Abraham Cahan, for 33 years editor of the “Forward,” the largest Yiddish daily newspaper in the world, and a veteran of Yiddish journalism and the Jewish Socialist movement in the United States, is seventy years old today but no celebration of the event will take place in accordance with the wishes of Mr. Cahan.
The editor of the “Forward,” who is now the dean of Yiddish newspapermen in this country, was born July 13 in the township of Podberezne, province of Vilna, Russia. He came to the United States in 1882. In an amazingly short time he mastered the English language and shortly after began teaching English to foreigners in the public night schools of New York.
After a number of years in this country he became a contributor to the New York English dailies, his sketches of East Side life becoming extremely popular. His great journalistic achievements, however, began when in 1897 he was named editor of the recently established Jewish daily “Forward.” As the editor of this great paper, the organ of the Jewish labor movement, he became the most influential personality in the Jewish trade union movement in America.
Mr. Cahan has also won fame in the English literary world, being the author of several collections of ghetto sketches and two full length novels, “The Rise of David Levinsky” and “Yekl the Yankee.” The entire Yiddish journalistic world looks upon abraham Cahan as the ablest and most energetic Jewish editor.
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.
