New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-30
HASTY DEATH SENTENCE

.NeW iVth, auS 20, Aol''
HASTY DEATH SENTENCE
Translation from editorial that appeared a.
The Jeuish Morning Journal" Tuesday, Ave.,
rs, 1910
An article that Mr.. Samuel Straus, IA.
written in THE Villager" was reprinted 4,
The New York Tribune, and will most like,v
be reprinted in other newspapers that reach
the large American masses.
Mr.. Strauss has been connected with q,
English afternoon paper in New York. and
later with large morning paper, and is no
doubr accepted as an authority on journal.
ism in general. He is also not unknown n
Jewish communal affairs, and this AWAY.
suffices for the large outside world to desis.
nate one as a Jewish leader. He SEEM,
therefore, to be doubly equipped with right
to give his opinion about the newspaper, OF
the country, and we would gladly recorni..
this had he written about the large Ameri.
can press, with which he is doubtless well
acquainted He writes, however, about the
foreign language press and pronounces il,
death sentence. He admits that there ar.
some newspapers in foreign tongues that
are good, but he contends that as q whols
they have outlived their period of useful.
ness, and when such time arrives the good
must 60 together with the bad, and h. end,
by saying: Unity of political lsngusg. IL
essential to the safety of the republic. The
foreign language press must 60"
This statement reminds us of book
against Jews that appeared here several
decades ago, which was a translation or an
adaptation of Drummond's la France
Juive." The old aspersions against the Jew,
were clumsly adapted to the Circumstance.
here in this country, and the last paragraph
was "The Jew Must Co." Well, the Jew
did not go. He came here since then in con.
siderable numbers, and has contributed
large number of readers and advertisers to
the enterprises with which Mr. Strauss has
been connected at various times of his
career, and the foreign language press will
also not go" certainly not as rapidly as our
Hebrew-American newspaper man would de-
sire it. The foreign language press will bs
saved by the stupidity and unreasonable.
ness of its opponents, by the unconscien.
tiousness OF its enemies, who do not want to
diferentiate between the good and the bad.
Distinguish Guilty From Innocent
Our God may be vengeful when we sin
against Him very grsvely; nevertheless, He
wished TO spare the lives even of the bad
men of Sodom and Gomorrah, if amongst
them were found ten righteous men. The
most rigorous system of justice can 20 no
further than to punish the guilty and pro-
tect the innocent. The sbsurdity OF con-
victing the loyal papers of foreign Ian.
guage manfests itself very plainly when
we consider that very few Of the most dis
loyal or pro-German publications in foreign
language dare TO go far as do newspapers
that are published in more or less good Eng
lish. Shall newspaper that informs and
instructs the newcomer who does not un.
derstand English about the public opinion
of the country, and also about his duties to
our republic be suppressed at the same time
when English newspapers which openly teach
sedition and anarchy are free TO circulated
True, there is precept in the law to destroys
Doomed City" whose inhabitants were mis-.
led to serve false gods, but this could not BE-
carried out while affairs to Bsal and Ashto.
reth were scattered in all cities of Pses-
tine.
III Jul IliHcs INC hOHldHOH dynasty mas
not brought good fortune for itself or
for Russia by melting pogroms on innocent
Jews because a certain number Of Jewish
young men belonged to the revolutionists.
One may be sufficiently bad or sufficiently
foolish to disregard the principles Of moral.
ity and of justice, but the business never
paid and never will pay
II is an open question whether the ami.
hilation of the bad newspapers alone would
lead to the desired goal, and the responsible
authorities in Washington are more careful
in pronouncng death sentences than the
Jewish journalist, who has not failed TO
mention the Jewish press among those who
must suffer for the crimes OF some disloyal
periodicals. But it is certain that even IL
we should come to take steps against tres.
son in the press, it will not be all the papers
in the foreign languages, because a law must
be more careful and considerate than pri.
vate man who gets angry, and fails to dis.
criminate between the just and unjust. IL Is
still more certain that the foreign language
press has a highly useful mission TO per-
form in our complex American life as long
as we have millions of immigrants, and we
must not forget the new millions who will
come when the war will be over and who
will also need the assistance of the same
press to become Americanized.