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THE srIOUI T EWISIIORONICLII
WILT II:MON Novae sm. yvyne
Miaaboy
Published Weekly by The Jewish Chronicle Publis
► ilag C
lac
Joseph J. Cummins, President and E litor
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•Iewe expressed by the writers.
July 18, 1924
Tamuz 16, 5684
The Zionist Convention.
S
4
II
The Zionist Organization of America a the Pitts-
burgh convention committed itself to detin ite policies
which indicate a more realistic attitude or the prob-
ems confronting World Jewry in its relatio e to Pales-
tine. A significant resolution was the one I t svoring the
removal of the seat of the World Zionist Ex icutive, the
Keren Ilayesod and other agencies to Pales tine. This
means that the leaders of the Zionist movem ent will be
on the gound to meet all the situations which may
arise at first hand.
Not less important was the resolution which re-
quires all Zionist organizations, including he liadas-
sah, to contribute to the Keren Ilayesod. Th e approval
of this resolution makes a rapprochemen , with the
Brandeis group quite impossible, but the attitude of
Rabbi Jurrnan of Waterbury, a former Br ,ndeis sup-
porter, indicated that many defections from the Bran-
deis group is a reasonable prospect for the immediate
future. The matter of the Keren Ilayesod is not a sub-
ject to compromise if one is a Zionist or is interested
in the upbuilding of Palestine. Contribut ion to the
Keren Ilayesod is a condition precedent wh ich cannot
and will not be raised. If Palestine is to be rebuilt, the
rebuilding must begin no matter what diff erences of
opinion may exist as to the political aspe cis of the
problem or as to the value of the Balfour De claration.
The Non-Partisan Conference is expect lid to con-
tribute its share to the extension of actual c instruction
work in Palestine, and with this in view n on-'Zionists
are to be given an equal share in the respon sibility, as
well as equal representation.
The new immigration policy of Americ a has had
weight in shaping the practical, realistic po licy of the
American Zionist Organization. Many Euro peon Jew's
stranded In Europe are seeking a home. The only
available home for these people at this tim e is Pales-
tine. This actual situation must be met and no agency
can handle it more effectively than the Kere Ilayesod,
with the financial backing of the Non-Partis an Confer-
ence. When a sufficient number of these sty anded ones
are settled in Palestine it is then time to the ash out dif-
ferences in political policy, not in their natu re insistent
or presently troublesome.
The convention approved the American Jewish
Congress and recommended that Zionist districts
throughout the country contribute to its funds. An in-
cident occured during the discussion on this resolution
which did not reflect credit upon the attitude of some
of the speakers. The congress administration was de-
nounced for inviting Zangwill to America. Are no dis-
senters to be heard? Must everyone subscribe to the
Zionist credo without the right of questioning or even
repudiating much of its program or purposes? Even
in the Zionist Organization freedom of speech and mi-
nority rights surely have their place and should be
given respectful consideration, Criticism, especially
when it comes from honest and sincere sources, should
be ever welcome. We are certain that, even though
many Zionists may not agree with Israel Zangwill, they
still appreciate the excellent service he has rendered
and will continue to render to World Jewry. We ap-
proved of Zangwill from the very beginning and are
persuaded that he has in a great measure helped to
clarify the situation and has aided the American Zion-
ist Organization to crystallize its aims and purposes.
The American Zionist Organization is down to
brass tacks. The paramount question recognized by
the realists is the need for a home for the Jews. The
homeland, as an autonomous, legally assured entity,
may follow when a sufficiently large number have
made it their home. The architects and builders are
to be brought to Palestine ; the city and state )vill
emerge after the homes are built. How large a state
will be built will depend entirely upon the human and
material resources available. But this much is certain
—nothing can be built until a start is actually made.
The convention at Pittsburgh decided to make a real
start by centering all efforts upon the Keren Hayesod,
the building and sustaining organization of World
Zionism.
We wish them success in their nece ssary basic
work; the political and cultural movements will follow
as a natural consequence.
