Jewish Members of Polish Parliament Demand Change in Poland’s Economic Policy in So Far As It Affect

A demand that the Polish Government should, for the sake of its own prestige, alter its economic policy in so far as it affects the Jewish population is made in a memorandum to the Premier Slovak signed by the members of the Jewish Parliamentary Club, composed of Deputies Isaac Gruenbaum and Hartglass and Senators Davidson and Koerner. The memorandum, the text of which has just reached this city, describes the grave economic situation of the Jews of Poland and charges the responsibility for the destitution of hundreds of thousands of them to the “economic oppression” of the government. It calls upon the Government to take all necessary steps to relieve the situation, as well for its own prestige in the eyes of the civilized world as for the sake of the victims of the alleged “economic oppression.”

The memorandum of the Jewish Parliamentary Club asserts that the Jews of America have, through the Joint Distribution Committee, contributed upward of $27,000,000 for the palliative and reconstructive relief of the Jews of Poland. “Were it not for the succor extended by their brethren in America the Jews of Poland would have been strangled by their poverty and the oppression of the Government,” the memorandum declares. “The Joint Distribution Committee has rescued several million Jews from destruction, but the Polish Government dare no longer remain indifferent to the Jewish situation here and must create opportunities of livelihood for its Jewish citizens.

JEWS SUFFER FROM ECONOMIC DEPRESSION

“The Jewish population has for several years past suffered from an especially onerous economic depression, which is to a limited extent, a repercussion of the general economic situation in Poland,” the memorandum states. “It is not to be denied that the chaos which ensued after the World War, the rise of new nationalities, the alteration of political boundary-lines, the creation of new tariff-restriction, unemployment, change of values have conspired to create economic crises in various European countries which inevitably caused a similar economic crisis in Poland. But there is not any doubt that the economic crisis of the Jews of this country is due not only to the general situation, but to special conditions as well.

“As is well known, the majority of the Jews here depend for their livelihood on commerce, trade, small industry and handwork, and are almost entirely excluded from agriculture. The policy of the Government has always tended to expel the Jews from these activities on which they depend for livelihoods, and fill their places with the other elements of the population. In addition, the Government has set up monopolies and deprived of employment tens of thousands of Jewish workmen and other employees who for many years were associated with private Jewish industrial establishments. They were thrown into the streets through various pretexts and substituted by non-Jewish workers,” the memorandum declares. “The Government has also taken important concessions from the Jews, including the tobacco and alcohol concessions, which has caused the ruin of another large number of Jewish families.”

DISCRIMINATES AGAINST COOPERATIVES

The memorandum also accuses the Government of discriminating against the Jewish cooperatives at the same time that it generously supports the non-Jewish cooperatives.

“The flourishing Polish cooperatives are the special wards of the government’s institutions and banks, as well as of the communal institutions and organs, at the same time that the Jewish cooperatives struggle against serious difficulties and do not receive governmental support commensurate with their number or strength,” the memorandum sets forth.

“Finally, and though this has been stated before, it needs to be emphasized here,” the memorandum declares, “the taxation system of the Government is so constructed that the rural population is practically tax-exempt and the whole burden of taxation falls upon the urban population. In view of the fact that the Jews in many cities constitute the majority of the population and depend solely upon commerce and handwork, the ‘turn-over’ tax falls most heavily upon them.”

J. D. C. SPENT $27,000,000

Discrimination against Jews as civil-service employees is another charge made by the Jewish Parliamentary Club which continues : “The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee has expended for the immediate and reconstructive relief of Polish Jewry upward of 40,000,000 Zlotys ($27,000,000). This sum does not include funds sent by American Jews through the Joint Distribution Committee to their Polish relatives. These private contributions alone, for a period of three years, 1919 to 1922, amount to $9,000,000. Nor does it include millions of dollars contributed by or through other Jewish philanthropic organizations.

“The Government cannot be in-indifferent to the desperate condition of the Jews in this country,” the memorandum concludes, “nevertheless it displays no apparent understanding of the situation which is due in no small measure to its own political conduct, and is taking no steps to ameliorate it. We regard it as our duty as chosen representatives of the Jewish population of this country, to present this situation to the Government and call its attention to the urgent necessity which does not permit of postponement to come forward with courageous initiative and prepare a definite program which shall aim to eliminate the causes of the present catastrophal situation.”