GERNERAL JAN C. SMUTS, Minister of Justice and former Premier in the South African government, at the corner-stone laying of a new synagogue in Cape Town, declared:
“As long as I am Minister of Justice there will be equal justice for all, there will be no underdog and no Ghetto in South Africa.”
General Smuts also expressed the belief that the Jews of the world need not fear the future, because “public opinion will right the Jewish position.”
General Smuts is one of the foremost practical idealists among the world’s statesmen. With President Woodrow Wilson, Colonel House and Lord Robert Cecil, he elaborated the plan for the League of Nations. He was instrumental in promoting the Balfour Declaration with regard to Palestine. He has been consistently helpful to the cause of Jewish regeneration in Palestine, for which he was recently honored by South African Jewry who raised a fund for the establishment of a colony in Palestine to be known as Kfar Smuts.
A few more leaders of the type of General Smuts in every land, and the world would be saved from the horrors of war, of political and economic chauvinism, and of religious and racial hatred and prejudice.
NASI RACKETEERS
The striking series of articles by Pat McGrady, now appearing in The Jewish Daily Bulletin, contains revelations that may seem rather fantastic and almost incredible. The letter, copied from a photostat of the original communique addressed to Captain Rawlins, of Ku Klux Klan notoriety, by the Chief of Staff of the Silver Shirts, of Asheville, N. C., is an amazing document. It bears the warning: “Read, Memorize, and Completely Destroy.” It orders Captain Rawlins to proceed by a non-German boat to a non-German port, and then go to Hamburg for instructions from the storm brigade and also to buy a quantity of sidearms on a two years’ credit. He is told that the Chief will be generous, if Captain Rawlings succeeds in this mission. The letter informs him Dist “things are happening fast. We must strike first.” The captain is also ordered to explain in Hamburg and in Berlin that the Silver Shirts are “inadequately financed.”
In another document, introducing Captain Rawlings to the agent and German steamship company in the United States, the Silver Shirt Chief of Staff explained that the Silver Shirts “need 100,000 men before 1935 to overthrow the Government.” The letter also referred to purchase of horses and planes, and to the need for rifles and other arms.
These documents will undoubtedly be investigated by the Congressional Committee. However incredible they seem, it should be remembered that during the World War even more fantastic messages were sent out by the German General Staff and the Foreign Office. The Zimmermann note was typical of Prussian arrogance, brazenness, ruthlessness and stupidity.
It was the publication of the intercepted Zimmermann note that aroused the indignation of the American people against the military clique that dominated and ruined Germany during the war.
The Congressional investigation will in all likelihood discover that the Nazi agents in this country, the Silver Shirts and other allied racketeers, have engaged and are engaging in activities similar to those conducted by the German agents and spies in this country during the early part of the war. They are resorting to the same arrogant and stupid tactics. But it may also be disclosed that these agents and agitators and Silver Shirt racketeers are trying to magnify the scope and intensity of their activities in order to wring more financial aid from the Nazis and their dupes in this country. While the Nazis, intoxicated with momentary power, are dreaming of spreading Hitlerism in the United States, their “American” Hirelings and agents are working for them as they worked in the past for the Klan and other secret, slimy organizations as long as they receive sufficient revenue to enrich the few organizers and “leaders.” When the facts will become known, American public opinion will drive the Nazi agents out in a manner that will open the eyes of the deluded German people. And as for the “American” Nazi racketeers, under whatever name they may go, and whatever the color of their shirts, as soon as they will be unmasked their sources of revenue will be closed, and that will mark the end of these “American patriots” who are stirring up hatred and strife in this country while serving their alien masters in Berlin.
When the truth is known, the Nazi monsters will be revealed as standing upon feet of clay.
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.
