DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle

Friday, February 21, 1947

Jews Who Knew Personal Problems
Washington Confiding in Others

Strictly Confidential

Superman Doing Well
in Battle on Bigotry

Radio Show Hands Terrific Beating
to Hate Venders and the Kids Like It

By RABBI LEON SPITZ
LINE UP THE JEWS who knew
Washington and the proces-
sion is quite imposing. Some were
colorful, 'others just ordinary, but
all were Jews who did not apol-
ogize for their Jewishness.
There were Jewish planters
among George's fraternal brothers
in the Masonic Lodge.
While a promising Colonial ma-
jor battling under the British flag
against the marauding redskins in
the French and Indian wars, he
met Jacob Franks, a prominent
merchant from Philadelphia who
was the crown commissary and
supplied the British - controlled
Colonial troops with ammunition,
food and clothing. Their relations
seem to have been so pleasant
that in later years when the
Franks family turned Tory, Wash-
ington was very reluctant to ar-
rest them.

By PHINEAS J. BIRON
E ARE NOT surprised that the British Labor Government is
dropping the whole Palestine problem in the collective lap of
the United Nations. The move is designed to rally support around
the Labor cabinet which is in a grave crisis as a result of the coal
emergency in Britain.
This action might be accompanied by other progressive changes
in the United Kingdom foreign
managerial post with one of the
policy . . .
Those of you who don't have a New York clubs.
If you're near a track meet in
Superman f a n
in the house which Iry Mondschein, NYU de-
have been mis- cathlon ace, is entered, don't
sing some thril- miss it. Iry is one of the great-
ling radio fare. est all-around athletes this coun-
And we're not try has ever seen.
Rated a sure thing for the 1948
kidding ... Bob
Maxwell, young Olympic Games, the 22-year-old
Jewish producer NYU soph lifts weights, heaves
of the popular the discuss, high jumps and
radio series, has sprints, to mention only a few
given his show of his talents. To top it off, he
P. K. Biron
a powerful wal- played a little basketball with
lop against discrimination and the top-notch NYU five before
bigotry . .. This is the first time the track season started .. .
Norman Granz, whose Jazz at
that democracy has been woven
into the fabric of a children's net- the Philharmonic opened its fourth
work series as more than a pas- national concert tour a couple of
, sing reference to "tolerance" be- weeks ago, is doing a terrific job
of mobilizing band leaders for a
tween commercials.
Orchids have been received from drive against discrimination.
Leading musicians, including
leading religious and educatioval
groups, as well as from Henry Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Bud-
Wallace, Fiorello LaGuardia, dy Rich, Charlie Barnet, Coleman
Count Basie and the
Senator Pepper and ex-Governor Hawkins,
King Cole Trio, have rallied to
Ellis Arnall.
Granz'
call.
Granz himselr is
The payoff, for people who have
been afraid that demopracy isn't spearheading the band industry's
"commercial," is that the Super- drive. He has used a non-discrim-
man program has jumped from ination, non-segregation clause in
several seasons...
fourth to first place among juve- his contracts • for
• • •
nile shows, according to Hooper
POT POURRI
ratings.
•
OURO INFIRMARY in New
Orleans, where Senator Bilbo
SPORTS NOTES
OT SO MUCH surprised as underwent that operation on his
sorry to see Hank Greenberg foul mouth, is a Jewish institu-
put' his big bat on the shelf. Hank tion . . . Named after a great
(Continued on page 13)
is a natural for a front office or

