(Jewish Daily Bulletin)
A letter from the” Dearborn Independent” to one of its writers instructing him to get facts regarding “the Jewish boys” who are “putting the works on the farmers,” was read to the jury today by William Henry Gallagher, Sapiro’s counsel in the $1,000,000 libel suit against Henry Ford. This letter was adduced as evidence to show that Ford’s organ, the “Independent,” started out with a campaign against the alleged “Jewish gang” or “conspiracy” of which Sapiro was later named as a member. Thus the ” Jewish issue,” which the Ford counsel sought so assiduously to keep out, came up again and caused a clash which resulted at one point in the excusing of the jury while counsel argued the matter.
William J. Cameron, editor of the “Dearborn Independent,” was recalled to the witness stand. He insisted that Ford was unaware of the anti-Jewish articles published in his paper. When asked to name some members of the alleged “Jewish gang,” Cameron said he did not remember, nor did he know where the headquarters of the “gang” were located.
The letter read by Gallagher was written by R. H. Rowland, of the “Independents’s editorial department, to Harry H. Dunn of Berkley, Cal., whose articles appeared under the pen name of “Robert Morgan.” The letter, in part, follows:
“Don’t snicker when I tell you that the Jewish boys are putting the works on the farmers. It began when Barney Baruch first became interested in Kansas after Wilson left the White House. Since then there has been a great deal of Jewish interest in the plight of the farmers, especially as to mortgaging their souls and bodies through the government agencies, plus the various co-operative movements.
“We have been desirous of getting something tangible, and here seems to be the opportunity to clean up the West Coast situation. I don’t imagine you will have much difficulty in rounding the facts up on this, although all of it will take considerable time. If you can get it we’ll protect you, of course, and it will be as fully remunerative if not more so than the Abrams material.
“Let me know from time to time how the work is progressing, and if there is any trip you must take to gather the facts, go ahead, and send in the expense account to us. I believe that you have an opportunity to do considerable ‘chronicling of the neglected truth’ in this case.”
Mr. Gallagher contended that the articles, which named a number of distinguished Jews, became a libel of Sapiro and each of the men named individually.
Charges and denials that Ford maliciously inspired articles in his “Dearborn Independent” alleged to libel the plaintiff preceded the resumption of testimony.
“We will show,” declared Gallagher, “that Mr. Ford maliciously conspired in these libels in the ‘Dearborn Independent’, and we will show further that the ‘Independent’ is only the mouthpiece of Henry Ford.
“And we demand that he be penalized in proportion to his wealth; that he be made to pay a sum which would seem as large to him as $100 would to me.”
The foregoing declaration developed over a motion by counsel for Ford to exclude files and correspondence of the paper prior to the date in which the series of articles appeared that assailed Sapiro, so he alleges, as the agent of an international conspiracy of Jewish financiers seeking to enslave the American farmer through the forming of co-operative selling organizations.
When Mr. Cameron was recalled to the stand he was asked by Gallagher to identify various articles in the “Independent.”
Q. Haven’t you in your mind the name of a single banker who was a member of such a band? A. No, but I have a picture in my mind.
Q. Did you know that at the time these articles were published not a single dollar had been borrowed from any Jewish banker by any association Mr. Sapiro was connected with? A. No, I did not.
Q. Was there any banker you had knowledge of who had loaned money to any association Mr. Sapiro was connected with?
Cameron started to explain and was interrupted. Finally, he answered negatively.
He said he had an impression that Sapiro’s associations in several instances employed advertising agencies which had Jewish members.
Q. Did you know only two associations organized by Mr. Sapiro employed a Jewish selling organization? A. No, I didn’t know that.
He made the same denial with regard to the employment of Jewish managing and office staffs.
CAMERON DOES NOT KNOW WHERE ALLEGED “BAND” IS LOCATED
Q. Did you have any understanding as to where the headquarters of this band of Jews was? A. It wasn’t a question where but who.
The subject of the letter to Dunn was next brought up. Mr. Gallagher asked:
Did you have a part in writing that letter? A. Well, it was all a part of a plan.
Q. Your idea at that time was a set of Jewish articles and not necessarily a set of Sapiro articles?
This question precipitated a violent argument, and the jury was excused while lawyers fought over the matter, which involved the manner in which the alleged libels came to be published.
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.
