William’s Favorable Attitudes Toward Jews

William’s Positive Attitudes Toward Jews

a) Mockery of Anti-Semites

One of the most notorious cases of discrimination against Jews in William’s time occurred in July 1879. Austin Corbin, a businessman known for “corruption, swindling, bribery, thuggery and anti-semitism,”(20) was president of the Manhattan Beach Company which operated a railroad and seaside hotel in what is now Coney Island. On July 22 the New York Herald published an interview with Corbin in which he expressed his intention to ban Jews from his properties. “We do not like the Jews as a class,” he said. “They make themselves offensive to the kind of people who principally patronize our road and hotel, and I am satisfied we should be better off without [them]…. They are a detestable and vulgar people.”(26)

Corbin’s statement created a media sensation. William took note of it immediately, writing “Great excitement in the City, by Herald: article on the Jews at Manhattan.”(Diary, 1879-07-22). The next day he recorded that “Papers are full of the Jew Question and we laugh a great deal.”(Diary, 1879-07-23). As the story remained in the news, three days later he noted that “The Jew excitement continues”(Diary, 1879-07-26)

The key question here is whether William was laughing at Corbin, or at the Jews whom Corbin found offensive. His Diary entries are too brief and vague to be certain, but the following evidence supports the conclusion that the likely target of William’s laughter was Corbin’s cartoonish bigotry.

On July 23 – the day William laughed about the press coverage – the Herald headlined its story: “Corbin Scathingly Rebuked. Shall the Bigotry of the Inquisition be Revived in America?” The Herald’s story, based on a wide range of interviews, noted that while opinions were divided, “many of the more thoughtful” – a description that would fit William – criticized Corbin for promoting “invidious and odious class distinctions.” At the same time, these critics were also amused by the affair. Two rival hotel proprietors, when initially found by a Herald reporter, were “laughing immoderately” as they read the Herald’s original story about Corbin, and then went on to denounce his prejudice. The prominent Jewish banker Joseph Seligman, himself notoriously excluded from a hotel in Saratoga, NY two years earlier, also “laughed” in response to a Herald reporter’s question about Corbin, but declined further comment.(18)

Puck joined in the press “excitement” with its distinctive brand of satirical humor, lampooning Corbin for his “WAR AGAINST JEWRY! ... Field-Marshal Austin Corbin, who has assumed command of the forces, has taken precautions to guard against surprise, as a large column of Jews … is reported to be advancing on the Hotel…. Heavy pieces of ordinance have been placed beyond the ropes in the Surf, and are loaded to the muzzle. Waiters are all armed with revolvers and have received instructions to shoot on the spot any man whom they think is a Jew.” In a separate and more serious editorial, Puck explicitly denounced Corbin for his “antagonism to every principle upon which the fathers founded the Republic…. The American eagle has screeched in his ears, and Mr. Corbin finds out that he cannot set himself up against public opinion.”(33)

Considering how journalists and other “thoughtful” observers reacted to Corbin with both amusement and derision, it is reasonable to believe William was laughing at what he felt was Corbin’s buffoonish prejudice. Other bigots in history have also been ridiculed with humor. Charlie Chaplin mocked Hitler in his 1940 movie “The Great Dictator.” Donald Trump has been regularly skewered by late-night television comedians. Indeed, Jonathan Sarna, a leading historian of American anti-Semitism, says “Corbin was a … Trump-like character and the newspapers had a field day with him. Easy to see from the cartoons that survive why the episode aroused mirth.”(28)

The interpretation that William was laughing at Corbin’s bigotry is also supported by a similar Diary entry two years before. On that occasion he noted that during a downtown lunch he and his dining companions had “considerable fun over the Jew Question.(Diary, 1877-06-25) While his meaning is not certain, the date strongly suggests that their “fun” concerned the above-noted Saratoga anti-Semitic incident, which was reported in the New York press just six days before and remained a major story for months. Henry Hilton, the hotel owner who banned Joseph Seligman, sounded much like Corbin in describing Jews as a “class” of vulgar” people, and was similarly mocked by Puck.(29)(1)(4)

The likelihood that William was laughing at the anti-Semites Corbin and Hilton, and not at their Jewish victims, is also supported by his several inclusionary actions on behalf of Jews as discussed below.

b) Support for Jewish members in Liederkranz

William’s most significant personal action regarding Jews was highly favorable. Not only did he actively oppose an effort to restrict Jewish membership in the Liederkranz singing society, of which he was president, he played a leading role in increasing the number of Jewish members.

