December II, 19 42

DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Detroit Jewish Chronicle

and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE

Published Weekly by Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., Inc.

JACOB H. SCHAKNE
JACOB MARGOLIS

Pres.-Gen. Mgr,
Editor

General Offices and Publication Bldg., 525 Woodward Ave.

Telephone: CAdillac 1040 Cable Address: Chronicle
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The Detroit Jewish Chronicle invites correspondence on sub-
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sibility for an endorsement of views expressed by its writers.

Entered as Second-class matter March 3, 1916, at the Post-
office at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879.

Sabbath Readings of the Law

Pentateuchal portion—Genesis 41.1-44.17.
Prophetical portion—I Kings 3.15-4.1.

DECEMBER 11. 1942

TEBET 3, 5703

Albert Kahn

Albert Kahn was the most prolific and
one of the most imaginative architects of
the Power Age. He designed and built
at a rate that kept pace with modern
streamlined mass production.
All his industrial structures, from De-
troit to Novorsibirsk were functional mas-
terpieces that made the labor easier and
pleasanter for those who worked in them
and, incidentally, increased production.
The story of Albert Kahn, who began
as errand boy in an architect's office is
another American saga. His is the old tale
of an immigrant, who would probably
be excluded from these shores if he and
his father, mother and the family tried
to enter under our present immigration
laws. Fortunately for us, when he entered
in the '80s of the last century we had no
such barriers raised against imaginative,
bold, earnest, clear thinking and daring
spirits such as Albert Kahn.
To meet the demands of mass produc-
tion conveyer belt systems, he designed
the "all under one roof" and later the
"all on one floor" factory. These were
daring innovations when they first
emerged from his drawing boards.
Albert Kahn did not, however, confine
himself to the designing and building of
functional factories, shipyards, aviation,
army and naval bases. Hospitals, uni-
versity buildings and temples such as our
Beth El, are products of his geniuus and
imagination.
He is dead at the age of 73, and the
world is poorer for his passing. Such men
add much to the sum of human happiness
and well being. His whole life was de-
voted to building and designing so that
men could produce abundantly under the
most agreeable conditions. He brought
light, beauty and charm into the worka-
day world. This is truly a great achieve-
ment. His monuments will endure for a
long time.

Isolationists at Work '

Under-secretary Sumner Welles warns the
country that special and vested interests
and privileged individuals are already
working to isolate America after the war.
We have no doubts that these culturally
lagging groups and individuals are plan-
ning to prevent us from adhering to a
peace treaty that would make us part of
a new world order. Those who would re-
turn to the status quo ante have such
rigid mentalities and such deep-seated
prejudices against change that they re-
fuse to recognize that social, economic
and political changes have taken place
and are taking place. If they were inar-
ticulate, they had the wherewithal, in the
past, that enabled them to employ shrewd,
clever, persuasive speakers and writers
who were able to present the point of
view of the believers in the status quo,
to the end that at the end of World War
I our Senate never ratified the Versailles
Treaty.
Our present isolationists would do as
did their predecessors, but the likelihood
of their succeeding is lessened because we
know that they are at work, clandestinely.
perhaps, but nevertheless at work, with
a definite plan and purpose of leaving
the post-war settlements and arrange-
ments to the European and Asiatic powers
themselves.
Now that we are forewarned we can

