A sharp resolution against the plan of Thomas F. Dwyer, commissioner of markets, to license kosher butchers was unanimously adopted Sunday at a mass meeting in Clinton Hall. The meeting also appointed a committee of butchers to see Mayor Walker and Commissioner Dwyer to express opposition to the plan. The resolution points out that the plan of the market commissioner, if carried out, would give corrupt inspectors far more opportunities for graft than they now have, Mr. Dwyer having proposed his plan after charges by H. J. Reiter, a Queens kosher butcher, that John R. Shea, departmental supervisor, attempted to extort $100 from him, which led to the suspension of the supervisor.
While those at the meeting were united in opposing the proposed licensing ordinance of Commissioner Dwyer, there was difference of opinion among the speakers concerning the best means of enforcing the existing State law concerning the sale of kosher meat. Meyer Machlis, counsel for Reiter, recommended a complete change in the method of regulating the sale of kosher meat. He opposed the licensing law as giving “the crooked supervisor a bigger whip over the butcher than the one he now has.” William B. Jaffe, counsel for the Bronx Butchers’ Association, also opposed the license ordinance for similar reasons. The interests of the 2,000,000 Jews of New York are most important in any settlement of the problem, he said.
William Greenwald, president of the Bronx Kosher Butchers’ Association, who presided at the meeting, appointed the following committee to call on the Mayor: Hyman Horn, Joseph Rosen, Joseph Stier, Morris Kraut, Harry Greenberg, Louis Goldstein, R. Rabinowicz, Solomon Cohen, Alexander Shiller, Isidore Botkin, Usher Spitalnick, Daniel Shupach, Rubin Poizcakof, Joseph Weinzenger, Max Schwartz, Nathan Grossman, Charles. Levinson, Isidore Malmud, Samuel Jaffe and Isaac Hecht.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.