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fi_FEDEITOIVEWISII (ARON ICLE
this abhorrent Cheeney Act become known
during the hearings set for June 9. And
on the strength of this faith we urge the
Publi•hed Weekly by The Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., In.
thousands affected by this bill not to be-
Entered as second-alas matter M•rch 3, 1916, at the Pond
come too panicky, but to place their trust
office •1 Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March I. 1679.
in the 111)15 and public-spirited attorneys
General Offices and Publication Building
who are whole-heartedly and consicentious-
525 Woodward Avenue
ly devoting themselves to the cause of de-
Telephone: Cadillac 1040 Cable Address: Chronicle
Lonion Office
fending the rights of citizens as well as
14 Stratford Place, London, W. 1, England
non-citizens against such an abusive act.
$3.00
Per
Year
Subscription, in Advance
Theodore Levin and Fred M. Butzel, the
To inure publication, allcorrespondence and new. matter
guiding spirits behind the opposition to
must reach this office by Tuesday evening of nob wnk.
When mailing notices. kindly us• one tIde of the paper only.
the alien registration bill, have already
earned the gratitude of all right-thinking
The Detroit Jena's Chronicle invites correspondence on sub.
frets of interest to the Jewish people, but disclaims responsi-
Americans, everywhere, for the manner in
bility for an Indorsement of the news est, ..... d in the writers
which they are directing the opposition.
Sabbath Readings of the Torah.
And the sentiments expressed against the
Pentateuchal portion—Num. 8:1-12:16.
Prophetical portion—Zech. 2 :14-4 :7.
bill by Mayor Frank Murphy will serve
Sivan 20, 5691 further to ingratiate him with hundreds of
June 5, 1931
thousands of Detroit and Michigan citizens.
Liberty on the Scaffold.
When the Constitution of the United
States was adopted and the Articles of Con-
federation completed at the convention in
Philadelphia in 1787, Benajmin Franklin
is said to have pointed to a picture of the
sun in the convention hall and said:
"As I have been sitting here all these
weeks, I have often wondered whether yon-
der sun is rising or setting. But now I know
that it is a rising sun."
What would Benjamin Franklin, Thom-
as Jefferson, George Washington, the
Adamses and the other founders of this
great Republic have said were they today
residents of Michigan? What would they
have said to legislators who would rob
hundreds of thousands of men and women
of their security, of their peace of mind, of
freedom to sojourn in one of the states of
the confederation they helped to found?
What would they have said to legislators,
and to the governor of the state, who sanc-
tion the fingerprinting of strangers in our
midst as if they were criminals?
There can be only one answer to all the
guesses as to the attitude of the Fathers of
this Republic to the reaction that has gained
a foot-hold (-1 liberal American soil. Ben-
jamin Frani..in's only comment on the ac-
tion of Michigan's legislators could possibly
be: "The sun is setting on the great Amer-
ican institutions."
Because with one stroke of his pen, Gov-
ernor Wilber M. Brucker has endrosed the
action of the State Legislature of Michigan
in robbing of their sense of security more
than a quarter of a million of men and
women whose only crime is that they were
not born within the boundaries of these
United States. By appending his signature
in approval of the Alien Registration Act,
Governor Brucker has established a dan-
gerous precedent which, we are already
warned, will serve as a signal for 21
other states to adopt similar laws, which
must lead to the creation of a passport sys-
tem of the type that has caused the rule of
the Czars of Russia to go down in history as
the blackest and cruellest of all time.
With all due respect for the sentiments
of our Governor, who has followed the dic-
tates of his conscience in signing this bill,
we remind our law-makers of the warning
of one of our greatest presidents, Abraham
Lincoln:
"They who deny freedom to others, de-
serve it not for themselves, and under a
just God cannot retain it."
And there is prophecy and warning in
the words of. D. 11. Lawrence:
"Men fight for liberty and win it with
hard knocks.
"Their children, brought up easy, let it
slip away again, poor fools.
"And their grandchildren are once more
slaves."
This country is today the slave to a great
reaction, threatening the very foundation
of American principles of liberty, and the
enactment of a law like this alien registra-
tion act, while motivated by the sincerity of
a misled and misinformed group of public
officials, is the most dangerous type of leg-
islation. It is a law like this which forces
one to believe that the biggest menace to
American institutions and to the principles
which motivated the Constitution of the
United States and the Declaration of In-
dependence emanates from that group
which professes to sponsor one hundred
per cent Americanism but which in reality
undermines all the basic principles of "lib-
erty and the pursuit of happiness."