Fasciamo and Democrac y
We are a democracy. We believe in th e principles
of freedom of speech, press and assembly. We believe
in representative republican institutions. We are op-
posed as much to a dictatorship of Musson ni and Fait-
cismo as we are to the dictatorship of Len in. Trotsky.
et al in Russia. It does seem rather stray Igo to reaf-
firm and restate these fundamental princip les. but tre-
quently it is vitally necessary to restate a nd reaffirm
fundamentals because they are too often fo rgotten and
neglected, inasmuch as they are self-evident and rouse-
quently taken for granted.
The recent events in Italy in connecter In with the
death of Deputy Matteotti has confirmed t s in the be-
lief that democracy is valid and sound and t!) specious,
sophisticated reasons offered to show the s oundness of
dictatorships fall to the ground.
Mussolini, the hero of all un-Americr in reaction-
aries, has repeated the cant phrase that th e people do
not want freedom so often that many were ready to ac-
cept this libel as a fact. The news seep ing through
from Italy, (we say seeping for there is a ri gorous war-
time censorship there) is all to the effect t hat the peo-
plc of Italy did not want freedom becaus i the organ-
ized black hand Fascist) broke up the pre, ss, meetings
and organization's of the opposition. Wi th this con-
dition of silence brought about by thugg ?ry, murder
S: *.ZaiiMm?
fit, re-"
„ 0.1
AIN
1
4, to-
and arson, it is hardly any wonder that the people did
not clamor for freedom. It was worth your life and of-
ten that of your whole family to advocate freedom of
speech, press and assembly in Italy. The oracle of des-
potism, Mussolini, could without much fear of contra-
diction tell a much bedeviled and bewildered world,
with values all topsy-turvy, that freedom and liberty
were really not wanted by the people and that the peo-
ple despised these fancies of democracy. And what is
more, this tyrannical dictator became the paragon of
all the robust, spartan virtues and spread the belief that
inefficiency and corruption would disappear under his
rule, while they had grown like noxious weeds under
the democratic parliamentary regime. Now we dis-
cover that graft, corruption, dishonesty, murder, arson
and robbery were concomitants of the Fascist rule.
The death of Matteotti was the result of his threat to
expose these very crimes of the Fascisti. lie was on
his way to the Chamber of Deputies with the data ex-
posing the leaders of the Fascisti when he was kidnap-
ped and murdered.
011 the other hand, there is another dictatorship
where crimes without number have been perpetrated,
where frauds and peculations are of frequent occur-
ence and where the Checka, the Russian counterpart
of the Black (land of the Fascism°, have assured the
world that freedom is a mirage and liberty a myth
which people do not want.
When tyrants and dictators tell one that the people
want slavery and tyranny one should take it with a
large grain of salt. As for us, we refuse to believe it
at all. It is an ancient practice of slave holders, czars,
tyrants and those in positions of arbitrary power to tell
the world how happy and contented are the slaves,
serfs and subjects. If the Italian and Russian people
would tell us that they love slavery and the rule of
despots and dictators, we would question it; but when
the despots tell us how' happy are the subjects of their
despotism we call it a downright falsehood.
These latest exposures in Italy are a justification
for the belief in democratic principles and a vindica-
tion of freedom and liberty which we enjoy under our
constitutional scheme. We refuse to barter them away
or surrender them to any dictators no matter how
beautiful their promises or excellent their motives.
These precious victories of the human spirit have been
won with too much pain and suffering to relinquish
them for any promised or questionable good which all
the social saviors may offer us.
Once more is democracy triumphant in a much
tangled world, shocked and dazed by the catastrophe
of the war and the debacle of the peace.
Pennsylvania Still Lives.
Judge Finletter of Philadelphia sitting specially in
Cambria County sentenced eighteen members of the
Ku Klux Klan and ten Lilly residents to two years im-
prisonment for participation in a shameful riot in Lilly
in which three men were killed.
The whole country owes a debt of gratitude to the
courageous jury, to Judge Finletter and to District At-
torney Weimer, for the verdict and sentence. Had they
done otherwise we would be faced with a dangerous
explosive situation. It would be quite impossible to
predict the excesses which barbaric, irresponsible
groups would perpetrate if they could get away with
murder, to use a slang expression.
