Assering that Jews have a right to consider Jewish interests in time of elections, Dr. K. Fornberg, writing in the Day of Nov. 5, reprehends those Jewish leaders to whom, he says, party interests stand above Jewish national interests.
“The moment when the Ku Klux question became an issue and John W. Davis and La Follette came out in open determined opposition against the Klan, while at the same time Coolidge and Dawes manifested a silent sympathy and tolerance for the Klan, the choice of every fearless, conscientious Jew became limited to Davis or La Follerte.
“Yet when Dr. Buchler, acting in this spirit, announced his endorsement of Davis, the spokesman of our bourgeois-republicans, Rabbi Schulman, of the aristocratic temple, had the cheeck to issue a public rebuke to Dr. Buchler. ‘Why should we assume the hyphen and come out with our Jewishness in the political campaign?’
“Perhaps Dr. Buchler’s statement is consoling when he says that since Rabbi Schulman preaches to vacant seats in his Fifth Avenne temple and since through his anti-Jewish attitude to all Jewish national movements he has forfeited his right to speak in the name of the Jewish people, we need not take him seriously.
“But this surely cannot apply to Mr. Louis Marshall, who still is probably the most influential Jewish leader in America.
“It must be said that Mr. Marshall’s behavior in the presidential campaign caused a great deal of pain and disappointment to his admirers. Mr. Marshall is a big man in the Republican party but he is likewise considered almost the official spokesman of American Jewry. Yet when his Jewish feelings conflicted with his Republican party loyalty he proved himself to be a Republican above all else.
“While Mr. Davis vigorously attacked the Klan. Mr. Marshall has kept silent all through the campaign, thus neglecting to do his duty as a Jewish leader.
“The argument that Mr. Marshall did not want to drag Jewish problems into the campaign cannot be accepted in extenuation because it was precisely Mr. Marshall who, in a very inappropriate manner, did drag the Jewish question into the campaign. Mr. Marshall instead of coming out against the pro-Klan attitude of Mr. Coolidge, attacked Mr. La Follette for his misdeed against the Jews in connection with the Hungarian petition.
“In his heated antagonism to Mr. La Follette Mr. Marshall forgot all about the burning Ku Klux issue and the immigration question and Mr. Coolidge’s stubborn silence.
“Mr. Marshall has shown us that he is a faithful loyal Republican and that his party is ‘night’ whether right or wrong. It is deeply regrettable that Mr. Marshall has placed himself in the same class with such as Rabbi Schulman who have made the Republican party the highest instance of their loyalty and have become entirely oblivious of their Jewish sentiments and Jewish dignity.”
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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.