Our esteemed contemporary, the Detroit
Free Press, chooses to advise the officials of
this state to go the limit in fighting for the
enforcement of this law, and declares in
the very title of a leading editorial that
"The Governor Did Right." But the fact
is that the basic principles of Americanism
are embodied in the Constitution of the
United States which guarantees protection
to all persons, and the Cheeney Act, against
which the battle is now waged in Federal
Court, is a violation of Constituional prin-
ciples. To urge defiance of Constitutional
rights is to advocate anarchy. By endors-
ing this act the Go% ernor did wrong, to the
regret of a commdnity which honors its
chief executive.
Of course, we retain our faith that the
high courts of this land will not permit an
act containing so many unjust provisions
to become the law of the land. We have faith
that the principles of true Americanism
will yet triumph when the true facts about
A Tribute to the Federation.
The B'nai Writh Messenger, our Los An-
geles contemporary, in its issue of May 22,
under the heading "Detroit and Los Ange-
les," evaluates the contribution of the De-
troit Jewish community to the important
national and international, as well as local,
causes which are pleading for help, and in
the comparison it makes incidentally pays
a tribute to this community and to its Jew-
ish Welfare Federation. The editorial
reads:
Depression or no depression, the Jewish com-
munity of the City of Detroit raised the sum
of $180,000 in the first five days of the Allied
Jewish Campaign. The campaign has hardly
begun in the Michigan city, and all they need
for their quota is an additional $35,000.
Comparisons are odious. True, but this is
one comparison that must be thrust before the
eyes of the Los Angeles Jewish community.
Many days have passed since the United Jewish
Welfare Campaign was to have raised $165,-
000 in a drive for funds that would not only
include the two major drives, the J. D. C. and
the American Palestine Campaign, but almost
every other conceivable worthwhile Jewish
philanthropic and cultural movement depen-
dent upon such drives, and not included in the
Community Chest. One of the most remark-
able fund-raising machines has been developed
in Los Angeles. More than a thousand earnest
men and women are giving of their energy,
their time and their loyalty to their fellow
Jews to help the drive succeed. The United
Jewish Welfare Fund has not succeeded here.
Why?
Detroit has a Jewish population much smaller
in numbers than we have. Detroit has been hit
much harder financially during the depression.
A city depending upon the automobile indus-
try that was almost paralyzed for many
months, can be said to have suffered through
the depression far more acutely than Los
Angeles.
And yet the Detroit Jews have come vali-
antly to the front and have raised $185,000 in
five days, a sum almost $10,000 more than our
entire quota. The Jews of Detroit have not
forgotten the art of giving, the art of humani-
tarianism, the art of brotherhood, the art of
maintaining the Jewish family spirit. Has Los
Angeles Jewry forgotten? Has Los Angeles
Jewry lost that spark of Jewish humanitarian-
ism that kindles the will to live and let live
even under the most catastrophic of condi-
tions? Have a few frozen assets frozen the
Jewish heart? Has the depression sapped the
vitality out of our Jewish community? it is
inconceivable that such be the case. There must
he something far more serious in our Jewish
make-up in Los Angeles that allows such an
insidious indifference to creep into our con-
science.
We cannot point an accusing finger at those
who are managing the drive. They are work-
ing night and day, seriously, intently and
wholeheartedly. There is something entirely
disintegrating in the atmosphere—something
that is cruel and calculating that seems to have
laidj its clammy paws upon the hearth of our
Jewish community. What are we waiting for?
Are we waiting for a wholesale slaughter of
Jews in Eastern Europe, a famine in Palestine,
a complete collapse of our own Mt. Sinai Home,
and other local institutions depending upon this
drive, before our hearts can be touched? Are
we any different in make-up than the Jews of
Detroit?
1Ve are not scolding those who have been
unable to give as much as they did in previous
years, and who have given something this year.
We are calling attention to the fact that there
is starvation and destruction, misery and mis-
fortune in World Jewry that needs the palttry
few dollars asked of Los Angeles Jews, and we
ask those who have refrained from doing any-
thing for the drive whether by reason of the
"depression" or otherwise, that this is no time
to refuse the cry for help that is dinning in
our ears.
