Harry Golden's Description of Peddler: 'Forgotten Pioneer' Rated His Best Book
Harry Golden has made a fine
contribution to American folk-
lore with his "Forgotten Pio-
neer," published by World. It
emerges as his best book.
Much has been written about
the peddler in recent years.
There are many accounts of the
earliest American peddlers, the
"Connecticut Yankees" and oth-
ers, and recently a number of
essays were..
published , b y
Amer i can
Jewish Ar-
chives to de-
scribe the -role
the Jewish
peddler has
played in
American
life. -
Golden'
"Forgo tten
Pioneer" per-
sonalizes the
story and gives
it a very hu-
man touch. It
is especially Harry Golden
valuable at this time because it
shows what friendly relations
were established between the
Jewish peddlers and the whites
as well as the colored people
in the South.
Showing how the Connecticut
Yankee left the arduous ped-
dling to foreigners, Golden thus
turns to the Jewish peddler:
"Maybe because so many of
the peddlers in the last hun-
dred years have been Jews is
the reason no one pays much
attention to their role. The
Jewish novelists, writers and
historians who wrote about
America were understandably
anxious to identify with the
majority. Instinctively the im-
migrant grasped at the pre-
vailing and popular values. To
an immigrant a prize fighter
gets more respect than a ped-
dler. So these novelists, essay-
ists and historians looked for
prize fighters to glorify instead
of peddlers. It is true that for
every Jewish prize fighter
there were at least one thou-
sand Jewish peddlers, but this
was a. statistic that did not con-
cern them."
This, Golden adds, was a
unique habit of all writers, not
Jcws alone.
Many famous names figure in
the peddler story—the Guggen-
heims, the Altmans, the Gim-
bels, the Fields. It was the
easiest way for immigrants to
get started in this country.
Many had other aspirations.
Some became famous in the
mercantile business, others
turned to professions. Their
wares, but especially their
friendly a n d congenial ap-
proaches to their customers,
gained for them open doors,
especially in the South.
Golden describes the story
of the peddler as "part of the
history of the American
frontiersman, as he pushed re-
lentlessly across the continent.
. . . It is a story that belongs
in the history of the American
mercantile and industrial com-
plex." Yet, Golden shows, it is
an old story, Jews having
peddled their wares abroad in
Roman times and in other eras.
The peddler's business deal-
ings with the Negroes has a
special interest. Golden states
that he was "the man who con-
ferred dignity upon the recent-
ly freed Negro slave by selling
his wife a wedding band."
"The Negro's first purchases
as a free man were from the
peddlers, who by now were
mostly German Jews," he states.
"The Negro wanted a hat, a
head covering of any kind, and
his wife wanted a gold wedding
band. The peddler sold her the
wedding band on credit and put
her name in a little ledger book.
When he made his rounds to
sell and collect, she always ask-
ed him to let her see her name
in the book. She wanted to see
her name on a page of accounts,
evidence of human dignity, evi-
dence that she was paying her
way."
"In Florida and in the set-
tlements of the Southwest
where the peddlers dealt with
Spanish-speaking pioneers, the
word for the peddler was "se-
manalchik' from the Spanish
word for 'weekly payments.'
The peddlers (the Germans and
Scandinavians probably learned
it from their Jewish colleagues)
referred to themselves as `klap-
pers' (knockers), because their
work took them from house to
house or door to door, and after
the 1890s they were beginning
to offer everything under the
sun on weekly payments."
Soon, when the peddlers
opened stores, their establish-
ments became known as "Jew
stores," terms "never intended"
as an insult." Similarly, ref-
erences to "schwartzes," "the
Blacks," "was not a sign of dis-
respect." The Jewish peddler
was especially well treated
and welcomed because of his
religion and the interest that
was shown by many in the
people of the Bible: Many
peddlers were given lodgings
in many homes and were well
treated.
Golden's story is supplement-
ed by three accounts of ped-
dler's activities—two fictitious,
although the experiences de-
scribed are real, and one genu-
ine, the latter being the story
of Levi Strauss, the man who
made Levis and perpetuated his
name through the pants and
overall tradition he established.
A knowledgeable account is
given by Golden of the activi-
ties of the "customer peddler"
who expanded the peddling
business into a vaster business
enterprise.
Golden told a marvelous
story, the appropriate full-page
illustrations by Leonard Vos-
burgh add to the merits of the
book. "Forgotten Pioneer" en-
riches American historical rec-
ords.
MRS. LAURA NUSBAUM
MR. AND MRS. JOS FETTER
MR. AND MRS. IRVING NUSBAUM
of the
NEW YORK CARPET COMPANY
Wish Their Many Friends and Customers
A Very Happy and Healthy New Year.
1 0■0
•1•11 . 0■11 .1 .0411■01 M•11 .1■ 41•111.1.11.41.10111.0 ■ 041itt
0111
1/.0ita ■ MO
The Management
and Staff of the
Cranbrook House Motel
wish the entire Jewish community
of Detroit and its suburbs
A Happy and Healthy New Year.
20500 James Couzens
The Jewish peddler insisted
observing kashrut, and he
always planned his trips to be
back home on the Sabbath.
on
Golden states: "The_Cherokee
called the peddler (phonetically
at least), jew - wedge - du - gish,
literally, the 'egg - eater.' The
Jewish peddler often found it
necessary to refuse food offered
him in all kindliness because it
had not been prepared in ac-
cordance with kosher dietary
laws. Wherever he went he ask-
ed for eggs in barter. He car-
ried hard-boiled eggs in his
pockets and existed on a diet
of eggs and vegetables when
away from home or his base of
supplies. Many of the Jewish
peddlers arranged their routes
to bring them home Thursday
nights, insuring that unsched-
uled delay did not keep them
on the road until too late to
make proper preparation for
the Sabbath.
Euthanasia Doctor
Guarded Heavily
After Escape Try
FRANKURT, (JTA) — Dr.
Werner Heyde, awaiting trial on
charges of participating in the
"euthanasia" killings of thou-
sands of persons during the Nazi
era, has been transferred to a
new jail, after a plot to free him
was uncovered, Hesse provincial
officials disclosed.
Heyde was moved from the jail
in which he had been held since
his arrest to one with greater
security measures. The Hesse
prosecutor's office issued a state- Syria, Iraq Firm
ment declaring that documents
had been uncovered pointing to Ties for Battle
an escape plot.
Another defendant in the case,
Gerhard Bohne, 61, fled from his Against Israel
Dusseldorf home last month. He
LONDON, (JTA) — Syria an-
had been freed from pre-trial nounced jointly with Iraq this
detention for reasons of health. week plans for a "battle of des-
tiny" against Israel. The plan
was listed as one for the objec-
tives a tightening of economic
and military ties between the
two countries.
(In Washington, the United
States announced a new long-
term dollar credit of $6,856,000
to Iraq for purchase of wheat,
The
tobacco and poultry.)
Exciting
The agreement followed an
"New
eight-day visit to Syria by Iraqi
President Abdel Salam Aref.
Taste"
The announcement said the
in
"battle of destiny" would be car-
Foods
ried out through a joint arms
TRY IT!
commission to advance the "mili-
tary and defensive cooperation"
of the two countries.
Delivered to Your
Home—or Ask for It
There are many who eat and
by Name at Your
dwell together, yet they stab
each other wits, the swords of
Neighborhood Store
their tongues. • The Talmud.
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THE WORK OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE PEACE; AND THE EFFECT
OF RIGHTEOUSNESS QUIETNESS AND ASSURANCE FOREVER.
Isaiah 32:17
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