Jews, Like Their Neighbors, Heatedly Debate
Major Issues Facing Both Political Parties

Jewish ranks are as divided in who would assume control if the
their political preferences as GOP wins in the November
their non-Jewish fellow-citizens, election.
Julius C. Pliskow, Detroit
it is daily becoming evident.
Prominent Jewish leaders are attorney, who was a member
found in the Eisenhower as well of the Michigan delegation to
as the Stevenson ranks. Jewish the Republican National Con-
organizations are avoiding com- vention in Chicago, taking ex-
mitments to either candidate, ception to Mr. Friedman's an-
alysis, charges bias in singling
with one exception:

I Mobilize Service Group for Cashing
in Allied Jewish Campaign
Pld2,-es
e

regulations. He failed to remind
your readers -of all the other
senators and congressmen from
the south whose seniority en-
titles them to chairmanship of
almost ever, important commit-
tee if the Democrats prevail in
the Nov. 4th election. How ironic
to hear a prominent Democrat
candidate campaigning here in
Detroit refer to them as fine
progressive gentlemen in all re-
spects except civil rights.
"To my mind actions speak
louder than words. The con-
gressional record shows that the
only vote on F.E.P.C. that ever
carried in the lower house was
on H.R. 4453 when Republicans
voted 124 to 42 in favor and
Democrats voted 116 for and 134
against it.
"Mr. Friedman's article was
political propaganda of the
worst kind and I am sure that
many of your readers recognized
it and resented it as such."

Spearheading the participation of the services division of the
Detroit Service Group in the Cash Mobilization Drive are (left to
right) MAURICE A. KLEIN, chairman of the mobilization drive for
the services division, HARRY SCHUMER, year-round division
chairman, and HAROLD MIKES, overall chairman of the drive
for the Service Group.

out Republicans, in failing to
The Labor Zionist Organiza-
mention the liberal Republi-
tion of America has officially
can leaders and in mentioning
endorsed the candidacies of
Gov. Adlai E. Stevenson for
only briefly the Democrat Mc-
President and Sen. John J.
Carran who championed the
Sparkman. for Vice - President
discriminatory McCarran im-
of the United States, it was
migration bill.
announced in New York by
Mr. Pliskow's letter to the edi-
Rabbi James G. Heller, presi- tor of The Jewish News follows
dent of the organization. At in its entirety:
the same time, Rabbi Heller
"After reading the syndicated
made it clear that the LZOA dispatch in the current issue of
is not endorsing the Demo- your paper under the by-line of
cratic Party. "This," he said, Milton Friedman, I must protest
"it is neither our policy nor the direct insinuation that Re-
publican Congressmen and Sen-
our program to do."
Dr. Heller expressed satis- ators are hate-mongers and dis-
faction that in the current criminators.
"For each of the individuals `No Such Thing As
presidential campaign an af-
firmative policy towards the named by Friedman, there are
State of Israel is included in outstanding Republicans who A Covenant' — Moody
the platform's of both major I are liberals such as Senator Ives
A bitter political controversy,
of New York, Senator Morse of which eminated in Negro news-
parties.
A number of Detroiters have ; Oregon, Senator Duff of Penn- papers throughout the land, re-

come to the defense of the Re-
publican party after the publi-
caiton in last week's Jewish
News of the syndicated article
by Milton Friedman, the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency's Washing-
ton and White House correspon-
dent, who listed the Republicans

sylvania, Senator Lodge of Mas- •
sachusetts, Senator Flanders of
.Ve r m 'ant and Representative '
Gerald Ford of Grand Rapids.
"The dispatch briefly men-
! toned only one Democrat—Sen-
ator McCarran who sponsored
the discriminatory immigration

Purely Commentary

By PH ILI P SLOMOV I TZ

Mark Twain and 'The Levins': Humorist's View on Jews

In a single paragraph, in his posthumously published "Sam
Clemens of Hannibal," Dixon Wecter sought to sum up Mark
Twain's attitude towards Jews. This paragraph, in the Houghton
Miflin published book, states:

"At Dawson's school young Sam also encountered 'the first
Jews I had ever seen. It took me a good while to get over the
awe of it. To my fancy they were clothed invisibly in the damp
and cobwebby mold of antiquity,' recalling the Old Testament,
Egypt, and the Pharaohs. These boys were named Levin, and by
a jest that never lost its charm nicknamed 'Twenty-two': `Twice
Levin—twenty-two.' Despite the frequent jibes at Jews, their
alleged commercial tricks and rapacity, which appear so often
in Hannibal newspapers in the latter 1840's, Sam Clemens never
seems to have been indoctrinated with this prejudice. He who
once shrewdly observed that Jews are human beings--and worse
than that he could not say of them—throughout his days- re-
garded them and their ancient culture with sympathy and un-
disguised admiration. This avoidance of the cheap and ignorant
sneer may have been one of the lessons he unconsciously learned
in the democracy of Dawson's schoolroom."