We reprint this editorial in full because
we believe the community should know that
the country at large has watched us during
the Allied Jewish Campaign, and that it
was an act of honor to have lived up to the
important obligations facing Jewry. We
feel confident that the community will
know how to value the compliment con-
tained in this editorial, and that the lead-
ers who were responsible for the cam-
paign's triumph—Aaron DeRoy, Henry
Wineman, Dr. John Slawson, Maurice J.
Caplan, Clarence II. Enggass and the many
workers—will be heartened by it to carry
on the important work for which such a
fine precedent has been set.
Damned If They Do or If They Don't.
Followers of Adolph Hitler, in the course
of their anti-Semitic activities, have been
shouting to the Jews: "Go back to Pales-
tine." But Hitler himself, judging from an
article he has written for the Koenigsberg
Preussen-Zeitung, even begrudges the Jews
this privilege. In his article Herr Hitler
states that the Zionists do not want Pales-
tine for the purpose of actually living
there, but only as a center from which the
Jews may be better able to rule the world.
It is the old story. If you're a Jew, you
are damned if you do, and damned if you
don't; you are damned if you want Pales-
tine as a Jewish National Home, and you
are damned if you don't want it.
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BY-THE-WAY
Tidbits and News of Jew-
ish Personalities.
By DAVID SCHWARTZ
MEMORIAL DAY AND JEWS
This is the memorial season—
the season when the soldier is in
his glory. So I was glad to do
nothing but keep on packing my
pipe the other day, when George
Cohen, of the Jewish Welfare
Board, continued to exude statis-
tics and data on the Jewish sol-
dier—the Jewish dead at Arling-
ton and cognate themes.
here are some of the things I
heard—that some 20 Jews have
been buried at Arlington since the
World War—that among the Jew-
ish veterans at Arlington is Gen-
eral Lacheimer, general of the Ma-
rine Corps (you never knew, and
neither (lid I, that there was a Jew-
ish general of the Leathernecks in
the World War); that there were
sonic 200,000, or close to a quar-
ter of a million, Jews in the Ameri-
can army during the World War;
that there are at present, ap-
proximately 6,000 Jews in the
United States army, out of a grand
total of something like 120,000.
Furthermre, I learned that the
honor graduate this year at Ann-
apolis is a Jew, Maurice Hubsch-
man.
A PECULIA R PEOPLE
We Jews are called a "peculiar
people" and when I review some
of these statistics, I cannot but ad-
mit that the charge seems true.
Here, we are supposed to be a race
of pacifists, yet we had in the
World War more than our per-
centage of Jews. And even today
in the United States army there is
more than our quota of Jews.
Yes, we Jews are a peculiar peo-
ple. They take our Old Testa-
ment and point to Joshua, Gideon
and a phrase here and there, and
say it is all stern and militaristic.
John Brown of Ossawatomie, we
are told, would have been gentler
had he studied the New instead of
the Old Testament. When Crom-
well marched with his soldiers he
went quoting the Old Testament,
not the New.
Our Bible is all fight—fight-
and militarism. So they tell us.
WE'RE BOTH—MILITARISTS
AND PACIFISTS
And as the old Jews are con-
demned for being too bellicose, we
moderns are condemned for being
too pacifist. Scratch the leading
pacifists in any county—and you
will find a Jew beneath. Who
called upon the Germans to stay
home—when their Kaiser called
them to war—a Jewish Socialist.
Who induced Mr. Ford to start a
little voyage to get the boys out
of the trenches by Christmas—a
Jewess.
And yet this race of pacifists
has more than its quota in the
army.
MAY AND DECEMBER
Some of the Washington scribes
are just now having a little gab-
fest about Paul May, the Belgian
ambassador to the United States,
who happens to be a Jew.
Some years ago May was at-
tache to the Belgian legation—and
according to these scribes he then
made an attempt to join some of
the smart clubs of the capital city.
But to no avail. Ile is a Jew,
they whispered—and to May, if I
may be permitted to pun, the capi-
tal city seemed as cold as Decem-
ber.
But now, all of a sudden, all of
the smartest clubs are trying to
get May to join. For now he is
an ambassador—and besides, they
have just begun to realize that he
is immensely wealthy—and he
has, oh, so much polish and savoir
faire.
