PURELY COMMENTARY
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
The Jewish Press Its Extraordinary Evolution
In the rich history of American
journalism, an unavoidable chapter
must always be devoted to the Jewish
press.
Every element that is fused into
the American entity — religious, social,
national, secular — at one time or an-
other had a newspaper or magazine
organ to serve it. Very few possessed
the strength to survive. The Jewish
press retains its virility, with its legacy
as a heritage from and for the ages. Is
it being boastful to state that the
Jewish newspaper claims origin from
Isiah?
In the 52nd chapter of Isiah we
read:
How beautiful upon the moun-
tains are the feet of the messenger
of good tidings, that announceth
peace, the harbinger of good tid-
ings.
The current and immediate inter-
est in the importance of the Jewish
press is aroused by the 90th anniver-
sary of the Jewish Forward. It is no
longer what it was for its first 85 years
— the Jewish Daily Forward. It no
longer enjoys the very large circulation
as the dominant Yiddish newspaper in
the world. In its present form as a
bilingual — Yiddish and English —
weekly, it is a reminder of the many
decades during which it exerted influ-
ence in the country at large as well as
the Jewish community.
For most of its existence, the For-
ward was the most powerful socialist
organ in this country. Its front page
carried the banner "Workers of the
World Unite." It championed labor. It
succeeded in arousing support for polit-
ical candidates. The only socialist to be
elected to the United States House of
Representatives was the New York
East Sider Meyer London. "Workers of
the World Unite" is only a memory,
and so is Congressman London. For the
Forward, even as a weekly, it is a
cherished memory. It serves well in ar-
ousing the interest now shown in the
newspaper's 90th anniversary.
An important historical experience
must be recorded here anew. In 1914,
when the Jewish population of this
country was less than half of our num-
bers today — there were approximately
2,400,000 Jews in this country in that
year — there were ten daily Yiddish
newspapers in the United States. Their
total sworn circulation, as recorded in
Editor and Publisher, was in 1914 a
total of 762,910.
In 1932 the circulation of the then
Jewish Daily Forward — it was the
Daily Forward, still destined to retain
that status for another half-century,
and had a circulation of 232,000.
It is necessary to indicate here that
the Jewish Forward, no longer Daily,
at this time has a circulation of 20,000.
The sadness in the new status of a
once great daily newspaper and now a
well-edited bilingual weekly (Yiddish
and English) is that its existence de-
pends in great measure upon the
generosity of readers who are con-
stantly asked for supporting funds,
supplementary to subscriptions and ad-
vertising revenue.
Now it is the English-Jewish
weekly newspaper that dominates in
Jewish journalism. There is little left of
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Friday, June 26, 1987
the Yiddish, except on a weekly basis
on the half of Yiddish in the Jewish
Forward. The Hebraic is minimal. Now
there are nearly 100 weekly English-
Jewish newspapers and they cover the
field eminently. This press is the
guardian over the public welfare of our
people. It is the new historian of Israel,
the reporter affecting every occurrence
in our lives. It is the chronicle of our
times that may well be considered the
third volume of the biblical Divre
HaYamim, the Book of Chronicles.
It is the watchman over our free-
doms, the defender of our basic Ameri-
can ideals and of our sacred Jewish
tradition.
Nevertheless, the Forward and its
history remain unforgettable. The con-
tributions made by it to Jewish jour-
nalism in nine decades are inerasable.
From its socialism it developed into a
democratically powerful instrument
advocating the highest ideals of this
nation and of Jewry. For these notable
gifts, its role in journalism — Jewish
and American — it will always be re-
spected and honored.
Detroit's Black Legion
Recalled In Forward
Editor's Recollections
The observance of the 90th an-
niversary of the Jewish Forward is
marked by an interesting recollection
about a vital era in Detroit's history.
Simon Weber, who plans an early
retirement from the editorship of the
Yiddish newspaper that was a powerful
American daily until it was reduced to
its present weekly status, began his
newspaper career on the once
Communist-oriented Freiheit. He had
journalistic involvements in Detroit in
the 1930s and his experiences were re-
lated in an interview published in New
York's Jewish Week.
Therein he recalled the activities of
the anti-Semitic and racist Black
Simon Weber
Legion and his involvement in exposing
the gang that created terror here.
