J. D. B. News Letter

Jewish grievances against the authorities were aired in Parliament when the Jewish deputy Angelo Goldstein seized a suitable opportunity during the debate on the Budget, to emphasize the most important concrete demands which the Jewish population is pressing for.

Dr. Goldstein demanded that the electional ordinances for the Jewish communities should be put on a democratic basis, so that the wide Jewish masses could be linked up more closely with the interests of the Community as an autonomous Jewish body.

Dr. Goldstein took a vigorous stand against the anti-Semitic accusations against the Jews of Carpatho-Russia, to the effect that they aid inebriety among the peasants. He proved through documentary evidence the falsity of the allegation that all licenses for selling alcohol are in Jewish hands. Anti-Semitic slogans will not induce the people to refrain from the consumption of alcohol. Proper education of the population is essential, Dr. Goldstein pointed out.

The Jews themselves, he said, do not wish to become monopoly traders in alcohol. Let the authorities change their policy and discontinue the grant of alcohol licenses as political remunerations. The Jews decline to be used as in the 19th century as the advance guard for fighting other peoples in the country. The Jews consider themselves a nation, and do not wish to be misused for political manipulation against others.

In the debate on the school education budget, Dr. Goldstein put forward a demand that the Government should include in its budget a subvention for Jewish education, particularly for the maintenance of the Hebrew elementary schools and the Hebrew secondary school. He pointed out that the Govto the provisions of the constitution and subsequent legislation.

The Jewish population is dissatisfied with occasional subsidies or special donations for their schools, he said. The Jewish school system must be part and parcel of the general school system and included in the regular government budget. The Jewish minority in Carpatho-Russia, he said, is national, both in its language and culture, and demands national rights on the basis of paragraph 132 of the constitution.

While no reply was given as yet by the government to the demands raised by Dr. Goldstein, what amounts to a special concession, is seen in the decision of the ministry for social relief to allot a special subsidy for the relief of poor Jewish children in Carpatho-Russia. Fifteen percent of the total allowance for relief of children in Carpatho-Russia was set aside for Jewish children to supply them daily with soup, milk and bread. Four thousand three hundred Jewish children are to benefit from this provision.