The strength of New York State’s Nazi leaders will receive its first real test tomorrow, when German-Americans will go to the polls armed with instructions to write in only the name of John F. Hylan for Governor.
In a last-minute surprise move dictated by Louis Zahne, the political committee of the German-American Conference ordered its adherents to concentrate their write-in efforts on Hylan and to “avoid confusion” by making no attempt to vote for anyone else not on the ballot.
This decree, framed in resolution form at a closed meeting of the committee in Yorkville’s Turn Halle Friday night, left Royal Scott Gulden out in the cold.
Gulden, anti-Semitic organizer and leader of the Order of ’76, had aspired to a seat in Congress from the eighteenth district. Despite action of the Board of Elections in banning his name from the ballot, he had entertained high hopes of making a good write-in showing with the aid of Zahne’s endorsement.
He learned to his sorrow Friday night, however, that the suave chairman of the German-American Independent Voters’ League had double-crossed him in typical Nazi fashion.
While Gulden sat in the Turn Halle assembly room, meekly awaiting Zahne’s bid to address an Independent Voters’ League rally there—a bid which never materialized—the political committee, meeting in the same building, was deciding to cast him adrift. Its resolution also advised against writing in the name of Gustav Wieboldt, Recovery Party candidate for attorney-general.
ADDRESSES ZAHNE GROUP
Hylan identified himself more closely than ever with the Nazi element when he appeared as the main speaker at the Independent Voters’ League meeting, declaiming all the empty old political platitudes in ringing accents.
Approached by a Jewish Daily Bulletin reporter and asked whether, in view of the League’s anti-Semitism, he would openly accept its support, Hylan fumbled for words until Zahne stepped into the breach with unctuous tact.
“Why, you know the League isn’t anti-Semitic,” he declared. “We’re supporting Judge Hylan because we want to wipe out corruption in government.”
Meanwhile Hylan had recovered his equanimity. He now struck a noble pose and said:
“I accept the support of every fair-minded group. I am fighting against no race, but for all humanity.” He was then whisked away to a German-American Conference session, where he virtually repeated his earlier speech.
On the way out one of his campaign managers whispered to the reporter:
“Don’t bring up the racial issue. It doesn’t do us any good. We know the Voters League is anti-Semtic, but, you know, it’s politics.” He departed with a wink.
Zahne, who had expressly invited a Jewish Daily reporter to the Independent Voters’ rally, announced the newspaperman’s presence to a jeering audience of about 1,000 persons.
He told the reporter, incidentally, that he himself has no intention of ever running for office.
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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.
