Aspects of Jewish power in the United States $b : volume IV of the International Jew, the world's foremost problem : being a reprint of a fourth selection from articles appearing in the Dearborn IndependentFord, Henry
General
Aspects of Jewish power in the United States $b : volume IV of the International Jew, the world's foremost problem : being a reprint of a fourth selection from articles appearing in the Dearborn Independent
Ford, Henry
Antisemitic literature; Jews -- United States; United States -- Ethnic relations
The list of Jews in public life whose names are not Jewish would be a
long one. Louis Marshall, head of the American Jewish Committee, for
example—what could his old family name have been before it was changed
for the name of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States?
Mr. Selwyn’s name, now so widely known in motion pictures, was
originally Schlesinger. Some of the Schlesingers become Sinclairs, but
Selwyn made a really good choice for a man in the show business. A rabbi
whose real name was Posnansky became Posner. The name Kalen is usually
an abbreviation of Kalensky. A true story is told of an East Side
tinsmith whose name was very decidedly foreign-Jewish. It is withheld
here, because THE DEARBORN INDEPENDENT prefers in this connection to
mention only the names of those who can take care of themselves. But the
tinsmith moved to a non-Jewish section and opened a new shop under the
name of Perkins, and his luck really did change! He is doing well and,
being an industrious, honest workman, deserves his prosperity.
Of course, there are lower uses of the name-changing practice, as every
employer of labor knows. A man contracts a debt under one name, and to
avoid a garnishee, quits his job, collects his pay, and in a day or two
attempts to hire out under another name. This was once quite a
successful trick, and is not wholly unknown now.
There is also much complaint among the stricter observers of the Jewish
ritual requirements that the word “Kosher” is greatly misused, that
indeed it covers a multitude of sins. “Kosher” has come to signify, in
some places, little more than a commercial advertisement designed to
attract Jewish trade. For all it means of what it says, it might just as
well be “The Best Place in Town to Eat”—which it isn’t, of course; and
neither is it always “strictly” Kosher.
It must be conceded, however, that the tendency to mislabel men and
things is deep set in Jewish character. Jews are great coiners of
catchwords that are not true, inventors of slogans that do not move.
There is a considerable decrease in the power they wielded by such
methods; their brilliancy in this respect is running to seed. This may
be explained by the fact that there are so many song titles to write for
the Jewish jazz factories, and so much “snappy” matter for screen
descriptions. Their come-back is painfully thin and forced. Without
peers in dealing with a superficial situation like a dispute over the
beauty of two rival “stars,” or the amount and method of distributing
confetti, they are the veriest dubs in dealing with a situation like
that which has arisen in this country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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