So now May, if he wants to, can
stick out his tongue or thumb his
nose at them. Perhaps he'll do it,
but it's, oh, so unpolished to pro-
ject your taster.
UNCLE SOL O F WISCONSIN
The young secretary of Senator
La Follette, Maurice Pasch, tells
me a pleasant little anecdote
about State Treasurer Sol l.evitan
of Wisconsin — familiarly known
as "Uncle Sol."
Pasch says Uncle Sol himself
used to tell it. It goes back to the
humble clays of Uncle Sol, when
as a peddler he trod the cow paths
of Wisconsin with a pack on his
back.
One day, towards dusk, Sol
came to a house in an isolated sec-
tion of the country, where he
thought he would put up for the
night. But as he neared the home
he saw a sign: "No Peddlers Ad-
mitted."
Uncle Sol hesitated—his feet
were heavy—it was now late—and
unless he got accommodations in
this house he would have to walk
several more miles.
But Uncle Sol was ingenious.
Ile took his pencil and wrote
something under the sign.
Then Uncle Sol rapped on the
door. The lady of the house
opened the door.
"Could he stay there overnight?"
The lady of the house admitted
him. He sat down and rested. In
half an hour the man of the house
came.
He was furious. Didn't the sign
on the house say "No Peddlers Ad-
mitted"? What did he mean by
coming into the house when the
sign plainly barred all peddlers?
"But," said Uncle Sol, "the sign
said I could come in."
"Oh, come, come," said the man
of the house, "the sign says no
such thing."
"All right, come and see," said
Uncle Sol. They went out, and
the man looked at the sign: "No
Peddlers Admitted"—and then
underneath he saw "Except Sol."
which postscript Uncle Sol had
added previously with his pencil.
The man had a good laugh.
"You have put one over on me,
(Turn to Next Page.)
so.s.:
(1261.
4.so ra
isv O
w' 6 ,14 ...,1, b..
Fred. M. Butzel's Attack on the
Alien Registration Bill
.
* Charles ff.Joseph
was mention of Judge Horace Stern's
T HERE
name in connection with the recent vacancy on
the Supreme Court bench of Pennsylvania, which
Governor l'inchot filled by appointing Judge Drew
If the Superior Court. Horace Stern would have
been a splendid appointment and I feel sure that
he will eventually receive that well deserved tribute
to his ability. Ile is a judge of the Common Pleas
Courts of Philadelphia. But he is much more. Ile
possesses an extraordinary legal mind, and while I
am not going to class hint with Brandeis or Cardozo
(although I have no right to make comparisons
because my mind does not make me competent to
judge) I know that he is recognized as an outstand-
ing jurist, far above the average of judges to be
found in the lower courts.
BUT to me Judge Stern makes a strong appeal as
a Jew and a Jewish leader. A friend of his has
said: "For years Judge Stern has been recognized
by common consent as the leader among the 25,000
Jews in Philadelphia: A leader by virtue of his
superior character, his great learning and his extra-
ordinary intimate identification not only with Jew-
ish and non-sectarian philanthropies but with ever
so many important movements tending to build up
the higher civic, social and cultural life of the city.
Ile is unquestionably one of perhaps the dozen lead-
ers in American Jewry. When Mr. Louis Marshall
passed away Horace Stern was made chairman of
the executive committee of the American Jewish
Committee." I have always felt that Judge Stern
has not been made known to the Jews of America as
he should. Others seem to be better advertisers.
But I would suggest that those various groups who
from time to time are trying to choose who should
head this or that list of Jews entitled to special con-
sideration at the hands of American Jewry the name
of Judge Horace Stern of Philadelphia should be
kept in mind. I only met him once and he has
forgotten me, so I have no personal reason for mak-
ing this suggestion, but merely to let the Jew s of
America know that we have leaders to whom we
are heavily obligated and who are perhaps not so
generally known as the better advertised ones.
RECENTLY Dr. John Ilaynes Holmes was asked
by the editor of the American Israelite to con-
tribute a word about the project of a Jewish uni-
versity in this country. A statement I had made
regarding Dr. Holmes' lecture on "If I were a
Jew" was sent to Dr. Holmes at the same time. In
reply, he said:
I must state, however, that I am seriously
disturbed and also displeased by the clipping
which you enclosed of Mr. Joseph's Random
Thoughts. I would not for the world accuse
Mr. Joseph of any malice or ill-will, but I think
he did me a serious injustice in tearing out
from my sermon the excerpt which he quotes,
and ignoring entirely the other point of view
as stated on the very page of my sermon which
he quoted.. . . Am I not right in saying that
in quoting one passage in your paper, and in
ignoring altogether the other, Mr. Joseph has
presented to your readers a wholly false im-
pression of my viewpoint? I think I and en-
titled to a correction of this impression. I
think in fairness to nip and to the cause Mr.