We are unable to draw any distinction between the
black shirted bandits of Italy and the white robed ma-
rauders of the Klan when they are bent upon murder,
riot and tar parties. They set themselves above the
law and with arrogance and impudence become the
judge of the conduct of men and women who are an-
swerable to the whole community and not to a few
self-appointed, collosally ignorant, infantile bigots.
The verdict of the jury is a warning to all who
would take the law in their own hands, whether Klan
or anti-Klan, that there is a supreme authority in the
state to which all are answerable. Despite the great
provocation of the swaggering Klan, the citizens of Lil-
ly were not without fault. If the Klan violated the law
in their cross-burning and by their childish, fear-inspir-
ing parading it was the business of the police to prevent
law breaking.
Sanity and courage will do more to destroy the pri-
vate feud spirit than any amount of vituperation. The
Klan may fulminate against the verdict of the jury but
it will have a salutary, sobering effect upon even the
most hare-brained and irresponsible among them. As
long as they confine their clownish antics to their own
circuses we have no complaint. That is their private
affair, but we do resent their interference in the pri-
vate life of others and in the public affairs of the na-
tion.
Pennsylvania still lives. It will countenance no an-
ti-social activities or organization. We are hopeful that
this same spirit will soon manifest itself in those states
of the south which have too often been disgraced by
indefensible mob action.
Rabbi Stephen S. Wise was a delegate to the Dem-
ocratic convention as a Tammany representative. The
mayor of New York and the governor of the state are
members of Tammany. Has the affiliation with Tam-
many prevented these men from giving the city and
state of New York an efficient administration? Has
it militated against enlightened and liberal policies?
It is almost time we revised an old prejudice about
Tammany. Rabbi Wise will no doubt help to dissipate
the ancient ill repute of this powerful organization.
For one who follows in the paths of peace and
righteousness the sage of Dearborn works by indirec-
tion his wonders to achieve. Even peaceful Switzer-
land has not been immune from his anti-Semitic dia-
tribes, and we may yet hear of excesses from that coun-
try which has been entirely free from anti-Semitism.
When he accomplishes this he may then announce to
an expectant world that the Savior has come, for he
bath stirred up even the most peaceful against Israel.
Our immigration quota law is a masterpiece of the
botched and bungled. An Italian mother arrives with
seven children, six are permitted to enter, and an infant
born in Italy is barred because it was born in Italy and
the Italian quota is filled. Many more instances like
this may shock the conscience of America and bring
it to a realization of the monstrosity it has brought
forth.
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.1 'IV
The Balkanization Of America
By ABRAHAM CAPLAN
Fanfare.
OW that the Zionist convention
has joined in the comradeship of
of history with the conventions that
preceded it, we may truly wonder
what it was all about. Much shout-
ing, eloquent speeches, formidable re-
ports of what has been common know.
ledge were the order of the day. In-
deed the keynote (and keynotes not
infrequently connote and denote noth-
ing vital) sounded the idea that the
Palestine question was a settled ques-
tion, quite definitely removed from the
realm of disputation. And if this is
so—and we believe it is—why is it
necessary to engage in a costly gath-
ering of the clans and, like other or-
ganizations with lesser ideals and
lesser soundness of purpose, whoop it
up?
The last convention attempted noth-
ing that required the organized pub-
lic opinion in the Zionist movement in
America. The question of removing
the seat of administrative activity
from London to Jerusalem was of such
little moment as to constitute a most
pathetic issue. Rapid indeed must
be developments in the Zionist move-
ment that, whereas the leaders of the
organization a year ago fought tooth
and nail the proposal to transfer the
World Executive from London to Je-
rusalem, they reversed their position
this year with beauteous finality.
Ideas are needed but you cannot cre-
ate them at will. In the absence of com-
pelling points of departure, organiza-
tions should content themselves with
resting on their oars, continuing the
work for which they are in existence
and waiting to approach new situa-
tions as they arise. What is true of
the Zionist Organization in the United
States is true of every national Jew-
ish organization in the United States.
