ROLE OF THE JEWS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 137, 7 December 1938, Page 13

ROLE OF THE JEWS

IN RECENT HISTORY

CONTRIBUTIONS TO

PROGRESS

OUTSTANDING NAMES

Dr. Cecil Roth has very ably compiled a short historical survey on the part played in the world by Jews ("The Jewish Contribution to Civilisation"), says a writer in the "Winnipeg Free Press." He does not hold that Jewish contributions have been disproportionately large, but undertakes to , show that Jews have continuously contributed their fair share to culture j and progress along with and together j with many other racial stocks. The J following facts, names, and achievements are picked more or less at random from the volume. They do not pretend to be a resume but merely provide some interesting data. A Jew, Siegfried Marcus, was the inventor of the automobile —the patents were registered in Germany. A Jew of German birth, Philip Reis, invented the telephone. The invention was elaborated by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison and placed, on the market. Robert yon Lieben invented the radio amplifier. Isaac Singer developed the sewing machine. The Rothschilds were prominent in making London the world's money market and in financing the industrial expansion in the last century. Sir David Salomons was one of the founders of the Westminster Bank. The reorganisation of the American banking system was assisted considerably 'by Paul M. Warburg. The building of the Assuan Dam was financed by a Jew, Sir Ernest Cassel. The first underground of the Central London Railway was largely due to the enterprise of Sir Ernest Cassel, too. THE MERSEY TUNNEL. Major Samuel Isaac revived and carried through the Mersey Tunnel project. Joseph Henry, a Jew, founded the Canadian Mercantile Marine. Jesse Joseph established the earliest service between Montreal and Antwerp. The London Rothschilds financed Cecil Rhodes in his early ventures in South Africa. Isaac Lewis invested huge sums in the industries of South Africa. Jews have, made notable philanthropic contributions. Julius Rosenwald devoted a large amount of his wealth to the welfare of the American negro. The Rothschild family were interested in housing conditions. Ferdinande de Rothschild erected one tof the first "model villages" in England. The founder of the Barnardo Homes was of Jewish blood. Herbert Samuels when he was Home Secretary, was instrumental in putting the Children's Bill through the House of Commons in Great Britain. A number of English hospitals have received most generous financial support from Jews. A Jew, Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, bought the site for the University of London, England, and headed a group which worked for its establishment. In the United States the Guggenheim foundation does much to encourage postgraduate research. The fellowships are awarded without racial and colour distinction. GIFTS TO COMMUNITIES. - An outstanding supporter of Harvard University is Lucius Littauer. Max Adler gave the Planetarium to the City of Chicago. A Rothschild collection of French engravings was presented; to the Louvre. Jules Bache gave the City of New York a collection of pictures valued at £2,000,000. One of the Rothschilds left the Waddesdon Bequest to the British Museum. The National Gallery in London has benefited from the collection of Ludwig Mond and the British Museum and Tate Gallery from Duveen endowments. . ~ Jewish names are familiar in the sphere of music today. Heifetz, Kreisler, Myra Hess, " Riibenstein, Schnabel. Piatigorsky, Richard Tauber,' Walter Damrosch. ... Mendelssohn is very important in musical history. His works have been banned in Germany. The stage contributes Sarah Bernhardt, who was half Jewish. Elisabeth Bergner today is an exile from Germany. Pissarro was one of the founders of the Impressionist school in France, and Jewish painters have assisted in spreading the new tradition in painting throughout Europe. Israels is ranked by some next to Rembrandt in Dutch art. Liebermann is considered by some authorities to be .one of two particularly outstanding figures in German painting. From 1918 to 1933 he was president of the Berlin - Academy of Fine Arts. And, of course, there is Epstein among the famous sculptors. SEVENTEEN NOBEL PRIZES. Jewish contributions in the field of scientific research have been numerous. Since the institution of the Nobel Prizes in 1901 seventeen Jews have won awards, the majority for outstanding services to medicine. Otto Warburg was a Nobel Prize-winner for his work on the metabolism of cancer and Otto Meyerho.fi: for his study of the dynamics of living phenomena and chemistry of the muscles, Otto Loewi for research to do with the structure of the heart. Ferdinand Cohn is considered the father j of, bacteriology. Haffkine discovered this method of inoculation .against cholera. Typhus serum was discovered by a Jew, Dr. Alex Besredka. Carl Koller was the first to if c local anaesthetics. Freud is regarded as the founder of psychoanalysis. In Physics Einstein and the Theory . of Relativity, Niels Bohr and the Quantum Theory, Gustav Hertz and research in the theories of atoms are but three combinations of names and achievements. The chemical industry was radically changed by Ludwig Mond's process of recovering sulphur from alkali waste. Heinrich Caro discovered a number of new dyes; Richard Willstater is recognised as an outstanding contributor to the development of the dyeing industry in Germany. ... A list of Jewish contributions to letters cannot be attempted, but mention can be made in passing of a few names familiar in our present day. Siegfried Sassoon, Stefan Zweig, Emil Ludwig, Franz Werfel, Ludwig Lewisohn, Philip Guedalla, Robert Nathan, Edna Ferber. It is interesting to note that Reuters news service was established by a Jew. Aloph Ochs was prominently associated with the "New York Times" in the nineteenth century. J. M. Levy created the "Daily Telegraph." Blowitz was an outstanding foreign correspondent of "The Times."