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FEPC Helped Protect

Parents Should Not Resent the Fact
That Children Choose Other Agents

By DR. IV. A. GOLDBERG
PART FROM ITS religious use, confession is spiritual medicine.
Many people find it extremely helpful as a safety valve for
bothersome acts or omissions. It rids the mind of festering ideas.
Confiding in another person does more than invite punishment. As
e mental medicine, it must ' include forgiveness.
c At some time in his life, every persoh needs a confidant. Each
human finds another person whose
In spite of good parents, chil-
judgment he respects, whose un-
derstanding he values, whose dren learn more from the outside
than from those close to them.
opinion he con-
Certainly this is true when the
31ders sound. To
child goes to school. It is espe-
this person he
• • •
cially so when children go to col-
pours forth his
lege. They learn manners, speech,
woes, perplexi-
DIVIDED IIOUSE
self-respect, personal care.
THE FRANKS were a divided ties, doubts and
The child's horizon is broad-
family. Jacob, who owned the alleged sins.
ened; he sees before him the
Many parents
wealthiest courting house (bank)
action
of others of his age and
and had married a Christian wife, become disturb-
status. This act of imitation is
belonged to the City Dancing As- ed when their
tremendously important. Many a
sembly, the citadel of society and children confide
young person has learned more
was of course Tory. But his nep- in others. Par-
about living in his years at col-
hew, David, a Canadian, loved ents mistake
lege than in the many years at
this for disre- Dr. Goldberg
liberty from across the border.
One day, it was said, he ap- spect. But they are not on sound home.
• • -
proached the statue of George III ground. The act of confiding is
which towered in the market place two-sided. The confider gives his NEUTRAL MEDICINE
at Montreal, twitted the British innermost thoughts. He receives PARENTS ARE OFTEN too
close to the child to appraise
monarch by his marble nose and absolution or praise or feels that
addressed him in most uncompli- he has gained the respect of his him. Parents are often too close
confidant.
to themselves to judge their stand-
mentary terms. That same night
• • •
ing as parents. They tend to con-
he fled from Montreal to Phila-
CAN'T
LOSE
STANDING
fuse wish with action.
delphia, enlisted in the Conti-
THE
ACT
OF
confiding
is
more
nental Army, and, before long,
When there is a serious ques-
than telling a story. The tion, the parent may well seek the
he was appointed to Gen. Wash-
listener
cannot
be
in
a
position
to
advice
of someone not too close to
ington's staff.
He must have been quite put judge nor can the confider lose the question. In a well-established
out when he heard that his first standing because of his words.
church, the minister may be the
Parents, often, do not understand person chosen. Or it may be a
cousin, Rebecca, Uncle Jacob's
fair daughter, was escorted to the this. Many times their children teacher, a physician or attorney
British Military Ball by Major feel they cannot admit breaking or a professional counselor.
It is important this person have
Andre, the British officer who was the rules parents have laid down.
Wise parents repeat to the child considerable experience, be free
hanged by the Yankees as a spy
that they, disapprove his act but from bias, and especially that he
very soon after.
Rebecca was the toast of the their love for the child has not has seen the normal reactions of
red-coats, the belle of Philadel- diminished. It is insufficient that normal people.
phia, and she was an aristocrat the parent says this or believes it.
As a parent, you should be
of the bluest water. This half- The child must have no doubt phased that your child confides
(Continued on page 4)
Jewish Tory belle wrote a Roy- that it Is the truth.
alist Hymn in which she called
Washington a rebel and a Hun.
She was arrested and banished
from Philadelphia, when the
patriots took it over from the
British.
•
*

Workers in War Days

States With Racial Tension Can't Get
Popular Support for Peacetime Bills

BY CHARLOTTE WEBER
ASHINGTON—"The United States at War," a document recently
distributed to government agency heads, is the history of the
civilian administration of the war. It represents the fruition of the
historical program undertaken early in the war to record the story
of "our administrative response to the crisis. Actually it is a com-
pilation of separate histories collected into one volume by a staff
attached to the bureau of the
tices Committee established by
budget.
President Roosevelt July 30, 1942.
There are some very sharp les-
• • •
sons to be learned from the story
of a great democracy at war, the FEPC SEEKS SOLUTION
HE FEPC ATTEMPTED to
steps that were taken, the con-
solve both an old problem and
flicts that arose, and the gradual
meshing of the gears that finally the new one created by the trans-
resulted in tremendous produc- fer of the United States Employ-
ment Services from state to fed-
tion.
At the outbreak of hostilities eral control. Some of the state
there were two great problems bureaus were loosely organized and
facing the civilian prosecutors of inefficient.
the war. The first was the actual
Because it was always expect-
production of materials; the other, ed that the services would re-
assembling the labor force that turn to state control at the end
was to produce guns, ships, air- of the war there was a conflict
planes, landing craft and all the of loyalties with bureaus turning
other trappings of war.
for guidance to the state gov-
ernments on one matter and to
the federal government on an-
PROBLEM GREW ACUTE
other.
This divided allegiance, accord-
THIS PROBLEM GREW acute
L only after the procurement and ing to "The United States at War,"
development of industry had been "frequently Interfered with na-
tackled. At the outset of the tional policies on such matters ...
battle of production the country as prevention of hiring discrimi-
had a reserve of some three mil- iation against Negroes and aliens."
• • •
lion unemployed above the irre-
STATES HELPLESS
ducible minimum.
HE INCIDENT pointed out by
Not until late in 1913 when
this document Is perhaps as
this reserve had been drained
by the mushrooming industrial good an illustration as any why
when
there are at least' a score
machine did the labor problem
become acute. Directors of this of states which either have or
program then looked to new, propose to have their own FEPC
laws, we find discrimination in
untapped sources for workers.
A fertile field of new labor re- employment sharply on the rise.
The obvious loop-hole in the
sources, they found, were the
workers who had been barred state law plan is that the states
from employment because of their where discrimination and racial
tension are really bad just couldn't
color, race or religion.
These workers were mobilized raise the popular support for a
for war production and protected bill to prevent discrimination in
by the Fair Employment Prac- employment.

