Mrs. Stephen S. Wise, president of the women’s division of the American Jewish Congress, stepped out on the picket line for the first time in her life today to express her “horror” that a toy firm headed by a Jew has been selling large quantities of German goods.
Flanked on one side by Mrs. Samuel Cahn, vice president of the women’s division, and on the other by Mrs. Harriet Kirsch, a friend, Mrs. Wise marched back and forth for an hour in front of the B. Shackman showroom on 34th St. near Madison Ave. bearing up proudly under a sandwich sign which asked the public not to buy from Hitler.
With reporters, photographers and the public at large clustered about her, a detail of six police attempted to disperse the pickets, but met with a firm refusal.
Rabbi Wise himself made a twenty-five cent purchase in the store last week to establish that German goods were being sold before Mrs. wise would picket. Mr. Shackman, president, admitted thirty percent of the firms stock is German-made.
The action marks the first time the American Jewish Congress has resorted to this tactic in its boycott campaign. The decision to picket was taken by its boycott committee.
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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.
