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.]

An appreciation of the work and personality of Abraham Cahan, veteran leader of the Jewish Socialists in America and editor of the “Jewish Daily Forward,” is contained in the “New York Times Magazine” of Sunday, from the pen of Mildred Adams, who terms Mr. Cahan “the symbol of the vivid East Side” and points out that his greatest achievement has been his successful interpretative service between America and the immigrant. She writes:

“If such a man can be said to have one outstanding characteristic, his is an unusual ability to interpret one type of life into the terms of another. He has adjusted himself to the demands of an American existence; but he has never forgotten how bewildering this country is to an immigrant. He can put its stridencies and its reticence, its concern with material things and its strange ideals into words that a Russian Jewish immigrant will comprehend and value, and he can translate the immigrant into terms that awaken the interest and respect of careless Americans. . . . A man of tremendous energy and unfailing enthusiasm, he had found time to play with the color–the words and the art and the music–that makes life a richer thing.”

TOWNS AND COUNTIES IN THE U. S. NAMED AFTER JEWISH CITIZENS

There have been fifteen towns and counties in the United States known to have been named for eleven Jews prominent in American life, we are told in the “Day” of Sunday. Bertram Jonas, the writer of the article, tells us further that there are many towns that have Jewish names but the men for whom they were named have been obscured in the limbo of history. Other cities and towns, while not handing down Jewish names to posterity, were laid out or given their present names by Jewish citizens.

“Texas has been particularly lavish in commemorating its Jewish citizens.” we read. “Castro county bears the name of Henry Castro, a naturalized French Jew, who was largely responsible for the settlement of much of southwestern Texas. Castro came to Texas in 1842 where he met Sam Houston, President of the Texan Republic. The leader of the young Lone Star State was greatly impressed with Castro and realizing his value appointed him consul to France.

“Kauffman county in the same state is named for David Kauffman, a prominent politician and statesman in the early days of Texas. He was the first Congressman to represent Texas in the United States House of Representatives. There is also a town in Texas named for Kauffman. What is now the city of Waco was laid out and planned by jacob Cordove, who was a prominenl mining engineer and real estate expert during the Mexican war of 1845.

“One of sthe larger counties in Florida, Levy county, keeps fresh the memory of David Levy Yulee, the man who more than any other was responsible for the admission of Florida to the Union in 1845. His real name was Levy but when he married a Gentile woman he assumed the name of Yulee which is a corruption of Levy turned backward. Yulee in Nassau county is also named for him. Yulee was Florida’s first Congressman and in 1851 sat in the United States Senate for Florida, thus making him the first Jew to be elected to the Senate.

“The name of David Emanuel, the sixth governor of Georgia, and the first Jew elected to the governorship of any state, is signalized by Emanuel county, Georgia, the largest in the state. Such is its size that for many years it was called the State of Emanuel. Throughout the Revolution Emanuel was a leading figure in his state.

“Aaronsburg in Centre County (Pennsylvania) is the first town in the United States named for a Jew. It was founded by Aaron Levy in 1786.

“All of the patriotic and pioneer members of the famous Pennsylvania Franks family are remembered in the town of Frankstown.

“Here in New York there are two towns named for Jews. Belmont Park on Long Island is named for August Belmont. Before the Civil War he was a prominent member of the diplomatic staff, being consul to Austria and to The Hague. Another active Democratic politician and charlty worker,Emanuel B. Hart, has Hartsdale in Westchester county named for him.

“Seligman in Arizona recalls Joseph Seligman, one of the famous Seligman brothers who were prominent merchants and bankers and the forerunners of the present Seligman family. Solomonville in the same state is named for Edward Solomon, an early Texan resident who was a gold prospector in the Arizona territory. Ehrenburg, also in Arizona, was laid out in 1873 by Michael Goldwater, one of the first residents of the state. The town was named for Herman Ehrenburg of whose Jewishness there is some doubt.

“Alexander in Idaho, is named after Moses Alexander, the Jewish governor of Idaho. The present name of San Francisco was given it by Washington Bartlett, who was the son of a Charleston Jew by the name of Rodriguez. Bartlett was alcalde of San Francisco in 1849 and forty years later was elected governor of California. Henry Castro of Texas has a town in California that bears his name, Castroville.

“Mississippi has honored Leopold Marks, one of the state’s philanthropists, in naming the town of Marks for him. Saddler, Illinois, is named for Morris B. Saddler, who was mayor of the town in 1890. The most prominent Southern Jew before the 19th century was Judah Touro. On his death the people of New Orleans, in appreciation of his generous charity, were anxious to honor him with a monument or other form of permanent distinction. The Jews of Louisiana protested that it was heterodoxical to erect a monument to an orthodox Jew and that it was equally wrong to name a town or county for him. But there is a town in the state called Toro. The explanation has been offered that some of his more ardent admirers not knowing the meaning of the word Toro and in an attempt to circumvent the objections of orthodox Jewry named a town Toro by twisting the spelling of Touro’s name. There are other towns such as Emanuel in Kentucky, Kaplan in Louisiana, Levy in New Mexico, Feldman in Arizona, Levys in South Carolina, Edelstein in Illinois, and Goldman in Arkansas, all which have names that sound Jewish in origin.”

Jacob Neinkin was elected President of the United Israel Zion Hospital at the annual meeting of the institution. Other officers elected are Abraham J. Herrick, Philip Cedar, Samuel Young and Morris A. Goodman, Vice Presidents: Israel Friedman, Treasurer; Elias Goodman, Recording Secretary, and Hyman Meyerson, Financial Secretary. Boris Fingerhood is Superintendent.