Evening star., 1938-12-23

This is the tert of Secretary
Ickes' speech, "Esau, the Hairy
Man," 1Ohich has brought about
an international incident between
the United States and Nazi Ger
many. As delivered last Sunday
before the Clepeldnd Zionist So
ciety, it to,lo,Ds
These are troublous days for a
man Of tolerance and good will
who wishes to live his life in his
own way while willingly conceding
the same right to others; who
aspires to make an honorable living
and rear his family subject to the
laws of the country of which he
is citizen; who, devoted to the
ways of peace, does not covet the
land of neighbor, but who, by the
same token, has resolved that his
own country shall not shake to the
tread of invading feet: who wants to
pursue his own ideals, help to de-
velop the civilization of which he
is part and worship God accord
ing to his own conscience and
in the manner in which he was
taught at his mothers knee.
For the Jews these days are
troublous to degree far beyond
that for the sons and daughters
of any other race. Once again, in
lands beyond the sea that we used
to account civilized. their backs
are bowed under the heavy loads
that they are being forced to carry
through the deep valley of tribu-
lation. Lands where they have lived
for generations and to whose eco
nomic and intellectual development
and culture they have made con-
tributions far out of proportion to
their numbers, have suddenly be-
come hostile to them. Venomous
hate is spewed upon them. They
have become social pariahs, to be
deprived not only of property and
economic opportunities, but of rights
that for long ages have been re-
garded as inherent natural rights.
An Insult to the Middle Ages.
They may no longer pursue their
peaceful ways, supporting them
selves and their families by honest
labor, while making their willing
contribution toward the upbuild-
ing of countries that have been ma
tive to them throughout many gen.
erations. They may no longer serve,
with their ability and their skills,
their fellow citizens, regardless of
race or creed; they may no longer
participate in the normal life of the
people of which they have become
an integral part. They may not even
retain that which they have earned
and accumulated as the result of
hard work and prudent manage
ment; schools, colleges and thea
tiers, and even hospitals. are closed
to them. Their welfare is disre-
garded; their safety is imperiled;
they are treated as criminals, and,
croWning humiliation of all, they
are about to be segregated in ghet-
tos, as lepers of old. though still
living, were in effect buried alive.
Fear, real or cunningly simulated
to serve sinister purpose, has
usurped the powers of government.
The enlightenment of the spirit
that had been developed through
generations of painful toiling to-
ward a civilized way of life has
abdicated to stark superstition.
Recently it has come to be be-
lieved by many that we must go
back to the Middle Ages to find
a pattern into which the political
life of present European dictator
ships will properly fit. But this is
an insult to the Middle Ages. Dur
ing the Middle ages the human
spirit, although cold and numbed,
and living under a heavy fog of
ignorance and superstition, was
cropping toward the light, even if
dimly seen, Of a better day. But
even at that time our ancestors
had left far behind them their
grossest superstitions and their
fears that were most craven, be-
cause they were founded upon un-
relieved ignorance. Compared with
the obscurantism out of which they
had come, the people of the Middle
Ages were we'll advanced on the
road toward that civilization which
means emancipation of the spirit.
Sunk to Pre-Primitive Bestiality.
So 1t is not fair to the middle
ages to compare present day Euro
pean relationships with them. To
seek a true comparison 1t is neces-
sary to 60 back into that period of
history when man was unlettered,
benighted and bestial. In those
days any man from another tribe
was not only regarded as mortal
enemy; he was looked upon as some
thing sinister and evil, possessed
perhaps of the power to do harm
by occult means. Everything that
was either intangible or beyond the
actual experience of the tribe was
and, therefore. taboo.
People believed in sorcerers; they
were afraid to venture at night be-
yond the rim cast by the open wood
fire lest some evil demon of the
darkness do them harm. This was
the age of incantations. of casting
spells, of charms. of curing sickness
by weird rites-the age of craven
and even more craven
fear, when witches flew through the
air at night like huge bats and
brewed poisonous potions, consti-
tuent parts Of which were snakes
and toads and other unclean and
evil things.
Certain sections of Europe today
have made 1t possible for ethnol-
ogists and anthropologists to study
primitive man without having to
sift kitchen middens or attempt to
reconstruct social order on the
basis of a human jaw bone or few
crude implements used in the daily
life of the long ago. The intel