Newspaper Page Text
ho/
Jewry
The Southern Israelite
WEEKLY NEWSPAPER
v q L XII—NO. 52 (EXTRA EDITION)
ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY. DECEMBER 31, 1937
PRICE FIVE CENTS
Italy Found
Tolerant By
Rome Leader
NEW YORK (WNS)—By and
large Italy is still free from anti-
Semitism but what anti-Jewish
feeling there is is due primarily
the free hand given to Nazi
agitators. So said Mario Batatan-
s ki. chief cantor of the Great Syna
gogue in Rome, who has just ar
rived here on a visit. Cantor Ba-
tatanski said anti-Jewish agitation
in Italy is being spread by alleging
that the Italian Jews are traitors to
Fascism and agents of England.
Racial anti-Semitism, however, has
made little impression, he declar
ed The chief sufferers of Italian
iim-Semitism are the Zionists, he
said, because they are regarded
as pro-British. Because of this
feeling the Zionist movement has
been officially banned and its pub
lication, Israel, suppressed. Ba-
tatanski reported that in commu
nal, religious and philanthropic
affairs Italian Jew's enjoy complete
autonomy through a national law
enacted under the Fascist regime.
This law’ makes it possible for the
Jewish communities to tax Jews,
even those not interested in things
Jewish, for Jewdsh communal and
religious purposes. The anti-Zio
nist Jeeling, however, has split
many of the Jewish communities
so badly that in some cases govern
ment commissioners have been ap
pointed to direct affairs pending
new elections.
Freud In Drama
Vienna (WNS)—Dr. Sigmund
Freud, world-famous psycholo
gist and father of psychiatry,
will be the subject of a new play
written by Cenrnd Veidt, the
motion picture actor. Veidt is
now in Vienna discussing the
play with Dr. Freud. The play
will dramatize Freud’s famous
psychiatric experiments.
JOB PREJUDICE
STEMMED IN N.Y.
Flood Victims 1937 Winner
U. S. Leaders n
Form Defense , B naI
15nth Loans
Berlin (WNS)—The secret poli
tical police in Hamburg have ar
rested the Rev. Max Groesser,
Catholic priest, because during a
recent visit to the United States
he cooperated with Archbishop Jo
seph Francis Rummel of New Or
leans in aiding Catholic and Chris
tian Jewish refugees from Ger
many. Father Groesser is secre
tary-general of St. Raphael’s So
ciety, w'hich is a world Catholic
organization caring for all sorts
of refugees.
NEW YORK (WNS)—Formation
of a new non-sectarian and non
political membership movement
called the American Union for De
mocracy which will embark on a
program of education through the
press and radio to combat all at
tempts at undermining American
democracy and civil liberties was
announced here by William H. Os
born, president. As outlined to
newspaper men by Charles I. Stew
art, secretary, the organization
will endeavor to deal with such
violations of civil liberties as the
attacks on Jews and Catholics and
other minority groups. It will al
so join in the defense of all the
civil rights guaranteed in the Bill
of Rights of the Constitution. The
Union will be a membership body.
At present it is directed by a board
of 29, which includes William Al
len White, Dr. Paul Hutchinson,
editor of the Christian Century;
James Rosenberg, Rev. L. Birk-
head, Dr. W. A. Eddy, president
of Hobart College; John E. Man-
ley, general secretary of the Na
tional Council of the Y. M. C. A.;
Marvin Lowcnthal and Chester A.
Arthur, grandson of President Ar
thur.
CINCINNATI. OHIO:—An inci
dent “without precedent in the an- j
nals of philanthropy” is related
by Alfred M. Cohen, President o!
B’nai B’rith, in the forthcoming
January issue of the B’nai B’rith |
Magazine. Eighteen months ago, j
B’nai B’rith appropriated $5,000
for loans to small merchants who
were victims of the Ohio River
flood, and now every cent has been
repaid by those merchants.
"I received word through our
brethren in Pittsburgh,” writer
President Cohen, “that if B’nai |
B’rith could appropriate out of its
Emergency Relief Fund say $5,000,
it would be a Godsend to a very
large number of small tradespeople
who might with assistance re-es
tablish their little businesses. I
was further informed that the Ge- j
melith Chescd (Hebrew Free Loan |
Association) of Pittsburgh would
see to the judicious distribution of
the money and its repayment, for
those to whom assistance would
be given would refuse to accept
the money as a gift and insist up
on repaying it. The money was
forwarded to the Hebrew Free
I»R. CYRUS ADLER
C yr u s Adler
Wins Phi Epsilon
Pi A nnual A ward
CLEVELAND, OHIO—Dr. Cy
rus Adler was awarded the third
Annual Phi Epsilon Pi National
t * , , ; _ ,,,, Service Award at the annual Con-
Loan AMociaUon. That wai •' • ltl ’ yention of the Fraternity here. The
over eighteen months ago. On th< , . • nnnuallv to the
15th of December I received from “ w ‘ 1,cl l - ,avLn <tn,juai| y
the Hebrew Free Loan Association
its check for $500, which was the
final installment of repayment in
full of the $5,000 advanced.”
