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 charge made recently by Upton Sinclair, noted American novelist and Socialist, that the Jews have “commercialized sensuality in art” and that through the medium of the stage and the movies they exert a corrupting influence, which has aroused resentment in Jewish circles, is explained by him in a letter to the editor of the “Jewish Tribune,” which appears in the June 11 issue of that paper.

Mr. Sinclair made his charge in a contribution to the “Yudenhass-Eine Anthologie” (Jew Hatred-A Symposium) a German book published in Vienna.

In his present explanation to the “Jewish Tribune,” Mr. Sinclair declares:

“I cited the Jewish racial defects as I conceived them, and I went on to cite the Jewish racial virtues as I conceived them.

“I thought that I could render a service to all Jews by trying to think of the reasons given to me by Americans for disliking Jews, and I stated these reasons.

“One of the most prominent reasons is because members of the Jewish race are giving us a great deal of commercialized sensuality in art. Mr. Hurwitz asks for ‘scientific data’ on the subject of the Jewish sexual instinct. My answer is that he can get the data in question by attending Broadway shows put on by Z (here he mentions a Jewish play producer), and Hollywood moving pictures put on by Y (here he mentions a Jewish film producer) – to name but two where I might name a score. Decent Americans loathe these productions, and they blame the Jewish race. I think that the Jewish race has a remedy at hand; they do not have to rest under the disgrace which these ‘black sheep’ of the Jews put upon them. They can reprobate and ostracize these persons, and they can make it plain that the decent Jewish people are as much in revolt against commercialized sensuality as are the American people. I think that an American friend of the Jews is rendering them a service when he points out the facts in this matter. I will not need to point out how many times in Jewish history the people took to worshipping sensual gods, and how prophets arose who were not mealy mouthed, but who looked the facts in the face, and laid about them with a vigorous lash. I think we need a Jewish prophet right now on Broadway, and we need another one in Hollywood!”

The editor of the “Jewish Tribune,” Mr. Herman Bernstein, replying to Mr. Sinclair says:

“If the situation is truly as dreadful in California as Mr. Sinclair describes it. It is a matter for the police department and for the courts of justice to handle; and if Jews are found guilty of committing crimes, they should be punished even as Christians guilty of such crimes should be punished. And no element of the community would be more glad to see justice done than the Jews would.

“We deplore and condemn filth and vulgarity in the films and the theater, whether they are presented to the public by Jewish or Christian managers, but we are convinced that their religion or descent has nothing to do with their business enterprises. The Jews who offend in this respect, like the Christian offenders, do not act in the capacity of representatives of their race, and their race should not be denounced or criticized because of a few individuals.

“The Jewish people resent the responsibility forced upon them by certain writers for the acts of some Jewish offenders, while credit is withheld from the Jewish people when individual Jews distinguish themselves by rendering valuable and important services to humanity.”