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DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Friday, July 12, 1946
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
119 FA r cirm
and THE LEGAL CHRONICLE
i' ►
ox
blished Weekly by Jewish Chronicle eublishing Co., Inc, 525 Woodward Ave., Detroit 26, Mich., Tel. CAdillee 1040
DISAGREES WITH SAUNDERS
SUBSCRIPTION: 53.00 PER YEAR SINGLE COPIES, 10c: FOREIGN, $5.00 PER YEAR
4rtered es Second•class matter March 3. 1916, at the Postcffice at Detroit, Mich., under the Act of March 3, 1879
Editor-in-Chief, LOUIS W. ENFIELD
Vol. 48, No. 28
Publisher, CY AARON
Managing Editor, NATHAN J. KAUFMAN
FRIDAY, JULY 12, 1946 (Tammuz 13, 5706)
Bnai Brith Convention
The convention of District Grand Lodge
Number Six of Bnai Brith is now history.
The officers elected, the resolutions pass-
ed, the projects undertaken as outlined
on our front page story augur the greatest
success for the year to come.
The accomplishments of Bnai Brith are
too numerous to mention. Their place is
secure among the organizations that lend
their efforts to benefit Jewry. They num-
ber among their leaders men and women
of stature, to whom the Jews can look
up and under whose guidance, problems
of Jewry can be settled.
Aside from the work of the men, great
praise is to be given to the women for the
work they have done and for the goal
they have set themselves in post war serv-
ice. Their aim is service, their only re-
ward the satisfaction of a good job well
done.
The Chronicle is proud to have had
the opportunity to have welcomed both
the men and the women of Bnai Brith
during their convention here. We ac-
cord them praise for what they have
done. We join in their hopes for what
they will do in the future. For the ben-
eficiary_oUtheir work - is-all Jewry.
The Only Place
The last hopes that the end of the war
meant the end of persecution of the Jews
has been dashed to pieces. The news of a
full fledged pogrom in Poland last week
shows just how much can be expected in
the way of fair treatment and rehabilita-
tion of Jewry in that ill starred land.
The start of the pogrom was as stupid
as those that flourished in the evil days
of the old Czars of Russia. A little boy
told a lie about how Jews had kidnapped
him. The populace was inflamed and
started into action. Shootings, beatings,
stoning and looting followed at once.
Anti-Semitism in Poland is old. In
addition to the latent hatred of the
Poles for Jews, there is the steady poi-
son that the Nazis poured in during
their occupation of the country. The
soil for that poison was already fertile
and it has taken deep root.
There is one marked change. The gov-
ernment of Poland is insistent on the abo-
lition of anti-Semitism and the punish-
ment of perpetrators of crimes against
Jews. But the government seems to be
helpless in the face of the widespread ha-
tred of Jews on the part of those Poles
who have learned nothing from their ex-
periences during the war except that Jews
should suffer.
What a pity! The pain and the horror
of the war, the misery and the wretched-
ness of it all have resulted only in further
brutality. The cruelty of man to man has
in no way diminished. And it will grow
no better.
There is only one thing to do. We must
not waste time on tears and pleading. We
must not fool ourselves with vain hopes
and idle dreams. Jews from Poland must
be allowed to enter Palestine where they
want to go. Every single Jew. Man, wo-
man and child. They want to go. The
people there want them. There is room
for them.
Why should be batter our heads against
a wall? Why should we attempt to force
a people who hates us to accept our pre-
sence in a land where everything reminds
us only of misery and sorrow. Let us in-
stead marshall our every effort to bring-
ing our people to the land of hope, to the
country of ancient dreams, to the place
where all the unfortunate Jews are beg-
ging to go, the land of Israel.
British Perfidy
If there has ever been any doubt re-
garding the attitude of•the British govern-
ment toward the Palestine question, that
doubt has now been dissipated by the
treacherous, vile, inhuman and Nazi-like
Detroit 28, 111141gan
Dear Editor:
A short time ago critic Leon Saunders wrote his dissertation on the
critic's function in literature. Though he displayed a thorough knowl-
edge of the subject from an academician's viewpoint, he singularly
castigates Samuel Johnson's remarks on criticism which were equally
forcefully and blatantly true. And Mr. Saunders I'm proud to learn
Is a seeker of truth.
action of the British authorities in Pales-
Dr. Samuel Johnson said that Criticism is a study by which men
tine.
grow important and formidable at a very small expense. The power
of invention has been conferred upon few, but every man can exert
The action of the British government such
judgment as he has upon words of others; and he whom nature
becomes even more contemptible when it made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may support his vanity by
the
name
of critic.
is realized that it was commenced at the
Is such a statement so outlandish and so unprincipled that it
very time when official British sources
merits a severe reprimand? Mr. Saunders says that It is a harsh inter-
were intimating that negotiations were pretation
of the function of a critic. We are not so naive as to believe
proceeding with th6 American government that criticism
is meant to extoll the non-existant virtues of insignifi-
towards the settlement of the Palestine cant pot-pourri. That is not the function of criticism. However only
issue. That action is very much reminis- too often does criticism result In such a state of affairs and if Dr.
Johnson was so untutored as to record that fact, my one white
cent of the treacherous Jap attack on Samuel
shirt is off to the venerable gentleman.
