Gleanings from the Press

The professions of law, of teaching in the universities, of medicine and the rest are open to all citizens of the Reich, most of them by competitive examination, and when that has been passed by the ability which each may show in his particular line, the man who has had the ability to pass that examination was free to advance and make a good income in the profession to which he had gained an entry. All of a sudden, without notice, these men have been debarred from earning their livelihood. What plea can possibly be urged for injustice of that kind and of that degree?

I have a number of Jewish friends, and without mentioning them by name I may allude to one, who is high in the academic world, a very great scholar, to another who is a deservedly respected professor of art also in a university, to half a dozen who are good writers, including one first-rate literary critic, to a dental surgeon (the best I have ever come across) and so on: there are among them painters, actors, singers, musicians of the highest talent, and first-rate mathematicians.

Each of these men by his abilities has come to occupy the position which he holds, has founded a good home and is earning a good income, which he deserves to earn. How could I condone a policy which would condemn all these men at a moment’s notice to lose what they have thus acquired? How can I call it anything but an abominable and barefaced robbery? Yet that is what has happened over the water, and that is what we are asked to agree with and excuse. To me it is incomprehensible.

What excuse is it to say that in such and such a profession such and such a majority was Jewish? The Jews attained their position in that profession in open competition; everybody knew that they were Jews; they worked under the handicap of their unpopularity. I should have thought that the proposition was elementary; when a profession is thrown open to such and such candidates, when they pass the required tests, when they advance in their careers after passing these tests, what passible right can you have to go back on your word and deprive them of that which you have promised them by the social contract into which you have entered?—Hilaire Belloc, in America.

THE CONGRESS MACHINERY

Devised as it originally was for quite different purposes, the antiquated machinery of the Congress is singularly ill adopted for disposing of the host of practical problems which the post-War years have brought with them. It is to be hoped that on this occasion an effort will be made to pave the way for intelligent decisions by preliminary conversations of a more business-like character than the somewhat hectic atmosphere of the Congress usually permits. On the other hand, there are certain functions which only a fully representative Congress can perform. The Congress is incapable of laying down a detailed programme for two years ahead; but what it can do, and what no other body can effectively do in its place, is to select the leaders of the Movement, to arm them with unquestionable authority, and to indicate the general nature of the policies to which they will be expected to give effect. The crucial problem is, as it has always been, that of leadership. The last Congress, having deposed Dr. Weizmann, set up an Executive not dominated by a single commanding personality, and comprising a variety of heterogeneous elements. What will the Eighteenth Congress bring forth? It is believed that Dr. Weizmann has decided not to be a candidate for office. There was never a time when his incomparable powers were more urgently needed in the service of Zionism than they are today.—The Jewish Chronicle, London.

LABOR’S CASE AGAINST NAZIS

In England the Labor Party, with the aid of the whole labor movement, declared a boycott on German goods. The boycott is no longer a matter for Jews alone, but is being taken up and carried out by the whole of labor and by all those who feel indignation against the regime of medievalism and barbarism which has been instituted in Germany.

We in America should learn a great deal from this example set by England. American Jews have so far, participated in the boycott of German goods. An attempt was even made to organize the boycott, but little was done to draw into the movement either American labor or the American people generally. Such an attempt must be made now.

A united boycott front which shall include not only the Jewish but all the elements of the American population is the need of the hour—The Day, New York.