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111.1.1ilimilgiiPP-

. Page, Two

Purely
Commentary

By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ

HAIR ON EDGE
There is a story about a serviceman on
Bataan. He complained, in the midst of
gruelling war expeniences, in a foxhole,
that his hair was tired.
"How can your hair be tired?" a buddy
asked.
"It has been standing up for three
days," was his reply.
We relate it, on the eve of the open-
ing of the War Chest campaign, as a re-
minder to every one whose heart throbs,
that the hair of the million and a quarter
Jewish survivors of Nazism in Europe has
been standing up for 12 years—and is
still standing.
To this very day, even the words
"horrors" and "calamities" are not strong
enough to describe the plight of those
who have gone through the hell of
Nazism and of war and who are today
experiencing the cruelties of a post-war
era which finds them helpless.
One word ought to be sufficient to
arouse people to action:
HELP!
And only those whose hearts have
turned to stone can possibly fail to reply
to the call for immediate assistance to
the unfortunates.
*
*
*
JUDGE PICARD TELLS A STORY
At the very impressive luncheon meet-
ing of the Michigan Chapter of the
American Palestine Committee, whose
expression of sympathy for the Jewish
cause came in the form of a strong
appeal to President Harry S. Truman
and Secretary of State James F. Byrnes
to intercede with the British government
for the immediate opening of the doors
of Palestine to unrestricted Jewish im-
migration, Judge Frank A. Picard, the
dynamic and able chairman of the com-
mittee, related a splendid story.
The Rev. • George E. Drew and George
F. Pierrot had reported on the Prince-
ton Christian Conference on Palestine
which they attended as delegates. The
Rev. Drew outlined the significant report
of Dr. Walter Clay Lowdermilk and told
of the amazing achievements of the Jews
who had transformed Tel Aviv and their
Palestine colonies from sand dunes into
beautiful cities and garden spots.
Judge :Picard passed the illustrations
among the audience and then told this
story:
A minister, out on a stroll, noticed that
a man was picking rocks and debris from
a neglected lot. He asked what he plan-
ned to do, and the. man replied that he
had bought it for a farm.
"Oh," said the minister, "you'll never
revive this neglected and rocky land."
Two years later the minister again was
on a stroll in the same area and was
amazed to see a flourishing farm. He
went over to the farmer and said: "This
is a marvelous accomplishment. Isn't it
wonderful what can be done when God
and man work in harmony?"
"Yes, indeed," replied the miracle-
working farmer. "But you should have
seen this place when God had it all
alone."
This was so applicable! And the dis-
tinguished gathering admitted to itself
that Judge Picard has rightfully earned
the title of being one of Detroit's best
story-tellers.
*
*
*
"TALKING" ABOUT "INCIDENTS"
Are we excitable? We must be, judg-
ing by the stupid way in which some
newspapers, news columnists and editors
have "picked up" the cry that "something
is happening in Detroit" and that there
are "episodes" and "incidents" of anti-
Semitism.
Some individuals have even chosen to
blame US for not "reporting" the "in-
cidents."
Those who know that the whole busi-
ness on Dexter was the result of trumped-
up exaggerations agree with us that you
can't report "nothing"—and exaggera-
tions should not be inflated into an in-
citement bordering on panic.
Nevertheless, a responsible organiza-
tion is calling a large meeting to "report
on the Dexter incidents."
What's the matter with us?
ARE we TOO excitable?
*
*
WEITZEL THROWS A HINT
A great deal can be accomplished in
the field of good public relations without
becoming excitable or calling public
meetings unnecessarily. If we become
panicky over trifles, we will be unable
to act when something truly serious oc-
curs.
There have been charges against anti-
Semitic policemen. Police Commissioner
John Ballenger is not laying down on the
job, and with wise judgment undue
prejudice can be eliminated.
The other day, Tony Weitzel, Detroit
News columnist, stAted in his column:
"Police Commissioner John Ballenger is

THE JEWISH NEWS

V. Joe Campaigner Says:

Victory Is Part of War Chest

Once-a-Year Columnist Makes an. Interesting Evaluation of Our
Present Objectives—Places Emphasis on Imperative Need for
Success of Allied Jewish Campaign

