The DAWA, anti-Jewish boycott movement which has fallen on evil days, yesterday revealed its determination to make a new drive for influence in German-American circles with issuance of a Christmas trade guide and announcement of a bazaar to be held at Yorkville Casino from December 16 to 23.
Unable to muster more than a handful of faithfuls at it national convention in Chicago late last Summer, this so-called German-American Economic Alliance has rapidly lost caste among its members, who have become increasingly lax in payment of dues and more and more unwilling to display the DAWA emblem in their establishments.
LAST-DITCH FIGHT
The new Christmas trade guide represents a last-ditch fight on the part of Henry O. Spier, a non-citizen of the United States and secretary of the DAWA, to regain his precarious hold on what was once a fairly satisfactory source of income.
“Do your Christmas shopping with the DAWA trade guide,” the booklet pleads. “Wear the DAWA button. Read the Deutscher Beobachter.”
The defeatist psychology which has overtaken this once arrogant organization is revealed in the following foreword to the listing of “preferred” firms:
“Our chain of human endeavors is as strong as you—the weakest link.”
AVOIDS RACE ISSUE
All indexes and listings are printed both in German and in English. The guide studiously avoids any overt introduction of racial controversy or of other matter of an offensive nature.
“This edition, representing an extract from the regular trade guide, contains names and addresses of business enterprises especially interested in the Christmas trade who desire to recommend their merchandise or services for the coming Christmas season,” the foreword explains.
“Christmas always has been a German holiday, breathing an air of genuine happiness and of a deep-rooted desire to give. To facilitate the problem of Christmas shopping and to concentrate the purchasing power of the DAWA consumers toward the DAWA stores, is the purpose of this trade guide.
‘REALIZE OLD AMBITION’
“An abundant selection of Christmas gifts carried by the trade members listed prompts us to urge you to do your shopping with these, to emphasize the protective motives underlying the DAWA, and—in so doing—to carry with you into the coming year the realization of a long cherished ambition: the unification of all American citizens of German descent in one constructive movement.”
The 127-page handbook contains names of firms in Greater New York and in New Jersey.
ALL FIELDS COVERED
Almost no field of endeavor has been overlooked. Should the DAWA member need any first class “eel smoking,” he has only to apply to “Meyer, Peter, 75 Grand street, Hoboken, N. J.” Is he in the market for corn and callous cures? A full assortment of this commodity awaits him at the headquarters of “Cornol, 137 West Ninety-third street, New York City.”
Among professional men, only the physicians shrink from DAWA’s printed approbation. “Our physicians prefer not to be listed,” the guide explains. “When in need of medical aid call the DAWA office.”
INCLUDES LAWYERS, DENTISTS
Lawyers and dentists who have DAWA’s approval are less coy. Four in the former and ten in the latter category are noted in the handbook.
For constipated DAWA adherents there is a special DAWA laxative, turned out by “Leo Laboratories, Inc., 22 West Monroe street, Chicago.” But since Chicago is quite a jaunt from these parts, “Leo-Pills (are) obtainable in all DAWA drug stores,” the guide explains.
Member firms will have an opportunity to exhibit their wares at the bazaar, which opens at Yorkville Casino on Sunday and is to continue for one week.
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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.
