A merica lavish Periodical Coder
comes
AVENUE - CINCINNAIl 20, OHIO
pEDLTROITJEMISIS ARON ICU
February 14, 1936
and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
Community Closeups . .
THE GREAT•WEST LIFE
ASSURANCE COMPANY
rAJENDS SYMPATHY to the families of One Thousand
Two Hundred and Sixty-Four of its policyholders who died
during 1935—but
DERIVES GRATIFICATION from the fact that it has been
privileged to pay them nearly Three Million Four Hundred
Thousand Dollars. In addition nearl y Thirteen Million Dollars
was paid during the year to living contract-holders.
RECORDS that, since its inception, it has paid to policy-
holders and beneficiaries almost One Hundred and Seventy
Million Dollars.
49
MELVILLE
. . . .
S. WELT
Gentleman from Indiana
The following I. one of • writ. of biographical
o k etohe. o f howl owelai service icad ow area ,,orkers which 0111 be PO ,-
'Isbell weekly In The Detroit Jroish Chronicle.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
LIVERY ONCE-IN-A-MUE-
R. / but only by coincidence, your
dyed-in-the-wool individualist in-
sists—the law of primogeniture
lifts the mantle from the shoul-
ders of the father to those of the
son and does a very excellent job
of it.
Take Mel Welt, for example.
Ile succeeded his father, the
late Louis Welt, at the helm of
the family business. and added
the temporary Central High—
where the Krolik Building now
stands, on Jefferson Ave. He
completed his course, however,
and was graduated from the new
school—way out on Warren and
Cass. It was at Central that Mr.
Welt formed a friendship that has
been cemented by 40 years of in-
timacy with Ilenry Wineman. The
two attended the U. of N. and
roomed together at Ann Arbor.
APPRECIATES the continued confidence of the public as
shown by new business of over Fifty Million Dollars.
ANNOUNCES that its total insurances and annuities in force
amount to over Five Hundred and Seventy Million Dollars.
REMEMBERS that it holds in stewardship, for policyholders
and others, its assets of over One Hundred and Forty-three
Million Dollars.
REPORTS an increase in surplus after providing liberal par-
ticipation returns to policyholders and after conservatively
valuing assets and liabilities.
Important Items
For
1935
Business in Force (including annuities) . . . $570,774,224
New Business Issued (including annuities) •
50,667,747
Total Income
26,531,468
Payments to Policyholders and Beneficiaries 16,195,082
Assets
143,595,896
Liabilities (chiefly to Policyholders)
137,243,371
Surplus, Contingency Reserve and Capital
6,352,525
Write for your copy of The Great-West 32-page booklet, con-
taming the complete 44th Annual Report and other interesting
life insurance information.
HARRY IIIMELSTEIN
1512 Union Guardian Bldg., Detroit
REPRESENTING
"EGREAT-WEST LIFE
ASSURANCE COMPANY
MLA() OFFICE •••WINPIIPLG
The•Cry Against
The Communists
Try Stroh's
Bohemian Beer and
enjoy a new taste-treat.
Stroh's is Fire Brewed.
f
.
`4,'
ONLY PROS
C"?ICEST
'4,v...is A
Eip
Strictly Confidential
(coNciznap teem
tongues
EDITORIAL PAGE)
wagging because they
have been going places together in
Miami . . . Leo Chertok, the big
promoter who claims to have a
contract for exploiting a big slice
of Ethiopia, is a cousin of Moshe
cs5..
Shertok, head of the political de-
partment of the Jewish Agency
for Palestine . . . Speaking of
Ethiopia reminds us that Prof.
Richard J. M. Gottheil of Colum-
bia University is now giving the
first course in Amharic, the official
tongue of Ethiopia . A Jewish
member of the N. Y. Assembly
has introduced a bill in the legis-
(CONCLUDED from EDITORIAL PAGE)
deed alarming to many. Poor
Jesus! What a time he would
have if he returned to earth
today.
Which all goes to show that
the struggle in this country is
rapidly narrowing itself into
two clearly discernable camps.
On the one hand are the re-
ligious forces who are coming
more and more to be looked
upon as "radicals," "Commu-
nists" and labelled with other
fancy designations. The other
side consists of those whose
philosophy is the opposite of
everything which religion stands
for. I believe, and indeed hope,
that the large majority of Jews
are on the side of the religious
forces.
THE STRUGGLE FOR
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
The fact that religious groups
are now in the vanguard of the
struggle for civil and religious
liberty in America is proof posi-
tive of what I have just said.
To be sure, there is no immed-
iate danger that religious free-
dom in the conventional sense
will be restricted. No one ex-
pects that church groups will be
called upon by those in power
to give up their traditional
forms of worship. The danger
is in another direction. It con-
sists of a determination by the
forces of reaction to prevent
religious bodies from exercising
the liberty of putting their
ideals into practice. Events are
proving more and more that
the chief danger to the old or-
der is not the relative handful
of American Communists but
the powerful influence of the
churches.
