Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-08-03
KEEP OUT OF POLITICS.
Simon Wolf Advises the Jews Not to Go Into It As a Race.

Washington. D. C.. Aug 3.-Indi- cations a-plenty point to the inJunc- ton of new and important factor into the equation of national politics. The new factor may not figure ma terially in the congressionnf ' cam- bafgn this year. but it is ainfoN cer. tan that 1t will have to be reckoned within the presidential contest of l9oS'
 Heretofore. the Jewish vote has. not been considered definite entity fin political campaigns The most ill., fiuential members of the Jewish race have drowned upon all efforts to sol idify the Jews in America in the in-' terest of one political party or an- other and. as consequence. the ef- forts have been futile The Jewish vote divided on purely American lines. The members of the race voted the republican or the demo- cratic ticket. or the ticket of any other political organization they might choose, their opinions and con sciences being their only dicctators.
 In the opinion of many political observers, that situation is undergo ng a change that. eventually. will sol idify the Jewish vote. This "a due, in great part at least. to the rapid in- flux of Jews from Russia and Aus !. tria- Hungary. The immigration of these people to the United States practically has doubled in the past year or two. Tn the month of June it was nearly a hundred and fifty per cent, more than 1t was in June of 1905. Most of these people, 'on their arrival in America. settled in large cities and. in the most natural way possible. aggregated themselves into colonies. As rapidly as the laws will permit. they become citizens of the United States-voters. who wield as great power with the ballot as do na- tive Americans. Their training. their ideas and their instincts are essen- tiaily. often radically. different from those of people American born and q conflict between them at the polls ap- pears to be inevitable. In discussing briefly this phase of the situation. Mir Simon Wolf. formerly president of the B'nai B'rhh and one of the foremost men of the Jewsh race in America, said:
 T have stumped this country in al- most every state and insistently have urged the Jews in America not to gO into politics as a race. In our political contests we have had 10 deal with Germans. with Irishmen. with negroes and. 10 an extent. with Italians. as political entities, as bod ies of citizens who stood together for certain candidates or certain princi- pies. I have deprecated the consid- eratiOn of Jews fin that way. have constantly preached Americanism and have urged all Jews In this coun- i try tO be just plain Americans. Uni i formly have refused to address bod ies of my people fin the German lan- gusge. I talk 10 them in English and ! urge them to vote. not as body. but l as each individuals opinions and conscience dictate Heretofore. they have followed that advice. What may be the result If they should de termine to cast their votes solidIy for q particular party Or for a particular set of principles is difficult to esti- mate. In New York, for instance. enough votes are east by the Jewish population tO turn the tide of any pOli- tica1 contest. In other words they hold the balance of power in that state, In other states. they constitute q very important factor.
 '1TLe Jews who gre coming here from Russia and Austria Hungary. especially from the former. are seek ing in this country a haven of rest from persecution. from outrage. form massacre I appreciate that this government can do practically nothing effective for the protection of the JeTs in Russia. We c1xDotDndv