The time of the year has come when Christians implore the tolerance of Jews while Christmas is being celebrated. If the Jews will only permit the Christians to celebrate Christmas in their schools, their homes, their churches—in their city squares and country villages—there will be more disposition on the part of the public to believe the Jewish boasts of tolerance.
It is not yet announced whether the Jews will give their permission or not. But that there are inquiries being made into the matter is indicated by this article in the Brooklyn Eagle, of October 31:
“Canon William Sheafe Chase today made public a letter he has sent to the secretary of the Board of Education asking for a copy of rules and regulations which, he alleged, forbid the telling of a Christ story at Christmas time in the public schools. Canon Chase said that the attention of the Federation of Churches has been called to a statement of a kindergarten teacher who last year said she had told such a story and had been notified that ‘she will be removed from her position if she repeats such an exercise this Christmas.’
“He said that the Supreme Court of the United States has said that this is a Christian country and ‘the courts in the State of New York have said that Christianity is the common law of our land.’” Dr. Chase added:
“‘This government has treated the Hebrew more generously than any other nation in the world. I believe that the people generally, Hebrew as well as Christian, are very glad to enter into the spirit of Christmas time. Any attempt, therefore, to eliminate Christ from the hymns of our country, from the reading books, and from the religious holidays of the Christian people, I believe, is not instigated by the Hebrews as a whole, but by certain misguided leaders of Jewish religion.’”
This is a variation of the Christmas theme. Instead of looking forward to Christmas, it is a spirit of inquiry as to how far we can go at Christmas. We are asking whether we dare, as Christians in a Christian land, whisper the Name that gives Christmas its meaning. That is, the Christians are doing the Christmas asking early this year. Christian teachers want to know if they will be discharged if they give their classes a bit of Christmas flavor, as all our teachers gave us when we were young. The contrast between the schools which we of the mature generation attended when we were young, and the schools of today whose pupils are carefully screened from the fact that Christmas celebrates Christ, is such a contrast as ought to give mature Americans a pause.
But, if past experience be the standard of judgement, the appeal to Jewish tolerance in New York will be futile. If Christians do not take their rights, it is certain the Jews will never grant them. It would be un-Jewish to do so; and the ceaseless cry of the leaders is, “Be Jewish!”
Any number of instances could be cited of the whip which Jewish leaders crack across the educational and political systems of the City of New York, but one or two must serve for the present.
The first case to be considered is that of Rev. William Carter, D.D., given in “Who’s Who in America” as pastor of the Throop Avenue Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn; author of “The Gate of Janus,” an epic story of the War; also of “Milton and His Masterpiece” and “Studies in the Pentateuch.” He is an extensive traveler and a lecturer of reputation, his specialty being history and literature. At an important Y.M.C.A. center he has lectured for thirty consecutive weeks a year on “Current Events,” which course was so successful that he was asked by the New York Board of Education to start a similar one at the Erasmus High School. For ten years he has been engaged by the New York Board of Education as special lecturer in the popular evening extension courses.
The course Dr. Carter undertook was badly run down, but in six weeks the regular audience had been increased from 35 to 350. The plan of the lectures was to discuss a major topic selected by the Board, a second period was devoted to the discussion of current events, and a third period to questions from the audience.
Now it happened that for the week of November 15, 1920—just a year ago—the topic selected by the Board of Education was “The Racial Origins of the American People,” a study of immigration. That is to say, Dr. Carter was asked to study that matter and discuss it publicly before his weekly lecture audience at Erasmus School. He did so, taking time to make a serious investigation of all phases of the subject.