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.]

A new charge by Henry Ford, namely, that the Jews are dictating the policy of the American government in regard to Mexico and are seeking to stir up a war with that country, is made in the “Dearborn Independent.” We read:

“Who is talking to Mexico from Washington? Old man Money. It may seem to be the Secretary of State, but it is not. Certainly it is not the American People. The People have not said a world to Mexico, yet much has been said. It is Money that talks, Money that seeks a Monopoly of Mexico’s resources.

“American Money invested in Mexico represents more than quarter of the national wealth of Mexico. And who is American Money? The financial interests most heavily interested in that country. You should read the list and see whether you want to go down with a rifle and subdue Mexico for them. Read the list!

“Kuhn, Loeb & Co., Speyer & Co., Hallgarten & Co., William Salomon & Co., Ladenburg, Thalmann & Co., The Guggenheim interests.

“All fine old American names, inspired with the purest patriotism. Trailing alone with them the Mellon interests and the Morgan interests.”

“Der Hammer”, German anti-Semitic organ edited by Fritsch, who was recently sentenced by a Hamburg court for libelling Max Warburg, the German Jewish banker, has revived the charge originally made in Henry Ford’s “The International Jew” that the copper magnates Guggenheim and Lewisohn profiteered during the war with the aid of Bernard Baruch. The “Hammer” asserts that the copper exchange organized in New York under the leadership of Guggenheim and Lewisohn controls 92% of the world’s copper wealth, including the German copper industry, and continues: “The American Copper Association during the war was strengthened by the head of the War Industries Board, Mr. Baruch, one of Wilson’s appointees. Baruch paid nearly all his attention to the copper business and gave preference to the two firms of Guggenheim and Lewisohn. From these two concerns the government at Washington bought 600 million pounds of copper, through Baruch’s mediation, at 27 cents per pound. After the war the government found that it had 161/2 million pounds of copper surplus and sold this stock back to the Lewisohn family at 15 cents per pound.”

The “Hammer” adds: “Further information about the ‘copper kings’ in the United States will be found in ‘The International Jew,’ by Henry ford.”

BAPTISTS GAIN FIRST VICTORY IN MOVE AGAINST PERSECUTIONS IN ROUMANIA

The effect of the protest movement against Roumania for the persecution of religious and national minorities in that country is making itself felt, according to a despatch from Warsaw in yesterday’s N. Y. “Times.”

“The American Baptists,” the “Times” despatch states, “have gained their first tentative victory in the campaign of all Protestant and Jewish sects against the Roumanian Government’s alleged discriminatory treatment and persecution of their people, according to Dr. J. H. Rushbrooke, Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, who arrived in Warsaw this morning from Bucharest.

“Dr. Rushbrooke said that he had the promise of a conference within a month with Foreign Minister Mitilinu of Roumania and the Ministers of Culture, the Interior and Education with a view to the elimination of religious inequality.

“W. O. Lewis, representative of the Northern State Baptists of the United States in Northern Europe, added that 15,000 Baptists in Poland were also under the most severe handicaps, but that persecution such as prevailed in Roumania was far less.

“Dr. Rushbrooke declared that if next month’s conference proved unsatisfactory, a Baptist campaign throughout the world would be directed to exposing the details of past difficulties.”

SEES “NATIONAL ORIGINS” QUOTAS AS BLOW TO NORDIC SUPERIORITY THEORY

That the “national origins” quotas deal a death blow to the Nordic superiority theory upon which the present immigration quotas are based, is the point emphasized by the “Jewish Morning Journal.” Though disagreeing in principle with the restrictions of the “national origins” provision the paper observes (January 10):

“It cannot be denied, however, that the new quotas, though admitting a smaller number of immigrants have one very good feature. The exception in favor of Nordics is no longer demanded and the insult to the other races under the present divisions is done away with. If England and Northern Ireland gain it is not because they are a privileged class by their descent but because they belong to the original race which settled this country and immigrants from those lands came here before anybody else. The Danes, the Swedes, the Norwegians and the Germans who are all thorough Nordics of the blond, blue-eyed race which in the eyes of the hundred percenters stands above all others are to be admitted in smaller numbers under the new provision, while on the other hand, Russians are allowed a larger number than at present. The difference may be a small one, allowing an increase on one side and a decrease on the other, but there is a margin in favor of the non-Nordics, and in that sense the measure is a real improvement.”

The “Day” of January 10 regrets what it regards as an infusion of political issues into the question of immigration quotas, explaining its attitude in these words:

“Important above all is the question of practical politics. The Germans, the Irish and the Scandinavians in America are a political power. It is sufficient merely to point to the state of Minnesota where the population is mostly Scandinavian. That State is traditionally Republican and it would surely be impractical to make the Minnesota Nordics as well as the others feel the force of discrimination. In this situation lies the embarrassment of the administration but that embarrassment points a deep parable. It shows how dangerous it is to play with the racial sentiments in a country of a mixed population. Whenever favoritism is shown to one lement it inevitably provokes the displeasure of the others and in the end those who are responsible for the policy of favoritism and discrimination are made to pay the penalty.”

The repeal of the “national origins” clause is again urged by the New York “World” (January 10) in an editorial commenting on the report submitted by the Secretaries of State, Commerce and Labor to the President and the Senate.

“These quotas are not so bad as was expected,” the “World” writes, “but they are bad enough. German immigration would be reduced from 61,227 annually to 23,428, Irish immigration (the Irish Free State) from 28,567 to 13,862, and Scandinavian immigration from 18,803 to 6,570. None of these reductions is justifiable. Unless the President is found to have power to ignore the clause a bill to repeal it should be hurried through Congress.”