As the Editor
Views the News ...
His Accompanying Spirit
McGill's Thrilling Story
Of Redemption of Israel
Israel Eases Economy
Israel has adopted a new program to
ease her economy. Agricultural production
is to be expanded, new efforts will be made
to increase exports and to lift the 1:,*n on
capital imports in the form of merchandise.
A popular loan, backed by gold, will be float-
ed and a specially-created association of mu-
nicipalities will promote a national lottery.
The statement of policy to be inaugurated
to support the new economic program also
calls for the encouragement of tourism by
establishing tourist shops where goods, in-
cluding rationed merchandise, will be sold
to visitors.
Another concession made by the govern-
ment of free enterprise is the sale of urban
land to private buyers for building pro-
grams. The statement, emanating from the
Premier's office, states : "The government
does not promise an easy salvation. The
state's needs emanate from defense needs,
in gathering of the exiles and conquering the
desert—programs unparalleled by any other
country. Those difficulties cannot be re-
moved easily or soon. We also want to com-
bat soon the lack of foreign currency."
This brief statement succinctly indicates
the problems faced by the young state. The
large-scale immigration, the need for ex-
panding Israel's economy to embrace desert-
land like the Negev, the need of supplying
employment for hundreds of thousands of
newcomers — these and numerous other
problems have combined to create difficul-
ties for the Jewish state.
The new economic policies and the con-
cessions envisaged by them indicate that the
young government knows its needs and is
willing to go along with foreign as well as
domestic investors. Immigrants as well as
investors will be permitted to bring in goods
under government control and organizations
like Hadassah will be permitted to bring
equipment necessary, for their institutions.
The new statement of policy is a sound
one. It should inspire new confidence in Is-
rael and should result in increased support
from American Jewry.
Crusade for Freedom
Americans are now engaged in an inter-
esting effort to mobilize all democratic forces
against world tyranny and communism and
to strengthen the hands of the fighters for
justice everywhere. Synagogues and church-
es are assisting in the Crusade for Freedom,
and the Declaration of Freedom is being
signed by millions of Americans to assure a
"spiritual airlift"—as Gen. Lucius D. Clay,
national chairman of the Freedom Crusade,
described itfor all mankind.
The Freedom Declaration pledge, which
emphasizes the sanctity of the campaign,
reads:
"I believe in the sacredness and dignity of
the individual.
"I believe that all men derive the right to
freedom equally from God.
tel pledge to resist aggression and tyranny
wherever they appear on earth.
"I am proud to enlist in the crusade for
f reedom. I am proud to help make the free-
dom bell possible, to be a signer of this
declaration of freedom, to have my name in-
chided as a permanent part of the freedom
shrine in Berlin, and to join with the millions
of men and women throughout the world who
hold the cause of freedom sacred."
Tragic Pro-Nazi News
Some rather tragic pro-Nazis news continues to reach
us from European capitals.
A JTA report from Vienna states that Hitler's "Mein
Kampf" and books by other Nazi chieftains now are avail-
able in public libraries in Austria.
The World Jewish Congress reports that the Hamburg
Jewish community is disturbed over the use of the Jewish
cemetery in Altona as a refuse dump. Children are damag-
ing the trees and shrubbery and the Jewish community has
been forced to appeal to the population at large to treat the
cemetery "like any other cemetery."
Another report from Hamburg is to the effect that a
wreath, with the inscription "In memory of the Waffen SS,"
has been placed on the memorial of the Unknown Soldier
and that nothing can be done about it because "Waffen SS
does not belong to the criminal organizations." But it is an
SS group nevertheless!
In Washington, a demand has been received from Gen.
Hasso von Manteuffel to grant legal pensions to Nazi war
veterans. His views are _echoed by Gen. Heinz Guderian, who
is on the way to this country, in a letter to Zueddeutsche
Zeitung—the newspaper which last year had the audacity
to ask the queStion "why not gas all Jews ?"
On many fronts, apparently, the Nazi idea continues to
thrive and is being revived in the very areas which are sup-
posedly under Allied control. U. S. authorities could have
nipped these plots in the bud and could have prevented the
poison from spreading. Don't they realize that the Nazi
ideas, in the long run, help create disunion and play into
the hands of the Soviets who are anxious for divide-and-
rule policies in order to gain control in Europe ? Stronger
anti-Nazi policies are necessary in order to prevent the rise
of a new wave of totalitarianism.
Support the Community Chest
The annual Community Chest drive opens next week
and awaits the support of the entire community in behalf of
the humanitarian causes included in its budget.
Several important Jewish agencies are included in the
campaign. Our Jewish Community Center, Fresh Air Society,
Jewish Social Service Bureau and North End Clinic are
among the groups that depend for their sustenence upon al-
locations from the Community Chest. The Red Feather
agencies that appeal to us for support during the current
drive represent a cross-section of our community and include
Ats emphasis on the dignity of man gives the agencies of all faiths.
the Freedom Declaration important status
in the present crucial period in world his-
A strong Community Chest assures greater cooperation
tory. The enthusiastic response this drive is among all religious groups who are brought together for hu-
receiving offers encouragement that the bat- mane causes through the central organization that super-
tle against tyranny will be carried to a suc- vises all of Detroit's social service activities. It is urgent that
cessful conclusion.
the Community Chest should be given the entire community's
wholehearted support.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Member: American Association of English-Jewish News-
ImPers Michigan Press Association.
Published every Friday by the Jewish News Publishing
Co. 708-10 David Stott Bldg. Detroit 26, Mich., WO, 6-1165
Subscription $3 a vear: foreign $4.
