THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Two
Strictly
Confidential
By PHINEAS J. BIRON
(Copyright. 1947, Seven Arts Feature Syndicate)
Flash
We have it on the authority of Walter
Winchell that Congressman Rankin—yes,
the same fellow who hollers so much
about un-American activities—permits his
frank to be used by rabble-rouser and
prejudice-monger Gerald Winrod . . .
Here is something that defense agencies
can put their teeth into ... Winrod's anti-
Semitic record has been exposed time
and again, by the Anti-Defamation
League, among others . . . Nobody will
believe that the Honorable Mr. Rankin
doesn't know of the Rev. Mr. Winrod's
bigoted writings and preachings . .. Win-
rod has for years been trying to poison
the minds of the Protestant clergy . . .
If Mr. Rankin is guilty—and we have no
doubt that Walter knows whereof he
speaks—then why not nail his outrageous
collaboration with the anti-Semitic, anti-
democratic Rev. Gerald Winrod?
*
*
Too Bad
The Hapoel soccer team is a sad disap-
pointment from a strictly sports point of
view .. . Its players are of superior cali-
ber, and there is no good reason why the
team should not have won the majority
of its games in this country . . . Yet the
soccer representatives of Jewish Palestine
will wind up their visit with a minus
score . . . What is the trouble? • . . The
sad truth is that instead of keeping them-
selves in physical shape and adhering to
at least a minimum training schedule, the
members of the team refuse to accept
discipline and are primarily concerned
with having a good time while here . . .
Soccer is one of the most strenuous of
sports . . It requires perfect physical
condition . . . So it is most regrettable
that the managers of the tour permit the
team to break all training rules, with the
result that the team has been unable to
show its real class and is losing more
games than it is winning . . . Too bad,
because it would have helped the public
relations aspect of this good will tour
immensely if Hapoel had demonstrated
that Palestinian Jewish athletes are ready
to compete successfully internationally.
•
*
•
Laugh of the Week
Arthur Weyne, of the Department of
Public Information of the National Jew-
ish Welfare Board (who, by the way, is
going to act as guest columnist for us .
when W-etake a week off for a well-
earned rest), writes us: "Second Avenue
is planning to produce its own version
of the Ella Logan show, to be called 'Fin-
kelstein's Rainbow,' and the featured song
will be 'How Are Things in Blatt Ge-
mora' " ... We pass on the idea to Molly
Picon.
•
Senator Crum?
•
•
Rumors reach us that Bartley C. Crum,
the brilliant San Francisco attorney and
author of "Behind the Silken Curtain,"
may enter the political arena and become
a candidate for the U. S. Senate in 1948
.. . If this is true he would enjoy strong
support from the liberal elements . . .
Crum, if you've forgotten, was one. of the
most intimate friends of Wendell Willkie,
and a fearless exponent of Willkie's One
World political concept . • He is an elo-
quent speaker and knows world affairs
.. . He is only forty-six years old and a
member of the Republican party . . . He
was very active in helping FDR draft
the blueprints for the United Nations
charter . .. Bartley Crum could do much
to revitalize and liberalize the GOP.
•
•
•
Bon Voyage
Meyer W. Weisgal is on his way to
Palestine, planning to make arrangements
for his permanent residence in the Jew-
ish homeland . . . If Meyer should decide
to leave these shores for good, the Ameri-
can Jewish community would lose one of
its most dynamic and colorful members
. . His record of achievement is not
only impressive but fantastically versa-
tile .. . It was Meyer who set new stan-
dards as the editor of the New Palestine,
the Zionist publication . . . It was the
same Meyer who produced "The Romance
of a People" and Franz Werfel's "The
Eternal Road" . . . If he had continued
his theatrical interests he would have
wound up as one of Broadway's and Hol-
lywood's biggest—and probably richest—
producers . . But Meyer was never in-
terested in money for himself . . . So in-
stead of that he undertook to promote
the Palestine pavilion at the New York
World's Fair . . . There too he scored an
unprecedented success . . . But Meyer
was first and last a Zionist, and Dr. Weiz-
- mann, a connoisseur of human abilities,
attached him to himself ... And so Meyer
Friday, June 20, 1947
Take That Sign Down
The Battle Against Discrimination
By THE REV. WILLIAM C. KERNAN
Director, Institute for American Democracy
The Miami Beach City Council has adopted a City Ordinance, which become
law on June 7, prohibiting the display of signs by hotels, apartments and other
public places which indicate the practice of religious discrimination by them.
This ordinance has an interesting history. Once there were 67 establishments
in the area which exhibited signs using such phrases as "restricted," "Gentiles," and
"Gentiles only" for advertising their discriminatory practices. Public spirited citi-
zens visited the managers of these places and persuaded 57 of them to remove the
signs. But 10 resolutely refused. The passage of the ordinance thus became neces-
sary.
It has had some very encouraging results. Newspaper publishers have volun-
tarily come forward with the suggestion that their papers ought to adopt the policy
of refusing to accept advertisements which carry discriminatory words and phrases.
Attorneys for other city councils are studying the Miami Beach Ordinance with a
view to the adoption of a similar one by their own cities.