This is why religion has such
an important stake in civil and
religious liberty. The Ameri-
can churches are not to be
confused with the German
churches. Their resistance to
Fascism will be based upon to-
tally different grounds. For,
if the German churches had
been granted religious liberty
by Hitler, i. e. freedom to wor-
ship as they chose, they would
have been willing enough to
follow the social and economic
banner of the Nazis. But the
American churches are opposed
to Fascism ash system. And
consequently they are menace
number one to the future Fasc-
ists.
lature asking President Roosevelt
to Intervene in behalf of the Catho-
lics of Mexico .. . Reports that
Dolly Stark, baseball's only Jew-
ish umpire, was given a year'.
leave of absence when he asked
for more money are a lot of hooey
He was really locked out, and
.
he's looking for a job
lustre to the name of an institu- Mel Welt received his A. B. de.
tion which is among the leaders gree in 1902, the yougest man
of the industry in the city. Like
his father, too, he has been presi-
dent of Temple Beth El;. and the
terms of office of Welt file, like
that of Welt pore, is written In
the records as of the halcyon
days.
Melville S. Welt was born in the
town of Wolcottville, Indiana-40
miles southeast, as the crow flies,
from Elkhart—Nov. 13, 1881. The
family came to Detroit when the
protagonist of these brief para-
graphs was very young. And has
been among the leaders of both
the Jewish community and of the
city ever since.
The Welt home, then, was in
half of a beautiful, white-stone
front, double house on the north
side of Charlotte, between Cass
and Second. Wide, tree-shaded
Charlotte Avenue was sedately
fashionable in those days.
Youth
Mel Welt was a freshman at
to get his baccalaureate that
year.
Shortly thereafter the Welt &
Redelsheimer Paper House be-
came the firm of Welt & Sons,
with, first Melville, and then his
brother, Joseph, in the partner-
ship.
The Damon and Pythias assoc-
iation with Henry Wineman is
legendary in the annals of the
first decade of the century; and
especially in the chapter which
Michigan historians will one day
devote to summers at Charlevoix
during the peg-top pants and but-
ton-shoe era. Messrs. Welt and
Wineman were inseparable then.
And many a matron of today re-
calls, fondly, the flutter among
maidenly hearts inspired by the
handsome but adamanting bache-
lor duo out at the famous old re-
sort, just about the time when
The Error of German Jewry
CONCLUDED FROM EDITORIAL PAGE
set-1161y from their spiritual kins-
men, the German Jews of Amer-
They, and their German-Jewish ica, might help them at this time
to
orientate themselves, set them
protagonists in the United States,
keep on harping on their absolute on the right' path, give them back
aomething of their human dignity
innocence, on the undeservedness and, perhaps, even save them phy-
of the fate that has struck them sically. But that call is not forth-
down. In a sense, of course, the coming. There is to be sure, as
German Jews are indeed innocent, we all know, no lack of shofar-
innocent in the French sense, in- blowers in the United States of
nocent that is of having fostered America, but the cacophonous
a living Judaism. But their slav- medley these fellow's emit is so
ish compliance, their camouflaged obviously out of tune with the
"Schutzjudentum," did not save exigencies of the moment that
them. The Nazis, who have a even we Goyim, thick-skinned as
certain instinctive dread of Juda- we are, detect the falsity of the
ism — and rightly so — accused, whole performance. With those
them, among other things, of con- brown marauders, who draw a pis-
stituting a natural ferment in tol when they hear the word "in-
society. As it happened, the tellectual" pronounced, the issue
charge was wholly beside the point is not whether Ehrlich, Koch,
in their case, but it showed that Wasserman, Haber, Einstein and
the Nazis evaluated Judaism cor- so many other Jewish persons
rectly, when they intuitively saw made important contributions to
in it the natural enemy of the Le- German culture and civilization.
viathan-State with its denial of The issue is that Judaism in its
human dignity, social justice and essence, in its most vital inner
the ideal of peace. Such had long being, is the foe of Fascism. We
since ceased to be the view of Christian liberals know that. The
Judaism on the part of the Ger- Nazis sense it, although they can-
man-Jewish assimilationists. If not formulate their instinctive
Hitler had not incorporated a hatred. But the German Jews,
virulent anti-Semitism in his pro- who had deliberately separated
gram and carried this into effect, themselves from the inner "Dy-
the German Jews on the whole namik" of Judaism, do not know
would have been the most solid this. They cannot know it. Hence
supporters of his Fascism, just to they stand perfectly helpless and
show how "Deutsch" they were. flabbergasted in the presence of
To this day the main_ journal of the frightful calamity that has
the German-Jewish emigration in overtaken the Jewish community
Europe, the Pariser Tageblatt, has in that huge good-stepping drill-
never uttered a word of criticism hall between the Rhine and the
or protest against that other man Oder.
of guile and blood, Hitler's ma=
Not Puerile, Bat Tragic
ter and prototype, Benito MIlvvo•
J a in e s G. McDonald, the
lini, the assassin of Giacomo Mat-
teotti and of Italian liberalism.
