Digest of World Press Opinion

Speaking of anti-alien legislation, now an idea beginning to gain popularity in some quarters in England for the purpose of preventing German Jews from settling in London, Lord Ponsonby writes in the Manchester Guardian.

It is amusing to note that the strongest and wealthiest advocates of “Britain for the British” lose their vehemence and change their tone when it is suggested to them that the French chefs who cook their dinners and the French dressmakers who supply gowns for their wives should return to their native land. The closing down in London of all the Soho restaurants would certainly be resented. So a category known as “undesirable aliens” is invented i order to prevent poor refugees and those fleeing from persecution in foreign countries from landing on our shores. Regulations, passports, and tariffs continue more effectively than ever to set up barriers between nations. That they should be considered necessary only shows how extreme nationalism tends to isolation and economic self-sufficiency leads to international discord. Greater facilities for travel may in time alter this narrow outlook, but for the time being free intercourse and free exchange have ceased even to be ideals to be aimed at.

The assertion that the English speaking races come from Israel is made in the Hampshire Chronicle, English daily newspaper, which writes:

Recent researches into the history of Israel from the time she left Assyria until she came into the promised resting place in the Isles, have been and are being so successful that there is no doubt that before long all her journeyings will be traced, and the proof that the English speaking races are indeed Israel will be established by irrefutable evidence.

For many years, however, before these journeyings could be traced, many people were drawn to recognize the fact from the evidence of prophecy fulfilled in history. Two sets of prophecies exist, one with regard to the Jews (i.e., mainly the tribe of Judah) and one vastly different with regard to Israel. Those relating to the Jews have been, as everyone knows, marvellously fulfilled, and thoughtful people began to reason that if God had fulfilled the prophecies relating to Judah He must also have fulfilled those relating to Israel. They began to look round for “a nation and a company of nations” whose history and circumstances answered a prophecy and they found what they sought in the English speaking race.

The clues in Scripture are so numerous that the late Mr. Hine published two books containing no less than ninety-four identifications.

The London Times brings the following report from the Academic Assistance Council which is helping German Jewish scholars and scientists to find positions in exile:

At a recent meeting of the Academic Assistance Council and at meetings of representatives of other academic organizations held in London it was possible to report substantial progress.

Of the German scholars and scientists displaced since April 1933, 200 have found permanent places and 325 have been provided with temporary facilities for continuing their research outside Germany. This means that at least two-thirds of the total number who are justified in hoping to continue their scientific work have been assisted to remain in the academic world.

The total task is limited and manageable, but requires steady and energetic work for a long time. So far as the Academic Assistance Council is concerned we are at present giving emergency grants to seventy-one scholars and scientists in the universities of this country to maintain them while seeking permanent posts. Of the scholars to whom the council made grants before April, 1934, approximately one-third have already found positions outside this country, and we are convinced that this absorption will continue, provided that emergency grants-in-aid can still be given. There is serious danger, however, of funds being exhausted before permanent placement is achieved.

MASSES HOLD THE SOLUTION

The Pariser Tageblatt carries an article by its editor Dr. Georg Bernhardt, dealing with the question of whether a world Jewish congress is desirable. Dr. Bernhard writes:

Opponents of a world Jewish congress are wrong in their belief that with the higher circles, which stand out above the level of the general Jewish lot, and live peacefully in the lands of equality, lies the future of the Jew. On the contrary, the future of the Jews in the lands of equality will in the next few decades depend on the lot of the masses of Jewry. And the changed situation in Germany proves this.

Jews of France and England pride themselves on their activities in the political, cultural and economic field in those countries in which their ancestors have lived for hundreds of years. But was that not the case in Germany? Yet all the Jewish achievements in Germany were wiped out almost overnight.

What guarantee is there that under certain conditions similar things will not happen also in other countries of the world? It is not the Jewish lord, nor the Jewish factory magnate, nor the Jewish intellectual; but the protection of the masses of Jews in the lands of mass Jewish settlement in the Galuth, and the improvement of their status and position, which will in the future also influence the West.

HEBREW WRITERS FACE HARDSHIPS

{SPAN}Haaret#{/SPAN}, Hebrew daily in Palestine, publishes an article by Dr. Klausner on the distress which Hebrew writers and artists face even in Palestine. Dr. Klausner states:

“Even here in Eretz Israel, the situation is very far from satisfactory. Books which are published in the country have only a very small sale abroad. And since a small section of the nation cannot support a national literature, there is not even one publishing house in the country which can support itself honorably and also give honorable support to Hebrew writers. Not one of these houses could exist without the artificial measures of prizes and lotteries. Thus cultural creative work really deserving of that name has almost stopped.

JNF WORK IN OTHER LANDS

The Florida Jewish News, speaking of the proportion in which American Jewry contributes to the Jewish National Fund, states:

Many American Jews feel that they are bearing the brunt of supporting the Jewish National Fund, the purpose of which is to redeem land in Palestine so that Jewish refugees may have a foothold on a national homeland.

The actual fact is that other Jewries are much more active than American Jews in contributing to the Palestine land problem. We have recently looked up figures to verify the above statement. English Jewry, for example, with a population one-tenth of ours have during the past year produced a greater amount than we have for the “Keren Kayemeth.” South African Jewry, with one-twentieth of our population, has yielded almost as much as we while Polish Jewry, economically crushed, has given an amount almost as large as ours.