Detroit Jewish Chronicle

Published by the Jewish Chronicle Publishing Co., "Inc.
2827 BarluM Tower, Detroit 26, Michigan

Entered

a.

Friday, April 1, 1949

DETROIT JEWISH CIIRONICLE

Page Four

WOodward

SUBSCRIPTION: $3.00 Per Year, Single Copies, 10c; Foreign, $5.00 Per Yur
Second-class matte: March 3. 1916.a: the Poet Office at Detroit. Mich.. under the Act of

SEYMOUR

1-1040

March 3. 1879

GEORGE WEISWASSER, Editor-in-Chief

TILCIIIN, President

NISAN 2, 5709

Friday, April 1, 1919

See They No Evil?

In Brief . . .

The election Monday vitally concerns
every one of us, yet there is a strong possi-
bility that fewer than half of the registered
voters will cast their ballots, and a minority
will choose judges of the lower and highest
courts and decide issues that will effect you
strongly. Do not be one of the shirkers.
Decide now to vote and to get your family
out to vote. The proposed millage amend-
ment to increase the revenues of the Detroit
school system deserves your support. It will
bring more schools into the northwest area
where many of ,your children are now on
half-time because of crowded cdliditions and
where their programs are curtailed. It 'will
permit expansion of Wayne University and
of the high school system. It should receive
a "Yes" vote from every civic-minded citizen.
As far as candidates are concerned, we would
like to point out to you that it is essential
that the Common Pleas court, which deals
with minor litigation, be strengthened. We
bring to your attention the candidacy of
Nelson. S. Shapero, who has been highly
recommended by the Citizens' League and by
civic and religious leaders, Jewish and non-
Jewish. He is a lawyer of high integrity and
understands the need for a more conscien-
tious judiciary. Your vote for him will be
a wise move .

* * *

Ridiculous Accusation

Isidore Sobeloff's contention that the Jew-
ish Chronicle was "threatening" the Jewish
Welfare Federation is, of course, ridiculous.
The executive director of the JWF based his
charge on the fact that %Ike Chronicle wrote
him that it woiild' piotest, to the public if he
did not stop stilisidizing the Jewish News
again with charity money or give the two
papers equal treatment. Sobeloff's reasoning
on this matter typifies hiS anachronistic atti-
tude on democratic processes and the rights
of the public. f ro him, the warning that the
public, which pays his salary and contributes
t he millions collected annually for the Allied
Jewish Campaign, would be notified of his
discrimination in'favor of one newspaper as
against another was appalling: and he in-
terpreted it as a "threat." It slioultt , rather
have been a reminder that he was discrim-
inating against thousands of Chronicle read-
ers who are ctlw contributors to the Allied
Jewish Campaign - Which he administers. He
should have made efforts to undo the wrong
instead of running to his board of governors
to charge this paper With making . "threats."
This way he felt he could intimidate this
palar and arouse the sympathy of his board
scir-.. t4t they would take no action on his
subsidization policy. We hope that his board
is notas 'blind and subservient as he thinks
it is.

*

Detroit 26, Michigan

the public hearing. At least in this outcome,
the public has gained a victory. The former
employes of Richards' who had the courage to
expose him, and such organizations as the
American Jewish Congress which demanded
a full hearing by the FCC should be con-
gratulated for their public service.

•

Is Bevin Relenting?

There is the barest possibility that Bevin
has finally reconciled himself to the fact that
Israel is here to stay and that Britain had
better get on the bandwagon to efface some
of the bad blood generated between Britain
and Israel. The development was hinted by
the as yet unconfirmed report that London
categorically rejected King Abdullah's re-
quest that the British army extend its patrols
so as to cover the 50 miles of the Israeli-
Transjordan border north of Aqaba. Al-
though Britain has denied it, Dr. Bunche's
charge that British activity in the Aqaba
region was incendiary gives notice to the
foreign minister that the UN is very close to
the situation and will not permit British
bombast to hide the fact that she had been
looking for trouble in the Aqaba zone. Ap-
parently the situation is a little different
now. As UN recognition of the new State ap-
proaches and as the foreign office and the
war office begin reluctantly to admit that a
friendly Israel, tiny as she is, will be a
greater asset than a hostile but ineffective
Arab League, there impends the possibility
that Britain will end all enmity with the
Jewish State in a reversal of policy that will
be wholesome for the two contending na-
tions. It will be interesting to watch Bevin's
reaction in the Assembly when Israel's name
is brought up for admission. That will tell
the story.

3 Arab States To Go

Lebanon has followed Egypt in signing an
agreement with Israel. That makes two
down and three to go. Talks with Trans-
jordan are being slowed by wily King
Abdullah's scheming to incite border friction
between Israel and Britain so that he can
carry out his. plan to annex the large Arab
area surrounding Jerusalem, held in the
main by Arab Legion and Iraqi soldiers,
Bevin, for once, has not taken the bait and
the sly Arab puppet has been left holding
the bag. Moreover, unless we miss our guess,
the Israeli government has other plans for
the area coveted by Abdullah that lies west
of the Jerusalem zone. Syria is next in line
for talks., with the victorious Israelis, and
Iraq, the most uncompromising of all, will
probably fall in with the rest. All this does
not. spell peace. The Arabs are agreeing
only to•an armistice. Unless they are made
to feel that the Jewish State has worldwide
support, they may rekindle the fireworks
when the final peace talks start.