Hello, are you listening? I've just gotten myself another initial. Victory
doesn't just mean the end of fighting and the return of the conquering
heroes. Long after you've won it on the battlefield you've gotta keep on
fighting to make it real and make it stick. That's why the fancy V-sign in
front of my name. Because Victory is part of the business of our War Chest
campaign this year. It's part of the fight for victory to see that the causes
here at home and abroad receive the support their need.
*
*
*
When you examine the list of agencies included in the War Chest you
can almost see the outlines of the pattern for the new world. That shiny
new world is not going to be delivered to us wrapped in cellophane and
tied up with a yard-wide ribbon. We may not have to put any blood into it,
but it'll certainly take gallons of sweat to make our dreams come true. The
agencies lined up in the campaign are the pillars of that new world. So
figure it out for yourself.
*
*
*
Furthermore, as Jimmy Durant,z; would say, it's also a matter of what
your C.P. is. C.P. is civic or communal pride. We had plenty of it during
the war and stuck together for the War Chest and other patriotic causes.
Now that the war is over we have got the C.P. to see this peacetime drive
through and give ourselves • a good start on that fresh new world? Yours
truly thinks we have and what's more, the results will prove it beyond a
glimmer of a doubt.
*
*
*
A famous gentleman once said what I should like to misqtiote as follows:
"I regret that I have but one contribution to give to my campaign." That
ain't necessarily so. Of course, if you're just a contributor, you can give only
once because you're going to be asked only once (somebody may ask you a
-second time if your hand gets stuck in your pocket). That's the idea of
having so many causes and campaigns rolled into one mammoth effort under
the banner of the War Chest. But why be only a contributor? If you ask
me, I'd say, start as a contributor and then switch over to being a worker.
True, you'll give one contribution, but as a volunteer solicitor you'll have a
chance to get many other gifts. Confidentially, after you've turned your
own pocket inside out, it's a barrel of fun to get a lot of other people to
follow suit. So don't wait until you're drafted. Signing up for the drive is
really getting into "selected service" on the highest echelon.
*
*
*
There's another reason why went want to make good in this campaign.
This is the' last War Chest campaign. The Jewish community has been in
this War Chest partnership for the past four years. It's been a happy ex-
perience from every angle. There has been a lot of good team work and I
think that we've built up a good deal of understanding and good will that
are going to come in handy in the years to come. So let's close the books on
this period with a bang-up job and come through the campaign with flying
colors.
*
*
*
Frankly, we just can't do anything but. After all, the Allied Jewish
Campaign is in this drive too and how are we going to do justice to the
agencies of United Jewish Appeal and the other Jewish causes unless we
knuckle down to put the War Chest over? The war is over and Jews no
longer are being burnt to ashes in Nazi crematories. But we have only begun
the tremendous job of clearing away the wreckage, mending the broken
bodies of the survivors in Europe and building a new life for great numbers
of them in Palestine. And Detroit has always been out front where vital
problems of Jewish survival are concerned.
*
*
That's been no accident. We've been at the top of the heap because
we've got good generals. Our chiefs of staff, like Fred Butzel and Henry
Wineman, come from the top shelf of American Jewish leadership. But even
the best generals can't win wars without armies. That's where you and I
come in. Maybe I'll sprain my arm if I overdo this exercise in patting my
own back. But why wait for somebody else to do it? Seriously, though, we
have a swell Jewish community right here in the city of the horseless car-
riage and it's what :we do. in -campaigns like the War Chest that proves it all
over again. Come to think of it, I have a sneaking suspicion that this drive
would be a whopping success, even. if I never wrote this column. Too late, now.

Between
You and Me

Heard in
The Lobbies

By BORIS SMOLAR

By ARNOLD LEVIN

(Copyright, 1945, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, Inc.)

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS
Speculation is rife as to who will be
elected president of the Zionist Organ-
ization of America at the ZOA conven-
tion in • November in Atlantic City.
Everybody agrees that should Dr. Abba
Hillel Silver choose to run for president,
he will meet with no opposition whatso-
ever . He is today the acclaimed leader
of the American Zionists . . . Even his
former opponents are compelled to recog-
nize his authority . . He has definitely
won his point with the World Zionist.
Executive that Zionist political activities
in Washington vis-a-vis CongreSs and• the
Government must not be condu•ed by
the office of the Jewish Agency there,
but by the American Zionist leadership
. . . And it looks as if his followers may
succeed in convincing him that it is in
the best interests of the world Zionist
movement that he become the official
head of the ZOA in these critical times
when America is to play a leading role
in deciding the destiny of Palestine.

looking into complaints that a certain
cop serving traffic warrants shoots off
his mouth . ."
Weitzel knew whereof he spoke, and
this tiny hint helped spur Mr. Ballenger
to a firm stand in the incident which the
Detroit News, columnist very wisely
avoided playing up.
A policeman, serving a 'summons to the
wrong party, passed a remark to two
non-Jewish office girls that "those
damned Jews are all alike." The owner
of the laundry where this took place, his
non-Jewish office workers and the, Police
Commissioner acted promptly. The police-
man was dealt with summarily. He will
never "shoot off his mouth" again. Should
we have called a public meeting instead
to report on it to ALL Jews so that some
should become panicky?.

(Copyright, 1945. Independent Jewish
Press Service, Inc.)

