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.]

The creation of the Permanent Commission on Better Understanding, consisting of nine representatives of the Protestants, Catholics and Jews, to act as an investigating and opinion making body in matters of racial or religious discrimination or slander, is viewed by Dr. K. Fornberg, in the “Day,” as a new phase in the development of the good will movement in America. Dr. Fornberg writes in the issue of April 19:

“Skeptics will ask: what can the Commission accomplish ? After all it is but a commission of individuals. But it should be borne in mind that these nine persons who officially figure as individuals are nevertheless the spiritual leaders and spokesmen of the greatest, most influential religious organizations and groups in the country. As regards the aims undertaken by the Commission, namely, investigation and opinion making, after all what is needed is only moral influence.

“These aims of investigation and opinion making are, from the Jewish point of view, the best and most useful work the Commission could accomplish. We doubt whether this Commission will ever have occasion to investigate unjust charges and slanders on the part of the Jews against non-Jews. But there can be no doubt that the unjust attacks and charges against Jews, will occupy, willingly or not, one of the most important, if not the most important, place in the activities of the Commission. As the editor of the ‘American Hebrew’ points out, Ford’s anti-Jewish campaign ought to be one of the first subjects for investigation by such a Commission. If it is possible for the clever lawyer-Senator to declare in court that ‘this has nothing to do with the Jewish people’ it will be impossible through such legal sophistries to evade the issue before the bar of public opinion.”

Writing editorially on the same subject the “Day” of above date, while expressing approval of the new goodwill Commission hopes it will be more active than other bodies whose purposes are similar. The paper says:

“Jews alone cannot create the necescary sentiment in America on the subject of Roumania’a anti-Jewish persecutions and such a committee having prominent Christians on it could arouse enough public opinion to force Roumania to take heed. However, there is the committee on religious minorities, which has been in existence for some time and of which the honorary president is Chief Justice Taft. But nothing emphatic is heard from that Committee.

“Will the new Commission be only an appendage to the other body, existing merely on paper? Will it be but an additional form of competition in the work of good will?

“The purpose is unquestionably worthy, but the method is subject to criticism, and a little more information on the subject would help much to place the new commission in the proper light before the public opinion of America.”

The New York “Sun” terms the proposed work of the Permanent Commission on Better Understanding “a noble task” and observes:

“The distinguished Catholics, Protestants and Jews who have formed themselves into the Permanent Commission on Better Understanding are undertaking a noble task. Their purpose is to promote tolerance and good will among all adherents of the principal religious faiths professed in the United States. It was peculiarly fitting that their plan should be announced at this Eastertide, when the great Christian festival and the first day of the great Jewish festival of the Passover fall on the same day.

“The best assurance that this work will be properly done lies in the character of the men who are back of the movement.”

URGES CHANGE IN RELIEF WORK FOR POLISH JEWRY

A proposal regarding the work of the Joint Distribution Committee in Poland is contained in the April issue of the “Menorah Journal” in the second of a series of two articles by Louis Fischer. Mr. Fischer’s first article caused considerable discussion and brought a denial of his statements from the leaders of Polish Jewry. In the present article, he urges that “the crying need and the most practical assistance which a foreign Jewish organization can give is preliminary occupational training to individuals who intend to emigrate,” and goes on to explain:

“Professional restratification is a double cure. It fits Jews for emigration and it provides them with a greater measure of adaptability to modified economic conditions at home. ‘Occupational training’ for both these ends is the slogan which should be written on the banner of any committee or group really concerned with alleviating the situation of Polish Jewry. I grant it is not a simple matter. But it is a million times better than squandering money for temporary relief. And it is simpler than attempting to help Jews who cannot possibly be helped as long as they remain merchants, or peddlers, or tailors or cobblers.

“Teach Jews to farm and they will be more welcome applicants for immigration. Teach them trades and machine work and the same end is attained, plus the added advantage of increasing their chances of obtaining employment in Poland.

“This is the concrete proposal that I would make to the J. D. C. Let it liquidate all its present activities in Poland and use its money for the training of Jews for emigration and for the teaching of new, ‘un-Jewish’ professions.”