American Jewish Post-war Economic Problems Discussed at “yivo” Conference

The prospects of American Jews in a post-war economy were outlined by Dr. Nathan Reich, assistant professor of economics at Hunter College, addressing the 18th annual conference of the Yiddish Scientific Institute which closed last night. Dr. Reich predicted that for the next ten years there will be no crisis in the so-called Jewish industries in the United States. He predicted, however, that many of these industries will probably move from New York to provincial cities thus causing the transfer of a large number of Jewish workers. He also predicted that the number of Jewish small merchants will decrease, because it will be difficult after the war to engage in small business.

The conference authorized the Institute to launch a 1944 campaign for $125,000 to finance its activities. It expressed its thanks to the Jewish federations and welfare funds and to other organizations for the financial support given to the Institute, and honored the Jewish martyrs in Europe after a stirring address delivered by S. Mendelsohn, Polish-Jewish labor leader, on the heroic battle in the Warsaw ghetto. Other speakers at the conference included Prof. Max Laserson, Ilja Dijour, Dr. Julius Brutzkus, Samuel Niger, Dr. Milton Konvitz, Mark Wischnitzer and others. Hayim Greenberg, Zionist labor leader, was the principal speaker at a dinner which concluded the three-day sessions of the conference.