The Washington times., 1923-06-30

''Dear Sir: Although my let.
tiers addressed to you on January
rs. February and February FL,
1923, called your attention to a
number of circulars and advertise
ments issued by your firm relat-
ing to a series of articles published
In the Worlds Work, written by
Mr.. Burton j. Hendrick and en-
titled The Jews in America,
which. as I tried to show, con-
tanned covert charges against the
Jews which were absolutely false
and certain to prove mischevous.
the only answer which have
thus far been able to extract from
you has been a statement that
you do not feel competent to
discuss the subject and that if
you attempted to do SO we would .
get nowhere My letters were
couched in courteous terms. They
sought to prove to you, as they
would to any fair-minded man,
how unwarranted your 1ns1nua-
tons were, and to demonstrate
the injustice inflicted upon a large
body of Industrious and conscien-
tious men and women who were
maliciously or ignorantly maligned.
Instead Of being deferred from
continuing your Objectionable
methods Of advertising these
articles. you have just published
them In book form, and to aggra-
vate the offense against good
taste and decency the jacket in
which the book is sold, referring
TO the Polish Jews of this coun-
try, contains this query: With
their un-American creed, will
they ever be absorbed into the
American Commonwealth
This Interrogation emanates
from the publisher. It is in
tended to bait the hook with
which to catch gudgeons. 1t is
1ago-like in its sinfulness and in
its purpose to inspire the feeling
of hatred among those who
harken to your words.
What do you mean when you
refer to their 'un-American
creed? How long is it that,
under our form Of government,
one citizen may hold up to con-
tumely the creed of another, or
question his liberty Of conscience
or the free exercise and, enjoy
ment of religious profession and
worship? have carefully read the
book to ascertain what there is
in the creed Of the Polish Jew
that Is un-American, and find
that it is that the Orthodox Jew
of Eastern Europe regards Sat
urday as his Sabbath, while
American industry recognizes
Sunday as the day of rest; that
he is perhaps the most prayerful
person in the world; that he ac-
companies practically every act
with a fixed ritual; that almost
every hour Of the day has its re-
ligious observances: that he is in
almost continuous communion with
the Almighty; that he observes
the Jewish dietary laws. and
that in the slaughtering OF cattle
for consumption he likewise OBJ
serves an ancient tradition which
prohibits him from eating blood;
that he reads newspapers print
ed in Hebrew characters, and
that on religious holidays his
children absent themselves from
school in order to observe the
tenets of their faith.
"Conceding the charges to be
true, that these people observe
the precepts laid down in the
Old Testament and in the Tai
mud and in their sacred liter.
allure, that they regard their re-
ngion as a part Of their lives,
and that they are in constant
WILL IAICAL $LCnLOL1 40
1t becoming in those who have al
the backbone of the American
Commonwealth and as the men
and the women who have i'm
parted to it high ideals and noble
concepts, to cast obloquy upon
the Orthodox Jew for evincing
the very spirit which made the
Puritan SO powerful an instru.
ment in the shaping of the Amer.
lean Commonwealth? If this creed
Of the Orthodox Jew is un-Amer-
lean, then it will become neces-
sary for all Of US TO revise our
estimate of those whom in the
past we have regarded as the
models Of good citizenship,
But there is a further count
In the indictment framed by MIR.
Hendrick, one to which ! have re-
ferred in one of my previous let.
tiers to you. Speaking of the Or.
thodox Jew, he says: 'Ha treats
his womankind in way that sug.
gests his Asiatic origin. Thank
God l am not a woman, thank
God I am not a Coy is the prayer
Of Thanksgiving with which he
begins his day With a pre-
tense of learning which he does
not possess, in a footnote this
pundit informs us that the word
Coy is Hebrew for non-Jew
and 1t In translated az gen
tile stranger or in froe
sense, Christian What Mr.,
Hendrick seeks TO insinuats Is,
that the Orthodox Jew IL a brute
toward womAnkind and that he
has a hatred for Christians,
LET me demonstrate to you.