We meet to often, talk too much, and
say no little. Let us meet not quite
so often.
N
Romance.
the romantic aspects of
O the situation
in Palestine is what
NE of
has been termed the re-assimilation
of the numerous Jewish groups that
have gathered within its precincts
during recent years. Something of the
reality of the prayer which Jews for
centuries have uttered, that the scat-
tered remnants of Israel may be as-
sembled from the four corners of the
earth, comes home to us when we are
told that Jews of varied colors and
customs riotously different from One
another have flocked to the land of
their ancestors with the single thought
in mind of founding again a Jewish
civilization.
And then there arises the question:
What kind of race will be evolved af-
ter the fusing of the disparate Jewish
groups has made of European, Asiatic,
American and African Jews the Jew-
ish people of Palestine. Strange that
Zangwill, who long pursued the melt-
ing pot theory, has failed to seize up-
on the situation in Palestine as a log-
ical scene for the enactment of the
drama of the unfoldment of a great
race. Does Zangwill, after all, lack
the imagination of H. G. Wells and is
he deficient in the art, which great
men need not hesitate to cultivate, of
rational prophecy?
Black Shirt.
USSOLINI at length has over-
11'1 reached himself. His defiant
stand against those elements in Ital-
ian public life who demanded a renun-
ciation of the anarchic methods em-
ployed by the Fascisti in the name of
"strong government" only served to
accentuate the essential folly of a man
who, at best, is a political buccaneer,
a clever opportunist. The role of the
dictator is frequently played but it
does not endure. Lawlessness, speak-
ing, piously for "law and order," ful-
minates uetil its depravity fully re-
veals itself. The black shirt brigades
in Italy- (vividly in contrast to the
sneaky white hoods of America's de-
fenders) soon will become conspicu-
ous by their absence from the streets
of Rome. Mussolini, with his grave
eyes and pseudo-Napoleonic gestures,
will soon be retiring as honorably as
conditions will allow into the meeker
circles from which he emerged.
n EATII
Death.
respects neither the great
nor the powerful. It grimly
points its finger at eager youth as it
If death
does to fading old age.
means to enlighten the mind of man-
kind and arrest the doings of the sel-
fish and the proud and the unchari-
table, it often adopts roundabout
ways. It is at once a source of dis-
couragement and good fortune that
men quickly forget the wounds which
the passing of loved ones opens up.
But it is a truly wise man or woman
who remembers not once but often
whither we go. Men confuse the im-
mortality to which their souls can
reach out with that base thing which
is unthinking, unrt'ckoning, and with-
al volatile, prosperity.
Pebbles.
of the latest novel of
A an reviewer
Anglo-Jewish author, speak-
ing of the writer's recreations, men-
tions playing with pebbles on the
beach as line of his pastimes. We call
this a fascinating exercise and recom-
mend it highly. It enables one to keep
to himself and meditate freely, if he
can, and if he chooses. It is a recrea-
tion which we urge upon writers, if
they can afford to while away some of
their time. But there is one danger,
one danger. Playing with pebbles on
the beach may beget a book the writ-
ing of which may require many
months and longer, and the reading of
which may exact long and tedious
hours, uncompensated hours.
If writers can afford to play with
pebbles on the beach and keep on play-
ing, then it will be well.
R
Medicine.
OUNIANIAN medical schools are
refusing to allow Jewish students
to take their examinations unless they
supply Jewish corpses on which to
practice. It so happens that the num-
ber of Jewish corpses has been ex-
hausted. We wonder if the recent
murderous attacks in various parts of
Transylvania did not have the benev-
olent object in view of replenishing the
supply of Jewish corpses in order that
the Jewish medical students may not
be interfered with in their studies.