expose their schemes and bring them to
the attention of the American people, who
want a peace treaty that will insure a
just and enduring peace. A conscious and
an aroused American electorate will not
permit their wills to be frustrated when
they know that such frustration will lead
to larger and more destructive global con-
flicts than the present one.
We must not withdraw from world af-
fairs with the cessation of hostilities. We
must not fritter away our moral author-
ity in a world that will respect our moral
authority because we are not now seeking
and no doubt will not seek any of the
territories or wealth of the peoples now
at war.
Many can now envisage a deal of pull-
ing and hauling at the peace conference.
Few are so blind or obtuse not to realize
that Russia and Britain will probably
have conflicting interests and points of
view. What is true of Russia Old Britain
may be equally true for France, Holland,
Belgium, Norway, Denmark, the Balkans,
China.
We hope that the conflicts will not be
serious, but wishful thinking is a poor
substitute for realism. We must be pre-
pared for conflicts and differences of
opinion. There is but one nation in the
world today that has the weight and
authority to settle any perplexing prob-
lems that may arise and that nation is
the United States of America.
We have an obligation to our people
and to the people of the world to use
our authority to bring into being a world
patterned upon our successful Federal
organization.
We would, as a nation, be remiss if we
did not exert all the pressure at our com-
mand to bring into being a United States
of Europe. If our way of life is worth
preserving and worth fighting for, w‘:
must no doubt be convinced that it is
good enough for others. Such being the
case, we must not allow the secretive iso-
lationist of today, who will become the
open isolationist of tomorrow, to keep
us from fulfilling the promise of freedom,
equality and justice that we have given
the world.

Germany Must Be Demilitarized

When the Nazis came to power, their
plan called for the co-ordination of all
Germany and the elimination of all dissi-
dent or lukewarm groups. The sole excep-
tion was the Reichswehr. This group did
not need to be co-ordinated despite the
fact that many of the generals were either
hostile or indifferent to Nazism. The
Nazis knew that the Reichswehr would
obey the recognized head of the state,
even though that head were not of their
class or caste. This fact of non-coordina-
tion of the Reichswehr gave rise to the
belief that the Nazis and generals were
unfriendly if not hostile. This erroneous
opinion has caused no end of mischief.
It has led anti-Nazis to believe that the
generals would be the proper people with
whom to negotiate, should Nazism show
any signs of cracking and breaking up.
This belief in Nazi-Reichswehr dis-
agreement has been strengthened by the
reported dismissals and unexplained
deaths of important field marshals. These
reports of dismissals and disagreements
are probably true, but these facts do not
touch the core of the matter. The core of
the matter is the unaltered militarist po-
sition of the military caste that insists
that Germany must pursue the policy of
aggression and domination of Europe.
The disagreements have been on tactical
and strategic military matters and not on
political and economic policy.
Any rapprochement between the United
Nations and the generals would result in
no fundamental change. If the militarists
could not find a political general among
their group they would fallow any poli-
tician whose politico military viewpoint
agreed with theirs.
Any peace, to be of value and dura
bility, must be made with those repre-
sentatives of the German people who arc
in favor of the complete demilitarisation
of Germany.
There are such Germans. They may be
refugees today but they are available
nonetheless. With these men and only
these men should there be any negotia-
tions.

PLAIN TALK

by AL SEGAL

"

White Cottages"

A Commission on Justice and bright our cottages are in
Peace of the Central Conference sunset."

N announcement reads: "The up from that darkness.

of American Rabbis summons rab-
bis and laymen to an American
Institute on Judaism and a Just
and Enduring Peace, to be held at
the Hebrew Union College in
Cincinnati on Dec. 21 through
Dec. 24, to draw up basic peace
principles, which like those of
Malvern, of Delaware, and of • the
inter-American seminal., may
serve as a guide to the states-
men of the world."
Perhaps they should have ask-
ed every one attending the In-
stitute to bring along a blue
print of his own dreams of a
good, new world; since good new
worlds are made of the dreams
of many men.
My own dream has to do with
a white cottage and a garden
around it. The inhabitant is
tending his flowers in the cool
of the evening. The cottage stands
on a hill, a kind of symbol of
the ultimate achievement of civil-
ization.
Not that there is anything of
particular distinction in this cot-
tage. Nothing but its gleaming
white in the sunset, the perfec-
tion of its serenity ,the laughter
of children in the garden.
The pride of people points to
it. Yes, they say, this is it.
They mean that this cottage is
the victory. It is what gives
meaning to the war that has
passed, to the hideous agony of
those years, to the multitude of
the graves on the battlefield. It
is a noble war aim achieved. It
and all the other white cottoges
round about.
You look down from the hill
and in all directions as far away
as the horizon you see white cot-
tages like this with gardens and
people tending their flowers in
the cool of the evening. The dusk
sings with the laughter of chil-
dren.
The householders in the cottage
and all the other white cottages
on the hill says yes, this is my
victory. This peace is mine and
this contentment is my Inherit-
ance. It is my inheritance to
which I came after the bitter
years of struggle and bloodshed.
This is 'my own and I have come
into it. It was long coming to me.
My gladioli looks like flags of
victory,
, don't you think?"
You ask him who he is.

