A deplorable condition existing in certain sections of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe was traced to the rigid enforcement of the United States immigration laws, which brought about the separation of families, at an international conference of Jewish organizations to combat white slave traffic, in session here.
The sanctity of the Jewish home, which has for centuries been the distinct characteristic of Jewish life, is no longer a dominant factor, Mme. Teplicka of Lodz, Poland, declared in her report. Many Jewish women have become victims of white slave traffic due to the post-war impoverishment of the masses, Mme. Teplicka stated. Mme. Teplicka also blamed the United States quota law which prevented thousands of women from joining their husbands.
Dr. Lubinsky of Kovno reported that due to the terrible economic crisis prevailing in Lithuania, prostitution has increased. Of the 1,200 prostitutes registered in Kovno, 241 are Jewish, he stated.
Mme. Blankstein of Vilna urged a program to provide farm and trade schools for Jewish girls. The speaker traced the deplorable condition to the change of political frontiers, the pogroms, the mass emigration, the separation of families, the condition of the “man without a country” in which many find themselves, the shortage of housing, the unemployment, starvation, and the rapid changes in the social structure of the Jewish population in Eastern Europe, when the luftmensch class is rapidly disappearing.
The conference cheered the report of Rabbi Hyamson of New York who stated that there was no prostitution in New York because of the favorable economic conditions.
Claude Montefiore, the distinguished English Jew and president of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue of London, in commenting upon the reports which were heard at the conference, stated that the Jewish traffickers do not belong to the Jewish religion, yet it is impossible to hide the facts and shirk the responsibility. It is quite natural that the years of misery and persecution have produced some scoundrels, he stated.
Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, in speaking on the question, declared that white slave traffic is not a distinctly Jewish problem, but a social question affecting all humanity.
Mrs. Henry Moskowitz of New York described the work of the Council of Jewish Women and proudly declared that New York is perhaps the cleanest city in the world.
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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.