The schoolmaster and school referred to, described as:
"The school par excellence of Sam Clemens' youth, immortalized
in the pages of Tom Sawyer, was that kept by J. D. Dawson, a
veteran of 14 years' pedagogy, as

he announced himself, in offer-
ing instruction for young ladies
and a few boys "of good morals,
and of ages under 12 years'."
Mr. Wecter's brief reference to
Mark Twain's views on the Jews
is highly interesting, especially
when we take into consideration
the fact that this book deals
with Clemens of Hannibal and
not with the great humorist's
later years, A forthcoming vol-
ume undoubtedly will take into
view his daughter Clara's mar-
riage to Ossip Gabrilowitsch, the
Clemens' meetings with Jews
other than the Levins and the
famous Clemens essay "C o n -
cerning • the Jews" in Harper's
(1898).
Mr. Wecter's book has many
qUalities to commend it. It
Mark Twain
catches the spirit of the humorist's eye twinkles and mischievous
tricks of his youth. It ably translates into factualities the view-
point of William Dean Howells that Mark Twain "was a youth
to the end of his days." It portrays a very human fellow.
Although he lived in a. section of the land where "hatred of
the abolitionists . . . agitated for lynch law," there is a lesson in
"Sam Clemens of Hannibal" for those who today are disturbed
over FEPC propaganda. Referring to the ownership of slaves by
Twain's grandparents, Mr. Wecter writes:

"The spirit of humanity, as well as the uneasy conscience
in respect to that 'peculiar institution,' were to reappear in
Mark, who long after the Civil War paid the way of a Negro
student through Yale College, as his part of 'the reparation
due to every back man by every white man'."

Nudity and sex, politics and religion, a diversity of subjects
relating to Mark Twain's writings and activities are most interes-
ingly told in this fine book. The author's widow, Elizabeth Wecter,
in a preface to the book, explains that Wecter was appointed
editor of The Mark Twain Estate in 1946, having been preceded
by Albert Bigelow Paine and Bernard DeVoto. He died in 1950,
after the first draft of his biography of Sam Clemens was com-
pleted: It is fortunate that so able a man had a hand in creating
this fine work which will be cherished by all who read it.

cently accused Sen. Richard
Nixon, Republican Vice-Presi-
dential candidate, of owning a
home in Washington, D. C.,
which was subject to restrictive
covenants barring Negroes and
Semitic- peoples.
While the charge was never
answered by Sen. Nixon, a state-
ment was forthcoming from
Michigan's Democratic Senator
Blair Moody, who similarly wa!,
accused of owning a home in
Washington, which would bar
Negroes and Jews.
The Senator's statement reads,
"Everybody knows that the
United States Supreme Court-
happily—has ruled that no re-
strictive covenant has any force
in law. Nearly everybody knows
that thousands of Detroit area
Jews, including some of the most
prominent citizens in Michigan,
live in homes with restrictive
covenants buried in their deeds,
a meaningless relic of the past.
All such covenants were out-
lawed by the Supreme Court, in
a decision which I publicly ap-
plauded long before I bought - my
house in Washington." .
Sen. Moody purchased his
home in 1951 from The Detroit
News, for which he was formerly
Washington columnist. In the
same subdivision, having the
same sort of deeds, are other
members of Congress, both Dem-
ocrats and Republicans.
In the same statement, Sen.
Moody called attention to his
opposition to the McCarran Bill
and "other measures which
would produce second-class citi-
zenship," and pledged a contin-
ued fight against the bill in Jan-
uary.

*
*
*
Getting into high gear in the fort as the Allied Jewish Cam-
Cash Mobilization Drive, the paign itself," by Mahler, the
trade and professional divisions Cash Mobilization Drive is De-
of the Detroit Service Group troit's effort to bring in immedi-
have scheduled a report meeting ate payments on 1952 pledges, w
for drive workers at 12:30 p.m., that funds can be put to work
today, at the Fred M. Butzel for the causes supported by the
Memorial Building, according to campaign.
Milton K. Mahler, president of "Everyone with an outstanding
the service group.
balance will be called on by one
Harold Kukes, chairman of the of our workers," Kukes said "We
drive, announced that each Divi- hope that the response will be
sion had selected a special chair- as generous as the pledges were
man to handle the cash mobiliz- to the Campaign. We are asking
ation effort in its group. Chair- immediate payments now only
men are Samuel H. Schwartz, because the urgency of the situ-
mercantile; Maurice A. Klein, ation facing our beneficiaries,
services; Nathan Kolb and Jack- especially Israel, demands this
0. Lefton, mechanical trades; effort."
Mandell L. Berman and Daniel Workers are aiming for $1,000,-
A, Laven, real estate and build- 000, so this community can make
ing; Torn Borman and Louis J. that payment to the United Jew-
Cohen, associate, food; and Dr. ish Appeal, when UJA holds its
Perry Goldman, professional. national conference in Washing-
Termed "as important an of ton this week.

