Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative. Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]

The work of the Anti-Defamation League, established by the I. O. B. B. thirteen years ago, is lauded in the “Day” by Dr. K. Fornberg, who discusses the report issued by the League reviewing its thirteen years of activity.

“As could be surmised, the report was written in an optimistic tone,” Dr. Fornberg writes. “The leaders are satisfied with the results. Yes, contrary to the prevalent opinion that anti-Semitism is growing, the authors of the report find that the work of defending the Jewish honor is no longer so urgent and important, that in various large fields of public life the treatment accorded the Jews gives no cause for protest; and that therefore the time has arrived for positive, constructive work to implant in our Christian neighbors a better understanding and knowledge of Jews and Judaism, feeling certain that this in itself will create greater good will toward the Jews.”

Analyzing the conclusions of the report, Dr. Fornberg points out: “It is to be seen that precisely in the spheres of politics and culture generally American anti-Semitism has struck no deep or lasting roots. The situation is different in respect to the economic field. The most frequent insults, the report tells us, appeared in trade publications, agricultural journals, periodicals, etc. Here the League had to fight hard and persistently. Here then we have one fundamental root of anti-Semitism, the economic. And another one the social root, combined with the first is especially conspicuous in the advertisements which too frequently ask for ‘Christians only.’ A law against this form of advertisement has been passed in seven states and the League is satisfied. But–no matter how optimistic the League may be with its achievements, it must be added that in actual life it is easier to detect in these fields during the last 13 years of history facts and tendencies for the worse rather than for the better.”

Referring to the activities of Ford and the Klan the writer emphasizes how “ungrateful the task of guarding the Jewish honor and cleansing American life of the anti-Semitic filth has been. And for its faithful work the Anti-Defamation League deserves our wholehearted gratitude,” he says.

“DEARBORN INDEPENDENT” LAUDS PRITCHETT REPORT

Dr. Pritchett’s unfavorable report on Palestine has found a friendly welcome in the “Dearborn Independent.” In an editorial on the subject, Ford’s organ writes:

“There is nothing new for readers of the ‘Dearborn Independent’ in the report on Zionism made by Dr. Henry S. Pritchett, of the Carnegie Endowment, but it is significant that a group which could not possibly be labeled ‘Anti-Semitic’ has reached the same conclusion expressed in this magazine years ago. The project of settling Jews in Palestine is fated to failure; Zionism itself was but a diversion of public attention from a general Jewish world program; honest Jews visiting Palestine to see where all the contributed millions have gone have returned home frankly puzzled; the nations which were first inveigled by Jewish war support into approval of the Zionist scheme have long since discovered their error, and inevitable failure appears,” Ford’s paper declares.