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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and the Legal Chronicle
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
?ublished Weekly by The Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.
J \COB H. SCHAKNE
Preuidsa
Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the PoSt-
office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879.
, Genera! Offices and Publication Bldg., 525 Woodward Ave.
Telephone: Cadillac 1040
Subscription in Advanc•
JACOB MARGOLIS
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
MAUR!CE M. SAFIR
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Publisher
Editor
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It insure publication, all correspondence and news matter
rrt.st reach this office by Tuesday evening of each week.
Vinen mailing notices, kindly use one side of the paper only.
The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on sub.
;acts of interest to the Jewish people, but disclaims responsi•
bility for an endorsement of views expressed by the writers.
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
Pentateuchal portion—Num. 8:1-12:16.
Prophetical portion—Zech. 2:14-4:7.
JUNE 13, 1941
SIVAN 18, 5701
Martyrdom and Justice
The United States Congress has had
the misfortune in recent years of having
among its members avowed anti-Semites
who repeated on the floor of the great
representative body of the American peo-
ple, the House of Representatives, some of
the stupidest libels which have been im-
ported from European lands of oppres-
sion.
At first, it was the late Congressman
McFadden of Pennsylvania who spoke
and wrote into the Congressional Record
some of the worst and most offensive
insults against the Jews. Then came Con-
gressman Thorkelson of Montana. Now—
Rep. Rankin of Mississippi wears the
mantle of an anti-Semite.
On May 2, 1941, we first had occasion
to speak of Congressman Rankin's •shock-
ing demonstration of ill will, when we
condemned editorially his libellous refer-
ences to Jews in a speech discussing the
national emergency situation. We mildly
labeled our editorial "Et Tu, Rankin!"
Since then, however, the Mississippi Con-
gressman, who has acquired more noto-
riety by attacking the Jews than he was
by assailing the President of the United
States, had become bolder, used harsher
language in speaking of Jews, and was
the inspiration for a brief but heated an-
swer to his charges by Rep. M. Michael
Edelstein of New York. Congressman
Edelstein called the rank action of Rep.
Rankin "unfair" and "un-American." He
declared, on that tragic afternoon of
Wednesday, June 4: "I deplore the idea
that anytime anything happens, whether
it be for a war policy or against a war
policy, men in this House and outside
this House attempt to use the Jews as
their scapegoat. I say it is unfair and I
say it is un-American." A few minutes
later, Congressman Edelstein, deeply af-
fected by what had been transpiring on
the floor of the United States House of
Representatives, died of a heart attack.
Whereupon, his kinsman and colleague
Congressman Samuel Dickstein, upon in-
forming the House of his death, said:
"He died a martyr to a cause."
Among the most significant comments
on this unforunate tragedy enacted in the
Congress of the United States was the
editorial that appeared in the Detroit
Free Press on Friday, June 6. This edi-
torial, appropriately named "Cloud of
Bigotry", reads:
A cloud of bigotry no bigger than
a Congressman's mind, but very
black and portentous of trouble, ap-
peared on the congressional horizon
concurrently with the tragic sudden
death Wednesday of Rep. M. M.
Edelstein of New York.
Rep. Edelstein had just replied,
before he died, to an unprovoked
and unwarranted smear against his
race by hot-mouthed Rep. Rankin of
Mississippi. Rankin's charges about
Wall Street and "international bank-
ers" who are "harassing" the Presi-
dent into war must be set apart from
the present consideration. The abom-
inable aspect of his attack was that
he smeared the whole Jewish race
with a phrase that would draw high-
est praise from Adolf Hitler himself.
Does any one, except outright Bund-
ists, Fascists and other such ex-
ecrable ragtag and bobtail groups in
this country, believe in the potency
or even existence of a clique of "in-
ternational Jewish bankers"? Evi-
dently one United States Representa-
tive does, and his name is Rankin.