Controversy over Jewish membership arose in Liederkranz in the spring of 1881, when anti-Semitism generally was growing in America. As William noted: “At L.K. in eve'g, preside. Strong anti-jewish sentiment springing up in the Society.”(Diary, 1881-03-29) A few weeks later he provided more details: Binswanger calls on account of his jewish L.K. Candidate Berolsheimer and Logeling that he has been insulted by Richd Walter(Diary, 1881-05-04) At a society board meeting the next night dissension continued: “At L.K. in eve'g, preside at B. of Trustee … Jew question again discussed(Diary, 1881-05-05) At a June meeting tempers had apparently cooled: “At L.K. Session I preside, the Jew question passes off without trouble”(Diary, 1881-06-07)

But by November matters came to a boil: “Exciting scene at L.K. In spite of my warnings + Julius Hoffmann two Jews are blackballed on ballot.”(Diary, 1881-11-08) It is not clear whether the two Jews were seeking Liederkranz membership or were already members and banished from the group. But this Diary entry makes clear that William actively opposed discrimination against Jews in the society.

Over the next six months William worked behind the scenes to counter the anti-Semitism pressures in the group. His first victory was relatively minor: “Jew question settled, by Davidsohn admitted & several withdrawn”(Diary, 1881-12-01) A week later his success was more notable, as he mobilized support from the existing Jewish members and won membership for three more Jews: “At L.K. in eve'g, very interesting, a private printed circular having been sent to the jewish members over 50 of them are there, but owing to the wise precaution everything passes off pleasantly, three jews being admitted”(Diary, 1881-12-06) Total Liederkranz membership at that time was about 1,500(17). If we assume there were about 60 Jewish members after this meeting, Jews were about 4% of the group. In 1889 William also personally arranged Liederkranz membership for the prominent Jewish financier Jacob Schiff.(Diary, 1889-05-02)

c. Support for Hebrew Technical Institute

William greatly admired this institute, a vocational high school for poor Jewish immigrant boys, founded in 1884. He first visited the Institute in the winter of 1885-6, as a courtesy to its president who was a personal friend. Intending to stay only 30 minutes, William remained more than 4 hours, “being surprised and amazed at the results achieved by the young institution.” He said the quality of the boys’ woodwork was equal to that of his own skilled workers at the Steinway factory.(10)

A second visit a few months later confirmed William’s high opinion of the Institute, as he noted in his Diary: “With H. Ziegler at Hebrew technical institute 129 + 131 Crosby street, 68 Jewish boys, Remarkable productions and good discipline, make two speeches to the boys.”(Diary, 1886-06-16)

In the summer of 1886 William demonstrated his affection and generosity toward the Hebrew Technical Institute by inviting its students and teachers to a day-long outing at Bowery Bay Beach, the resort he had developed near his mansion and factory in Astoria.(12, pp. 316-18) William detailed this event in his Diary: “At 9 A.M. at Hunters point, meet the 85 pupils and teachers, and 5 ladies, in all 100 persons, at Hunters point send them with Geo. A. St. in two large cars to Bowery, Bay, where they take a bath, play base ball, nice lunch, drink beer carousel ride, from 3½ - 5 P.M. view our factory.”(Diary, 1886-08-25) In its account of this outing, the Jewish weekly magazine The American Hebrew described William as “a man of liberal ideas, and one who entertains the highest regard for the religious scruples of others. Knowing that the boys would not partake of the meats furnished at the place, he provided an abundance of fish, eggs, potatoes, cheese, fruit and coffee and permitted such boys as were accustomed to it, to have a glass of beer.”(30)

