[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does indicate approval.–Editor.]
The relation of Jews to Internationalism is the topic of an editorial in the “American Israelite” of Cincinnati.
“Of all the various stupid charges brought against Jews none is more absurd than that of “Internationalism’,” the paper declares. “That there is a conspiracy among Jewish international bankers to plunge countries into war for the sake of making loans to them under extremely onerous conditions for the borrowers and with very profitable results to themselves is a favored topic that men who know very little and talk very much, like Henry Ford, for instance, are given to harping upon.
“Of course, there is absolutely no foundation whatever for this belief, and even if there were, very few Jews are international bankers. In the United States there are practically none and the only house that deserves the name of being international is that of J. P. Morgan and Company.
“Of all the peoples in the world none have more reason–perhaps none as much–to fear wars as the Jews. What has befallen the Jews of Europe as a result of the Great War is too well-known to need comment. Nearly eight years after the Armistice, and in spite of all the treaties and protestations, Jews are being maltreated by their Christian fellows who have been plunged into misery by the War, as were the Jews themselves and not daring to seek vengeance upon those who are really responsible, have turned upon those who are weaker and unable to defend themselves, namely the Jews and have given themselves up to every species of savagery, murder, rape, arson, robbery, often with the connivance of their governments and without any effort of their churches to restrain them.”
However, if Internationalism indicates the effort to eliminate war, unemployment, misery, and to advocate the brotherhood of man, the paper states, then the Jews are internationalists. “This is the object for which now all governments are working and if internationalism be a crime, very few nations are free from it,” says the “Israelite.”
“The brotherhood of man is as much a Jewish doctrine as the Unity of God. ‘Have we not one God?’ ‘Israel’s Mission is Peace’ and similar declarations of doctrines are found in every Jewish ritual. Jews the world over are the most ardent peace-lovers and yet when war does come and the call of the nation goes out for men, none respond more quickly, or in larger numbers than the Jews, for love of country is as much a part of their doctrine as love of God and their fellowmen.
“It may be said without fear of successful contradiction that if it depended upon its Jewish citizens no country the world would ever again be it volved in war, except to defend the land from actual invasion.”
ENGLISH EDITOR ON BUGABOO OF RAN QUESTION IN AMERICA
The opinion that the race question, widely discussed in the United States is nothing but a bugaboo, was express{SPAN}###{/SPAN} by J. L. Garvin, editor of the London “Observer” in an article the contents {SPAN}###{/SPAN} which were cabled to the New Yon{SPAN}###{/SPAN} “Times.” He says:
“We come to the race question an### wish we had more space for it. ### are told that the old true American breed is dying out. It has been dyi### on paper for about as long as we can remember. In the early ’90s this ### another subject of distressing lamentation, but the names of the President since then have been Harrison, Clev### land, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, ### son, Harding and Coolidge. The founding breed with insular names seems do tolerably well in most capacities.
“But there is a new nightmare, ### influx of non-Teutonic peoples. There is more superstition and nonsense about race than about any other single subject in the world.
“The Irish Celts? They are of ### sorts, no doubt, but a quite normal pr### portion of them are valuable citizens They play their part in athletic record as well as in municipal politics, and everywhere they are the warp and wo### of the English speaking communities.
“Every student of ethnology is away that the Teutonic races, English and German, were mixed with the Celt on Slav or with both before America wa### heard of. What is happening to modern America happened in Europe more that a thousand years ago with enrich### vigor and genius as a result.
‘Italians? No people has produced more great men in every sphere of thought and action. No nation ought ### worry too much because it has received a large infusion of the blood more or### less common to Dante, Michelangelo Napoleon and Cavour. According to Jeremiah, Senator Marconi rejoices in ### double disadvantage for he is both Italian and Irish.
“Jews? Well, to put it shortly, Ei### stein and Lord Reading are of them.
“Slavs? As we said, they have entered deeply into the composition of the German race. If the American ract of the future shows distinct traces of the blood that produced Tolstoi as well as strong traits of the stock that brought forth Luther, Goethe and Bismarck there will be no cause for despair.
“There is nothing new to history in this part of it. Every country in Europe has solved similar problems by physical assimilation or social adjustment.”
Commenting on Mr. Garvin’s article the “Jewish Daily News” observes editorially:
“The fear of the Jew attracts the attention of Mr. Garvin and he dispenses with it in a few words: ‘Einstein and Lord Reading are of them.’ This is of course a good argument. America would have no cause for being ashamed of such citizens, although the Jewish pedigree begins much earlier than with Einstein and Lord Reading. With Isiah, Amos, David and Moses as kin, the Johnsons and the Grands have nothing to be ashamed of. The necessity of preaching race tolerance to America does not contribute to the honor of America, which was the first to teach the principle of equality of manking. However, if America needs any preaching of an outsider, Garvin is well fitted for the job.”
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.
