Not until at least June 4 will there be any action on the Rafferty Bill which is designed to curb vicious propaganda in the state. The Senate Judiciary Committee now has the bill and since the Legislature has adjourned until June 4, decision necessarily will be in abeyance.
Meanwhile leaders of the Friends of New Germany in Hudson and Essex Counties have been extraordinarily energetic through messages and personal delegations seeking to protest against the measure. These do not even cloak their opposition under the guise of questionable constitutionality, although Assemblyman. John J. Rafferty, sponsor of the measure, and Assemblyman Samuel Pesin have issued a brief contending it will stand any court test.
Thus John Bischoff of Union City, who headed one delegation, unhesitaingly declared: “Our Hudson County branch of the Friends of New Germany has a membership of 22,000, all against this bill. We gathered 5,380 petitions asking that it be defeated and the petitions were signed by members through the state. We left the petitions with the Senators as an expression of our attitude. We deny we are against the Jews but we are against the Jewish boycott of German goods. We are not allied with any foreign government, being good Americans. Our organization is planning to open a department store in New York to handle only German-made goods. We won’t stop our activities until the Jewish boycott is discontinued.”
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