New-York tribune., 1918-02-27
Lawyer Protests to Mayor
and Education Board
Against Use of Building
Denial by Director
Purpose Of Lectures Is to
Amer6 r6canize Foreigners in
Brownsville, Is Reply

In letters to Mayor HyIan and the
Board of Education, Joseph Goldstein
Brooklyn lawyer. has protested
against the use of Public School "a. in
Brownsville, by the Brooklyn Civic
Forum, on the ground that the meet
lngs held in the school auditorium un-
der the auspices of the forum are
manly seditious" and because "con-
tempt for government is openly
preached" at the gatherings.
! have complained to the Board of
Education" Mr.. Goldstein wrote to the
Mayor, 'thats Public School "a is used
TOR meetings of pronounced un-Amer-
lcan type; that, under guise of the So
called Civic Forum, admission at the
rate OF 10 cents a person is charged for
entrance into that school; that the
talks delivered there are mainly sedi-
tious.
a respectfully ask that an investi
Eaton De made, to the end that this
menace should be forever barred from
our schools. | know that Won will
agree with me that it is scandalous
that our public American institutions
should be used for such nefarous pur-
poses"
Inc income from the meetings held
each Sunday by the forum frequently
amount to 500, Mr. Goldstein said in
ms n, letter to the Board of Education.
no men and women who address the
meetings are persons who have pro
nouhced revolutionary ideas, he added,
and do not hesitate to proclaim their
ideas III their speeches. Though revo-
luticInary hymns are frequealy heard
at the meetings, he declared. the Amer
lcan national hvmn is never sung.
:, l strongly protest" he concludes.
against turning our schools into breed
ing places tor ranters Of sedition and
anarchy, and respectfully ask the
gentlemen of the Board Of Education
70 refuse the use OF this school or any
other public school for this so-called
forum. respectfully ask that a hear
ing be held on this matter, and tha. I
De gwen the privilege Of being present
at the hearing"
Nathan II. Seidmali, assistant adver-
tlslng manager OF Der Tag" a Jewish
newspaper published on the East Side.
who Is. the director of the Civic Forum
characterized Mr. Goldstein's charges
as ridiculous" Yesterday
We slng' the American national
! 'N ~ "N4'0Af y 1O Jul meetings, ne
sala Il have been director Of the
forum for eight years.
Nv . went into the Brownsville sec
ton this year for no other reason than
the fact that we wanted to Americanize
the foreigners ther@ who h asxe little
opportunity to hear other Cham the
rabid Socialist orators who haraneue
them every night. We aim to counter
act the influence of revolutionary
propaganda.
we have speakers OF an unoues-
tlonable type. This year Rabbi Stephen
:. Wise, Professor zueblin, John
the forum platform. No one would
dare bring the AmeYicanism of these
mon into question. They helped us in
our task of bringing the light of Amer
lean ideals into Brownsville
~ can understand why Mr.. Goldstein
made bis complaint. Several weeks ago
he asked us to permit him TO deliver
one OF our Sunday lectures. We could
not sec our way clear to fit him into
our programme, and told him so. His
ridiculous complaints indicate nothing
more serious than the fact that he is
a little peeved. We are not worried
about them. The money collected at
our meetings, which seems to bother
My. Goldstein, goes to defray our ex-
penscs and pay lecturers. We have to
pay most of the men who talk to us.
Count llya Tolstov, who addressed us
last year, was paid $3.50"