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Friday, December 21, 1934
The Southern Israelite
The
Southern Israelite
ESTABLISHED IMt
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PMMT InboriM*, itc.
M. 8. Miller — Editor
M. Stephen Schlffer . PuWieher
M«tkM Llpton . - liiuinm* Mgr.
Itaervtive Offlcee. Slt-U-14 Glenn Bldg.
I'rederten Depertaeent
IM Marietta SC. N. W. Atlanta, Ga.
WALNUT 7971
Baa tern Bepreaentatira
8. M. GOLDBEHG
»U Fifth Avenue, New York Ollr __
SutoacriptionFrlce .. 18.00 per year
Entered aa aeoona-elaaa matter at the
Poet Office at Atlanta. Oa. under thd
Act el March S, 1879.
The Southern laraclite Invitee corres
pondence and literary eontributlona,
bet the editor la not to be conaldered
aa aharlng the vlewa expreaaed by tho
writer* except those enunciated In the
editorial ctdumna.
WAR PROFITS
In Risking public the names of
Americans who earned a million
dollars or more during the years of
the World War, the Senate Com
mittee investigating the munitions
Industry unoonsclously but none the
lew effectively scotched another
hoary - headed anti - Semitic fairy
tale, namely, that “international
Jewry" brought on the war In or
der to profit from It. The list of
181 American war-Ume millionaires
contains Uie names of only six
Jews.
This pelce of evidence, together
with the fact that the Jews actual
ly suffered more from the War
than any other people both during
the bloody years of fighting and
during Its aftermath, should for
ever make the allegations of anti-
Semites ridloulous to all right-
thinking people.
GOSSIP
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Terse comment on a phase of the
American Jewish situation is im
plicit in the Time (news weekly)
story on the debut of Conductor
Alfred Hertz with the San Fran
cisco opera. . . As follows: "Jew
Hertz lost his Symphony Job in 1930
when fashionable gentiles had their
own Ideas about the San Francisco
orchestra. But . . . San Francis
cans generally came to realize that
he was as fine a German conductor
as they had ever known" ... At
any rate, it’s consolation to know
that Zona Gale, the noted author,
does not believe that America will
be permanently tainted by anti-
Semitism, which, she agrees, does
not represent American thought or
feeling, and cannot survive. . . . And
that N. Y. Supreme Court Justice
Arthur 8. Tompkins is so firm a
believer in lnter-religlous good will
that he brought a Sefer Torah to
the synagogue of the Jewish Home
for Convalescents.
A HAVEN FOR THE PERSE
CUTED
A new chapter in Jewish history
opened when the first Soviet Con
gress of Blro-Bldjan, the autono
mous Jewish region in the Soviet
Union, held its inaugural session
and started Blro-Bldjan officially
on its initial lap as an administra
tive Jewish governmental unit
within the framework of the U. S.
S. R. This event is the climax of
six years of patient and plodding
effort begun when Michael Kalinin,
president of the Soviet Union, first
proclaimed that Blro-Bldjan would
be set aside as a Jewish republic to
be developed on the same principles
of autonomy which have provided
the solution of the national prob
lems of the U. 8. S. R. At the time
few people visualized Biro- Bldjan
as a future asylum for harassed
Jews from Eastern and Central Eu
rope. Today, coincidentally with
the opening of the Soviet Congress
of Biro-Bidjan, Blro-Bldjan has as
sumed a significant place in the
plans of those looking for new
homes for hundreds of thousands
of economically hopeless and politi
cally disenfranchised Eastern and
Central European Jews. Hardly a
day passes without a new report
about far-reaching plans for set
tling substantial numbers of for
eign Jews in Biro-Bidjan.
Many of these plans are still too
vague and uncertain to merit con
sideration; but the fact that the
Agro-Joint thought it important to
send a delegation to study Biro-
Bidjan is indicative of the import
ance attributed to that territory by
responsible Jewish organizations. A
concrete program for unifying these
various proposals will doubtless
emerge from the first conference of
the American Committee to Settle
Jews in the U. S. 3. R.. to be held
on Deoember 26th in New York. In
the meantime we extend our hearty
congratulations to the Jewish pio
neers of the Republic of Biro-Bid
jan. U. 8. 8. R.
