To 100,000 men and women in the various communities in the United States and Canada who contributed to or took a leading part in the United Jewish Campaign and all the efforts made since 1914 to raise funds for the relief of the war-stricken Jews in Europe and Palestine. David A. Brown, National Chairman of the United Jewish Campaign, has addressed letters calling upon them to say immediately whether or not, after December 31st of this year, the mercy work which is now in its fifteenth consecutive year shall be continued or abandoned.
An announcement of this action was made yesterday by Mr. Brown. The nation-wide referendum, involving the future of American Jewish relief work for millions of Jews abroad, was launched by Mr. Brown, acting for a special committee recently appointed for this purpose by the Joint Distribution Committee, including Louis Manshall, Dr. Cyrus Adler, Dr. Solomon Lowenstein, David M. Bressler, Alexander Kahn and Peter Wiernik representing all of the constituent organizations of the Joint Distribution Committee.
The full text of the letter follows:
During the past five or six months one question has been asked hundreds of times by the leaders in the United Jewish Campaign effort. That is: Are we to have further campaigns and if so, when?
The purpose of this communication is to find our in some measure what is running through the minds of American Jewry who for nearly fifteen years have carried a continuous responsibility toward the Jews in other parts of the world.
At a full meeting of the Executive Committee of the Joint Distribution Committee the following with myself as Chairman, were appointed a Committee of Seven for the purpose of presenting to the J. D. C. a program for its future activities: Louis Marshall, Cyrus Adler, Solomon Lowenstein, David M. Bressler, Alexander Kahn and Peter Wiernik.
The J. D. C. purely a money-distributing organization is anxious to know considerably in advance whether it is to liquidate or whether it is to continue.
By the end of 1929 it is my hope that the balance outstanding on the pledges made to the United Jewish Campaign will have been collected. The J. D. C. can only continue its work provided it has the funds with which to do it.
When the present campaign is completed the J. D. C. will have expended over eighty millions of dollars.
In the expenditure of this large sum we will have touched every phase of social activity from the crudest form of palliative relief to the highest type of social effort-that of reconstruction and rehabilitation.
We have fed millions of starving men, women and children. We have cared for thousands upon thousands of orphans. We have rebuilt hospitals. We have supplied medicaments, surgical instruments, X-ray apparatus. We have rebuilt, countless hundreds of homes, synagogues, schools, bathhouses.
We have maintained schools, religious institutions. We have founded trade schools and maintained them. We have re-established hundreds of thousands of artisans and small traders through our cooperative banking institutions.
We have saved lives, restored lives, created hope and maintained the morale of millions of humans who through the tragedy of the world war, were suddenly thrown into a chaotic state from which up to the present day they have been unable to extricate themselves entirely.
SEVERAL TIMES J. D. C. ON VERGE OF LIQUIDATION
Several times the J. D. C. has been on the verge of liquidation, only to be called back into action by another series of catastrophies that befell our people. Time and time again those of us who have been close to the conditions in these countries have seen the dawn of a better day and the end of our money-raising activities.
Only due to the superhuman efforts of thousands upon thousands of our fine men and women throughout America have we been able to gather our forces together and raise large sums of money quickly, again beginning our mercy work among our stricken people.
A survey of those countries in which we have worked during these many years presents a most interesting situation. Compared with pre-war times, the economic condition of the Jew has materially changed, which necessarily resulted in an entirely new and lower standard of living. This condition has obtained for such a long period of time that there is now a general acceptance of it on the part of the people.
THE STATES OF THE JEW WILL NEVER AGAIN BE THAT OF PRE-WAR TIMES
It has not been that they have accepted the inevitable without a strug-
The marvel of it all is that despise his economic plight the lowered standard of living, the suffering, the misery and the tragedy of his life, there has been build up in all these communities a social structure covering every type and kind of Jewish social need , which has been carried on in part through (###) (###) locally, only the deficit being supplied by the J. D. C.
All of the numerous activities of the J. D. C. and all of the social changes (###) about by the J. D. C. have been (###) over almost entirely by the (###) grams who have assumed a full measure of responsibility for the management and for the raising of such (###) as could be secured from their own communities.
One of the greatest contributions of the J. D. C. has been its help n social-(###) along American lines all those with whom we have worked during the last fifteen years. The work of the J. D. C. at present is mainly to make in the deficits, to guide the organization (###) to (###) local participation, and to be generally helpful n every possible (###).(###) long shall we continue this spirit of helpfulness? It is dear to all of us who are closely in touch with (###) conditions that a measure of (###) must be carried by the Jews of American for number of years, unless we add further to the suffering and tragedy of our people.
The J. D. C. and the United Jewish Campaign organizations are the (###) of the Jews in this country. For fifteen years we have carried on with the (###) (###) by the Jews of America and when history it finally (###) this activities in within men and women of every part of this country (###) arts of human service (###) given in the history of the world.
