The abolition of the existent Czarist restrictions against Jews of Poland was proposed by the government in the Sejm today. Nevertheless the Jews are not optimistic as to the outcome because in the previous Sejm a bill to void these laws passed a second reading and went no further. Hence the Jewish leaders fear that the same thing will happen again.
Meanwhile the Jewish parliamentary club has again placed before the cabinet four proposals that were made to previous governments only to be repeatedly rejected. They are a modification of the Sunday law, an extension to the Yiddish and Hebrew schools of the rights accorded to the government schools, a cancellation of the taxes due from impoverished taxpayers and a reduction in the taxes on the town population, and the appointment of a Sejm commission to investigate the obstacles thrown in the way of the Zionist candidates during the last election by raiding Zionist newspaper offices while the organ of the Agudath Israel was permitted to appear.
Deputy Lewin, the Agudist deputy, denied the allegations of the Jewish parliamentary club that the Agudath had obstructed the Zionist election campaign and challenged the right of the Zionist deputies to speak on behalf of Polish Jewry. He maintained that the majority of the Polish Jews are inclined towards the Agudath Israel, orthodox organization.
Deputy Joshua Thon complained that although the Jews form ten per cent of the population of Poland and are 40 per cent of the taxpayers, the number of Jews in the civil service is negligible. Deputy Lewin again took the floor to raise the question of the disastrous economic position of Polish Jewry and utilized the opportunity for an attack on the Zionist deputies.
Meanwhile the chances of the Jewish deputies to make representations in parliament and to influence that body were further reduced by the adoption of a resolution increasing the number of signatures required for an interpellation from 15 to 30. This means that the Jewish parliamentary club will have to look for 24 signatures outside of its own membership.
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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.