Tribute Paid
Newton Baker
NEW YORK (NCJC)—Tribute
’o the role played by the late New
ton D. Baker in the inter-faith
movement in America was paid by
his fellow co-chairmen of the Na
tional Conference of Jews and
Christians, Roger W. Straus, in a
message addressed to his widow.
Declaring that “he was a leader
in many fields inspiring millions
to strive for the finer things which
his qualities of leadership made
real and understandable,” Mr.
Straus said:
His guidance of the work of
the National Conference of Jews
*nd Christians made it a force for
better understanding between the
various cultural groups in the
j-n:ted States. Those of us privi
leged to be associated with him
In this work will endeavor to
c Trry forward in accord with the
Philosophy he outlined.”
Mr. Baker had been intimately
associated with the work of the
Rational Conference since its
rounding in 1928. He had taken
an active part in the Conference’s
annual Brotherhood Days and had
h°Ped to participate in the tenth
anniversary celebration of the or
ganization to culminate this com
ing Washington’s Birthday. Al
though unable to attend this year’s
•ylliamstown Conference because
of ill health, he served as chair
man of the 1935 sessions. At that
ume he said:
If I could have my prayer for
^merica, I would prayVthat the
■jrne should come when all through
ne world—wherever there is any
Prejudice of the disfiguring and
corroding kind, wherever men hate
r^-h other, ostensibly or really,
"foause of religious or racial diff-
re nce. or wherever injustice is
(Continued on Page 8)
Alabama Synagogue Ruled Its
Membership With Iron Hand
A member of the congregation who fails to close his place
of business and attend services on New Year s Day or the Day
of Atonement shall be fined or expelled from the congregation.
A member who fails to pay hLs
dues shall either be sued in a
Court of Justice or expelled.
These regulations—which may
sound almost fantastic in these days
of extreme leniency—are actual
rulings found in the original con
stitution of Congregation Beth-Or,
Montgomery, Alabama, which has
just been reprinted in honor of
that congregation’s eighty-fifth an
niversary, according to an article
which will appear in the forthcom
ing issue of “The Synagogue,
monthly publication of the union of
American Hebrew Congregations.
The Constitution, which was
adopted in 1852 and was origi
nally drawn up in German, con
tains the following provisions
which are interesting and at times
even startling to the modem syn
agogue member:
“Any member not attending a
meeting of the Society shall be
liable to a fine of 50c; if a special
meeting, any member not at
tending shall pay a fine of from
50c to $1.00
cording to his circumstances.
“Members shall close their place
of business on New Year’s Day and
the Day of Atonement and shall
attend divine services at the hour
appointed. Any member violating
this Article shall be fined from
$2.00 to $20.00 or be expelled from
the Society. Any member having
a Christian partner is not com
pelled to close hLs place of business
but cannot enter it. The same ap
plies to a member being employ
ed as clerk in the store of a Chris
tian.”
award is given annually to
American Jew who has contribut
ed the most to the constructive
life of his people. Judges who
selected Dr. Adler as the recipient
of the award were three members
of the fraternity: Dr. Abram Leon
Sachar, National Director of the
Hillel Foundations; Richard E.
Gutstadt, Director of the Anti-
Defamation League, and Judge
Theodore Rosen, of Philadelphia.
Previous recipients are Miss Hen
rietta Szold (1935) and Dr. Step
han S. Wise (1936).
Two hundred and fifty delegates
representing the 31 active Chap
ters and 39 Alumni Associations
cheered the announcement
For leading their respective
campuses in scholarships, Chapters
in the following colleges received
awards from Maurice Jacobs, Ex
ecutive Secretary of the Jewish
Publication Society:
Rutgers University, University
of Mississippi, Dickinson College,
University of Georgia, Connecti
cut State College, Washington &
lx*e University, University of South
Carolina, Ohio State University,
Western Reserve University and
Ohio University.