If there ever was a time when
tolerance of race and religion were
needed in these United States, that
time is now. If such things can be
spoken in the House of Representa-
tives by a responsible public servant,
and not be instantly challenged on a
thousand fronts, then God help the
United States!
It is a powerful editorial which as-
sumes historic significance because it ex-
presses sentiments spoken by so few other
newspapers in this country. By right, the
press of America ought not to dare keep
silent on manifestations of bigotry; in-
stead, it dares not to offend the destruc-
tive elements in our population.
Now, the Edelstein tragedy may or
may not have been an incident involving
individual martyrology. The debate with
Rep. Rankin undoubtedly aggravated
matters, affected the Jewish Congress-
man's heart, speeded his death. But inso-
far as the cause of defending justice is
concerned, there was martyrology. The
late Rep. Edelstein fought for justice and
debated against un-American principles.
He battled for a cause and the cause was
martyred in an argument in which the
defender of fair play fell victim in an
unhappy skirmish.
The question of martyrology also en-
ters into the question when we consider
the issue of the right of an individual
to defend himself and his people, or the
obligation of a man or a group of men
to fight for the things they believe in.
As a result of the bigotry injected in
American politics by men like Rep. Ran-
kin, there has even been warning to
Jews—to all of us as a people and to
some of us as individuals—not to argue
the problem of anti-Semitism, to avoid
entering into debates on the subject of
discrimination, to be silent in the face
of danger. If we yield to such admoni-
tions, we will be desecrating the graves
of men like Rep. Edelstein, and we will
be sacrificing our rights as men who
should aspire to freedom.
The Edelstein incident has only one
moral: no one who has a drop of red
blood left in his veins has a right to
abandon the fight for liberty. Without
liberty, life is worthless. Rep. Edelstein's
final acts elevate him to a position of
greatness because he had the courage to
call the bluff of an anti-Semite and did
not yield in his battle for justice.
Annual Flag Day
Jews have an important stake in Flag
Day, the annual observance of which
takes place this Saturday, June 14.
Not merely because 29 years ago the
venerable Jew Benjamin Altheimer first
suggested observance of Flag Day to or-
ganizations in St. Louis, where he then
lived. That was the beginning of Flag
Day observances, dating back to June
14, 1912.
But because as Americans who have
known the meaning of suffering and sac-
rificing for freedom we know what it
means to fight for the retention of lib-
erty and to battle for the symbol of de-
cency and justice.
The Flag is a symbol. It is the symbol
of our democracy. It is the emblem of
our way of life. It is the medium of ex-
pression which calls for fair play and
condemns indecencies. It is the symbol
of a system which decries intolerance
and which calls for uncompromising ad-
herence to a faith in democratic institu-
tions. Those who undermine these decen-
cies are enemies of the Republic for which
this Flag stands.
Notable Days on Jewish Calendar
5701
Rosh Chodesh Tammuz - Wednesday and Thurs-
day, June 25 & 26
Fast of Tammuz -
- Sunday, July 13
Rosh Chodesh Ab -
- Friday, July 25
Tisha b'Ab
- Sunday, Aug. 3
-
Rosh Chodesh Ellul - - - - Saturday and Sunday,
Aug. 23 & 24.
June 13, 1941
• STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.
Tidbits from Everywhere
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
PROPHET'S CORNER
INSIDE STUFF
Have you seen the new book-
let on various war prophecies
collected by one Clarence Reed?
