Untermyer Hails Stand Taken by the A. F. of L.

Expressing gratification at the decision of the American Federation of Labor to continue the boycotting of German goods and services, Samuel Untermyer, president of the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, issued a statement Friday to all members of cooperating branches of the league throughout the country urging that they take advantage of the continued support given the boycott.

“The decision of the American Federation of Labor does not of course surprise me knowing as I do the devotion of the leadership of American labor to the principles of human equality and justice, and realizing the large stake which labor has in her world-wide struggle against Nazi tyranny and domination. At the same time it has been most encouraging to note the promptness and readiness and the keen understanding with which organized labor has from the outset rallied to the forces which have challenged the Nazi assault upon all elementary human rights regardless of race or creed. The Hitler rule continues to be an ever increasing menace to labor, religious freedom and civilization and a threat to the peace of the world. From the point of view of universal peace, labor, too, is especially conscious of the threat that now hovers over Europe.

EFFECTS ACKNOWLEDGED

“The effect of the boycott upon the industries of Germany has now been acknowledged in the last speech of Chancellor Hitler himself, even though he has stated the case with the falsity that is inherent in all of the Nazi intellectual perverseness. The news from Munich about the ruthless persecution of the Protestant Church which comes to us the same day when the Federation of Labor has reiterated its stand on the boycott is the best commentary on the wisdom, foresight and fine spirit of humanity that animated this and similar decisions. This protest comes not only from American labor but from organized labor the world over. It emphasizes our contention from the beginning that this is not in any sense a Jewish question notwithstanding the desperate efforts of the Nazi government to so misrepresent it.