League High Commissioner for
Refuge in the Clouds
Refugees, in resigning from his
As the waters began to mount post, drew a harrowing picture of
in the Reich, the Jews took refuge the condition of the Jews in Ger-
in the clouds. their American
brethren pushing and shoving many. In the final analysis it
them on from behind. The sight came down to this: the Jewish
of that scramble whetted the Nazi population in the Reich is doomed.
appetite for ''Judenblut," but it Mr. McDonald resigns—why not
disconcerted the friends of Isra..I. say openly what is the "secrete
The Jews banked on • final, last- de Polichinello" in Europe—be-
minute recognition of past serv- cause of lack of co-operation. He
ices: as many savants given tn, has travelled up and down the
German science, so many basis world to find asylum for those
founded, so many Jews dead on Jews, whose desperation, he pre-
the battlefields, so many Catholic dicts, "may cause them to burst
and Protestant orphanages en- the frontiers" one of these days.
dowed by Jews and so on, to save He found no place of refuge any-
them from the mortal flow which where. Not • single door opened.
Hitler was preparing against them. Not • single one. Nobody offered
They still persisted in fleeing from 'relief. Nothing broke the black
Judaism. They drifted further impenetrable clouds in the hori-
and further away from their na- zon, nothing except Palestine.
tural anchorage. In the end, they Palestine, he asserted over and
who thought to know the way over again, remains the only hope.
Po well towards freedom, lost their , That poor little land, that des-
bearings altogether, for the ulti- pised little land, that "puerile un-
mate harbor of "Deutschtum" dertaking," is the only hope. One
was denied them. Now that the would expect that PO devastating
way back most be traced and trod- a refutation of the whole lobo--
den, the search for the trail is so ions theorizing of the German
painful, so distressful to behold. Jews would cause them in humil-
so full of anguish. that it may ity to praise God and thank the
well be called the greatest spirit- Zionists, who made it possible that
those poor, hounded, cruzlicd end
ual drama of modern history.
A clear trumpet-call for as- desperate Jews in the Reich can
the first President Roosevelt was
trust-busting in a big way.
More Recently
From its inception, shortly
utter the War, Mr. Welt has been
an ardent worker in the interests
of the Community Fund. Ilas
worn chevron, bar and star dur-
ing campaigns. Been awcrded
justly deserved kudos at noon
meetings for leading the day,
more than once, in returns. The
key-positions he has been given
were in recognition of his abili-
ties. When the Community Fund
Campaign was divided geographic.
ally, Mr. Welt headed Division
"A." He is today a member of
the board of directors.
Drafted into the Jewish Wel-
fare Federation, Mr. Welt was
succeeded in the Community
Fund Campaign set-up by Clar-
ence Engguss, who subsequently
followed him into Federation.
Active in ninny phases of the
work, this coming Sunday Mr.
Welt will serve as chairman of the
second of the series of Four Fed-
eration Days. Especially inter-
ested in the work of child.
caring agencies, last year he was
chairman of the Detroit Service
Group's Child Care Committee.
Ile is a governor of the Jewish
Welfare Federation; on the board
of the Child Placement Bureau,
and of the Jewish Social Service
Bureau. He is a former presi-
dent of both the Jewish Social
Service Bureau and the Jewish
Child Care Council.
Sonia years ago, during a
particularly intensive drive, Mel
Welt was paired with Adolph
Finsterwald as a soliciting team.
So remarkable a record was the
result of this happy combination,
that it was continued, with
equally interesting totals, in sub-
sequent campaigns.
An early member of the old
Phoenix Club; was president of
Redford and chairman of that
country club's House Committee.
Member of Franklin Iiills.
Charter member of the Grill
Club, founded 25 years ago with
Julian Krolik, Emanuel Frank,
Clarence Enggass, Edmund Slo-
man, Jesse Hirschman, Irving
Hirschman, and Joseph Welt.
The Club a literary cot-
erie much given to discussion—is
catholic in the range of its sub-
jects. Monthly for a quarter of
a century—first at the Phoenix
Club, now at the Belerest—the
members meet to dine and dis-
sertate on Einstein, politics, in-
stallment selling.
Has travelled the U. S. A. and
Europe.