Later that evening, after his guests had returned to the city, William wrote an article for The American Hebrew in which he expressed his praise of the Institute and its Jewish patrons: “our educated, wealthy Jewish fellow-citizens, ever first in founding and maintaining realpractical institutions of benevolence, have again set … a shining example … [when they] founded the Hebrew Technical Institute.” William was so impressed by the work of the Institute’s students that he later hired two of them at Steinway’s Manhattan factory, where they both “made fine records as first-class and well-behaved artisans.”(Diary, 1885-08-25)(10) (24)

Several years later William remained a benefactor of the Institute, donating a piano to the school even while expressing his displeasure at other requests for financial help: “Miss Annette Kohn got a piano out of me for the Hebrew Technical Inst. Fair Decbr. 9/95 I am almost driven to death by an avalanche of callers who are nearly all mendicants.”(Diary, 1895-11-29)

d) Socializing with Jews

In addition to his friendship with the Hebrew Technical Institute, William readily socialized with Jews on other occasions. His Diary mentions his hosting of Jewish (and other) guests for dinner: “At 12½ P.M. Meyenberg, Carl Wolfsohn & Mr. Fels arrive, also Eddy Egge, who with Helene Cassebeer & Chas. Held & wife & us make 20 persons for dinner. Take swimbath, swim with George to Rikers fence & back. In eve'g at 7 P.M. the Jews drive to the Ferry, also Eddy Egge.”(Diary, 1879-08-24) As he often did, he labeled the Jews as such, but given the friendly social context, this usage cannot be regarded as negative.

A few years later William attended a Jewish funeral and described the experience in positive terms: “to Temple Emanuel 5th Ave. & 4 str. Immense crowd, but Grand funeral services of Ed. Lasker. Become acquainted with Jewish Rabbis, Huebsch, Jacobs, Mendell +c. Carl Schurz makes a magnificent speech.”(Diary, 1884-01-10)

e) Interest in Jewish neighborhoods

Two other Diary entries don’t refer specifically to William’s attitudes toward Jewish people, but nevertheless indicate his pleasure at visiting Jewish neighborhoods in Europe and New York:

* “start at 7.30 A.M. via Hague to Amsterdam, … the City is simply beautiful and marvelously clean and prosperous, the Jewish quarter is specially interesting”(Diary, 1888-06-08)
* “I then drive through the Jewish Quarter Hester +Ludlow street and have great sights”(Diary, 1894-04-24)

f) Denunciation of German Anti-Semite

The clearest, most explicit and fulsome evidence of William’s positive feelings toward Jews was a statement he wrote for the December 4, 1895 edition of the New York Times denouncing Hermann Ahlwardt, a viciously anti-Semitic member of the German Reichstag who was arriving in New York that day. Ahlwardt typified the hostility toward Jews that was increasing in Germany in the final decades of the 19th century. Anti-Semitism in William’s native land was becoming blatant, organized, and political, in contrast to the more casual, social version in his adopted country. In a speech to the Reichstag in March 1895, Ahlwardt claimed Jews were “a different race with entirely different character traits … [that] make impossible a common life.” He called them “exploiters, parasites” and “cholera bacilli” who threatened real “Teutonic” Germans, and said “You’d better exterminate those beasts of prey and you’d better start by not letting any more of them into our country.”(9, p. 235)(8, pp. 225-6)(21, pp. 16, 123)(3)

William was unsparing in his rebuke to Ahlwardt, and comparably laudatory toward Jews. “Dr. Ahlwardt could not secure Steinway Hall for his lectures under any circumstances,” William wrote. “I do not know Dr. Ahlwardt personally, but I have, of course, read … some of his … obnoxious and disgusting attacks on the Semitic race. I am quite sure that in this country he will meet with no encouragement, for, to my mind, nowhere in the world can be found … a better class of Hebrews than in the United States. As jurists, as artists, musicians, writers, manufacturers, they may be found in the front rank.

