“We cannot sacrifice the lives of all the members of the Roumanian Government in order to protect the Jews,” declared Carol Davila, the Roumanian Minister to the United States, in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, yesterday.
“The combatting of the anti-Jewish disturbances in Roumania has already cost the blood of one of the members of the government,” Mr. Davila stated, referring to the attempt upon the life of the acting Minister of the Interior, Dr. Constantin Angelescu, who was shot and wounded by one of the anti-Semitic student leaders. “I cannot advise the Roumanian Government to take such measures against the anti-Semitic riots as would endanger the lives of more cabinet members. Moreover, the Roumanian Government knows the situation in the country and takes such steps against the rioters as it considers necessary and most effective for the good of the entire country.
“We here cannot give the Roumanian government any suggestions with regard to what measures it should adopt to restore order in Roumania any more than the Roumanian people can give advice or make recommendations to the American government as to how it should conduct its affairs,” Mr. Davila declared.
This firm and categorical declaration, pronounced in a tone and manner which left no doubt of his feeling that American Jews should not interfere in the internal affairs of Roumania, Mr. Davila made to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency shortly after he concluded his private conference with the delegation of the American Jewish Congress. Although Mr. Davila’s statement to the Jewish delegation was worded in a comforting and diplomatic manner and assured that the Roumanian Government would take all necessary steps to prevent further anti-Jewish occurrences, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learns that the conference between the American Jewish Congress delegation and Mr. Davila did not run very smoothly. Mr. Davila was rather disturbed by the frank utterances of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, who openly accused the present Roumanian Government of not fulfilling its duties towards the Jewish citizens of Roumania.
Rabbi Wise and several other members of the Jewish delegation left the conference hall even before the official reply of the Roumanian Minister was made and released.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
