American Jewish Commitee Deplores Antisemitism at Home and Abroad

Re-affirmation of their confidence in the sense of justice and fairness of the American people to repudiate the un-American dictrines of the Ku Klux Klan and reference to the present intensified anti-Jewish agitation in Germany were the main features of the Annual Report read by Mr. Louis Marshall, the President, to the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the American Jewish Committee which took place yesterday at the Hotel Astor.

Referring to the recent statement of the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan that the Jews are one of the unblendable elements in our American population, Mr. Marshall’s report said: “The recorded history of the Jews is an inspiring narrative of unrivalled patriotism. He certainly, in common with all good citizens, reveres the Constitution of the United States of the United States, and loves the institutions of this country, and feels a deep sense of gratitude for the rights which have been accorded to him here. The Imperial Wizard, however, preaches a violation of the Constitution.

The Committee’s report also takes a firm stand against any further attempts to restrict immigration. It points out that the present 3 per cent, restriction law is unscientific and arbitrary and that it places upon immigrants the burden of keeping informed of the quotas allowed to each country so as to avoid arriving here after the monthly or the annual quotas have been exhausted.

Referring to the various proposals which have been made recently to reduce the percentage of admissible immigrants to 2 percent, and for the registration of aliens the report says: “These proposals vividly reveal the vice of arbitrary restrictive measures, and justify the attitude of those who consistently opposed the many attempts for the past seventeen years to secure validity for the principle of the restriction of immigration. Once this is admitted the extremes to which it may be carried cannot be foreseen. The entering wedge was the literacy test; after this was enacted, it was not difficult for those who appear to regard immigration as an evil, to secure the passage of the 3 per centum law; now, there is discussion of a lower percentage, alien registration, examinations abroad, the selection of immigrants, and other like schemes, all opposed to the historic policy of our country”.

There has not been any appreciable decline in agitation against Jews in the few countries in which it is still prevalent, yet there was not any notable increase in its virulence or spread except in Germany, the report stated.

“In that country”, says the report, “agitators who were in every case affiliated with the reactionary parties seeking to overthrow the Republican Government and to re-establish the monarchy, continued their attempts to lay at the door of the Jews the blame of Germany’s unhappy situation, charging them with having conspired to ruin the Fatherland, and with having brought upon it all its present ills. In view of the fact that the Jews constitute scarcely i per cent. of the population and that reliable statistics have shown that practically every able-bodied Israelite was under arms during the war, in which over 80,000 of the 600,000 saw service at the front, 12,000 laying down their lives in the struggle, while 35,000 were decorated and 23,000 promoted, the wicked untruthfulness of this charge is at once revealed.”

The report also referred to the persecution of religions in Russia, especially the laws which have been passed against the religious education of the youth.

Louis Marshall of New York was re-elected President, Cyrus Adler of Philadelphia and Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, were reelected Vice-Presidents and Colonel Isaac M. Ullman of New Haven was re-elected Treasurer. The following new members were added to the Executive Committee: Eli Frank, Baltimore, Milton J. Rosenau, Boston, Leo M. Brown, Mobile, Ala., and James Becker, Chicago.