YOU BET!
Non-Jew Ed Sullivan, syndicated
Broadway columnist, notes this: "Lou
Holtz is packing 'em in at La Martinigue,
but for some unexplained reason his
famed character, Sam Lapidus, isn't so
funny any more. Perhaps one cash
customer was right—by now, Sam should
have lost his accent . . ." You bet, it is
high time for Holtz to cut the Jew-
comedian stuff; the same applies to
Harry Hershfield.
*
*
*
WHERE IS THE PRINCESS?
Fritz Wiedemann, Nazi Consul in the
United States and Hitler's henchman
from days gone bye-bye, has been appre-
hended and will be tried as a war crim-
inal , . Has anyone sought to apprehend
•Princess Hohenlohe, Wiedemann's brain-
trust . , We recall when he first came
to America, the Princess, reportedly half-
Jewish and posing as a dress-designer
was with him during a press interview
. , Reporters were puzzled by Wiede-
mann's hesitancy and his blank stare
over their heads, toward the back of the
room They sneaked glances until
they confirmed their suspicions: Capt.
Wiedemann was glaring toward a collab-
orator in the back of the room, who
nodded her head indicating to him ques-
tions he shOuld reply to and questions he
should avoid . . . Princess Hohenlohe is
no beauty, but she has friends in New-
port . It that why she has not been
placed on a war criminal's list?
*
*
*
RISE OF A CHOIR SINGER
Robert Miller, former choir singer at
Ohev Zedek shul and other synagogues,
has arisen to fame in recent years, win-
ning under the name of Meril Miller, the
Metropolitan Auditions of the Air. He
soloed at the Stadium last week.

-

Friday, October 5, 1945

Strictly
Confidential

By PHINEAS J. BIRON

Copyright, 1945, Seven Arts
Features Syndicate, Inc.

ITS SERIOUS
Jews in certain streets of New York's
East Side live in a virtual state of terror
. , Marauders administer beatings to
old and young Jews who happen to be
on the streets after dark . . . During the
Sukkoth holidays, a synagogue on Jef-
ferson St. was vandalized . . . Dr. Dan
W. Dodson, executive director of • the
New York Mayor's Committee on Unity,
made an amazing public statement —
Said Dodson: "The recent Brighton Beach
beatings of Jewish boys were not anti-
Semitic—just conflicts between boys".
Add Beaver College, Jenkintown, ,•Pa.,
to your list of universities who insist that
they are "Christian Colleges who have to
give precedence to students of our own
denomination".

*

*

*

A SAD STORY
The War Department should look into
the case of Lt. Oslick . . . He was recently
sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for
murder . . . The General Court Martial
trial took place in Germany . . . Lt. Oslick
comes from a very good Philadelphia
Jewish family . . . His military record for
his three years service was spotless . .
There are very good reasons to believe
that Oslick was framed by two anti-
Semitic superior officers who swore "to
get that Jew" . . . We looked into the
case and are firmly convinced that Oslick
is innocent and that the testimony—pure-
ly circumstantial—by the chief investi-
gators, one of the two anti-Semitic offi-
cers, is not valid . The War Department
should grant a retrial to Oslick and trans-
fer his case to the United States . .
Court Martial trials on enemy territory
are rarely satisfactory unless the guilt of
the accused is established by eye-wit-
nesses . . . Secretary Patterson—please
reopen the Oslick case.
* •*
*
MISCELLANY .
Abe Burrows the radio gag writer—he
does the Duffy Tavern script—adheres
to one definite editorial policy . . He
refuses at all times to use any anti-
Jewish and anti-Negro jokes.
,
Berenice Fontayne, the beautiful young
singer who made a sensational debut
with the San Carlo Opera Company tWo
weeks ago, is the daughter of 'Isaac E.
Finstein, 'executive director of the Phila-
delphia Branch of the Z.O.A. . .
'• •
Jacob Billikopf reminds us that: some
day a draniatic story will be told about
several Members of the faculty of the
University in Exile .. . He is right be-
cause we know of a number of refugee
scientists of that institution who *did irn-
portant work for our war effort, work
that helped us win the war.
The Jewish Community of Palestine is
fed up . . . Don't be surprised if an im-
portant section of the Jewish Palestinian
leadership proclaims a provisional Jewish
government in Palestine, disregarding
the British Colonial Office and issuing its
own immigration certificates .. . These
leaders feel that a conflict is necessary
to bring the issue to a decision.

Saved From
Deportation

A mother and a young daughter • ar-
rived at .a New England port . recently,
The husband, a citizen of .the United
States,. • was ..there to meet them; But
their reunion . was .short-lived. His wife
and daughter-, who were suffering from
trachorna,• were detained and held • for
deportation. • .
The. Case looked hopeless: But - through
the efforts of the National Refugee SerV-
ice, which receives its funds from •the
United Jewish Appeal for Refugees,
Overseas Needs and Palestine, the Board
of Immigration Appeals granted the •im-
migrants permission to enter the United
States for treatment. After a short period,
Mt. Sinai Hospital and the Public Health
Service . gave them "a clean bill of
health." .
With the cause for their exclusion re-
moved, the Migration Department of the
NRS again became active in their behalf.
The necessary papers were prepared and
forwarded to the proper governmental
authorities asking for permission to .allow
mother and daughter to enter the coun-
try on- permanent visas.. . •
At last the father and his family 'ere
united. -- • . • •
To assure the continuation . ' Of slinilar
humanitarian efforts, join' in•the effort
to make' a success of the War . Chest canr-
paign ::which supports the United- JeWish
Appeal through - the Allied Jewish earn-
1,Daign Of the Jewish Welfare FedcrtIt'sOn.