Joseph should print the two passages together,
last man in the world I would want to nibs
T HE
quote or to misrepresent is Dr. John Haynes
Holmes. For years I have held him in the highest
esteem, looking upon him as one of the great for-
ward looking liberal clergymen in the United
States. And in selecting the passage I (lid I never
dreamt that I was doing him an injustice. My only
purpose was to emphasize the point of the difficulty
the Jew has in getting into closer relationship with
his neighbors. And the other point of the ten-
dency on the part of the Nationalist Jew to segre-
gate himself still further from his neighbors. And
I am only too happy to reprint the original passage
and to add the passage which Dr. Moines believes
should be included in order to give the reader a
fair picture of his attitude.
here is what I quoted:
If I were a Jew I would not confine myself
to the Jewish world. I would not turn my
home into a ghetto, nor my family into pariahs.
There are two sides to this business of Jewish
skegregation. There is the side of the Gentille,
who drives the Jew in scorn and contumely
from his presence. There is also the side of
the Jew who despises the Gentile, flees from
his world, and now that the physical ghetto is
gone, straightway proceeds to build a social
and spiritual ghetto of his own. And if ever
this segregation is to end there must be work
upon bith sides of the wall of separation. ...
So if I were a Jew, while I would not sacrifice
one iota of my Jewishness, I would deliber-
ately seek contacts with the larger world. I
would be a man among men, a citizen among
my fellow-citizens.
AND here is what Dr. Holmes feels I should have
added:
If I were a Jew, I would live the life of a
Jew, I would move in Jewish society, I would
be active in Jewish interests, I would belong to
Jewish clubs, I would keep contact with Jewish
synagogues. I would live in my home, in other
words, and I would associate with my family.
I would do this, first of all, because it is human.
I would do it. for the second and very particu-
lar reason, that there is something precious
in the Jewish tradition which the world cannot
afford to lose, and that as an inheritor of this
tradition I am appointed, so to speak, to trans-
mit to the future what I have received from
the past. And I would do this thing not only
because of what I owe to my people and to the
world, but also because of what I owe to my-
self. For I confess I have little sympathy with
the Jew who, while not hiding or denying Juda-
ism, still tries to live in the Gentile world and
as much like Gentiles as possible. As though
it meant anything to a Jew to belong to a
Fifth avenue church or a Long Island club!
Is there not something essentially unworthy
in this attempt to live the life of other people,
as though one were ashamed of one's country
or one's home?
But if I were a Jew, I would not confine
myself to the Jewish world. I would not turn
my home into a ghetto, nor my family into
pariahs. There are two sides to this business
of Jewish segregation. There is the side of the
Gentile, who drives the Jew in scorn and con-
tumely from his presence. There is also the
side of the Jew, who despises the Gentile, flees
from his world, and now that the physical
ghetto is gone, straightway proceeds to build
a social and spiritual ghetto of his own. And
if ever this segregation is to end, there must
be work upon both sides of the wall of separa-
tion. Not only the Gentile but the Jew must
beat down the barrier, and each cross volun-
tarily into the other's world. So if I were a
Jew, while I would not sacrifice one iota of
my Jewishness, I would deligerately seek con-
tacts with the larger world. I would be a man
among men, a citizen among my fellow-citi-
zens. I would live where other men live, go
where other men go, short what other men
share. Wherever a door is open, I would
enter it; wherever a hand is offered, I would
clasp it. I would do this as my duty to the
world, that it may get acquainted with the
Jew, and find in whatever virtue I possess the
virtues of my tribe. But I would do this also
as my duty to myself and to my people, for
before I am a Jew, I am a man. Deeper than
my Judaism is my humanity.
‘,9
.e.
").c
Noted Leader and Sociologist Analyzes Bill and At.
tacks It for Its Cruelty and For Being
Bootlegged Through Legislature.
