Stating that “our demand for a Jewish Commonwealth must be reaffirmed without qualification” and the “bluff of the Arab League” called, Dr. Stephen S. Wise today called on the American Government to demand “an end to this cynical game with the lives of thousands and the future of our people.”
Addressing a panel on Palestine, which was part of the national convention of the American Jewish Congress being held here, Dr. Wise criticized the failure of the British Government to carry out the inquiry committee’s recommendation that 100,000 Jews be admitted to Palestine. Consultations, investigations and debate are devices used to evade action, he charged.
Malcolm Ross, chairman of the Fair Employment Practice Committee, warned a panel on “The Struggle for Economic and Social Equality,” that “the wartime gains of minority groups are being slowly but surely whittled down during the reconversion period. We are now in the period of high employment, and it is not a question of unemployment in minority groups, but being downgraded to menial and common labor above which they rose during the war. There is no way to give minority groups equal opportunity to use their full skills except through federal intervention by federal law,” he said. (Complete reports of the convention’s panels were not available when the Bulletin went to press. They will appear in tomorrow’s issue.)
Speaking at the opening session of the convention, last night, Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the Congress executive committee, also charged that the gains made during the war in elimination of discrimination in employment and education were being threatened by the “growing reaction” in the United States. He declared also that U.S. soldiers in Germany are being infected with the virus of anti-Semitism.
Dr. Wise, who also spoke last night, said that the Congress is not solely concerned with anti-Semitism. “It would be unworthy of our high tradition,” he said, “if we were concerned only about justice to the Jew. Justice to men of all faiths and races and colors within the American democracy is what we seek, what we shall battle for, and what under God we shall achieve.”
Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who was a guest speaker, said that “the most vital need today is to make the American ideal and dream become a reality in every community. That means real equality of opportunity, respect for all human beings, and the teaching of Israel democracy to children. In spite of our many differences, the basic ideals which hold us together are the same, no matter what our religious or national origins,” she added.
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.
