Plans of the American Christian Fund for Jewish Relief were discussed at a luncheon Friday at the Yale Club at which Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, president of the Federal Council of Churches, and Judge Victor J. Dowling, prominent Roman Catholic, were present. They are joint chairmen of the movement, said to be the first national organization of Christians for philanthropic work among Jews.
A mail canvass will be made by the Christian Fund, and it is expected that the effort to raise money will last until the first of the year. No goal has been set for the campaign. On the committee in charge of it there are seven Governors, six United States Senators, four Bishops, one Cabinet officer, eleven college presidents and the mayors of several cities.
At the luncheon Dr. Cadman was the principal speaker. After making it clear that the movement began among Christians and was unsolicited by Jews, who, he said, were always in the van in charitable movements, Dr. Cadman said:
“The Jews are not responsible for the terrible conditions in which they find themselves in Eastern Europe today. They were merely caught in the maelstrom which followed the war, and are suffering as a result of circumstances over which they have no control. Talk of ameliorating conditions in Europe today by the cancellation of debts is futile–it is like putting a plaster on a cancer.
“It is a lack of social imagination on our part that causes our ignorance of the misery prevalent now in many parts of Europe. Could we but visit these centres and see the suffering which is on every hand, we would to a man give of our best. The success of this campaign will be a most happy factor in bringing about closer union between the Jews and Christians of this country.”
JEWISH LABOR BODIES MOURN EUGENE V. DEBS
A memorial meeting to the late Eugene V. Debs was held yesterday in Madison Square Garden by the Socialist party. The “Jewish Daily Forward” published an appeal to its readers to attend the meeting an masse. All Jewish labor unions were represented at the meeting.
Morris Hillquit and Judge Jacob Panken were among the speakers.
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