“Their benevolence, and that in the most liberal spirit, too, is not only of the most large-hearted, but of the most praiseworthy kind. Everybody appreciates their great intelligence, but it is not so generally known that they are the most abstemious, sober people on the face of the globe. During my term of living in New York, which covers a period of nearly half a century, I have become personally acquainted with several thousand Hebrews….

“Take all matters of art, music, opera, no class of people has done so much to foster and patronize these as the Hebrews. Such a record speaks for itself. No class of people that I know of will sacrifice everything, even to their own discomfort, to enable their children to obtain a good education. And in no other class is the respect for the parent so deeply rooted as with the Hebrews….

“I am certainly convinced that Rector Ahlwardt will find but a barren field for his tirades against the Hebrew race in this country. I hope that his whole projected lecture tour will, in its pitiful results, convince him that he had better go home again.”(24)

William proudly recorded ten days later that his rebuke of Ahlwardt had a broadly favorable impact: “My article in the Times of the 4th inst. has been copied all over the U.S. and has caused great rejoicing among the Hebrews.”(Diary, 1895-12-14)

It is instructive that throughout his statement for the Times, and in the related Diary entry, William refers to Jews as “Hebrews”, in contrast to all his other Diary entries that refer to them as “Jews”. Jews at that time tended to call themselves “Hebrews”, specifically because anti-Semites tended to prefer the term “Jews”.(7, pp. 206-7) Perhaps William’s denunciation of Ahlwardt and fulsome praise of “Hebrews”, in this last year of his life, thus represents his fully matured and clearly positive feelings toward Jews.

g) Support for Heinrich Heine Monument

At the same time as Ahlwardt’s visit to New York, William was a leader in the effort to erect a monument in honor of the German poet Heinrich Heine in New York. Heine was a Jew who opposed German nationalism, and the monument – a sculpture of the mythical German siren Lorelei intended for Heine’s birthplace of Dusseldorf – had been rejected by that city, partly due to anti-Semitism. William and other prominent German-Americans then decided to bring the monument to New York, partly in order to rebuke Germany.(31)(23) William, a major donor to the project, was quoted extensively at least twice in I praising the musical quality of Heine’s poetry and the artistic beauty of the Lorelei sculpture.(15)(5) He noted in his Diary that his November 24, 1895 “article in the N.Y.Times and Ideas on Heinrich Heine Monument has excited a good deal of favorable comment.”(Diary, 1895-11-26)

William does not refer specifically in his Diary or the Times to Heine being Jewish or the monument being a rebuff to German anti-Semitism. But his outspoken criticism of German hostility toward Jews makes it reasonable to regard his support for the Heine monument, at least in part, as partly another expression of his sympathy for them.

Sources:

1. “1877: A Banker Outs American anti-Semitism,” Haaretz, June 13, 2013 (from www.haaretz,com)
4. Birmingham, Stephen.  “Our Crowd”: The Great Jewish Families of New York, New York, Harper & Row, 1967, pp.143-6.
10. “An Eminent Manufacturer’s Opinion of the Hebrew Technical Institute,” The American Hebrew, August 27, 1886, p. 10
17.  History of the Liederkranz of the City of New York, 1847-1947. New York: Drechsel Printing Co., 1948, pp.9-19.
18. “Israel in Arms,” New York Herald, July 23, 1879, p. 5.
20. Landrigan, Dan. “The Robber Baron of New Hampshire,” www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com, June 16, 2013 (author and date not included on website but provided to author by email)
26. “Reviving a Prejudice,” New York Herald, July 22, 1879, p. 5
28. Sarna, Jonathan D. (Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University). Emails to author, November 3 and 4, 2016
29. “A Sensation at Saratoga,” The New York Times, June 19, 1877, p. 1.
33. “War Against Jewry”, Puck, July 30, 1879, p. 330.