Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-10-29
FIRST JEW IN TIE CABINET
0sCsr ttraus Has A ready Kais Coed in
Cthsr Walks Of Life,
EXCELLENT RECORD AS A DIPLOMAT
Members of Race Are I'm senate and
House. and Presidents Appoint
ment EvOkes Favorable
Comment
CFrom a stan Correspondent

NAaiAANS III Nlit tdullltl has NIGAAEu - HlNoNNA
sensation in political circles than any SIM
liar publication has made in many years
/ II Is not only that the Hon. oscar Straus
is a former democrat that comment is
widespread but he is the first man OF the
Jewish faith to have been chosen a mem
Der Of the presidents official family since
/ the foundation Of the government. During
! the days OF the confederacy Jefferson Davis
chief adviser was Judah z. Benjamin
Jew.
And yet the American Jew has been an
! important factor in American politics since
the inception Of the movement which led
{ TO the adoption of the Constitution, 1t VS.
: the influence OF the jew in the early days
Of the nation which caused the framing OF
/ that document in such phraseo'ogy a. to
assure absolute religious liberty in the new
republic; and It was the Jew who was in
strumental in preventing a declaration TO
the effect that this Is a Christian nation"
in the American tree Of rights
During the second war with Great Brit
ain It was a Jew, Mordecai Noah, who
held South Carolina in line and thereby
made the war possible, and it was the same
Jew, Noah, who turned his private fortune
over to the government TO aid in the con-
duct Of that war. And It is to the shame
OF the republic that Noah was vlifed and
ostracised by his felow-countrymen, aban-
doned by his government and that neither
| he nor his descendants were paid back the
money which he advanced.
Other Jews in Public Life.
The bigotry in religious matters which
existed 100 years ago has gradually evap-
Grated. Today the presence Of Jew in
! the halls of congress excites no comment.
There have been members of the faith
in both houses for many years In the
senate today is Isador Raynor of Mary
land, while i'm the house are Adolph Myer
Of Louisiana, Lucian Littauer of Now
York, Representative Goldfogle Of New
York, and several others.
In England, Disrali was the first Jew to
be admitted to seat in Parliament. and
/ he, as is well known. reached the high
est pinnacle, politically, to which a com
moner can aspire-the premiership. In
! this country the Jews have held important
diplomatic positions, and in the unofficial
councils of state they have been potont
factors But, as Mark Twain has pointed
! out, II is principally in the line Of COM
| merce and finance that the Hebrew has
| been prominent. 1t must not be forgot
| ten, however, that professors of the faith
/ have done great work in both the army
and navy branches of our military sery-
/ ice.
| Mr.. Straus Is a capitalist, a philan-
! thropist and a diplomat. In the financial
world he ranks among the kings. AS
! philanthropist he has been practical. The
! pure milk depots established in New York
| City for the benefit of the poor of all
creeds and colors were created by him,
and thousands upon thousands of poor
! people on Manhattan island bless him
/ o. l. nI,a IN he fTIn ia
| ice, as minister to Turkey he. exhibited
a wonderful knowledge of the intricacies
of European diplomacy, and II is largely
| due to his record as a diplomat that
! President Roosevelt has rendered him
one of his cabinet portfolios He should
make an ideal secretary of commerce and
labor.
The selection of one Of their faith FOR
! the first time, to hold a portfolio has
caused a flood of kilograms of commendR-
! ton for his action TO pour in upon the
president from members of the Jewish
race.
Marine Corps TO the Front.
Strenuous efforts are to be made from
| this time forth to increase the marine
corps. This branch Of the service has,
since the Spanish war, received the recog-
milton which was never before accorded
to it. It is not forgotten that It was the
corps which FIRST landed at Guantanamo,
! on the south coast of the Island of Cuba,
and that it was the men with the red
| stripes on their trousers" who first demon
strated to the Spaniards what American
/ fighting men are made of. Twenty years
ago there was serious talk OF abolishing
the corps entirely. The marines were re-
garded as the police force of the navy.
Their duties were supposed TO consist prin-
I cipally In maintaining order and discipline
among drunken sailors. But along in the
sos, when there was threatened trouble on
the isthmus of Panama, 1t was Colonel
Hayward and his marines who landed and
maintained order 1t was the marine
corps which garrisoned the Island OF
Guam, after the surrender OF that far-on
oasis in the desert of the Pacific by the
spaniards. It was the marine corps which
was first to land In China during the
boxer" outbreak, and in every scrap
in which this country has been engaged
since the close of hostilties in 1856 the ma
rines have been in the forefront.
This branch Of the American military
service offers, perhaps, better chances for
promotion than either the navy proper or
the army Graduates of the Annapolis
academy are not partial TO the marine
corps, largely because it's duties are dis
lduL anu apart from those OF a. EaliOTt
and after a boy has spent six years In
the study OF navigation. engineering and
I gunnery he resents the idea of a purely
military career. Consequently few grad
yates Of Annapolis enter the corps-none
whatever from choice.
Examining Doctors on strike.
on the other hand. the boy who accepts
"the shilling OF the recruiting sergeant"
has a career before him il he is built of
the right stun. Inside Of year he may
win the chevron OF a nOncommissoned Of
hcer and three years later commission as
a second lieutenant is within reach, pro-
vided he has the necessary education TO
pass the examination. the vim to try and
the willingness TO strive.
But the recruiting officers have found
much difficulty in obtaining recruits in re-
cent years, and especially during the last
three months. and strange as II may ap-
pear the cause OF their III success is 10
be found not In the hardships Of the serv-
ice, but in the dihioulty found in obtain
ing physicians willing TO examine into the
physical conditions of the recruits who