Daily Digest of World Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

The attitude of the Hungarian Minister of the Interior in refusing to punish Hungarian students who persecute and attack their Jewish fellow-students, because Jewish bodies are not furnished for dissection in the anatomy class, has called forth the following comment from the famous editor, Mr. Arthur Brisbane (N. Y. American, Oct. 24).

“Hungarian students, demanding the expulsion of Jews from classes in anatomy, have caused the closing of an important college. The students, if you please, complain because in the anatomy class, where bodies are furnished for dissection, no Jewish bodies were furnished. The reason is that the Jewish community guarantees decent burial to all unidentified Jewish dead. Therefore none drift to the dissecting room. Plenty of Christian bodies arrive to be cut up, because nobody cares to bury them.

“Nevertheless, the anti-Semitic students demand that Jewish as well as Christian bodies shall be dissected. The Minister of the Interior says, ‘while the students act unlawfully, I sympathize with them. I cannot punish Hungarian youth for a few Jews.’

“That’s too bad, but, as you remember, the whole of Europe was punished, twenty million lives were sacrificed, Hungary and Austria were reduced to beggary and humiliation, all because a Serbian happened to shoot one rather worthless grand duke. What about that?”

SABBATH LAW MUST BE ADAPTED TO MODEN SPIRIT

The news which has come from Palestine that the Jewish colony Rishion L’Zion has adopted a strict law against the transgression of the Sabbath has called forth various opinions in the Jewish press.

“That the Sabbath must be observed in the Jewish cities in Palestine is self-evident,” says the Philadelphia Jewish. World of Oct. 21. “No civilized person will object to one day in the week beingset aside for rest from all labor. And in Palestine this day must be the Sabbath on the ground of our religion as well as in consonance with centuries-old Jewish traditions.

“The only question is, how will the Sabbath law be defined. In the distorted golus atmosphere of the Jewish towns and cities of Europe many foolish customs have arisen in regard to the observance of Sabbath, which are actually a travesty on religion.

“It is to be hoped that the new Sabbath law in Rishon L’ Zion will be administered in a modern spirit, so that the observance of the Jewish day of rest may be not a caricature of religion but an act of pure faith and humanity.”

“TACOMA TIMES” ON ROSENBLUTH CASE

The “Tacoma Times” of Oct. 15, carried the following editorial on the Rosenbluth case, which is indicative of the local feeling in the community where the court was held.

“The plain truth about the Pothier case, which closed recently in the federal court here, is that there never was any doubt but that the accused veteran was innocent. Every iota of evidence showed that the original finding of the army board which investigated the death of Major Cronkhite six years ago at Camp Lewis had the facts and returned a just and right verdict when it held that the major had accidentally shot himself. The dismissal of the charge against Captain Rosenbluth followed naturally.

“Returning from France, the grief stricken General Cronkhite, a man with a long and honorable record in the army, asked for the record in the case. He had a human and natural desire to know just what had happened. But he did not get even courteous treatment from the politicians back in Washington. Naturally, he made a fight. The more opposition he met, the more suspicious he became. At last he determined to force the issue, and even appealed directly to President Harding.

“Then the high officials had General Cronkhite kicked out of the army without a hearing, in spite of his honorable record. That crowning piece of insolence and injustice was only equalled by Daugherty’s department of justice when it sent a special agent to obtain by third degree methods the alleged confession from Pothier. And Pothier, being weak and fearful, made confessions which he knew were untrue, dragging in the name of another officer, Captain Rosenbluth, who had a record as honorable as that of Major Cronkhite.

“Then the irresponsible propaganda paper published by Henry Ford, jumped into the case and attempted to create another Dreyfus affair, raising the race question.

“Finally, it became absolutely necessary to arrest and try somebody to clear the air. Pothier was brought to trial, and, of course, he was found not guilty. There was not a shred of real evidence against him, for the “Third degree confessions” are certainly not evidence.

“There would have been no Pothier case, the name of Rosenbluth would not have been besmirched, and General Cronkhite would still be serving his country with honor in the army, had the department of justice been efficient in the handling of the entire affair. But it wasn’t. It had Daugherty at its head, and a typical Daugherty mess resulted.”