(Jewish Daily Bulletin)
A change in the Jewish welfare federation system with a view to introducing democratic representation and giving the federation the power of an advisory body to its constituents was presented by Judge Horace Stern, president of the Philadelphia Federation of Jewish Charities at the twenty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Federation held last night at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel The plan outlined by Judge Stern has already been accepted by the Board of Directors of the Federation, and will be presented for adoption by the fifty-three constituents affiliated with it.
Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver of Cleveland, Jacob Billikopf, Executive Director of the Federation and Jules E. Mastbaum addressed the large gathering which crowded the ballroom of the Benjamin Franklin.
The third Jewish community in America to accept the idea of federating its charitable endeavors, the Federation of Jewish Charities of Philadelphia today leads in the generosity of the response which it elicits from the entire community, it was pointed out. The Federation is the unifying force of the community around whose standard all elements rally, speakers declared.
Organized twenty-five years ago, to care for the charitable needs of a Jewish community whose total population numbered fifty thousand, the growth of the Federation to a position today where it has fifty-three institutions affiliated with it, has kept pace with the tremendous growth of the Jewish population, it was declared.
Philadelphia today has a Jewish community of 250,000. Twenty-five years ago, the Jewish community spent the sum of between $70,000 and $80,000 to care for its poor and destitute. Its funds were supplied by 2200 contributors. Today the Federation numbers twenty thousand contributors and counts its budget in millions. Only last year, it set a new standard for philanthropic generosity, when in less than one week it raised four million dollars to be used for the erection of new buildings to house the communal needs, it was pointed out.
Under the present organization, the Federation has no control over its constituents, Judge Stern declared in his address. It can act merely in an advisory capacity, but has no means of carrying its plans through, unless the constituents themselves will it. Judge Stern therefore asked a central board with supreme power granted it by the community which it represents.
Judge Stern’s plan for democratizing the institutions is based on his dislike for the self perpetuating boards who control the institutions and his belief that the public which supports them should have the sole right to say who shall manage them.
The first provision of Judge Stern’s plan is that multiple directorship and offices shall be abolished, and that no person shall hold the position of director or officer in more than two of the constituent institutions at any one time. He may be on the Board of the Federation in addition.
Secondly, the institutions shall in their by-laws limit the service of their directors and officers to a maximum of ten years. If they wish to retain the benefit of aid or advice beyond that period they may do so by elevating that person to honorary directorship after five years of service.
No one shall be initially elected a director of the Federation unless he shall have served as a director of one of the counstituents for at least one year.
The fourth point of the plan is the organization of a Council of one hundred to serve as a deliberative and advisory body. In conjunction with the Federation Board it is to plan all the campaigns for funds; it is to devise ways and means of stimulating and maintaining the interest of the public in the Federation, and it is to hold four meetings a year; at one of which there is to be presented for discussion the medical work of the Federation, at another the child welfare work, at a third the educational work and at a fourth the relief work.
The Council is to be the direct representative of the Jewish community. To insure its direct representation it is to be formed in the following manner. During the annual Maintenance Fund Campaigns, each team is to be asked to select one representative from its own membership. There are usually seventy-five representatives. These representatives will form the Council. In addition, the president of the Federation is to appoint twenty-five additional members. This group of one hundred together with the presidents of the constituents is to form the body called the Federation Council which shall elect its own officers, with the exception that the President of the Federation shall be the President of the Council. The members of the Council will be chosen annually. In this way, a democratic group will be placed in a position of ruling on Federation activity, Judge Stern declared. The teams, according to Judge Stern, better than any other group or agency represent the Jewish community of Philadelphia as far as Federation is concerned. The plan provides that each member of the council is to be placed on one of the institutional boards to serve for one year as representative of the Council and thus to familiarize himself with the work of the institutions. The purpose of this is have the Council members named to the Boards of the various institutions, whenever vacancies occur.
Election to all the boards will have to be made by the workers and will therefore be a democratic agency.
The celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Federation brought scores of messages of felicitation from the leading personalities. Jewish and non-Jewish, throughout the country. Among the messages received were felicitations from Hon. Roland J. Harris, former United States Ambassador to Japan: Owen J. Roberts. Member of the Dawes Commission: Arthur Lehman. New York: Judge Joseph M. Proskauer. New York: Alba B. Johnson, Chief Justice Robert Von Moschisker, Sol. M. Stroock. New York: Felix Warburg. New York: Cardinal Dougherty. Bishop Garland. Bishop Beery. Judge J. Willis Martin, and Arthur W. Sowall, President of the Society for Organizing Charities.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