The most effective blow given
the alien registration bill came on
Monday in a statement front Fred
M. Butzel.
"The bill defines legal residents
as distinguished from citizens,"
said Mr. Butzel. "Fortunately
there are no provisions in the law
to deport our citizens.
"Legal residents are defined as
persons who were born in the
United States, or who entered the
country before we had laws re-
stricting immigration, or who since
then have entered with a lawfully-
acquired passport, unless he hap-
pens to be an undesirable alien
as defined by the laws of the
United States.
"Curiously enough, a person
might be a naturalized citizen and
not come within these classifica-
tions, and be deportable and un-
employable.
"Exception to these classifica-
tions is made for those persons
who are defined by federal laws as
being undesirable. 5Iy legal col-
leagues have searched high and
low, and so has the attorney-gen-
eral, and nowhere can we find such
laws. So a good deal of the law
is founded on an imaginary classi-
fication.
State Wishes to Be Severe.
"Section 2 provides that anyone
who entered this country since the
passage of the laws restricting im-
migration in an illegal manner is
disqualified from establishing a
legal residence in Michigan.
"The federal statutes provide
that aliens who came here before
June 3, 1921, can pay a head tax
and then be eligible to citizenship.
The federal statutes have further-
more legalized the presence of
aliens who arrived in the United
States since July 1, 1924, to the
extent that they may not be de-
ported.
"But the state of Michigan
wishes to be more severe than the
United States, and makes no ex-
ception in favor of persons in-
cluded in these two classifications.
If they came here legally, as far as
Michigan is concerned, there is no
statute of limitations with refer-
ence to their offense. Under Sec-
tions 3 and 4, these persons, as
well as all others who entered the
state illegally, can not reside in
Michigan.
"Section 5, if it means anything
at all, provides that Michigan shall
establish an immigration depart-
ment, not only with reference to
foreign countries, but also with
reference to other states. It pro-
vides that certain aliens be denied
admission to the state, and, if they
enter, they shall be deported.
"In order to carry out this pro-
vision, Michigan will have to have
a proper immigration force along
the borders of Indiana, Ohio and
Wisconsin. as well as along the
Canadian frontier.
Cruelty and Injustice.
"Irrespective of our relations
with Canada, it would be quite
impossible for any Canadian to
work in the United States, because
under paragraph 6, a person dis-
qualified from enjoying legal resi-
dence can neither have employ-
ment nor engage in business in
Michigan.
"According to Section 7, no per-
son, firm or corporation may em-
ploy any such person, nor may
anybody be associated with him as
a partner or in any other business
relationship.
"Irrespective of the philosophy
which would proscribe aliens who
are illegally in the United States,
consider the terrible cruelty, in-
justice and disorder involved in the
provisions of this statute which
place on many aliens the respon-
sible burden of proving by non-
existent records their right to be
in this country.
"The aliens must provide within
60 days certificates of their entry
into this country. Many aliens have
been seeking for years to find
proper proof of their entry into
the United States.
"It is only within recent years
that any particular check has been
maintained at the Canadian bor-
der. I am reliably informed that
the records of many steamship
companies have been destroyed.
Even the records at Ellis Island
are far from being complete.
"I know quite a number of men
and women who are not sure
whether they were born abroad or
whether they came 83 infants.
Their parents are either dead or do
not remember the (late of their ar-
rival or what ship they arrived on.
"Nevertheless, under this law,
it is necessary to file certificates
1
of legal entry into the Unite
States from the records of th
United States Department of 1m
migration at the port of entry.
Question of Fingerprinting.
"Even when such proof is avail-
able, the certificates can very sel-
dont be obtained within 60 days—
six months to a year is usually
necessary for all the governmental
red tape to unwind itself sufficient-
ly to provide the certificates that
prevent one who is legally resi-
dent in this country from becoming
a pariah.
"The Commissioner of Public
Safety, who is to authorize issu-
ance of certificates of legal resi-
dence, is permitted to insist on
protographs and finger-prints.
There can, of course, be little ob-
jection to the use of finger-prints
for purposes of identification. But,
up to the present, finger-prints
have been used principally for the
identification of criminals. Now
the next extensive use is to be for
identification of persons who are
legally in the United States. This
would appear to be an unnecessary
humiliation.
"Anyone who does not possess
a certificate is to be held as a mis-
demeanant.