Discriminatory advertising has long been a flagrant offense against public
morality and the principles of Americanism. It is as if you placed a sign on your
house which read, "We believe in dishonesty, theft, and murder )" The only people
who will care to try to make a case against this proposition are those who forget,
or refuse to admit, the crimes against God and man which have been committed
in the name of religious prejudice.
Heard in
The Lobbies
.
Between
You and Me
.
By ARNOLD LEVIN
By BORIS SMOLAR
(Copyright, 1947, Independent Jewish
Press Service. Inc.)
(Copyright. 1947, Jewish Telegraphic
Agency. Inc.)
Jerusalem
Washington Trends
Some wonder whether the release of
Haganah members from Palestine's jails
Jewish Agency representatives in
does not indicate that the Mufti is soon Washington are now very much at home
to launch new disturbances in Palestine.
Department, but there will
It has been the British habit to first stir at the State
be
little
for
them
to do while the UN in-
up the fascists against the Jews, and
then enlist the Jews to fight the very quiry committee is conducting its inves-
evil the British had nurtured into being. tigation . . . It can now be stated with
Back in 1946, when the British raided certainty that the U. S. government will
the Jewish Agency offices in Jerusalem.
there were some British officials who de- not formulate its final policy on Pales-
plored the wholesale action against Ha- tine until after the UN inquiry com-
ganah. Those actions, they complained, mittee submits its report . . . An indica-
alienate the very people who have-given tion to this effect was given by high
us support in times of crisis against Arab
officials of the State Department at a
fascists, in 1938-9 and during the war.
three-day meeting in Washington this
• • •
week with representatives of various im-
Outlet Hate
The Rev. Wendell Zimmerman, the portant organizations . . . The meeting
G. L. K. Smith pal, wants to set up a ra- was held to acquaint leaders of these
dio station in Kansas City, Mo. This will organizations with various aspects of
give you a laugh: Zimmerman's one other U.S. foreign policy ... Among the groups
friend, hateist Harvey Springer., finds the invited to particpate where four central
Girl Scouts of America "Stalin-domin- Jewish bodies .. . The questions with re-
ated," and another super-patriot, Asher gard to Palestine were asked mostly by
thinks that the "Y. W. C. A. may come to representatives of non-Jewish groups as
be known as the Young Women's Com- part of the information they sought on
munist Association." The whole world is the general political picture .. . Some of
out of step, but the bigot circus-ring.
these questions were answered by Loy
•
*
•
Henderson, head of the office of Near
Upton Close
Eastern and African Affairs in the
Upton Close (the you-know-who) has State Department . . . Incidentally.
found an eager distributor in G. L. K. newly-appointed Assistant Secretary of
Smith for his brochure attacking the State Norman Armour, will be in charge,
Anti-Defamation League. The ADL, in among other things, of Near Eastern
Close' opinion, is part of "the world Com- political problems . . . He has never
munist offensive." Ha-ha-ha.
served in the Near East, but he is a long-
Recommendation
time career diplomat, having served as
U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Chile and
To Schoken Books and the ZOA publi- more recently to • Spain.
* •
cations committee: Jacob Shimoni's book.
"The Arabs of Palestine," just published
in Hebrew. should be translated into Communal Affairs
English and published in this country.
The plan of the Council of Jewish
He is a German Jew and Arabic expert Federations to send a delegation of Jew-
on the staff of the Political Department
ish community leaders abroad to study
of the Jewish Agency.
the activities of American Jewish organi-
zations doing overseas work has been ex-
panded . . The Council is now organiz-
ing an Institute on Overseas Studies on a
permanent basis . . . This Institute will
make surveys both in this country and
abroad, of the effectiveness of Jewish
organizations which are supported by
Federations and Welfare Funds . . . It
will not recommend agency budgets, but
will develop factual information bearing
on budgetary needs and campaign goals
. .. The studies planned by the Institute
may also include evaluations of the work
of each organization benefitting from
welfare funds, the quality of service pro-
indeed . . . there is much more to Meyer's vided, and administrative efficiency . . .
biography as a journalist and otherwise, Separate headquarters and a special
staff are now being organized for the
but this will do . . . Good luck, Meyer.
Institute in New York . . . The Institute
•
•
•
became Dr. Weizmann's personal repre-
sentative in this country, and as such
directed the office of the Jewish Agency
in America . . . With the elimination—
only temporary—of Weizmann as world
Zionist leader, Meyer resigned his posi-
tion with the Agency and concentrated
his talents on Weizmann's scientific in-
stitute at Rehovoth . .. He has provided
new and greater resources for this insti-
tute, and now may decide to take over
its administration, with headquarters in
Palestine . . . In between these varied
pursuits Meyer edited a book on Dr.
Weizmann which was, from the literary
point of view, a first-class achievement
will gather its information from all
sources . . . It will also concern itself
Henry Morgenthau Jr., who is playing with activities undertaken by Jewish and
Melange
so gallant a part in the present crisis
confronting the Jewish people, received
his major c,indoctrination with Zionism in
1939, when he read the Palestine chapter
in Pierre van Passen's "Days of Our
Years" . . . Dr. Chaim Weizmann, through
his personal contacts with the then Sec-
retary of the Treasury, completed the job.
