Jewish Welfare Work in United States Lauded at Conference

Jewish welfare work in the United States was lauded here today at a conference at the Columbia University School of Social Work devoted to be 300th anniversary of Jewish settlement in this country. Dr. Kenneth D. Johnson, dean of the school, emphasized the contributions to public welfare made by the Jewish communities and their social agencies.

Samuel A. Goldsmith, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Chicago, who was the principal speaker, said that the method of organization of Jewish philanthropic work, through central funds or federations has been adopted successfully by general welfare agencies.

Mr. Goldsmith said that Jewish philanth ### py has made a “distinct contribution to community unity, to word unity, and to the responsibility that the American Jewish individual has to those in need anywhere in the world.” He estimated that in the last century the Jewish population of the United States has increased 100 times, reaching five million in 1950, while the general population of the country increased seven times, attaining a population figure of 152 million that year.

Mr. Goldsmith asserted that Jewish social work does not, as most people believe, stem from needs arising from large-scale enforced migration, but from a traditional Jewish communal organization that runs down through the centuries. “When we speak of social welfare organization and activity of the American Jewish community we take giant strides, not only over a period of 300 years in the United States, but over thousands of years of Jewish history, “he stated. “The idea of a total community and a total years community responsibility, inherited from ages of experience, dominates the current American Jewish scene,” he said.