British M. P. Rebuked for Unkind Remarks Against United States

Criticism of Mr. Samuel Samuel, M.P., for unkind remarks made in the House of Commons with reference to the United States, was voiced by the “Jewish World,” Anglo-Jewish weekly published in London. “It is regrettable that a Jew should be found speaking in the unfriendly tone he adopted,” the paper writes.

“At the moment there is a somewhat ominous outlook for the peace of the world,” the “Jewish World” declares in its editorial. “It seems strange it should be so at the very time when a Peace Pact has been solemnly entered into–an act that has been described as constituting the greatest event since the coming of Jesus in Christian progress. The invidiousness of the allusion may be overlooked, but its intention is undoublted. Unhappily for the analogy thus drawn, there is recorded of the founder of Christianity that he said he brought not Peace but War. And strangely enough, the signing of the Peace Pact has been regarded by many as a signal that the Nations, with Peace on the points of their pens, harbor war in their hearts. Anyway, the relations between this country and the United States are by no means as genial as they should be, while those of France and Germany have fallen a long way back from the days of Locarno. And although everyone talks of War as unthinkable, everyone is playing with the fire of War. Thus I was very sorry to see the report of a speech delivered the other day by Mr. Samuel Samuel, M.P., in which that gentleman spoke very unkindly, if not bellicosely, of the United States. It may be he was put ‘put up’ to it by some party political influence, or it may be that the speech was dictated by some trouble in connection with the oil industry in which, for the nonce, some American concerns are scoring. But whatever has happened, it is regrettable that a Jew should be found speaking in the unfriendly tone he adopted. It moreover, comes ill from a man of his age, because if, God forbid, there were War, he would not be called upon to give over his body to mangling and slaughter. Perhaps, moreover, he would be unable to avoid heaping up still further wealth by reason of the call there would be for the commodity he sells. These things, of course, did not for an instant enter his mind when he made that speech, but that does not make his words any less unfortunate.

“It is clear that the utmost vigilance is needed on the part of those who abhor War for its cruelty and inhumaneness, and despise it for its utter stupidity as a means of settling international disputes,” the paper states.