Entered as secono class matter Aug. 6, 1942 at Post Office,
Detroit ,klich. under Oct of March 3. 1879.
A Christian Enchanted
Egyptian Joke: World Fo(a ► rce
An AP report from Lake Success last week stated that
Egypt was "reported to have offered to contribute an army
PHILIP 3LOMOVIT2. Editor
of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 men as part of a permanent inter-
SIDNEY SHMARAK Advertiaine Manager
national force if the United States and other United Nations
XVIII--No. 5
• Page 4
October 13, 1950 members will supply the arms and equipment." Those who
remember the exodus of Egypt from Israel and who cur-
Sabbath Scriptural Selections
This Sabbath; the third day of Heshvan, rently are reading about army scandals in the brave land on
5712, the following Scriptural selections will be the Nile must have decided, in this instance, to spell the
force referred to with an a. In this report, stupidity is as
read in our synagoljues:
transparent as humor. Egypt has a condition: • she wants
Pentateuchal portion—Gen. 6:9-11:32.
arms and equipment. After all, much of her gold must be
Prophetical portion—Is. 54:1-55:5.
used for her playboy king's amours.
•
In 1946-'47, in the trying years when Jews
in Palestine were struggling for existence and
were fighting against two enemies—the Arabs
who were determined to destroy them and the
British who had broken all pledges to facilitate
the establishment of the Jewish National Home
—American Jews were intrigued by the passion-
ate appeals in support of the Zionist cause by
a non-Jewish newspaperman, Ralph Emerson
McGill. Now, returning to the scene of his first
impressions, this South-
erner, editor of the At-
lanta, Constitution, has
written a powerful book,
"Israel Revisited" (pub-
lished by Tupper and
Love, Inc., 1090 Capitol
Ave., S. E., Atlanta, Ga.)
which reiterates his ear-
lier impressionsancL
pays great tribute to
the builders of the Jew-
ish state.
Those who first read
the articles of this
Christian scholar three
years ago were deeply Ralph E. McGill
moved by his knowledge of the Bible, his sense
of justice, his keen power of observation in the
displaced persons camps, in Dauchau, as well as
in Palestine. His fascination for Scriptures and
his acquaintance with ancient Jewish history
again is emphasized in his book. It is history
combined with adventure and the combination
is a great human document.
"Israel Revisited" assumes particular import-
ance because it is written as a comparison be-
tween the years 1946 and 1950—and the author
is not disappointed with the results attained so
miraculously by little Israel in the brief span
between his two trips. He learned about Israel's
triumphs, Arab intransigence and pro-Nazism, the
serious internal difficulties encountered by the
Jewish pioneers and their determined will to
make the great experiments work. Having been
witness to the "tears and agonies of the millions
who suffered and died under Hitler," Mr. McGill
heard in Israel 'the voices of the old prophets."
Mr. McGill tells of his visits in the Galilean
Hills, on Mount Tabor, on Gilboa; how he re-
traced the steps of Jewish history—where history
is being made anew.
In his preface to Mr. McGill's book, Billy Rose,
who also visited in Israel, tells of the reports on
Israel he sent to his "old boss," Bernard M. Ba-
ruch. He writes in laudatory terms of Mr. Mc-
Gill's "Israel Revisited" and declares: "Here, at
last, is a meticulous and meaningful answer to
the often-asked question, 'What's Israel really
like?' "
Elimination of Morgenthau from
Presidential Succession, Other
Intimate Stories in Allen Book
Suppose the ship carrying President Truman
and Secretary of State Byrnes to the Big Four
Potsdam Conference, in 1945, had been sunk?
There was no Vice-President at the time and
Henry Morgenthau Jr., then Secretary of the
Treasury, would have become President of the
United States, as the senior living Cabinet mem-
ber.
By that time, Morgenthau knew he would
not be renamed Secretary of the Treasury. Fred
M. Vinson, then Economic Stabilizer, already was
chosen to succeed him.
According to George E. Allen, former chair-
man of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation,
in his interesting story of Washington in the
days of Roosevelt and the early days of the Tru-
man a dministr ation—"Presidents Who Have
Known Me" (published this week by Simon and
Schuster, 1230 .6th Ave., New York 20)—the
President at first intended to take Vinson with
him to the Potsdam Conference. But the possi-
bility of Morgenthau becoming President in the
event of a catastrophe became evident—
"So Vinson's bags were quietly retrieved and
he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury be-
fore Truman and Byrnes departed. Thus, Vin-
son would have succeeded to the Presidency in
case of fatal accident to both the President and
the Secretary of State. Later, of course, Truman
encouraged Congress to change the succession
law in such a way that the Speaker of the
House would become President if both the Presi-
dent and the Vice-President died or were in-
capacitated."
Allen's book is packed with humor. Much of
the fun is at his own expense, but he is the
same good sport he was throughout his career
as an advisor to the Presidents and as an aide
in numerous crises that affected our land.
Historians will find Mr. Allen's story of tre-
mendous value, but they will be especially
intrigued by his intimate account of the manner
in which Henry Wallace was eliminated from
the Vice-Presidency, thus paving the road for
Harry Truman to succeed President Roosevelt
whose close associates knew that he could not
survive his fourth term in office.
Allen has been referred to as the White
House Jester. It is a point proven in his "Presi-
dents Who Have Known Me," but not without
the additional evidence that he also was a sin-
cere public servant who was always ready to
serve his country and our Presidents.