The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1911-01-20
By- Associated Press.

Eanism OF the United States is the
nearest approach to the ideals of the
prophets of Israel that has ever been
Incorporated in the form of state"
aeclared Oscar S. Straus, ambassador
to Turkey, in an address delivered last
night at the second annual council of
the Union of American Hebrew Con-
gregatiors, held at the Hotel Astor
America is peculiarly a promised
land wherein the spirit of the teach
ings Of the ancient prophets inspired
the work of the fathers of our coun-
try"
Mr. Straus spoke upon, America
and the Spirit of American Judaism" !"
His address follows:
.'The spirit of American Judaism
first asserted itself when Stuyvesant
the governor of New Amsterdam
would not permit the few Jewes who
had emigrated from Portugal, to unite
with the other burghers in standing
guard for the protection of their
homes. When the tax collector came
to Asser Levy to collect tax on this
account, he asked if that tax was i'm
posed on all the residents of New Am
Ssrdam. No. was the reply, it is
only imposed upon the Jewes because
they do not stand guard 4 have not
asked to be exempted replied Asser
Levy, I am not only willing, but de-
nand the right to stand guard
THAT right the Jewes have asserted
and exercised as officers and in the
ranks of the continental army and in
every crisis of our national history
from that time until the present day.
The American spirit and the spirit
of American Judaism were both nur-
tured in the same cradle of liberty,
and united together in origin, in ideals,
and in historical development. The
closing chapter OF the chronicles of
che Jewes on the Iberian peninsula
sorms the opening chapter of their his
tory on this continent 1t was Luis
Sentangel, the Beaconfield of his
time, assisted by his kinsman Gabriel
5anches, the Royal Treasurer of Ara
gon who advanced out of his own
purse seventeen thousand florins which
made the voyages of Columbus pos
sible. Luis de Torres, the Interpreter
is well as the surgeon and the physi-
ian of the little fleet, besides several
il the sailors, who were with Columbus
N his first voyage, were Jewes.
: boxing back through this visit Of
aore than four centuries as Americans
nd as Jews, we have reason to re-
lember with justified gratitude the
eresight and signal services of those
panish Jewes who had the wisdom to
ivine the far-reaching possibilities of
- plans of the great navigator, whom
ng and queen, dukes and grandees
sgarded as "a visionary babbler, and
scheming adyenturer' The royal
Atrons were finally won over by the
Jpe that Columbus might discover
aw treasurer of gold and precious
ones to enrich the Spanish crown.
ut not so with the Jewish patrons,
oh caused Columbus, or, as he was
zen called Christopher Colon, to be
called, and who advanced the money
fit out his caravels without security
I'd without interest, as they saw, as
"a divine inspiration, the promise
ID possibility of the discovery of an
her world, which in the words of
e late Emilio CASTELAR,, the historian,
atesman, and one time president of
,ain, would afford to the quickening
fnciples of human liberty temple
ared to the God of enfranchised and
deemed conscience, a land that
puld offer an unstained abode to the
Bals of progress.
s'The records of these transactions
Fortunately still preserved in the
ehives of Simancas in Seville
~ - luiS W Speculate upon HypO-
Btical theories in the face of the facts
history OF course, America would
Fe been discovered and eolonized
Columbus never lived, but had the
hams of the beginnings of American
tory flown from other sources into
Ier directions it would be futile even
make an imaginative forecast of the
~ they would have produced upon
history and development of this
Stinent. The merciless intolerance
IN ecclesiastical system and the
Sror Of its prosecutions stimulated
earliest immigration, and subse-
Ently brought about the reformation
Saxon and Anglo-Saxon lands, and
same spirit drove to our shores
pilgrim and the puritan fathers;
ch chain of circumstances destined
country from the very beginning
be the land of the immigrant and