* *

Radio - Inquiry endS

HIAS Places the Displaced

•The Federal Cornmunications Cornmission,
by "postponing" the hearing on charges
against George Richards, chief stockholder
in WJR and two other radio stations in Los
Angeles and Cleveland, actually closed the
case. The FCC is apparently satisfied with
Richards' recantation and his promise to sell
the controlling interest in the stations. On
the other hand, had the hearing taken place,
there is much evidence to believe that the
whole sordid story of Richards' bigotry
which prompted him to order his news com-
mentators to smear the Roosevelt family and
link Jews to Communists and gangsters
would have been presented to the public.
Public revulsion would have been so great,
it seems to us, that closer watch to prevent
biased broadcasts would have resulted.
There is a good chance that Richards would
have been forced - lo yield his control of the
stations as a warning to others who might
be constrained to let intolerance and gulli-
bility corrupt their views while directing a
medium of public information. Richards has
hardly gotten off easily. He is being required
to give up the three radio stations to avoid

At the 64th annual meeting of HIAS a
budget of $5,000,000 was voted for the coming
year. This is the largest budget in the long
and honorable history of this major global
migration agency. In the year just past,
HIAS performed services for Jews over the
entire world the value of which cannot be
estimated in dollars and cents. The 64-year-
old agency assisted more than 23,000 Jews
to emigrate from Europe to lands where they
can live decent, secure lives. To the new State
of Israel HIAS presented a check for $500,00q
as an advance payment on air transportatiori
of Jews. In addition to the thousands of
Jews who wait in the DP camps of Europe,
hundreds of thousands in other countries of
Europe and -North Africa are looking for-
ward to being lifted out of the black despair
in which they live. For years HIAS has been
"placing the displaced." This year the DP
camps of Europe must be emptied out. HIAS
will devote itself' to this aim in the coming
year, and when the year is at its end, and
the camps no longer have homelest Jews in
them, let it, be said that HIAS has helped
displaced.
place

ace.

Anglo-Jewish Press Hailed
As More Free Than Yiddish

By WILLIAM ZUKERMAN
(Jewish World News -Service)
(This is a continuation of an article on the Yiddish and Anglo-
Jewish press which appeared in last week's Chronicle.)

ALMOST IN EVERY respect
the Yiddish press has gone back
on its old high standards of writ-
ing and high social idealism of
50 years ago, but it has retained
only one quality of its early pe-
riod in all its pristine purity. This
is a narrow partisanship, intoler-
ance often bordering on fanati-
cism.
The content has changed from
the former internationalism and'
humanitarianism to an intense
nationalism, but the form has re-
mained the same.
There are more taboos, prohi-
bitions and unwritten laws in the
Yiddish press than in any other
decent press in western countries.
In short, it is less free and is
modeled more on the East-Euro-
pean pattern than on the Ameri-
can.
In this respect the Jewish press
in English is way above the Yid-
dish. There is more real free-
dom of thought and expression in
any of the better English-Jewish
weeklies than in the whole of the
"intellectual" Yiddish press tak-
en together. The mere difference
in language between English and
Yiddish makes for a freer atmo-
sphere and for greater tolerance.

• • •

IGNORED

STORY
HERE IS ONE example of re-
cent weeks which illustrates this
point graphically. During the
last few weeks, two top leaders
of the clericalist Mizrachi party
and of the Religious bloc in Is-
rael, came out openly in favor of
introducing into the Israeli con-
stitution the Nazi low of "pure"
marriages, meaning that all mixed
marriages between Jews and non-
Jews be prohibited by the State.
What is more, one of them who is
at present in charge of Jewish
immigration from Europe to Is-
rael. openly admitted that even
now, before their demand had
become a part of the constitu-
tion, couples of mixed marriages
who want to go to Israel. are be-
ing broken up, and the non-
Jewish members are not being
admitted.
Forty odd Yiddish journalists
were present when this declara-

tion was made and not one big
Yiddish daily in New York re-
ported it. (The "Forward" did
carry a report of the talk, but
omitted this particular section of
it.)
Orthodoxy is one of the sacred
cows of the Yiddish press ani
nothing can be said against it
there, although none of the writ-
ers are in the remotist way Or-
thodox.
• • •
MORE FREEDOM
ON THE OTHER hand, a doz-
en of the leading English-Jewish
weeklies. carried the story in f011.
Some editors even wrote edi-
torials about it and Jewish read-
ers all over the United States are
now storming their patios w ith
protests against this Rabbinical
act.
No such protests could ever
appear in the Yiddish press. Even
Mr. Zivion, who is in this re-
spect, the most courageous Yid-
dish journalist, could not write
in his column on this subject, un-
less to approve the clericalist
position.
This is only one illustration of
many which could be multiplied
by the hundreds and which shows
that at least from the point of
view of freedom of expression.
(which is after all, the soul of
the press), the English-Jewish
press is way above the Yiddish.
And this for obvious reasons:
The Yiddish press in the United
States is a heritage of the past; it
reflects life of Warsaw, Kowno.
Lod; Lemberg and Moscow, while
the English-Jewish press in
America reflects the ,Jewish pres-
ent in Chicago, Detroit., Pittsburg,
Denver, Boston and Los Angeles.
With all due allowance for im-
migrant nostalgia, American
western civilization is higher
than that of eastern Europe.
And so, Zivion may be correct
that the •Yiddish press is still
numerically stronger than the
English-Jewish, but it is a former
giant in the last stages of disin-
tegration, while the poor, small,
struggling Anglo-Jewish press
has a great future before it.

Silber Cmulenins German Exhibit

Albert Silber, president of the
Detroit Division of the Ameri-
can Jewish Congress, denounced
the "Military German Exhibi-
tion," scheduled to open in New
York April 9, as "being in line
with State Department policy to
rebuild German industries as
rapidly as possible"
"Tne solicitude of our govern-
ment for the Germans stands out

in sharp contrast to its attitude
towards the European countries
which were our Allies in the last
war," Silber declared.
He pointed out that the policy
of facilitating German exports is
likely to result in penalties W
the American taxpayer because
of the inability of American
products to compete on equal
terms with cheap German goods.