DON’T MISS THIS
More power to Mrs. Sldonle M.
Oruenberg, director of the Child
Study Association of America, who
voices the thoughts of (we hope)
millions of parents when she ob-
ects to many of the current radio
programs for children because they
"convey false Ideals or misleading
sentimentalities, or because they
murder the King's English or play
too recklessly with children’s fears
and horrors”. . . . Perhaps Mrs.
Oruenberg could start a movement
—with you and you and you falling
In line — to teach some of these
sponsors what sort of programs
would be both attractive and good
for children. . . . Those of you who
are teachers will be Interested in
The Social Frontier, new educa
tional monthly which has been
hailed as the most promising of our
generation. ... It is edited by Geo.
8. Counts, with Mordecal Grossman
and Norman Woelfel as associate
editors.
LITERATI
Maurice Samuel, lecturer, Zionist
leader and author, whose new nov
el, “Beyond Woman", is creating a
sensation this year, has returned
from Palestine, where he spends
several months out of every twelve,
and where his family lives perma
nently. . . . Caught Just as he step
ped off the gangplank, he refused
to comment on Hitler, Revisionism
or the World Jewish Congress, be
ing too busy listening to the sweet
figures his publisher was whisper
ing into his ear. . . . Those of you
who read German must get "Flucht
in den Norden” by Klaus Mann,
youthful editor of the Amsterdam-
published Sammlung and son of
Nobel Prize-winner Thomas. . . .
Klaus, whose opus critics are hail
ing as a masterpiece, has a Jewish
mother, you know. . . . From Dr.
Georg Bernhard’s Pariser Tageblatt,
organ of German exiles, we learn
that a new book by Alfred Kerr is
about to be published in Brussels.
It will be called "Die Diktator des
Hausknechts”—which, if you know
your German, is a good line. . . .
Columnlsh Louis Sobol’s varied ca
reer has included starring in movie
shorts. . . . Which reminds us that
novelist Thyra Samter Winslow *.s
now located in Hollywood, a town
that seems to have a fatal fascina
tion for writers.
to work within the next couple of
months on a non - profit - making
venture in which local business men
are cooperating. . . . Prosperity is
also expected by two ladies who—
successively — were married to the
late Sir Mortimer Davis, Canadian
tobacco king, litigation over whose
estate is gradually nearing an end.
And if that estate is only $30,000,-
000 Instead of $150,000,000, as it was
originally estimated—so what? . . .
"Them that has, gits" is an old saw
which was aptly illustrated when I.
J. (millionaire furrier) Fox won a
Thanksgiving turkey in a raffle in
stituted by From-a-Sandwlch-to-a-
National-Instltutlon Reuben’s.
MAZEL-TOV DEPARTMENT
Congratulations to Former Am
bassador and Mrs. Abram I. Elkus,
on the engagement of their son
James Hess to Miss Leonore Rosen
baum, daughter of concert singer
Hulda Lashanska. . . . And to Mes-
dames Emanuel Friedman and Na
than Chester, Minneapolis twins,
on the birth of one baby boy each,
almost simultaneously. . . . And to
the University of Chicago, on the
Impending return of Treasury Brain
Truster Dr. Jacob Vlner. . . And to
the Department of the Interior, on
the acquisition of Nathan R. Mar-
gold. heretofore chairman of the
Petroleum Administrative Board, as
full-time Solicitor.
CURRENT EXCITEMENTS
New York’s dress models, who
have been having their troubles
with debutante competition, now
have an energetic champion in Mrs.
Nate B. (Columbia Pictures) Spin-
gold. who as Mine Frances has long
been an authority on women’s
clothes, and who at the moment is
busy moving into the remodeled
mansion once occupied by the
much-headlined Gloria Morgan
Vanderbilt. . . . Down on the East
Side the comedy “In-Laws" is the
center of a heated controversy, lo
cal radicals being incensed at the
manner in which Communist char
acters are portrayed in the play. . ..
While up on Broadway the Gau-
mont British office is jubilant over
a recent ruling of Domestic Rela
tions Judge Samuel D. Levy, who
"sentenced" a warring couple to see
the G. B. picture "Little Friend",
which tells of the heartache of a
child whose parents can’t agree.
