Jewish Leaders Discuss Ways of Combatting White Slave Traffic

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

An international conference of representatives of Jewish organizations to combat white slave traffic was opened here yesterday under the chairmanship of Claude Montefiore, President of the Liberal Jewish Synagogue.

Seventy delegates were present at the opening of the conference.

Mr. Montefiore, in his opening address, declared that the general economic and social conditions in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe, have become worse since the end of the World War. It is no secret that a wide-spread white slave traffic is in existence, and that a number of Jews are participating in it, both as dealers and as victims. Reference to this fact has been made in the experts’ report of the League of Nations. Jews must join in the common endeavor for the moral purification of the world, Mr. Montefiore declared.

A praesidium was elected consisting of M. Oungre, representing the Jewish Colonization Association, Prof. Soberheim of Berlin, Herr Klempner of Vienna and M. Becker of Danzig.

Arthur More, vice-president of the Association to Combat White Slave Traffic, praised the work of the Jewish committees in Warsaw and in Lodz.

From reports submitted by Rabbi Halphon, Chief Rabbi of Argentine, and Rabbi Raffalovich of Brazil, it appears that the Jewish committees to combat white slavery have succeeded in rescuing hundreds of young women. The new arrivals are met on the ships and wrenched from the hands of the traffickers. A new branch of the Society to Combat White Slavery was formed in Montevideo, where the traffic has assumed appalling proportions. New branches are necessary in Mexico, Peru, Chile, in other Central American countries, and in Turkey, reports state.

Attention was drawn to the fact that the activities of the society cannot be extended to meet the requirements because of the lack of funds.