. . . Featured in it are the proph-
ecies of Nostradamus, the 16th-
century Jewish physician, as well
as various other prophecies, in-
cluding that of the Great Pyra-
mid at Gizeh of which we told
you a column or so ago . . . Of
course, all these forecasts are
couched in the vaguest of terms,
so that one interpretation may
be as good as the next . . . How-
ever, according to Mr. Reed's
compilation, most of the seers
place the end of the current
war in December, 1941, which
should be something of a conso-
lation . . . Incidentally, one of
the important dates in the Great
Pyramd's prognosticatons is June
25 of this year, which is to mark
the "spiritual awakening of the
Anglo-Saxon peoples" . . . We
hope you'll be watching out for
it . . . On the other hand, many
modern European astrologers,
particularly those flourishing in
Paris, claim that the war will
last till 1944 . . So you can
take your choice . . . But, to re-
turn to Mr. Reed, we'd like to
quote his concluding statement,
that Hitler's fall from power is
a point on which astrologers
have long been unanimous, and
that it has been quite impossible
to find a prediction that Ger-
many would win the war (except
in official Nazi quarters, of
course) . . . And one of his
Nostradamus citations indicates
that Hitler won't rule beyond
January, 1942 . . . It runs as
follows: "Nine years the realm
the thin-in-peace (i. e. Hitler)
will hold, then he will fall in a
thirst for blood; through him a
great people without faith or
law will perish, slain by one
mere amiable" . . . Zionists, by
the way, will be particularly in-
terested in another of the prog-
nostications Mr. Reed has un-
earthed, by a clairvoyant named
Cheire, who foretells, among
other things, the setting up of
a world government in Palestine
. . . The only thing you can be
sure of about this is that Cheire
didn't mean a Jewish world gov-
ernment.
One of the reasons why the
late Kaiser Wilhelm refused to
the very last to return to Ger-
many was his fear that Hitler
should ever want to get rid of
him the Nazi chieftain would
classify him as a non-Aryan . . .
This not only because Queen
Victoria of England, his grand-
mother, proudly claimed descent
from the Biblical King David,
but also because her consort,
Prince Albert, was reputed to
be the son of a Jew, and not of
his nominal father, the Duke of
Saxe-Coburg Gotha. We wonder
whether Wilhelm's non-Aryanism
may not eventually affect the
standing of George Sylvester
Viereck, Nazi propaganda chief
in America, among his Natzi
brethren . . . Viereck, you surely
remember, has often boasted
that it was the Kaiser who was
really his father.
If you want the low-down on
France's Laval watch out for the
book soon to be published on
that gent by Henri Torres, the
famed French lawyer who is now
a refugee in this country.
Via the trans-Atlantic grape-
vine we hear that while the Nazi
treatment of Jews in occupied
France is nothing to write home
about, it is better than the treat-
ment refugee Jews get in many
sections of unoccupied France.
YOU SHOULD KNOW
Dorothy Thompson's call to
action for the preservation of
democracy is meeting with an
amazing response, as is her pro-
posal to form a Ring of Free-
dom . . . The first of a series
of meetings to be sponsored by
Miss Thompson's group through-
out the nation will take place
in New York next week.
Inside-dopesters insist that
New York's Governor Lehman
will run for a fifth term next
year if the country still faces
the present emergency situation.
That "there but for the grace
of God" feeling must come over
movie director William Wyler
whenever he sees a Hitler-refu-
gee . . . A career as an Alsatian
department store proprietor was
indicated for Wyler until, when
ABOUT PEOPLE
he was a youth in his late teens,
A new star seems to be rising a distant relative, one Carl
on the New York Grand Opera Laemmle, persuaded him to come
Company horizon . . . He's Stan- to America and enter the movie
ley Swartz, and a butcher by industry.
Rudolf Hess has dropped out
trade.
of the news, but he still turns
Did you know that the oldest up occassionally in a new quip . . .
living graduate of Notre Dame Thus one Broadwayite has sug-
University, a member of the gested that what Hess went to
Class of 1878, is a gentleman Scotland for was not to save
named Newmark who now lives humanity, as his farewell note
at the Los Angeles Jewish Home to the Nazis stated, but to see
for the Aged? what humanity looks like.
"WE INSIST UPON...KEEPING HITLEIIISM AWAY... FROM THE AMERICAS;
by BRESSLER
C.-
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