Digest of World Press Opinion

The New York World-Telegram, in an editorial on the outcome of the Saar plebiscite, says:

Already there are ominous signs that return of the Saar is stimulating the two worst features of Nazism. One is the mania to grab Austria. The other is terrorism against labor organizations, against Jews and against Catholic and Protestant leaders.

Doubtless Hitler has learned enough by this time to know that excesses of this kind in the past caused the other nations to join in a virtual protective alliance against Nazi Germany. It has driven even the suspicious France and Italy together. Any revival of Nazi plots in Austria and neighboring countries, or of terrorism in the Saar will complete the moral, political and military isolation of Germany.

PROTECTION FOR MOSUL OIL LINE

The opening of the Iraq-Palestine oil pipe the is commented upon editorially by the New York Times as follows

Mosul is virtually Nineveh, and the region traversed by the new pipe line is still the richest in history. The route is punctuated by names like Euphrates, Tigris, Mesopotamia, Baghdad, Syria, Palestine. No caravan laden with silks, myrrh, rubies and frankincense even approached the riches of the turbid mineral stream now flowing from the Assyrian oil wells to the Mediterranean refineries.

Ishmael of the desert, if he goes on a rampage, can get nothing of this wealth for himself, but he can make lots of trouble for the oil companies. The line will be patrolled by airplanes, but it is not unlikely that a moderate good-conduct subsidy to the desert sheiks will be one item in the company overhead.

GOLDSTEIN’S APPOINTMENT PRAISHED BY POST

The New York Evening Post, commenting editorially on the appointment of Jonah J. Goldstein as judge in {SPAN}t###{/SPAN} Court of General Sessions, says:

In filling the post left vacant on the Court of General Sessions by the death of Judge Corrigan, Governor Lehman could make no wiser choice than to name Magistrate Jonah J. Goldstein.

The late #udge Corrigan was himself a former magistrate, and there could be no better way to reward good conduct on the magistrate’s bench than to name an outstanding magistrate to the vacancy.

Magistrate Goldstein has a record for social understanding, integrity and fairness to labor that has been equalled by few of his fellow magistrates. He has written of social problems and shown comprehension of them on the bench.

His appointment would be fitting reward for long and honorable service, and an incentive to good work in the magistracy.

SOVIETS NORMALIZE JEWISH PROBLEM

The present situation of the Jews in Soviet Russia is described in an article in Zeitschau, a paper published in Vienna:

It should be remarked at the outset that the Jews occupy no special position in Russia. Whatever affects the Jews affects in equal degree the other peoples of the Union, Ukrainians, White Russians, Caucasians, Tartars, Turkmen, Kirghizes, etc.

There are now 3,000,000 Jews living within the boundaries of the Soviet Union, but there is no Jewish question comparable to that of many European countries. This is readily perceived when we consider the real meaning of the Jewish question, namely, the unhealthy economic structure of the Jewish population.

The economic aspect of the question has been solved for the 3,000,000 Jews of Russia. In the course of the first and second Five Year Plans a fundamental change has taken place, and the economic structure of the Jewish population is now making rapid strides towards normality.

EDDIE CANTOR PHILOSOPHIZES

The London Daily Telegraph inquired of Eddie Cantor as to why Jews make such good comedians and musicians. The philosophical reply given by Eddie is as follows:

Because the comedian who lacks pathos cannot last, and for centuries the Jews have suffered. They have been weak, oppressed, harassed. They have had to dissemble or die, to smile when they have felt rage, laugh when their hearts have been breaking.

And for the same reason they are good musicians. They have found in music an outlet. In song or with the violin they have been able to pour out personal grief, give expression to age-old racial sorrows.

It is not the hand that guides the bow of our great violinists: it is the heart. That is why so many Jews are great.

RECONSTRUCTION AND ZIONISM

Under the headline, “Zionism Is Not Enough,” the Reconstructionist, a bi-weekly publication issued by the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, writes editorially:

It is a mistake to assume that Zionism can furnish not only the strategy of revolution in Jewish life but also the plan of reconstruction which must follow. When it comes to constructive effort, Zionism cannot and should not attempt more than to mobilize all Jewish energies and resources for the upbuilding of Palestine.

When we consider the limited forces with which the Zionist organization has to operate, it would be quixotic to call upon it to engage in the organization of communal life. As for developing social and economic programs, the opportunity of experimenting with them in Palestine as at present constituted is far too limited to make it possible for Zionism to compete with the social and economic isms of the day.

This must by no means be interpreted as advocating that Zionists hew to the line of financial and political activities. Such a policy would be nothing less than suicidal. On the contrary, the task of supplying the rationale for the movement and of making clear the significance of Palestine for Jewish life everywhere is an integral and indispensable part of Zionist activity.