The Welt home, out on Bal-
moral Drive, is authentic 18th
Century, English, decorated by
Mrs. Welt (Belle Oberfelder, of
Chicago). A collector of an-
tiques; most recent addition is a
landscape that occupies the place
of honor, up over the fireplace
in the huge living room.
The Welts have two daughters:
Janet, who attend,ed Smith, but
took her degree from the Univer-
sity of Chicago; Elizabeth---called
Betty—whose alma mater is
Vassar.
Close-Up
Out of ESQUIRE—there is
six feet of stalwart Mel Welt.
(lair dark, a little thinner than
when he looked like he had been
written by Rex Beach — (and
that was about the time Rex
Beach heros were the "tops")—
greying at the temples.
Golf—he can take it, or leave
it alone. But Bridge—that's an-
other story! Considered one of
the best players in the city, with
a reputation that has travelled
considerably beyond the confines
of the Great Lakes Club, Mel Welt
would rather play than eat, and
has often ignored the clock, din-
ner and other social demands
while making good on a dangerous
bid himself, or setting an op-
ponent on one that looked a hun-
dred per cent.
Born to the purple--if inher-
ited material possessions, social
position, success in the business
world is any claim to the Tyrian
—Mel Welt has the true cosmo-
politan touch of social-minded-
ness. Is a Conservative, but has
a definite feeling that the present
state of society falls short of be-
ing the ideal one. No iconoclast,
and probably one who would be
very much disturbed by a com-
munistic or socialistic coup d'etat,
nevertheless,—like V oltair e—
though he may not believe in
what you advocate, will defend,
with his life, your right to advo-
cate it!
SILBERBLATT TO GIVE
FEDERATION NEWS ON
JEWISH RADIO FORUM
The Federation Newsgram, a
regular feature of the Jewish Ra-
dio Forum, will be presented on
Sunday evening, Feb. 16, at 6.30
o'clock, by Aaron Silberblatt. Mr.
Silberblatt will give a resume of
newsworthy Jewish Welfare Fed-
eration agency activities. Aaron
Kurland is chairman of the Jew-
ish Radio Forum.
Women's Auxiliary of B'nai
B'rith to Meet Feb. 19
The next meeting of the Wo-
tri n's Auxiliary of the B'nai
B'rith will be held Monday eve
ning. Feb. 19, at Stotler Hotel,
at 8:30. Entertainment will be
furnished by the dramatic group.
Member, and their friends are in-
vited. The membership drive is
still in progress. All persons wish-
ing to join should call Mrs. David
Diamond.
The
Federal Drama Project in
New York is planning an Anglo-
Jewish theater for playgoers who
don't understand Yiddish.
Clean—COAL & COKE---Dry
East Side Coal Co.
"A Fuel Without a Fault"
Only the highest quality at prices you pay for ordinary
grades. Get the most for your money by calling—
DAVID GOLDBERG,
President
PLAZA 0200 •
810
beautifully
furnished outside rooms.
All with private tub and
shower baths-at lowest
possible rates in down-
town Detroit for permar
ent guests. You can live
in luxurious comfort
inexpensively.
O
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1515.21 Woodward Ave., Datreit—and branches
THE INSTRUMENT OF THE IMMORTALS
1
still find a home. But no, Pales- ica keeps its doors closed. The est Jews on earth." Perhaps they
tine is still denounced as "a puer- prominent Jews of America, that! did not try. I don't know. If you
ile undertaking." Neither Down- is the German Jews, the rich Jewa, I cannot get into a Coyish golf-club
ing Street, nor the Quai d'Orsay, the Americanized Jews, who have yourself and can't get your daugh-
nor the man in the Palazzo Vene- no truck or trade with Zionism,t ter Into Bryn Mawr or your son
zia, nor Smuts, nor Masaryk, nor and never had because the Goyim into Princeton you are apt to be-
Remain Rolland, nor Hammy , might accuse them of a dual come discouraged. I can under-
MacDonald, nor Roosevelt or Sta. , loyalty or a dual nationalism, stand that.
lin or even the Mufti of Jerusalem! who have made it abundantly
But when you realize your own.
think Palestine • puerile under- , clear that they are quite different, Impotence and your own morn.
taking. That is left to an Ameri-' persons than that turbulent noisy breakdown as • group and 01•
ran rabbi to say at • moment mob of East-side Yidden and Zion- uselessnes.; of the philosoph.,
when his kinsmen in Germany, ist coffee - house philosophers, keystone of that group and y.r.,
panting like exhausted hares in those influential Jews had no little then start to "schimpf" on so—e-
the chase, are finding a refuge In influence in s critical hour with ons else who has indeed bp'. ,
Eretz Israel.
their Goyish friends that they through to the light, then •
Ah, yes, if only America had could not prevail upon them to Goyim don't even call it
provided that asylum! But Amer-1 let in a few thousand of "the fin- We call it trazie.