You ask him by what me :iris
he came up out of the
"I guess you'd call it justii.e.
That was the victory—our w in-
ning justice. That's what all the
dying was for—to win a world
where everybody could sit at the
table and get what's coming to
him. People killed each of her
for that but in the end it came
to us by justice. Peace and plenty
came with justice. My children
are getting fat. You should see
my potatoes."
You ask him about his kins-
men.
"They are all Common Man.
They are friends of mine as well
as kinsmen. In that house far
over where the sun in setting
lives the Greek. And over to-
ward the South—do you see the
smoke from the chimney?—lives
the Jew. At the foot of that
mountain—it's like a dim shadow
in the East—the Chinese lives.
We don't all know each other's
language but we understand each
other because we are all Com-
mon Man. We never quarrel be-
cause all of us have enough —
these cottages, these gardens, the
wheat growing in plenty for the
children against the winter. You
see, where everybody has enough
there is nothing to fight about.
You should see how heavy with
milk my cows are in the eve-
ning."

I

f'

f

Y

ES, my own blue print of the
good new world contains no
arches of triumph but plenty of
decent white cottages all around
the earth that shall be the sym-
bols of civilization's ultimate
achievement, the victory of Con-
mon Man.
The War will have made no
sense if Common Man doesn't in-
herit for his children the good
earth he is dying for. He isn't
dying for the preservation of em-
fires and if he were asked he
would say, well, he is offering his
life with 'the idea of something
better coming out of all this
A better world, as he knows
it, has to do with his own car-
of. it—in America, in Eng-
land, in China, in Denmark or
wheresoever : His job, his secur-
ity, his right to earn his living
f
f
without ever having to depend on
AM Common Man, and all charity, the right of his •hil-
l- around me, as far as you can dren to have a decent house to
see, even to the horizon are the live in and to be educated in ac-
cottages of my kinsmen. Tomor- cordance with their talents.
row I'm threshing my wheat. I
His better world has to do
came by great struggle up the with a fairer distribution of the
hill to this cottage and to this world's wealth. He isn't envying
barn which will soon be so full the rich man but he does want
of my wheat. You should have his own just portion. lie isn't
seen my rose bushes in June." quarreling with the profit system
You ask him where he came if he gets a rightful share of the
profit. His rightful share includes
from.
"Well, I came out of the dark- a decent way of life for himself
ness, you might say. The dark- and his people, a comfortable
ness of poverty. My people be- habitation, opportunity for his
fore me lived in this darkness. children to go as far as their
They starved amid a big feast abilities will let them.
of riches in the world. That's
This is the substance of the
what I came up from to this justice on which alone a god,
plenty. I and my kinsmen came new world can be founded, and

HEBREW CALENDAR

5703 - 1942

Fastof Tebeth .............................................................................

18

5703 - 1943

Rosh Chodesh Shevat
Chamisho Osor B'Shevat
*Rosh Chodesh Adar I
*Rosh Chodesh Adar II
**Fast of Esther
Purim
Shushan Purim
Rosh Chodesh Nisan
Passover
*Rosh Chodesh Iyar
Lag B'Omer
Rosh Chodesh Sivan
Shevuoth
*Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
Fast of Tammuz
Rosh Chodesh Ab
Fast of Ab
*Rosh Chodesh Ellul

as

Jan 7
Jan. 21
Feb. a
Mai. R
Mar 20
Mar, 21
M a r 22
Apr. 6
Apr. 20
May 6
Ma., 23
Jui,o 4
June 9
July 4
July 20
Aug. 2
Aug. 10
Sept.

Also observed previous day.
Fast observed previous Thursday.

Holidays begin on the evening preceding the dates designated.

