in the revolutionary movements has
that effect. Then .again he hears about
international Jewish bankers and be
comes easy prey for the propaganda
of Jewish world domination. If he
discounts one kind of propaganda lie
falls a victim to another. He stops
weighing the pros and cons—it is too
fatiguing -and compromises by just ac
cepting the notion that there must be
something wrong with the Jews. ‘The
Jew has a finger in every pie . . . The
Jew wants to eat his cake and have it.
. . . The Jew is too religious. . . . The
Jew is an atheist. . . . The Jew is this
and the Jew is that.’ These slogans,
products of unthinking parrot-propa-
gandaists, he accepts just as he would
any selling-slogans. Even the pseudo-
intelligent goy breaks down under this
avalanche. He accepts them dumbly.”
“But where docs all that versatile
propaganda against the Jew come
from?”
"Religious sources, primarily. Later,
economic and social propaganda. Take
the I.eopokl-Loeb case. It was simply
one of many hundreds, but it attracted
attention because these boys, who suf
fered from sexual perversity, were of
the wealthy class. It was as represen
tative of Jewish characteristics as the
length of the boys’ hair. But there is
a kind of Babbittry that thinks
America will be purified if all crimes
or perversities are written down to
alien characteristics.”
“How can that anti-Jewish prejudice
be removed, Mr. Darrow?”
The man who, for fifty years, has
relentlessly fought capital punishment,
religious bigotry and limitation of in-
( Continued on Page 16)