"Anyone who shall hire an il-
legal resident, or an alien who is
legally here, but has not been able
to obtain a certificate, or who has
not secured one, shall be liable to
a fine of from $50 to $100, and
imprisonment up to 90 days.
"There are other features of the
bill too numerous to mention that
show crude draughtsmanship and
a total lack of knowledge of the
facts and the law concerning aliens.
"It is most shocking that a law
of such social importance should
have been sneaked through the
Legislature without hearings.
Many legislators voted for it with-
out the slightest conception of
what is implied.
.1;
iv
1
4,1
ss
its
Law Not Constitutional.
"No reputable attorney can pos-
sibly believe that the law is consti-
tutional in all its provisions. It
was not subjected to careful scru-
tiny before it was enacted.
"If it were constitutional, it
would jeopardize the lives of many
families which have contributed
soldiers to our armies in times of
war, and possibly the soldiers them-
selves.
"In Biblical times and through-
-3
out the ages the most cruel pun-
ishment known was to designate a
person as an outlaw and a wolf's
head, and thus make it almost im-
possible for him to earn his living.
"It is the Russian system for -s
abolishing the middle class.
"After every war we seem for
a time to incorporate in our policy
the worst tendencies of a defeated
enemy. The alien and sedition
laws remain as a blot on the his-
tory of the people who appended a
-3
bill of rights to their Constitution
and issued a Declaration of Inde-
pendence. The Know Nothing
, 1;
movement was aimed at what
proved to be sobsequently the
most constructive elements in our
community.
"I am informed by the Detroit
commissioner of police that the
alien members of the Communist
party in Detroit are a negligible
percentage.
"It is on account of them, I take
it, that this registration bill was
bootlegged through the Legisla-
ture.
"Irrespective of the future ac-
tions of the courts, the law is
already causing much suffering to
persons legally in the United
States and desirous of becoming
citizens, but who are prevented
by technical causes beyond their
control.
"A great deal can be said in
favor of a stable and settled popu.
lotion. But in different countries
and in normal times it may be just
as desirable to have a mobile force
of labor that can come and go as
needed.
"Mature thought, in any event,
should regard citizenship with its
responsibilities as a desirable prize
and not as a refuge under threat
of punishment.
"I am sure that in its present
form this law could not have had
the approval of the United States
Labor Department, even though it
is controlled by a rather narrow., .
conception of what is good for
labor. As for the Department of
State, if this law is allowed to
stand, the result will be all kinds
of peculiar complications.
"Fortunately there are many fed-
eral court decisions which limit
(Turn to Next Page).
IN THE PUBLIC
EYE
To celebrate his eighty-second birthday, Adolph Lewisohn, famous
philanthropist and capitalist, sang three songs in Hebrew at a dinner
tendered him by the City College Club. Telegrams congratulating Mr.
Lewisohn were received from Mayor Walker, Senator Wagner, Lieuten-
ant-Governor Lehman, Secretary Mellen, Alfred E. Smith and Senator
Morrow,
•
•
•
Manasseh Miller, president of the board of trustees of Congrega-
tion Beth Elohim of Brooklyn, N. Y., announces that he has succeeded
in persuading Rabbi Isaac Landman, editor of the American Hebrew,
and editor-in-chief of the Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, to return to
the active ministry and to associate himself with Dr. Alexander Lyons
as rabbi of the congregation. Rabbi Landman will assume his duties on
Sept. 1 and will officiate during the High Holy Days in the fall. Rabbi
Landman will continue as chief editorial writer of the American Hebrew
Magazine, and as editor-in-chief of the Standard Jewish Encyclopedia,
the manuscript of which is nearing completion.
A. W. Binder, who recently completed a six years' task as musical
editor of the new hymnal of the Central Conference of American
Rabbis, sailed for Palestine on the Saturnia on June 5. He plans to
continue the studies of Jewish folk music, its sources and development,
which he made in Palestine in 1925.
•
•
•
Gilbert Pettman of Cincinnati, attorney-general of Ohio, is being
congratulated by his friends throughout the nation on the recent de-
cision he won through the United States Supreme Court by which the
state of Ohio will recover $2,000,000 in back taxes and will receive
future taxes estimated at $500,000 a year. The decision authorizes the
state of Ohl() to impose an excise tax on gross
receipts of East Ohio
Gas Company and is credited as being one of the most important legal
victories for the state in many years.
.
sis
si s
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