HAPPY DAYS
Now that Dr. Leo Rowe, director
of the Pan American Union, has
balanced that body’s budget—not to
mention the declaring of a six per
cent dividend on all preferred stock
by the Iowa Jewish News—we see
that the clouds of depression are
actually lifting. ... In the town of
Haverstraw, N. Y., where Postmas
ter General Farley hails from, the
sun of prosperity is already break
ing through, thanks to the efforts
of an Industrial promoting firm
whose representative, one Jack R.
Rosenberg, expects to put 2,000 men
ATHLETES ALL
Although a certain press agent
has been glorifying Dave Smukler,
sensational sophomore football star
of Philly’s Temple College, as part
Indian, Dave, who bids fair to land
on the All-American team, is ac
tually all Jewish, and the son of a
Bayonne, N. J., merchant. . . . The
Indian angle derives from the fact
that coach "Pop" Warner first
gained his reputation as directing
genius of the Carlisle Indians. . . .
Put ditto marks on our item of last
week regarding a first - round
knockout by Buddy Baer, brother of
the champ. . . . The Lasky-Levin-
sky bout over in Chicago may have
ended in a draw—but the King-
fish didn't have a single cut or
bruise after the ten rounds, while
Art Lasky was considerably banged
up as early as the fourth. . . . You
may think Jewish football stars are
a reecnt development—but thirty-
eight years ago one Jacob Rosen
thal played left guard on the Notre
Dame team. ... A maker of tennis
stars is Manhattan’s Ernest Kuhn,
who has “unofficially" developed
Marco Hecht, Junior Seligson and
Marvin Kantrowitz, among others.
A dozen years ago. incidentally,
Kuhn himself held the national
junior indoor singles championship
and half the national junior dou
bles title. . . . All of which brings
us to the announcement that Molly
(Yiddish comediene) Picon is quite
an expert on the courts.
MUSICAL NOTES
Thanksgiving week brought New
York the unique experience of a
Hebrew opera depicting the life of
chalutzim in Palestine. ... It is
called “The Pioneers", and nine
years ago won a thousand - dollar
first prize at the Philadelphia Ses-
qui-Centennial. . . . The composer,
who is also the librettist, is Jacob
A MARGINAL NOTE
JEWS MUST CHAMPION JUSTICE
By WALDO FRANK
Author and Critic
j This is the third of a series
or Marginal Notes in which
prominent American intellec
tuals discuss the status of racial
and religious prejudice in the
United States.
Anti-Semitism in the medieval
world was largely religious and
idealistic. This kind of anti-Sem
itism is dead: indeed, the few re
maining REAL Christians are
mostly friends of the Jews: one
might almost say that in their
doctrines they are more Jewish
than Christian. Modem anti-
Semitism is a symptom of the de
generate middle-class, of the agony
of capitalism and the capitalis
tic nationalism. And the only
serious and fundamental way for
the Jews to combat this anti-
Semitism is to combat its causes:
to extricate themselves from their
disastrous loyalty to the middle-
class. and to ally themselves op
enly and bravely with the classes
whose destiny it is to destroy
middle-class economy and middle-
class nationalism—the working
classes. This, of course,is a heroic
remedy. But statesmen and public
leaders must be as Courageous
as the doctor who, when only a
major operation will save his pa
tient, dares to tell him. The im
mediate result of such a step would
be, of course, to fan even more
anti-Semitism in the middle class
es. But the desperate bourgeoisie of
the world (vide Germany) are go
ing to turn against the Jews, no
matter how loyal the Jews re
main (as they were loyal, largely,
in Germany) to the middle-classes.
We might as well earn our per
secution (as the medieval Jews
earned theirs) by transferring our
loyalty from GOODS to SPIRIT,
from the exploiting classes to the
creative classes. For ttherdby,
even though we fan anti-Semitism
we shall be strengthening the
force that alone can end anti-
Semitism; we shall he hastening
the glorious birth of a world (as
In Russia) where anti-Semitism
is impossible.