Howard Fast, the gifted novelist—who,
incidentally, is studying Yiddish now—
is one of the most widely read American
authors in Europe today . . . Howard
comes from a good Jewish family, but his
parents spoke neither Yiddish nor Hebrew.
California is rallying behind Congress-
man Charles A. Buckley's House Resolu-
non-sectarian voluntary agencies and by
governmental and inter-governmental
agencies giving aid to Jews in Europe and
Palestine . . . Major Jewish agencies,
such as the JDC and the UPA, have
welcomed the establishment of the In-
stitute.
Tall Children
"Statistical investigations in Tel-Aviv
prove that the Jewish school children in
that city are not inferior in stature and
weight to the children of Sweden, who
are' regarded as the tallest in Europe."—
tion No. 2848, outlawing anti-Semitism. J. D. Brutzkus.
Purely
Commentary
By PHILIP
SLOMOVITZ
Constructive Dissension
Governments and important movements
gain strength rather than suffer from op-
position — as long as the minority out
of power is constructive in its criticisms
and does not misrepresent issues.
The Zionist Organization of America,
whose administrations always had op-
posing minorities, faces the possibility
of a more invigorated opposition during
the coming year as a result of the mobili-
zation of a new force, headed by seven
past ZOA presidents, who find fault with
the regime of Dr. Abba Hillel Silver and
Dr. Emanuel Neumann. •
The rift that has arisen in Zionist ranks
undoubtedly is based upon ideological
differences. The appeal of the seven past
presidents (Dr. Solomon Goldman, Ed-
mund I. Kaufmann, Judge Louis E. Le.
vinthal, Louis Lipsky, Judge Morris Roth-
enberg, Dr. Stephen S. Wise and Robert
Szold), however, appears to have very
little backing. The reason for the weak -
ness of the initial attack of the newly- .
created opposition is obvious. Its call-
to American Zionists to elect "unlit..
structed, unbound, uncommitted" dela•
gates to the forthcoming ZOA convert.
tion is based so much on a personality
issue that the strong administration fol.
lowing, which acclaims the "militancy"
of the Silver-Neumann regime, resents
the tone of the telegram of the seven
former presidents.
All conventions, not necessarily those
of the ZOA, have a tendency of being -
"reduced to mass meetings and demon-
strations of assent"—until the oppositions
become strong enough to create issues.
Furthermore, administrations of prac.
tically all movements usually designate ,
their successors—unless there are re-
volts against the administrations ist
power.
Thus, while oppositions should be en-.
couraged, the seven ZOA past presidents
have failed to make their appeal ideologi-
cally strong enough to gather support.
They have the responsibility of present-
ing a better case at the convention than -
they did in their telegram.
It is certain at this point that there .
will be no opposition to the candidacy,
of Dr. Neumann. The dissenting forces
will find it difficult to find a candidate,
but they may find enough ground for
their demand for free discussion on all
issues to formulate a working minority .
that will serve as a stimulating opposi-
tion. A strong movement not only can
-
--
stand criticism, but should welcome
• • •
A Top American 'Secret'
it
A "top secret" has come to light.
The current issue of United Nations
World, semi-official publication of the
UN, carries an article by Ladislaus Farago
revealing that the late President Roose-
velt had appointed a commission on im-
migration to study a plan for mass set•
tlement of an estimated 20,000,000 per-
sons residing in overcrowded countries
The report of this commission, whose
work was launched in 1942 and was
nanced at a cost of $180,000 from Presi-
dent Roosevelt's untouched "Executive
Emergency Fund" during its two years
of research, indicated that 5,000,000--.
1,000,000 families—of the 20,000,000 need•
ing new homes required immediate help.
The Palestine Negev was included
among the 10 areas under study, the other
nine countries being the United State:ft,
Alaska, Argentina. Brazil, Boliva,
Venezuela, northern 'Australia, Canada
and Manchuria.
Among the interesting revelations is
this report, action on which might have
been taken were it not for the death of
President Roosevelt, is that the Negev,
contrary to British and Arab assertions,
is able to absorb large numbers of ,
refugees. -
The report asserts that some countries,
like the Dominican Republic, are unable
to absorb refugees although they have
indicated a willigness to do so, but that
the 10 areas upon which the study was
based - could have absorbed millions of
settlers. The plan was to set up an In-
ternational Security Authority, whose
initial cost would have been $25,000,000.
The set-up of this "secret" commission
would have given it significant status..
Headed by Isaiah Bowman, president of
Johns Hopkins University and a world
famous geographer, the committee in-
cluded John Franklin Carter, diplomat
and publicist, Dr. Henry Field, archaeolo-
gist and anthropologist, and Dr. Robert
Strauez-Hupe of the University of Penn-
sylvania.
This "top secret" is cause for deep re-
gret that one of the great efforts to solve
the problem of the homelessness and dis-
possessed met an untimely death with
the passing of FDR.