Daily Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]

If the counterfeiting scandal in Hungary will hasten the end of Fascist influence it will turn out to be a blessing, declares the New York “Times” of Jan. 11.

Terming the counterfeit plot of the Hungarian anti-Semites as “only another phase of that ‘realism’ on which the Fascist doctrine prides itself,” the “Times” remarks:

“Foreign sympathy, of which Hungary stands sadly in need, is not likely to flow to a nation where forgery and patriotism apparently go hand in hand, where the just claims of the Fatherland and the gambling debts of princely adventurers seem to have become inextricably intermingled. Yet the counterfeiting scandal may turn out to be a blessing if it hastens the end of Fascist influence.

“Whatever may be the price paid by the Hungarian people for the present ascendency of its strong-arm patriots, in Europe as a whole the effects of the Budapest scandal should be salutary. Discontent everywhere is playing with the dictatorship idea. Force is being exalted above right, above liberty, above internal peace, as the only way of substituting national ‘efficiency’ for the demoralizing effects of parliamentary partisanship. It is now shown once more that a so-called resolute minority can be productive of as much mischief and lends itself as easily to sinister personal motives as any selfish parliamentary regime. For the sake of the Hungarian people it is to be hoped that the latest serio-comic episode is only the bad smell that marks the snuffing out of a guttering candle.”

SAYS SCAPEGOAT TRICK WILL FAIL THIS TIME

The attempt of the Hungarian anti-Semites to repeat the old anti-Semitic stunt and place the onus of the counterfeit plot, which they attempted to perpetrate, on Jewish shoulders will not succeed, asserts the “Day” of Jan. 10 in its English section.

“Already the anti-Semites of Hungary are trying to find a Jewish scape-goat for the sins of the atristocratic band of forgers,” the paper writes. “But it is doubtful whether such an attempt can be successful even in Hungary. The guilt of the counterfeiters is too evident to be denied or argued away, and what is more important–the whole investigation is now in the hands of the French officials who are too interested in getting hold of the real culprits to be swayed by the consideration of race prejudice. The Hungarian Jew baiters are now driven into the open and this time. we are confident, all their efforts to burrow in will prove unavailing.”

GOVERNOR SMITH’S OPPOSITION TO THE ALIEN REGISTRATION BILL

Governor Smith’s opposition to the Alien Registration Bill expressed in his letter to the organizations which met in New York last Saturday to voice their protest against the proposal is praised by the New York “World” editorially on Jan. 11. Says the paper:

“Gov. Smith has said all that need be said against the enactment of the offensive Alien Registration Bill. It proposes an extension of the un-American system of espionage which has recently grown so popular with men and women who have somehow convineed themselves that they are the custodians of American institutions. It is a proposal to adopt in this country one of the most hateful methods of the Old World–to escape the tyranny of which hundreds of thousands of the best people here came across the sea. “That government is best which governs least,” said Jefferson; and here is a plan to treat millions of people as potential criminals and traitors by a system of constant espionage.

“Had he seen fit, the Governor could have made out quite as strong a case against the even more sinister Deportation Act which, in comparison, makes the Alien Law of odorous memory seem harmless.”

EAST EUROPEAN JEWS IN GERMAN INDUSTRY

The part of Jewish workers from the East European countries in German industry and agriculture is dealt with in the latest issue of “Jewish Emigration” here by Herr S. Rudel.

“The East European Jew,” he writes, “was much sought after not only during the war but also in the post-war period, even in the time of greatest unemployment, and he has always enjoyed the perfect comradeship of the German worker. These Jewish workers, who were previously employed in small industry in Eastern Europe, have without any great effort gone over to big industry and to agriculture.”

Herr Rudel quotes a number of testimonials from big industrial firms and from the managements of large estates, praising the work, industry and human qualities of the East European worker. The good comradeship between the Jewish and the non-Jewish workers is especially emphasized in the testimonials.

“There have been between 12,000 and 15,000 Jewish workers from Eastern Europe employed in big industry in the Ruhr and the Rhine district as well as in mining and blast furnaces. It was only when the crisis came in the Ruhr that the Jewish workers were forced to look out for employment elsewhere. They are now employed in Belgium and France, where, too, they seem to give complete satisfaction.”