Pearl Harbor while peace negotiations
Dr. Johnson was anything but harsh. He was sincere. Man
were going on in Washington. The British lives No,
by man-made codes and standards. And these standards are as
claim that the blitzkrieg against the Ye- susceptible to change as the whimsies of thinking man. In the
shuv was made to insure the peace and name of Truth and for the almighty preservation of Art, critics, mind
will make mountains out of mole hills and perhaps less often
security of the country against the activi- you,
vice-versa. Must we go far afield to prove this? Didn't Alexander
ties of alleged Jewish terrorists and arm- Wolcott, the critic, make a tower of strength of "Able's Irish Rose"?
ed groups. But that was a dishonest con- And didn't some eminent litterateur write such prize winning tomes
"High Tor" and "Ah Wilderness" which gained critical acclaim
tention. In the first place, to swoop down as
despite their artlessness?
on a peacef4 Jewish community on its
Mr. Saunders, you are only too right. Not everybody can be a
Sabbath day;Nrid arrest seventy or eighty critic,
a discerning being who can cope with art in an exacting man-
thousand people, is as criminal an act as ner and separate the chaff from the wheat. We have only to look at
was ever committed by the Nazis. It sa- our critics to prove it. We need not take Dr. Johnson's words for It.
Look to Mencken, look to James, look to Masefleld. And to the others
vors of a Lidice spirit. To visit punishment who
neither their stature nor power of Invention I again quote
on the entire Jewish community in Pales- from possess
Johnson, "And he whom nature made weak, may support his
tine for the alleged transgressions of a vanity by the name of critic." SAUL C. DOMNITCH.
few, is an act in defiance of all decency. Editor's Note: Mr. Saunders replies to this letter In his column,
Certainly the arrest of members of the "Book Review," on page 6.
Jewish Agency executive was an act clear-
ly designed to r incite the Yeshuv into, ac- THANKS CHRONICLE
tion which the British hoped would fur- Dear Editor:
nish them with an excuse for a regime of
This is to say "thank you" for the fine part your paper played in
terrorism. For throughout these years of publicizing the Emergency Food Collection in the Detroit area. My
anxiety and tension in that unhappy land, job would have been an impossible one without your help. Mr. Dodge
the members of the Executive committee have asked to express
the Jewish Agency stood firmly for peace and
their appreciation for your cooperation.
and order even at a time when it realized
Yours very truly,
that its attitude might be interpreted as
R. D. PARSELLS, Publicity Director.
a sign of weakness.
It has recently been reported that the URGES MUNICIPAL ACTION
Arab League was contemplating to de- To the Editor:
clare war against the Yeshuv, but that it
Winter is coming on, and the people of greater Detroit are still
abandoned its plan when it realized that uninformed
whether and when they will get enough natural gas, and
at
the well-knitted Jewish community in Pal- or for
what price. There isn't enough natural gas, either for house heating
the industries which need it in work which creates the payrolls.
estine would be more than a match for
We have been told that Michigan Consolidated Gas Company Is
the Arabs.
being offered all the natural gas
that Detroit needs now, and all that
Has Britain undertaken to do what the it will need in the future, but we are also told that Michigan Consoli-
dated won't agree to buy those supplies because "It wants to create
Arabs feared?
•
A Little of the Good Side
At a time when news of Jewry the
world over seems to be at its darkest, it is
wise to fall back on a review of the en-
tire situation and see where we stand,
especially where our gains have been.
First, the war was won and by the right
side. That must be kept in- mind at all
times. Secondly, Jewry all over the world
with but few exceptionT is united in the
fight for Palestine as a haven for our un-
fortunates. Jewry is behind this fight with
all its strength, its power and its money.
That also must be kept in mind.
We have built up a new kind of Jew
in Palestine. We have there Jews who can
fight back, Jews with stamina and cour-
age. Let no one forget that for a moment!
We have the kind of Jews there of whom
we can be justly be proud, Jews with all
the power of the early American pioneers,
Jews who are willing to work and to fight
with all their strength for their native
land.
We claim the admission of one hundred
thousand of our brethren. Many are al-
ready there and more are entering stead-
ily. From January to June of this year,
6,500 Jewish refugees were reported to
have entered Palestine.
The absorptive capacity of the land
is also coming to light. Jewish rural popu-
lation on land leased to the settlers by the
Jewish National Fund almost doubled dur-
ing the war years, climbing from 24,446
inhabitants in September of 1938 to 45,753
in October 1945. Sixty-seven per cent of
the 925 arrivals in January resettled in
rural areas.
The problem of housing is also being
looked after. At a cost of 4,000,000, the
Jewish Agency is purchasing from Swe-
den 6,000 three roomed wooden huts,
fully equipped and prefabricated. This
will mean the addition of 18.000 addi-
tional rooms to Palestine's housing accom-
odations. A regular housing program is al-
ready being planned to meet the needs of
newcomers.
a shortage." Such a shortage, so the story goes, will help the company
obtain a federal permit to build a pipe line which public officials have
said is not necessary.
The Hamtramck Home Owners Asso. contend that much more is
at stake in this matter than the secret desires of the Michigan Con-
solidated management, and how much that management can charge
for a service which is neither satisfactory nor adequate.
Our Association wants Congress to investigate, and it believes
the various municipal governments should determine whether half a
million families and hundreds of industries can be forced to wait five
years or longer, while Michigan Consolidated learns whether it can
promote and build its own pipe line—a pipe line which would merely
strengthen its own monopoly. Thus far, its promoters have not even
been willing to pledge a reduction in retail gas •rates from such a
venture.
The Hamtramck Home Owners Association is urging concerted
municipal action in Wayne County, backed by county and state author-
ities, to bring an end to the fake "gas shortage" now imposed on the
public, and our Association invites co-operation by similar organiza-
tions unafraid to speak out for the "little fellow." The gas issue, like
all the other public problems that politicians dodge, must be under-
stood and settled, as usual, by the public itself. So let's get together,
(Signed) IGNATIUS GUZANEK, Secy.
QUITE AN ORDER!
LZ