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and Americas War Aims A Study About American Jewry's Duties Toward Palestine, Now and After the War IIy I i»\\ mid \. Norman ■* INCH our country has become involved in war. question* have sometimes heen asked even hv Jews, ineluding some Zionists, concerning tin* wisdom and propriety of the continuance of fund raising efforts in America on hehalf of various Jew ish activities abroad, including several aspects of Jewish work in or in connection with Palestine. In preface, it must lx* said that there cannot he the slightest doubt that the first ilutv of Jewish Americans as of all Americans in this most se rious crisis and time of danger, is to America it self. Whatever we Jews of America can do, in an\ wav whatsoever, to help our countrv to emerge \ ic- torious from this greatest of all wars, we not onlv must do but we, like all Americans, want to do. However, victory in battle is not our country’s sole aim. As President Hoosevelt proclaimed in his radio speech on December II. “Our true goal is far above and beyond tin* ugly field of battle." We are now, lie said, in the midst of a war for a world in which this nation, and all that this nation repre sents. will b<* safe for our children. And so we are not only going to win this war, but we are going to win the peace that will follow it. It is in connec tion with this latter aim that tin 1 American Jewish community's second duty, scarcely less urg« nt than the first, lies. Freedom Is b has been proven now. Iieyond all / A' ‘ 'hi possibilitv of question, that in this n ivisi e mpc |||,„j ra | age which has reduced the entire world to one compact community, no people in am land can be safe in its freedom if all men are not free, and if all the world does not follow the principles that we sum up under the term de- moeracy. I ndouhtedlv, in any reorganization of Europe following a defeat of the \\is. all the tenets of democraev will be written into the fundamental laws of all Europe. However, as every experienecd person knows, it is possible to conform abso lutelv to the letter of laws and vet at the same time coin- pletelv to violate their spirit. Legal democracy in Kurope will amount to little, and will lx* hut a weak foundation for the structure of human freedom on earth, if Kuropeans are not fuliv imbued with the spirit of democracy, which spirit includes as one of its most essential features the according of equal opportunitv. economic a* well a- legal or political or religious, to all. It is in connection with this point that certain un pleasant practical facts force themselves to atten tion. |{e|iellent as these facts muv be, we cannot make them any less real hv refusing to recognize them. It is our duty, in the name and for the sake of the freedom and democracy for which \merica is struggling, bravely to acknowledge the existence of certain deplorable conditions, and to formulate and lx* prepared effectively to cam out intelligent and courageous plans for correcting them. Europe Is Being I he first sad point that must Impoverished !?' fa, ' ,, ‘ l ia,hal a,,er ,hl ‘ " ar Kurope will he an impover ished continent. Its entire economic life has heen been dissipated in the wasteful business of war. Its means of production have been destroyed or abused. Life in Europe will be difficult, and the struggle for existence will be grim for every one. It can be taken for granted that the recovery of Eu rope will be slow, and that in all probability old methods as well as old social and economic forms w ill not meet the needs of the future. It requires no prophet to see that every oppor tunitv for paid employment will be sought hv a multitude of applicants: every profitable possibility will be exploited to its full extent; every resource will he worked to its utmost; every hit of land will be cultivated as much as it can be. As a result of such intensive competition, many Europeans will lx* able to maintain hut a meager standard of liv ing. if that. Low price levels existed in world mar kets for many years before the war. and undoubted ly these markets will not he sources of wealth for post-war Europe. In all probability, Europe will h ive to reconstruct itself as best it can on the basis of its own resources. (lonqietition never is wel comed, but under circumstances such as these, it i» hound to lx* resented severely and competitors are hound to he abhorred, esjiecially if thev are considered as “outsiders.”’ Why Anti-Semitism Ibis leads to a second dis- Will Last maying fact. The Jews of Europe, due to the Nazi and other persecutions. have heen forced into the po sition of being “outsiders" from an economic stand|>oint. It can lx* argued, with full truth, that in fact the Jews in Kurope are Europeans, ami not outsiders, and that if Europe is to he democratic the Jews in Europe must have the same opportuni ties as the balance of the population. However, the actual situation is that, as a result of tin* occur rences of tin* past nine years, the Jews in Europe are almost entirelv divorced from tin* economic life of that continent. It can do little good to depend solely upon the legal rights that European Jews will pre sumably have after the political reconstruction of Kurope. If the populace, in its struggle against odds to earn a living, chooses to regard the Jews as out siders. it w ill d o so. and no laws or constitutions will he able to prevent it from doing so. If. therefore, for want of anv other alternative. European Jews should he compelled to attempt to reinsert themselves, on a full scale, into the eco nomic life of the continent, there is verv grave dan ger that they may stir up so much feeling against themselves that it will lx* impossible for the basic democratic principle of equal opportunitv for all to gain any substantial support among the popu lace of Europe. W ithout authentic public accept ance of this principle. European democracy will he a hollow sham, absolutism will forever be on the brink of asserting and reasserting itself, and in the end it will turn out that this world war, like the first one. will have heen fought in vain. Hv recog nizing this strong probability, and hv seeing to it that the hulk of the Jews of Europe are afforded t Please turn to [Hige 25 l The Southern Israelite