Between You and Me

By BORIS SMOLAR

(Copyright, 1052, Jewish Telegraphic Agency,

ism.)

Report on Europe

The American Government has played no small role in quietly
forcing the Austrian Government to enter into reparations talks
with Jewish organizations . . On my flying visit to Austria and
Germany I learned a good deal about the close watch American
representatives in these countries keep on the Jewish situation .
Their behind-the-scenes action deserves the highest praise of
American Jewry . . . Here and there one finds an American official
in these countries who is not so friendly to Jews, but they are the
• rare exceptions . . . One of these exceptions is the American
Consul in Vienna who has acquired a reputation for going out of
his way to make unnecessary difficulties for Jewish applicants for
! American immigration visas ... No such complaints are heard
about the American Consul in Salzburg, who is very well liked and
.highly respected .. . American military authorities in Austria
openly disapprove of the policy _adopted by the U. S. Consul in
Vienna on the granting of visas to Jews . . However, under State
Department regulations, the Consul is actually a czar on such
matters . . . It is, therefore, very unlikely that many Jews in
Vienna will receive immigration visas to the United States, al-
' though quite a substantial number of them are entitled to such
visas . . . Especially among those who for many years were in-
terned as refugees in Shanghai and are now back in Austria . .
1 Mission to Austria
Jewish leaders in Austria were surprised to see how easily
—staying only two days in Vienna—I obtained interviews with
Austrian Chancellor Dr. Leopold Figl, Vice-Chancellor Dr. Adolf
Schaerf, and Foreign Minister Dr. Karl Gruber . . . The top mem-
bers of the Austrian Cabinet were as much interested in seeing me
as I was in seeing them . . The subject I discussed with them
was whether they sincerely intend to pay reparations to Jews for
Jewish property in Austria looted by the Nazis . . From the
talks I had with them, it became clear that although there is no
Anti-Semitic Group Puts
unanimity among the Cabinet members on this subject, there
MacArthur on Wash. Ballot
can be no doubt that a settlement will be reached with the Jewish
SEATTLE, (JTA) — The anti- groups . . . It will not involve as huge a sum as the German
S e m i t i c Christian Nationalist reparations to Israel and the Jewish groups, but it will nevertheless
Party has entered the name of run to millions of dollars .. . The Austrian government is anxious
Gen. Douglas MacArthur as its that the reparations agreed upon should be paid not to Jewish
candidate for the presidency groups abroad, but to the Jewish communities within Austria...
and Gen. MacArthur's name will Its argument is that a substantial part of the Jewish population
appear on the State of Washing- in Austria is poor and sick and in need of communal support.
ton ballot alongside the party's Trends in Germany
emblem.
Talks I had with Jewish leaders in Germany established that
The general's name has been there will be no more emigration of Jews from Germany .
The
placed on the ballot in 20 states, approximately 20,000 Jews now living there are there to stay .. .
according to newspaper reports About a third of them reside in Berlin, which is still in ruins . .
here which quoted local Republi- It will take at least 25 years to rebuild the devastated houses in
can leaders as expressing con- Berlin, and even then the city will never look the same as in pre-
cern that MacArthur's candidacy Nazis days . . . But the Jewish population of Berlin is graduallly
will hurt Gen. Dwight Eisen- beginning to adjust itself economically, although there are still
many Jews dependent on the support which they receive from the
hower's chances in this state.
(Gen. MacArthur has failed to local Jewish community . .. Many Jews are again in business in
reply to telegraphic request Berlin and other cities in Germany and quite a number of Jewish
from the Jewish Telegraphic doctors and lawyers are practicing again ... There is a good deal
Agency for a statement of his of intermarriage in Germany between Polish Jews and German
position on the anti-Semitic girls, with the children being brought up in a Jewish spirit .
propaganda conducted by the One of the most remarkable things one learns in Berlin is that
Christian Nationalists to ad- there are in the city about 2,000 Jews who were hidden by Germans
vance his campaign. The Chris- during all the years of the Nazi regime . . Also that there are
tian Nationalist Party is led by 1,500 Jews in the city whom their "Aryan" wives refused to divorce
despite Nazi pressure • . . These Jews were sent to labor camps, but
Gerald L. K. Smith.)
their German wives stood by them throughout and even sent food
New JDC Casablanca School
packages to the camps from the meager food rations which they
The Joint Distribution Com- received during the war ... The families were, of course, reunited
mittee announced the opening after the fall of the Nazi regime, and both the men and women
of a new school for Jewish chil- are very religious . . . I saw plenty of blond "Aryan" women in
dren in Casablanca, French Berlin synagogues on the Jewish High Holidays, following the
Morocco, hailing it as the "be- prayers quietly from prayer books with German texts.
ginning of a new battle against
Friday, October 17, 1952
2 — THE JEWISH NEWS
ignorance and disease."

.

