Daily Digest of Public Opinion On, Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.–Editor.]

The refusal of the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Colonization Association (Ica) in Paris to furnish the Jewish Telegraphic Agency with a copy of the last will of Baron Maurice de Hirsch, founder of the Ica, is criticized by Jacob Fishman in the “Jewish Morning Journal” of March 15.

“We are not surprised at the reply of the Ica,” says Mr. Fishman. “On the contrary, we would be very much surprised if the Ica made the Baron’s will available to the Jewish public. The organization which during its entire existence never published a financial report of its activities will not take the Jewish public into confidence.

“We do not know what the purpose of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in asking for the will was, but we admit that the document is of great public interest, especially now, before the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Baron de Hirsch. It is not necessary to argue that the secret operations of the Ica are not in harmony with ‘public policy’ and that the Ica is doing itself much injury thereby.”

BRITISH GOVERNMENT’S POLICY IN PALESTINE DISCUSSED BY SECRETARY OF WORLD ZIONIST ORGANIZATION

The British government has not actively cooperated in the development of the Jewish National Home, although the Jews owe a great deal to the British mandate, declares Leonard Stein, Secretary of the World Zionist Organization.

In his article “The Jews in Palestine” (“Foreign Affairs,” April issue), Mr. Stein writes:

“There is in some quarters a hazy impression that if Palestine is not a Jewish State, it is at all events under Jewish administration. Nothing could be further from the truth. The following figures were given in evidence last year before the Permanent Mandates Commission of the League of Nations:

PALESTINE ADMINISTRATION

Senior Service Junior Service

Christians 231 1.212 1,413

Moslems 76 1,413 2,019

Jews 47 764 811

Others 2 6 8

Totals 356 3,925 4,281

“At this time the High Commissioner was a Jew. He has since been succeeded by a Christian, Lord Plumer, and the only Jew now holding high office in the Palestine Government is the Attorney General.

“But this is only a small part of the story. So far from having made Palestine a Jewish State, the Government has, in some respects, actually done less for the Jews than might reasonably have been expected of it. Reference has already been made to its delay in giving effect to the provisions of Article 6 of the Mandate with reference to the settlement of Jews on state and waste lands. The Jews have another and a still more valid grievance in the fact that while they contribute to the revenue on the same footing as everyone else, 97 per cent of the public expenditure on education goes to Arab schools, the Jews–except for an infinitesimal grant-in-aid–being left to provide Hebrew schools from their own resources.

“It would, however, be a complete mistake to infer that the Jews owe nothing to the British Mandate. On the contrary, it would not be too much to say that to all they have achieved since the war the Mandate is the indispensable background. Great Britain has rendered them two services of vital importance, and these are none the less services to the Jews because they have also been services to Palestine as a whole. She has, in the first place, kept the peace. In the second place, the Government has stood firm on the vital question of immigration. If it has not conceded an unrestricted right of entry to the Jews, neither has it conceded an embargo to the Arabs. It has regulated immigration, but it has allowed it to come in what is now a steady and growing stream.”

NEW ZIONIST LABOR GROUP HAS REVISIONIST PROGRAM

The political phase of the program of the Zionist Labor group, Histadruth Hazionim Haamlanim, which was organized in Palestine recently, coincides with that of the Zionists Revisionists, we are told by the “Wiener Morgenzeitung” of Feb. 23.

At their last conference held on January 8 and 9, the Histadruth Hazionim Haamlanim declared in one of their resolutions, under the caption Political Policy: “In view of the fact that our political ideology is related to that of the Revisionists, the Zionist Labor organization will, from time to time, in matters of political activity, coordinate its work with that of the Revisionists.”

The program, explaining the position of the Histadruth Hazionim Haamlanim on economic questions, declares that the Zionist Labor group rejects the glass struggle idea as a method for the realization of the national social rebuilding of Palestine.

BREVITIES

Attorney General Sargent will ask the Supreme Court to decide whether the families of non-quota immigrants can be admitted into the United States without regard to quotas.

He will appeal the case of Rabbi Jacob S. Duner of New York City, who came here from Poland and seeks to have his wife and children admitted. Immigration officials decided against entry of the family, but the lower courts overruled them.

Formal announcement was made today of the engagement of the daughter of Isak Weinman of New York, a singer known on the stage as Lillian Lorma, to Attilio Teruzzi, Fascist Deputy and Under Secretary of State in the Department of Interior, according to an Associated Press despatch from Rome.

Premier Mussolini received the couple and congratulated them. The bridegroom-to-be commanded a portion of Mussolini’s legions during the Fascist march on Rome. He had a distinguished war record, having been wounded and decorated four times. The wedding is expected in June.

Miss Lorma has sung in Italy and Spain. Mr. and Mrs. Weinman were in Rome for the announcement of their daughter’s engagement.

Before his death William Jennings Bryan had prepared a constitutional amendment which would have made Christianity the official religion of the United States, Augustus Thomas, playwright, who nominated Mr. Bryan for President in 1903, told the Advertising Club in New York.

“I saw the actual wording of the amendment and because Mr. Bryan died it does not follow that no attempt will be made to have this amendment enacted,” Mr. Thomas said.

Making a plea for a united front of all religious denominations. Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, speaking at dedicatory services in the New Rutgers Presbyterian Church. 73rd Street and Broadway, New York, Sunday night, declared it was the province of the church to demand higher standards in politics and business.

Captain Alexander Aaronsohn, D. S. O., will speak at 11 o’clock tomorrow morning at Town Hall, New York, before the League for Political Education. His subject will be “Palestine Reborn.”

Joseph Abraham, 9 year old Jewish boy from Syria, whose parents work in a packing plant in Cedar Rapids. Iowa, is regarded by Donald Durrell, Psychologist of the University of Iowa, who conducted a mental test on him, as a wonder as a speller. He spells better than the average adult and many college students, the tests showed.