1
Israel Zangwill, in his famous ut-
terances while in America last au-
tumn, gave no specific reasons why
the Jew of the United States should
as Jews cultivate political unity and
pattern after the Jewish blocs that ob-
tain in Poland, Austria and Hungary
—wherever the policy of government
still clings to the outworn notion of
political, religious and economic dis-
crimination against the Jews. The
English writer may have seen the de-
veloping, American situation more
clearly than he was thought to have
seen it wh( n he voiced his 004'8 on the
various aspects of the Jewish situa-
tion, That he divined conditions in
America that in the course of time
will be marked by the egregious Eu-
ropean notion of balance of power,
both in the internal affairs of coon-
tries and in the political concert of
things in Europe, may be fairly defi-
nitely assumed. lie saw America un-
dergoing moral disintegration and
merely declared what was the duty of
the Jewish group if it was to maintain
a properly secured status.
Still we hope that Zangwill misread
the situation. We hope that it Was
the pessimism of a European that
spoke out and that what he regard.
ed as a new point of departure in Am-
erican life was but the frenzied after-
math of one of those irrational periods
that ()Celli' in the life of every people.
But here comes along Ilenrik W.
Van Loon, a man than whom none has
a more telling insight into the affairs
of present-day Europe and Ameica or
a keener understanding of historic
trends, and declares that as a result
of the religious issue injected at the
recent Democratic National Conven-
tion, a Catholic Party, similar to that
of the Center Party in Germany, will
be organized in the United States. The
drama which was enacted at the New
York convention clearly revealed, in
a manner which left nothing to the
imagination and which was free from
the camouflage which political experts
employ sometimes skillfully and then
again with puerile clumsiness, that
the virus of religious bigotry has seiz-
ed a significantly large part of the
American people and is corroding the
very fundament of a democracy that
until recently gave evidence of becom-
ing the mentor of the world and the
guide-post in the process of world ad-
justment. This drama seems but a
prelude to a larger and more menac-
ing unfoldment. It suggests that
America is inviting a Balkanization
of its governmental structure and a
repudiation of the priceless political
heritage which the founders of the re-
public hoped to hand down to perpet-
uity unaltered and undefiled.
The demand for an Americanism
based upon Protestant religious affilia-
tion has been trumpeted forth by ele-
ments in the United States who little
realize the mischief that abide in their
program. They not only belie the
very definite doctrine which is voiced
by the Declaration of Independence,
the Constitution of the United States,
the constitutions of the several states
and the bills of rights which form the
organic law of the Pi commonwealths,
but they rear up a veritable heap of
dynamite that ultimately may destroy
their very own political status. It is
quite within the realm of possibility
that that element in the Ku Klux
Klan which is numerically most im-
portant may come upon the notion
that the welfare of America requires
not only Protestant religious affilia-
tion but one and only one affiliation.
It may come to look upon the Episco-
palian Church, for example, as too
closely identified in certain theologi-
cal points of view with the Catholic
Church to be safe for 100 per cent
Americanism. When Stephen S. Wise
issued a warning to the Protestant
communions in this country that the
Ku Klux Klan is their problem even
more than it is the problem of the Jews
the Catholics and the Negroes, he may
have had in mind the disastrous re-
sults that may come event° Protest-
ant religions that fanatics may deem
outside the pale of what the Klan
calls Americanism.
It is to be hoped that the Catholic
Church in America will not permit
itself to be stampeded into organizing
itself into an equivalent of the Center
Party of Germany or of the clerical
parties in smaller Central European
countries. It is to be hoped that the
ten or more million negroes in the
United States will continue in their
determination to make high progress
in the work of freeing themselves
from the political fetters which have
bound them for more than half a cen-
tury. It will not be a joyous day in
the history of the Jews of America if
it is finally found inoperative to unite
Jewish voters in defense of their
rights as citizens of the republic.
But if the religious and racial
groups in the United States upon
which the subversive elements in Am-
erican life have frowned assume a
political defensive and acquire the
habit of looking upon political and
social problems not from the broad,
national standpoint but from the
standpoint of their constantly men-
aced rights as unwelcome elements,
we shall transform America into a
colossally Balkanized state and pave
the way for the undoing of the struc-
ture which is the fruit of American
political genius.