The assignment given Weber is re-
lated in the Jewish Week with this re-
collection:
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
"Weber recalled how, before joining
the Forward staff, in 1939, he infil-
trated a meeting in Detroit of the
Black Legion, 'a branch of the Ku Klux
Klan, only more violent. I left word
with friends that I'm going in there. If
I am not coming back, call in the
police.' As it turned out, he was dis-
covered. 'The speaker started to yell,
`there's a Jew in the audience' — and
he barely escaped. It was in the early
1930s, he recalled, when industrial De-
troit was a major center of labor un-
rest."
Simon Weber thus, unknowingly,
suggests himself for mention and quo-
tation in the forthcoming second vol-
ume of the history of Detroit Jewry to
be published by the Jewish Welfare
Federation.
How Mark Twain Made
Appeal to Advertisers
The transformation that has taken
place in Jewish newspapers in the past
half century also includes the advertis-
ing departments.
Much is discussed about the pro-
gress made editorially and news-wise,
with emphasis on the progress achieved
in news-gathering.
It was not so long ago that many of
the weekly newspapers struggled to
exist. Many had to depend upon income
from three special editions, published
as Rosh Hashanah, Chanukah and
Passover specials.
Even some of the larger papers had
their difficulties. There is a temptation
to recall the experiences of publishers-
editors in as large a city as Philadel-
phia. David Galter is the unforgettable
editor-publisher — he was much more
skilled as editor than as publisher-
businessman. He kept producing the
Exponent, reviving it after one bank-
ruptcy after another, until the paper
became community-owned, circulating
vastly, for most of the early years with
the largest circulation on record, sup-
ported by Jewish federation subsidies.
My emphasis is in describing
David Galter as unforgettable. He
laughed as much as he limped with a
minor physical handicap. He was never
without a talmudic story or joke. He
was a talmudist, as much a master of
Yiddish and Hebrew as he was of
English. Acquisition of the Exponent by
the Philadelphia federation rescued it
from total collapse. The name David
Gaiter nevertheless is inseparable from
that newspaper's eventual triumph.
Then came the improvements, the
developing progress, in the course of
which Jewish and other merchants be-
came aware of the value of advertising
in a Jewish newspaper. The craft began
to acquire greater independence finan-
cially. Advertising became a vital fac-
tor. Even the smaller newspapers
commenced to gain from such an
awareness of the value of advertising
influencing Jewish readers.
Advertising has many interesting
sidelights.
I always delight in repeating one of
the most fascinating means ascribed to
newspaper advertising by Mark Twain
(Samuel Clemens). He devoted some
years to newspaper publishing. He was
never successful in it.
The great humorist, while editing
a western newspaper, received this note
from one of his patrons.
"Dear Sir: When I opened my
newspaper this morning there was a
spider inside; does this mean good luck
or bad for me?"
Mark Twain replied:
"Finding a spider in your paper did
not mean either good luck or bad for
you. The spider was merely looking to
see which merchants advertised, so
that he could go to the store of one who
did not do so, build his web over the
door, and remain peaceful and undis-
turbed for the rest of his days."
The Cohns Memorialized
For Devotions Serving
Faith, State And Nation
Irwin and Sadie Cohen
Irwin Cohn left legacies to family,
faith, city, state and nation on so vast a
scale that his loyalties were respected
and universalized.
He was devout Jewishly and be-
came a chasid in every sense of the
sanctified designation. At the same
time he shared positions on commis-
sions chosen on a national scale by
Michigan governors and Detroit's
mayors.
Therefore, it was not surprising
that he went from a Lubavitch reli-
gious service to a meeting involving
state or city needs with ease and confi-
dence.
That is why he has just been cho-
sen for a distinct Michigan honor post-
humously. Sharing the honor is his
widow, the equally admired Sadie.
Their names now find acclaim in an
amphitheater and nature trail in one of
the county's important parks.
It was on Wednesday that the Oak-
land Park Foundation and the Oakland
County Parks and Recreation Commis-
sion dedicated the Sadie and Irwin
Cohn Amphitheater and All-Visitors'
Nature Trail at Independence Oaks
County Park. It is located on Sashabaw
Road in Clarkston.
This is a major mark of honor and
respect given by this state to two of its
most distinguished native citizens.
Recognition of the Cohns' services is al-
ready recorded in published recollec-
tions that fill volumes. It is a duty
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