Hear Socialist-Reich-
swehr Coup Is Being
Plotted Against Hitler
Berlin (WNS)—Seemingly well-
informed quarters here report that
within the next few weeks the
long-smoldering opposition be
tween Hitler and the Reichwehr
(the army) will break out into
open warfare which may lead to
the overthrow of the Nazi re
gime. The basis for this rumor,
and it is only a rumor, is the fact
that Hitler is alleged to have sent
secret emissaries twice in the last
ten weeks to ex-Kaiser Wilheim
at Doom with a proposition to
restore him to the throne pro
vided he accepts Hitler as chan
cellor. Failing to win the ex-
Kaiser’s consent, Hitler inquired
whether Wilheim would return if
Goering became chancellor. To
each offer the former German
monarch is said to have declared
“I cannot accept the crown from
these ruffians."
The sources of this information
Weinberg. . . . Dave Schooler, pro
ducer of "Brittle Heaven”, a sensi
tive play about the poetess Emily
Dickinson, once studied the piano
under Rafael Joseffy, who at the
time was also teaching Mischa Le
vitzki. . . . Dave was a vaudeville
concert pianist for years, and on
one occasion even played with the
Seattle Symphony Orchestra. .
Next month New York is going to
hear its first joint recital by the
Melodic Menuhins, veteran violinist
Yehudi and novise sister Hephzi-
bah, fifteen-year-old pianist
Just recently the two of them de
lighted a London audience with a
Menuhin menu of three of the
world’s greatest violin and piano
sonatas, including Beethoven’s
Kreutzer.—Copy right 1934 for The
Southern Israelite.
As to the Jewish boycott against
German goods because of Ger
man Jewish persecution; consid
ered alone and as a central mea
sure, it is futile. The boycott is
worse than futile, since as an
isolated measure it must harm
Germany’s rulers less than it en
hances the sense of martyrdom by
which Hitler holds power over the
German people. Moreover, while
it must fail in its economic pres
sure on Germany, it serves to make
the Jews in America and else
where conspicious as a commerci
al “sect” trying to exert econo
mic pressure on the world, in
other words, It /plays Unto the
hands of all the vicious anti-
Semitic elements with their myths
about “protocols” and the like.
I am convinced that the boycott
movement in the United States
has already harmed American
Jews more than it has harmed
Hitler.
A Jewish boycott, allied with
that of all liberal elements, on
the ground of German persecu
tion of Commnuists, Socialists,
Catholics, as well as of Jews,
would be another matter. Jewish
action must ally itself with the
general cause of social justice. By
limiting its protest to merely Jew
ish persecution in Germany, and
by its failure to raise its voice
against the equally vicious regime
of Mussolini, American Jewry
shows its degenerate condition.
The Jew who joins in an im
personal, non-sectarian movement
for social justice is the sole true
disciple of the Prophets—the sole
real Jew. He alone is wisely work-
ink for Jewish survival. For when
Justice languishes, the Jew shall
perish. And the Jew who tries
to move the world to “save us
Jews”—because we are Jews, or
because of “our glorious past”—
will inevitably arouse, • in the
minds of all rational men, the
question: “Why should we save
you?”
maintain that Hitler would n<
have gone to extreme lengths <
offering to restore the Hohenzo
lems unless he felt that his ow
tenure was in serious danger. H
network of police spies are know
to have informed him that tl
Reichswehr leaders have reachc
a working agreement with the ur
derground Socialist trade unio
movement. This understandir
pledges the trade unionists t
support a temporary absolul
military dictatorship which woul
oust Hitler. In such a dictatorshi
set-up the trade unionists woul
create the political machir
ery for ruling Germany while tb
Reichswehr would provide th
military basis for it. Foreign cii
cles here have been informed th£
300.000 members of the Steel He]
mets, the nationalist army of ws
veterans which was liquidated b
Hitlter after it had helped g(
control of the Reich, have bee
equipped with police uniforms t
enable them to keep order whe
the Reichwehr strikes.
Conflicting reports are cut
rent as to when the army learec
will stage their coup but the va
rious foreign embassies here ar
known to have detailed, if unof
ficial, information as to the plan
of the Reichwehr. That Hitler j
aware of what is in the wind J
Apparent from the fact that a
leaves among members of th
Schutzstaffel (the picked guard
have been cancelled. Many ob
servers are of the opinion tha
Hitler may strike first as he di
last June when he carried out hi
blood spurge with startling an
dramatic speed. It is unlikelj
however, that he can forestall th
coming coup even if he acts firs’
because the present anti-Hitle
move is far better organized an
enjoys the support of the entir
Reichswehr.