The Denver Jewish news., 1920-01-21
POLES AND JEWS IN AMERICA
Dr. Joseph Jasin. in The Jewish Cllron
iele.

leUple they are, what an asset Ia
America, etc. etc. Whole columns OF
this sort of stuff have lately been ap-
taring in the American press, but all
that we have seen consisted of gener-
ulities unsupported by the evidence OF
facts.
Recently we had occasion to inter
view Polish priest in nearby city
en- a subject not connected with the
matter under present discussion-the
priest did not know us as Jew. An
uncallcd for anti-Semitle reference to
the Jews led to dialogue which may
prove of interest to our readers:
Editor: Who are more numerous in
America, the Poles or the Jews?
Priest (proudly): 1he Jews num-
Eer only about 3,OOO,OOO but there are
4.5OO.0OO Poles in this country.
Editor: You outnumber us, then,
by about 80 per cent?
Priest: You are quite right.
Editor: Now you will admit of
course, that the Jews have made their
presence felt in the public life Of
America?
Priest: We must all admit that the
Jews are clever. that they know how
to make money.
Editor: don't mean in finance
alone: refer to every field of human
cndeavor.
Priest: Well. what have they ac-
complished except as financiers?
Editor: Have you never heard of
such musical artists as Heifetz, FL
man, Kreisler Braslau, Rosenblatt !:
such actors as Mann, NazimOva and
Kalich; such medical authorities as
jacob and FleSner; such statesmen
ns Brandeis, Morgenthau, Oscar S.
Straus, Baruch and Kahn: such labor
leaders as Gompers: such orators as
Wise; such publishers as Ochs; such
philanthropists as Schiff. Nathan
Straus and Rosenwald: such social
workers. as Mary Fels. Mary Antin
and Lillian d. VALID; and thousand
others whom it ought not to be neces-
sary for me to mention to any man
who pretends to have some general
information?
Priest with painful reluctance) :
oh. yes. tie Jews are clever. very
clever. but
Editor: Now will you kindly nam
just a dozen American Poles whose
names are known to the general pub
lie (after a pause) Make it Il hall
dozen. fAnother pauset: Let us say
three. (Another pause): Name II
single Pole who has accomplished any
thing big enough to impress his name
upon the minds of the American peo-
pie do not mean i'll former genera
tions; l am speaking of the present
day.
Priest: 1 am not sure that l can
10 it offhand.
know one.
Priest: Whom do you mean?
Editor: Poor CzolgOZc- (But nj
this point the interview came to u
suuutH uIu NlOieil
Comparisons are always odious, and
this sort of comparison is most un
pleasant to us because it smackS-we
admit it-to6 much of the method SO
popular among anti-Semites them
selves. But silence ceases to be vir-
tue when the press of this and other
liberal nations is teeniing with the
praises of u naticn of l-ogrom makers
u nation which glories in its pogroms,
IL people in whose midst not single
powerful voice has been raised against
pogroms. nation which is already de-
,ising means of violating those mi
nority rights which have been wrested
from it by the liberal powers of the
world. nation which seems deter
mined to destroy utterly the millions
of Jews whom it controls.
When the world is pelting and prais-
ing the most ruthless enemies we have
ever encountered in the forty cen
turies of our tragic history it is not
right for us to keep siient. The world
ought to be dissillusioned as to the
GREATNESS of the present-day Polish
people 1t is ar extremely inferior
people, politically, intellectually, spirit
ually. And it is this very inferiority
which leads it to dread and to hate,
to boycott and to massacre the Infinite
ly superior Jewish group within its
borders.
Much is being said these days about
the Amerimnization Oh our various
foreign elements. In this connection
let it be recalled that something over
year ago the Poles OF America held
a convention in Detroit wnere the cler-
;cal element predominated and where
II resolution was adopted which strong