A delegation of the American Jewish Congress visited the Japanese Ambassador Yoshi Saito in Washington, urging him to investigate the charges against the Japanese administration in Manchukuo and to recommend to his government that the Jewish population in Harbin be protected from possible provocations. The American Consul-General in Manchukuo, as well as the British Minister there, have also been visited by Jewish delegations from Shanghai asking protection for the Harbin Jews.
The Japanese policy in Manchukuo has long been anti-Jewish. Anxious to control commercial life there, the Japanese officials in Manchukuo are doing their utmost to force the Jewish firms in Harbin to liquidate. As a result of this policy, many Jews are selling out their businesses and moving into Japan.
MERCHANTS IN STATE OF CONSTANT TERROR
The purchasers of the Jewish firms are usually Japanese merchants. Those of the Jewish storekeepers who are not anxious to liquidate or to transfer their firm into Japanese hands are under constant terror and their lives and property are not entirely safe.
Whether the American Consul-General in Manchukuo will be in a position to do anything for the Jews in Harbin is difficult to say, but the American government, through President Roosevelt, has dealt a heavy blow to Germany by announcing that any barter agreement between the United States and Germany would be illegal because it would violate American anti-dumping laws.
BOYCOTT PLACED ON LEGAL BASIS
This announcement by President Roosevelt puts the boycott of German goods in America on a legal basis. It makes clear that the monetary manipulations of the German government through the so-called registered marks permit the Reich to flood the American market with cheap goods and thus to undermine American products.
The interpretation given by President Roosevelt has provoked great dissatisfaction in Berlin. It may, however, be followed by other countries which are interested in preventing Germany from becoming a military power in Europe.
In Palestine another three-day storm occurred this week, taking upwards of twenty-four lives and causing damages estimated at $750,000. All of the dead are believed to be Arabs.
The disputes in the Jerusalem municipality were finally settled when the municipal council constituted itself for normal work, dividing its activities into eight departments, five of which will be dominated by Arabs. The financial department, one of the most important, is presided over by Daniel Auster, the Jewish vice-mayor.
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.
