For thirty years Editor-in-chief of the Daily Express in London, England’s most celebrated journalist and chairman of the Board of Directors of the London Daily Express
The risk of being accused of harping too much on one string does not deter me from repeating today the exhortation to American Jewry to organize more effectively. You are doing well, but you are not doing anything like well enough. There are four and one-half or more millions of you in the United States, enough to cause Hitlerism to pause and reconsider. Indeed, it is undoubtedly true that but for the vigorous expression of American opinion the German camarilla would have gone much further in their anti-Semitic campaign. The difficulty, so far, has been that the attitude of people outside Germany towards the Hitler policy is almost unknown in Germany. The general public of Germany is in the first place unaware of the acts of violence and aggression which take place in various parts of the country, always “unofficial,” and secondly the views of people beyond the German frontier are not permitted to appear; and if they do, they are printed merely for the purpose of being officially denied. The other day in Italy a German visitor told me that since coming away from his country he was surprised to notice so much anti-German feeling, so much unjustifiable criticism and such untruths about Germany’s attitude toward the Jews.
“For myself,” he said, “I have no anti-Semitic views. I have many Jewish business friends. I have not cut their acquaintance.”
“Good,” I replied. “You are a man of affairs. Do you still employ Jewish lawyers? Is your physician a Jew? Do you patronize a Jewish dentist?”
“Ach ya!” he replied rather diffidently. “You see that does not concern my personal predilections. You must, of course, know that I have no choice. Es ist verboten to employ professional men.”
I ventured to contradict him by saying “No, es ist nicht verboten, but you are administered on pain of boycott not to do so. Is that not more correct?”
“Yes, yes,” he retorted. “You see, if I employed a Jewish lawyer my business would suffer.”
“I see,” I replied. “Then why this dreadful outcry because the Jews have taken a leaf from your boycott book and have employed similar methods?”
The only answer I got was that my German friend was very sorry but he had great faith in Hitler’s ability to put Germany at the head of the nations and if that was the case he would be wiling to subscribe to anything.
Meanwhile, I repeat: Organize and complete the machine. Send your subscriptions to the properly constituted authorities. Back them up. Do not stand about and tell one another that the Jews are the ablest, most efficient people in the world. Prove it by combined action. A million dollars subscribed make a more eloquent and effective and compelling impression than a thousand million verbal expostulations. Therefore, organize and let the world see that it does not pay any nation or any self-constituted group to assert authority and commit injustice without certain reprisal.
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.
