Resolution for Congressional Inquiry into Ford’s Charges Referred to Rules Committee

(Jewish Daily Bulletin)

The resolution introduced into the House of Representatives by Congressman Bloom, asking for a Congressional investigation of Ford’s charges that “the International Jew is in direct control of all financial centres of Government, including the United States Federal Reserve System,” reads:

“Resolved, whereas, on Dec. 11, 1926, one Henry Ford of Detroit, Michigan, is reported to have issued the following statement: ‘That the international Jew is in direct control of all financial centres of Government, including the United States Federal Reserve System’;

“Whereas, such statement if true presents grave charges concerning the operation of the Government, the activities of the Federal Reserve system and the Jewish people.

“Resolved, that a select committee of seven members of the House of Representatives, be appointed to inquire into the truth or falsity of said statement and recommend such action as it may deem necessary.

“Resolved further, that said committee is also hereby authorized and empowered to appoint such sub-committees as it may deem advisable, and the said committee or any sub-committee therof is hereby authorized to sit during the sessions of the House or during any recess of the House, and to hold its sessions in such places as the committee may determine; to require by subpoena or otherwise the attendance of witnesses, the production of books, papers and documents, to administer oaths and affirmations, and to take testimony.

“Resolved further, that the Speaker is hereby authorized to issue subpoenaes to witnesses upon the request of the committee or any sub-committee therof at any time, including any recess of the Congress; and the Sergeant at Arms is hereby empowered and directed to serve all subpoenaes and other processes put into his hands by said committee or any subcommittee thereof.

“Resolved further, that said select committee shall have the right at any time to report to the House in one or more reports the results of its inquiries with such recommendations as it may deem advisable.”

The resolution was referred to the Rules Committee, and Mr. Bloom will seek an early report to the House. He said he would rise in the House to a question of personal privilege and insist that in view of the charge implicating the Federal Reserve System with a sinister control that the House should take cognizance of the incident.

In his statement on Henry Ford’s charges, Dr. Stephen S. Wise declared: “It is too sad for words. Nathan Straus, ringleader in a conspiracy to keep children alive and healthy, made a generous proposal to Henry Ford. Sportsmanship in the elementary decencies dictated its acceptance. Instead of that, poor Mr. Ford, pitiably poor, despite his fortune, replies to Nathan Straus by repeating all the Protocol defamations of the Jew,–the false character of which was definitely established some years ago by some of the foremost scholars and teachers of the nation.

“Nathan Straus has evidently been mistaken. He did Henry Ford the honor of assuming that the latter would rejoice to retract charges which might originally have been made in error. But, no, Henry Ford is evidently under the dominance of a group, which will not permit him to know the truth. Or else, he is the still more tragic victim of a delusional mania.

“The Christian world, which reasons and feels aright, knows what to think of the Ford charge of Jewish omnipotence in the light of the truth that nearly half the Jews of the world are without elementary rights and life’s barest necessities in Eastern European lands.

“The fact that Mr. Ford is a successful manufacturer of four-wheeled velocipides does not invest with special value his judgment on all problems. In the light of this latest outburst of a man with an ‘idee fixe’, men will know how much weight to attach to statements made by Henry Ford on subjects unconnected with the field of locomotion,” Dr. Wise concluded.

Herman Bernstein, editor of the “Jewish Tribune”, issued a statement which read in part: “The reiterated charges which Ford makes now, a rehash of the offensive and false statements contained in his series of articles on ‘The International Jew’, require no answer at this time. They were answered long ago. Like all anti-Semitic falsehoods and fabrications, old and new, his charges have no legs to stand on. It is Henry Ford who should defend himself for violating the commandment ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness’.”

With a total of $91,500 reported, the campaign in Baltimore, Md., of the United Palestine Appeal closed Monday night, December 13, with a dinner at the Southern Hotel. To this sum, it is said, Jacob Epstein will add five per cent., bringing the total amount to $96,075.

All returns have not yet been made. It is expected the total will reach $100,000. The quota set for the campaign in Baltimore was $150,000.

Speakers at the dinner included Rabbi Adolph Coblenz, of the Chizuk Amuno Synagogue; Dr. Harry Friedenwald, Harry T. Kellman, Mrs. Emil Crockin, Mrs. Joseph Goldman and L. Manuel Hendler.