State Religion For
Germany Is Adopted
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (NCJC)—A “program for
the future of the German Church” which proclaims a State
Religion and confiscation of all church property by the State,
is announced in the Nazi organ,f 4 The s t a t e confiscates all
Das Sehwartze Korps. P - c j iurc .j 1 property on the grounds
gram follows: ^ that “this property was created
I. Germany proclaims a State
aui _ w Any member dis-, R e ijgj on to which all citizens,
turbing the meeting will be liable \ without exception, are obligated
through the joint cooperation of
all citizens and in a period when
State and Church were still an en
fine of from 50c to $5.00. Any | -phis new religion is based on the >» Convent schools and insti-
member leaving the meeting before
it is adjourned shall be fined 50c.
“Initiation fee for a new member
is $3.00. The membership dues
are 75c per month.”
“Any member being three month
in arrears will be sued for the
same in a Court of Justice, or be
expelled from the Society, as the
Society may determine.
“Should the Society need a sum
of money which is not in the
ury, a committee of five shall be
appointed to tax any member ac-
“revelation of God in nature, des- tutions and monastic settlements
tiny, life and death of the peoples
2 The churches will be permitt
ed to exist as purely private insti
tutions if they subordinate them
selves in sermon and teachings to
the basic doctrines of the general
State Religion.
3 The State refuses all coop
eration with the churches. It re
moves its protection from them
and refuses the financial support
hitherto paid to them.
will therefore be disbanded
5. Religious instruction in the
churches will be conducted in the
service of the State Religion and
will be given by teachers that have
left the churches. In exceptional
circumstances special instruction
can be furnished for children re
maining in the Christian Church
by teachers who are “ecclesiastical
professionals.”
(Continued on Page 4)
NEW YORK (WNS)—As a re
sult of negotiations of the Ameri
can Jewish Congress, the question
of discrimination against Jewish
employes was tuken up at a presi
dents’ conference of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Com
pany held in October, 1937, at
which the president of the parent
company advised his associates
against permitting personnel man
agers to reject Jewish applicants
because of prejudice, and shortly
thereafter one of the departments
of the Now York Telephone and
Telegraph Company broke a long
standing precedent by engaging a
Jewish applicant. This is among
the facts disclosed in the second
report on Jewish non-employment
as a result of economic discrimi
nation issued by the commission on
economic problems of the Ameri
can Jewish Congress, of which
Habbi J. X. Cohen is chairman.
SUCCESS LARGE
The report declares that the
commission has been successful in
correcting employment policies in
a number of instances and has also
discovered to its great satisfaction
that even in fields where there is
general discrimination, instillations
may be found which are willing
and able to employ Jews. It dis
covered, the report states, that the
Jewish applicant is unaware that,
despite general discrimination
against Jews in the banking field,
there are banks whieh will give
the Jewish applicant a fair oppor
tunity for employment. The report
cites the case of the Central Han
over Bank and Trust Company
which reported it has not f>een re
ceiving applications from disquali
fied Jewish workers although it
does not discriminate against any
group, and also the Dime Savings
Bunk of Williamsburg and the Em
pire City Savings Bunk of Harlem,
which assert that practically no
Jews turn to them for employment.
The Commission reports it has es
tablished relations with 32 New
York savings banks nnd hopes as
a result of its negotiations to bring
about improvement In the em
ployment situation in that field.
CHARGES BASELESS
In the insurance field, where an
investigation is now in progress,
negotiations are being conducted
with the Metropolitan and Equit
able Life Insurance Companies
with a view to correcting a policy
which admits Jews to the sales
personnel but virtually excludes
them from office positions, regard
less of their qualifications. In a
number of investigations, charges
against such firms ns the Frigidaire
Division of the General Motors
Corporation, the Regal Shoe Com
pany and the Bar Association were
found to be baseless. The Com
mission also claims to have been
able to bring about a change in
the employment policy of an im
portant department store where
Jewish applicants were excluded
from employment by a system
which gave interviews to appli
cants on Jewish holidays. Investi
gation established that the store’s
owners were unaware of this prac
tice and instituted prompt action
with 102 private employment agen
cies licensed by New York City
in connection with charges of fos
tering a policy of rejecting Jewish
applicants.
WIDE PROGRAM
Simultaneously with the publi
cation of the report, the Congffcss
announced a nationwide program
to deal with this problem and plans
to set up bureaus to deal with
economic discrimination against
Jews in leading cities throughout
the country where the Congress
has branches. The program in
cludes a study of the existing sta
tutes prohibiting certain types of
discrimination with a view to ap
plying them to local situations, the
elimination of inquiries as to race
and faith from employment blanks,
the development of a program of
legislative correction of employ
ment agency abuses.