Felix M. Warburg, New York banker and philanthropist, has subscribed $1,000,000 for the development of Jewish farm settlements in Southern Russia, it was announced by James N. Rosenberg, Chariman of the American Jewish Joint Agricultural Corporation.
“Mr. Warburg’s contribution is a magnificent response to the recent $5,000,000 subscription by Mr. Julius Rosenwald, of Chicago, for the promotion of Jewish agriculture in Russia,” declared Mr. Rosenberg. “Mr. Rosenwald’s gift was conditional upon another $5,000,000 being collected in this country. Mr. Warburg immediately responded, setting a new standard for the Jewish community of this city. His $1,000,000 subscription is the largest single contribution ever made by a New York citizen for Jewish relief and reconstruction in Europe.” Mr. Warburg’s subscription, like that of Mr. Rosenwald, is conditioned upon the full $10,000,000 being subscribed.”
Mr. Rosenberg pointed out that the subscriptions of Mr. Warburg and Mr. Rosenwald are toward a new and independent society now being organized for land settlement in Russia, and are not to be confuse with the activities of the Joint Distribution Committee. The present program of the latter Committee in Eastern Europe, Palestine and Russia requires the urgent collection of all the outstanding pledges made to the United Jewish Campaign.
“Between now and October 1, 1928.” declared Mr. Rosenberg, “the Joint Distribution Committee requires substantial sums for the existing farm colonies in Russia, and the medical, trade school and loan activities there. Dr. Rosen, the Director of the Agro-Joint, has already made a most urgent plea to the Joint Distribution Committee for additional funds to take care of the flood of Jewish refugees from the towns who this spring have swarmed to the colonies, without formality of registration, and who must be provided for.”
Mr. Warburg personally visited the new Jewish colonies in Russia last year. He returned an enthusiastic believer in the land settlement work conducted in the Ukraine and the Crimea by the Agro-Joint, under the direction of Dr. Joseph A. Rosen.
In confirming the announcement, Mr. Warburg declared to the “New York Times” representative that “it was not his intention to divert interest from the plan of the World Zionist Organization to establish a Jewish national home in Palestine.”
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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.