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 trial of Sholom Schwartzbard for the shooting of the pogrom leader, Petlura, will not be a defense of Schwartzbard but an accusation against Petlura and his henchmen who survive him, declares S. Yudson, in the “Jewish Morning Journal” of May 28.

Urging support for the Schwartzbard defense fund which has been started by the “Jewish Morning Journal,” Mr. Yudson points out that the trial will result in the revelation of all the horrible outrages that were perpetrated upon the life and honor of the Jews in Ukrainia and in the public indictment of Petlura’s henchmen during his regime.

“Reports coming from Paris” Mr. Yudson asserts “indicate that this will be one of the greatest trials the world has seen in recent years. The rigorous law will doubtless demand the blood of the young Jew whose life has been turned into a tragedy by Petlura, whose father and mother were murdered in a pogrom, whose hope and faith in humanity were shattered through Petlura’s hooligans, and eminent lawyers, perhaps the most eminent lawyers in France, will join the defense. This will involve huge expenses, which neither Schwartzbard’s wife nor any of their relatives are in a position to furnish. Help must therefore come from those other thousands, who have had a taste of pogroms and whose feeling of wrath and bitterness against the perpetrators of such massacres has been somewhat appeased by the desperate act of an individual who sought physical revenge for a whole people.”

THE KLAN AT THE SESQUI-CENTENNIAL

The announcement of Mayor Kendrick of Philadelphia that the Ku Klux Klan will be given a day for its demonstration at the Sesqui-Centennial is regarded by the Baltimore “Sun” (May 27) as “a mockery of the Declaration of Independence” which the Sesqui-Centennial is meant to celebrate.

“The Declaration of Independence was promulgated and the Revolutionary War was fought, among other things, to guarantee to men the right of religious freedom, the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. The Ku Klux Klan would fan the fiames of religious strife and breed hatred among mankind,” the “Sun” writes, adding:

“To indorse such an organization by giving it equal recognition with patriotie societies and other associations; to honor it with a day on which to preach doctrines that are at war with the fundamental principles of the American Government; to permit it, under the auspices of a celebration which should exalt and testify devotion to freedom of conscience and of religion, to spread the poison of bigotry and intolerance is to make a mockery of the anniversary Philadelphia is commemorating.

The Baltimore “Evening Sun” of same date satirizes about the statement that instead of a two day demonstration the Klan will be given only one day at the exposition that their parade will be limited to 25,000 marchers and no masks or flaming crosses will be used.

“Gone the fond hope and eager expectation.” the paper says. “What kind of impression can a knight of the invisible Empire make with his mask off? He becomes a commonplace mortal with Histered feet, sweating profusely. The element of mystery vanishes. Bah! Give the Kluxers two days and let them put on a show with a thrill in it.”