That would be an unhappy day for
America and the world. It would
cause cynical rejoicing in the camp of
the reactionary forces that have been
despoiling Europe. We would only
reinforce the attitude which they long
have maintained. We would destroy
every vestige of high example which
until recently we showed to other na-
tions. We would invite the religious
antagonisms which make government
a mockery and the opportunities for
the peace and happiness of the world
to disappear for generations and per-
haps forever. Those who have inspir-
ed the movement to turn the American
people into a host of divers political
and religious groups violently at war
with one another should think twice
before they go further in their unholy
we r.
It is* to be America, or a western
Ilalkan situation. Either America,
with the tradition of constitutional
rights, religious freedom and economic
opportunity, is wrong, or the corrupt
doctrine of the erstwhile Holy Roman
Empire which fell with the death of
Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hun-
gary and the passing of Wilhelm II.
of Germany is right. The issue should
be clear and boldly stated. If the Ku
Klux Klan is made up largely of men
and women whose political knowledge
does not exceed that of a deputy sher-
iff, the more intelligent among its
ranks should be compelled to speak on
this very vital question, a question
which they have violently put to the
fore. The America of Lincoln, Roose-
velt and Wilson was either right or
wrong. And they must answer the
question while the whole world lis-
tens.
The forthcoming campaign for the
Presidency offers an opportunity for
clearing the atmosphere. Every party
contending for supremacy should de-
clare its stand in words of such defi-
nitely Anglo-Saxon brevity and force
as to let every man and woman who
reads a newspaper know beyond doubt
or peradventure where the candidates
and their parties stand on the ques-
tion whether America is to remain
America or become the western sym-
bol of a discredited and despairing
political order.
John Basset Moore, member of the
International Court, in a book just is-
sued entitled "International Law," de-
clares that "it may be unreasonable
to expect that international wars will
cease before civil wars end. In the
one case as in the other the mainten-
ance of continuously peaceful condi-
tions will depend upon the general im-
provement of political and social rela-
tions." In these words he states the
problem lucidly. The peace, the pro-
gress, the civilizing process of the
world cannot be assisted as long as
nations are rent by hate and bigotry
and group looks upon group with mis-
giving and violence. America cannot
afford to surrender its moral great-
ness at the behest of deadly enemies
who think they are her defenders.
BETTER AMERICANS
from home replied: "I was quite sick
recently. As I lay abed contemplat-
ing my condition and the outcome
that I feared, it occurred to me that
for years I had been preaching about
the glories of the hereafter when I
was ignorant of the glories of the
world that now is, and I resolved that
if the Almighty permitted me a
longer lease of life I would rectify
my mistake and so I have begun by
seeing my own country. That is why
I am here." We Americans are like
this woman and this minister who
concentrated their gaze upon the dis-
tant as extensively that they neg-
lected the near. As one who has
travelled much and been guilty of the
some mistake I wish to protest to my
compatriots to guard against it. We
shall be better Americans for broader
knowledge of ourselves as well as
others.—Alexander Lyons.
We Americans are a travelling peo-
ple. We spend time, energy and
means in pursuit of pleasure. It has
been my privilege to visit many
countries and wherever I went I
rarely failed of meeting fellow-citi-
zens. This disposition of ours to tra-
vel is to be commended. It is con-
ducive to the enlargement of our re.
lations with the world, and to a
broadening of our own culture. And
yet we need to be warned. Too many
of us are like the mother who starts
out to reform the children of the
world and is negligent of her own
offspring. Or we are similar to the
clergyman from the east who was
once found out in the heart of the
mountains of our distant west, who
being met there by an acquaintance
and asked what he was doing so far
Lord
Of the World
Lord of the world, 0 hear my psalm,
And as sweet incense take my plea.
My heart hath set its love on Thee
And finds in speech its only balm.
This thought forever haunts my mind,
Some day to Thee I must return,
From Thee I came and backward yearn
My very fount and source to find.
Not mine the merit that I stand
Before Thee thus, since all is Thine,
The glorious work of force divine,
No product of my heart or hand.
My soul to Thee was humbly bent
Even before she had her birth,
Before upon the sphere of earth
Her heavenly greatness made descent.
SOLOMON IBN GABIROL.
(Translated by Israel Zangwill.)