The United States Government was urged, on the basis of diplomatic precedent, to raise its voice in protest against the anti-Jewish excesses in Roumania, as well as the mistreatment of other national minorities in that country, at a mass meeting held Sunday night at the Hotel Astor under the auspices of the American Jewish Congress. Over 3,500 men and women crowded tl hall and many could not be admitted because of lack of room.
Following addresses delivered by Rev. Arthur J. Brown, chairman of the American Committee on the Rights of Religious Minorities; George R. Lunn, Public Service Commissioner of New York; Rev. Edward Lawrence Hunt, Director of America’s Good Will Union ; Dr. Stepen S. Wise, Carl Sherman, Judge Julian W. Mack, Judge Gustave Hartman, Grand Master of the Independent Order Brith Abraham and Max J. Kohler, who represented the Independent Order B’nai Brith, the meeting adopted a resolution expressing the sentiment of American Jews and non-Jews concerning the events in Roumania.
Max D. Steuer, who presided over the meeting, nominated a committee headed by Max J. Kohler and composed of Herman Bernstein, Louis D. Brod-sky, Carl Sherman, A. D. Katcher and Louis Lande, to draft the resolution, which was adopted in the following form:
“This mass meeting of American citizens of Jewish and Christian persuasion, actuated by the sacred obligations of human fellowship and peace among the nations, utters a solemn protest against the continued propaganda of prejudice, hatred and bloodshed carried on in Roumania against citizens and residents of the Jewish and of other Roumanian minority peoples, which have resulted in the lamentable recent assaults upon the lives and property of peaceful and law-abiding men and women, and gross infractions of treaty rights to liberty, education and the pursuit of happiness, thus causing un-told misery and anguish to the Jewish and other minority elements of that land, and extreme anxiety and apprehension to their brethren in this country, and indeed to all lovers of humanity and fair play living under the benign flag of the United States.
“The outrages committed in Roumania demand the condemnation of the whole world, and we plead for the application of justice and equality to all inhabitants of the land, which alone can assure peace, prosperity and advancement to the whole of the Roumanian people and we demand the honest and vigorous enforcement of the provisions of the Treaty of 1919, expressly designed to secure the same. The enormous addition of inhabitants of the transferred territories of Bessarabia, Transylvania, and Bukowina, particularly demand the safeguarding of the rights of these inhabitants as provided for in the fundamental charter of the rights embodied in the Treaty signed by Roumania.
“We urge our Government to heed the instructions given by President Grant to the United States Consul to Roumania, Peixotto, as far back as 1870, with respect to our government’s insistance that such infractions of law, justice, and order stop, in the course of which he said:
“Respect for human rights is the first duty of those set as rulers over nations and the humbler, poorer and more abject and miserable a people be, be they black or white, Jew or Christian, greater should be the concern of those in authority to extend protection, to rescue and redeem them. The United States knowing no distinction between her own citizens on account of religion or nationality believes in a civilization the world over which will secure the same universal views.’
“We urge our State Department to take such action compatible with diplomatic dignity as will impress upon the Roumanian Government the desires of the American people for the just and humane treatment of all minority groups in Roumania, whether of Jewish or of Christian faith, and for the preservation of such a spirit of tolerance and conciliation as will promote friendly relations between Roumania and all enlightened peoples.
“Be it further resolved that the officers of the. American Jewish Congress and cooperating organizations are authorized and directed to take such action as they deem proper to bring the facts relating to the situation and the sufferings of the minority peoples of Roumania clearly to the attention of the world at large and to those of official circles having at heart a better understanding of and the desire for promotion of good will between all the peoples of the earth.”
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.
