An appeal to take immediate and energetic action to curb the “campaign of slander” directed by the followers of Father Charles E. Coughlin against the Jews of New York City, has been addressed to Mayor LaGuardia by the General Executive Committee of the Jewish National Workers’ Alliance of America, it was announced today by Louis Segal, general secretary of the Zionist fraternal order.
Calling attention to the fact that “in recent months it has become a daily occurrence for Jews to be subjected to insults and abuses on the streets of New York, and in the subways, by the vendors of Father Coughlin’s ‘Social Justice’,” the memorandum to the Mayor declares that “it is often difficult for Jewish and non-Jewish individuals to control them selves in the face of such provocation,” with the consequence that there already have been disturbances in some sections, resulting in bloodshed.
This situation, the memorandum asserts, is created by the “enemies of democracy and of peace of our city,” and represents a danger not only for the Jewish people, but for the entire population of the city. “In view of these facts,” the memorandum continues, “we believe we have the right to inquire, Mr. Mayor, what you are doing to stop such provocations. What orders, if any, have been given to the police force to curb these insults, which Jewish citizens of New York are subjected to? Surely you must realize that the continuation of such an intolerable situation may lead to civil strife among the various religious and national groups within our City, with results that can easily be imagined.”
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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.