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L& A ∎

Is Good for the Soul

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Plain Talk

Capital Letter

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Page Three

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DERIDED BRITISH
AT NEW YORK CITY she cap-
tivated the hearts of the gallant
British and Tory officers. But
now we catch a glimpse of her in
a petulant, perverse mood. When
Lord Howe ordered the band at
another military ball to strike out
the British battle hymn, Britannia
Marches On, Rebecca cried out
undaunted—"Not that, play Brit-
annia Marches Home."
But her American cousin Maj.
Isaac Franks, like her Canadian
cousin, was a patriot and, as
luck would have it, chief of staff
to the traitor Benedict Arnold,
who sold out %Vest Point to the
British. Franks was court-mar-
tialed and acquitted though his
chief was convicted.
Not satisfied with the verdict,
he rode that night to Gen. Wash-
ingtoni u. headquarters at Valley
Forge and tendered his resigna-
tion. Washington refused to ac-
cept it and sent him back to
West Point.
A personal friendship sprang out
of the Incident between the ma-
jor and his general. Years later,
when an epidemic of yellow fever
broke out in Philadelphia, the
young republic's first national cap-
ital, Col. Franks was host to
President Washington in his home
at Germantown.

• • •

FINANCED REVOLT
THEN THERE WAS Hyam So-
lomon. There are those who speak
of him as the financier of the
American Revolution. It is not to
be questioned that Hyam Solo-
mon knew Washington and came
to his rescue in the hour of crisis
with considerable funds.
There is one more young man
who subsequently sired a spec-
tacular son, of whom we know
only two facts: Capt. Manuel M.
Noah (later father of Major Mor-
decai M. Noah) was one of Wash-
ington's aides-de-camp and it has
been recorded beyond peradven-
ture of a doubt that President
Washington, was a guest at his
wedding.
Like all good goyim, Washing-
ton had his turn at an occasional
Kosher dinner. What a proud tra-
dition it was, cherished for gen-
erations by the Hart family of
(continued on page 1 6)

Jews Found at Ease
at a Health Resort

Forget Troubles and Distinctions
Fraternizing Amiably With All

By ALFRED SEGAL
rrHIS IS BEING WRITTEN in a health resort. It's very pleasant
I here. One of the pleasures of this writer's stay here Is to find
Jcws at perfect ease.
There are quite a few Jews here but nothing at all of Jewish
weltschmerz. No sighing in the least. With their non-Jewish. neigigbori
in this sanatorium—Jews and Gentiles are about 50-50 here—they
discuss rather their arthritis, their
Here there is tranquility for Mr.
blrsitis, the tough hardships of
having to be on , a diet and last Segal. It's almost a week since he
came here and not once has he
night's scores at
been set upon any neighbor de-
gin rummy.
manding to know what kind of a
This writer is
Zionist he is or whether he is
getting a rest,
Zionist at all and why not. Here
a rest; indeed,
all the differences are washed out
as one who, be-
in the medicinal waters.
ing Jewish, feels
Mr. Segal has just finished wai-
conti nuously
v lowing in a bathtub full of it.
oppressed by the
His new-found friend Mr. W., in
variety of ape-
the adjoining bathtub, separated
c i a 1 problems
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only by a narrow partition, didn't
that pursue a
Al Segal
bring up a word about being Jew-
Jew.
In the equalitarian milieu of ish even in this intimacy.
this sanatorium there are no
(Not once during six days has
differences either ideological or Mr. W. attempted to sound Segal
social between Jews and Gentiles out on Jewish matters and he
or between Jew and Jew, for doesn't seem to give a damn). On
that matter. They are all one Segal's other side Mr. C. luxuri.
in their common experience of ated in his medicinal bathtub. Mr.
arthritis, overweight, the dis- C. is an Episcopalian, an identity
cipline of being dieted, or what he doesn't make much of around
have you, or just their simple here, any more than Mr. W.
hunger for rest. They are the makes anything of being Jewish.
It may be the calcium carbonate.
best of friends.

• • •

• • •

AVOIDS DEBATES
T HOME, THIS writer is fre-
quently interrupted by dialect-
ical intrusions. To avoid them he
prefers to use the downtown al-
leys where he meets nobody with
a Jewish problem. He makes a
point of detouring when he gets
into the neighborhood of Mr. I's
store.
At the• sight of Mr. Segal, Mr.
I is sure to come dashing out of
his store to argue fiercely about
sometning Mr. Segal wrote last
week.

GIIETTO PEOPLE
YES, IT APPEARS to be good
medicine for all of, us all
around. We've been a lot of ghet-
to people—Jewish ghetto people
or Gentile ghetto people — little
people hugging our own mean lit-
tle compartments. It takes our
ailments to discover for us our
common humanity.
In the course of journalistic In.
quiry, Mr. Segal bends his ear to
listen to what Mr. G. and F. are
talking about in the lobby. Their
(Continued on page 4)

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