WHAT IS THE ARTICLE OF U. S. JEWS LOWED COMMUNICATION OF THIS WORK?
Shall we say to the orphan communities: “We have carried ({SPAN}###){/SPAN} for fifteen years, we have timed to do as much as possible and now we are through; we insist that you assume full responsibility for the many thousands of orphans that have been under your and ({SPAN}###){/SPAN} care during this period?”
Shall we say to the religious institutions that we have helped (###) own this long period of years; We are sure, but we cannot be helpful any longer?”
Shall we say to the hospital groups (###) (###) (###) always a (###) (###) (###) (###) (###) (###).To the hundreds of trade schools and their thousands of pupils learning to becomes mechanics, (###), machine operators, and who are looking forward to the day when they will be able to produce and become social assets instead of social (###)-have we in our heats the courage to say to them that we plan to dessert them and let them carry on as best they can#World in be right and fair to (###) the hundreds of cooperative learn societies, for which the J. D. C. has been almost entirely responsible and which have rendered wonderful reconstruction aid, that we cannot work with them any longer-that they will have to depend upon their own resources for the communication of this (###) social effort?
WHAT SHALL WE SAY TO THE JEWS OF RUSSIA?
What shall we say to the Jews of Russia. They suffered al though the war, being constantly ({SPAN}###).{/SPAN} They lived though the several civil wars in that country and eventually council themselves deprived of all rights and property, without means of livehood when the new political philosophy of the Soviet became effective.
For years we were unable to render any service whatever to the Jews of Russia-only when famine ower(###) their millions of copses flooding the streets and the American Relief Administration headed by that great figure, now President-Flert Herbert (Continued on Page 4) (Continued from Page 3)
What shall we say to them with reference to the numerous activities aside from the work of colonization which cover, if you please, every social need of any of the other countries that we work in? Shall we say to them, “We are sorry, our hearts bleed for you, our sympathy goes out to you but we feel that we have carried on for fifteen years and it is now time to bring our work to an end”?
WHAT IS THE J. D. C. ATTITUDE TOWARD PALESTINE?
What is the J. D. C. attitude toward Palestine? Where in the past we have carried on countless activities and at present are supplying funds for industrial loans, land purchases and other social and commercial enterprises in that country-are we to notify them that in the future they cannot look to us for further funds and that they must depend upon other sources to carry out this most essential of Palestinian work?
ARE WE TIRED OF CAMPAIGNS?
Are we tired of campaigns? Tired of drives? Tired of giving? Are we the Jews of this country, so deeply interested in ourselves, in our own social requirements, in the building of our own institutions and the cry of our own needy, that we are ready to end that which has been recognized by the world as the greatest piece of human engineering in history?
Are we, the Jews of this country, ready to abandon millions of our brethren who through no fault of their own find themselves changed almost overnight from a self-respecting, self-supporting, fine-minded, right-minded people to a people almost entirely dependent for their very lives on the generosity of the Jews of America?
Are we ready to abandon them now, when they are entering the convalescent period and need a minimum of assistance from us to tide them over until such time as they are able to carry the entire burden alone?
THE SPIRIT OF AMERICAN JEWRY
If I know the spirit of American Jewry-and I believe I do-the answer will come back as a mighty roar which will spell itself out in terms of further service, in terms of further helpfulness, in terms of unselfishness, in terms of continued giving.
Strange as it may seem, the Jews of America are richer today, having given over eighty millions of dollars for European and other relief, in addition to other hundreds of millions for our own social needs and requirements, than they were fifteen years ago. Richer not alone in material possessions but richer in that which counts for more than stocks or bonds, land or buildings, gold or silver. Richer in self-respect. Richer in love. Richer in the consciousness of having accomplished a great life-saving and soul-saving work. Richer as American citizens. Richer as Jews.
Regardless of my own views in the matter (for it is well known that I am an incurable optimist, that I believe in the goodness of men and women) what I, as Chairman of this Committee, reporting as to the future of the J. D. C. must know, is the general attitude which those hundreds of thousands of men and women who over this long period of fifteen years have carried the financial burden and moral responsibility, have in their hearts and in their minds toward those for whom we have given of ourselves and of our money.
BROWN URGES IMMEDIATE ANSWER
We owe it to our brethren to let them know long in advance whether they can look to us for further help or whether we are to abandon them.
We must also advise our own vast organization in this country, which in all modesty I have from time to time designated as the greatest piece of human machinery that has ever functioned in this country, whether they are to be scrapped or to be kept intact for the purpose of further readjusting human life and saving thousands of men, women and children of our own faith.
I plead with you to let me have your views, even at some length, if you feel it necessary. In those countries across the seas our people are anxiously awaiting our answer. We are in duty bound to give it to them.
What shall it be? Mr. Brown’s letter concludes.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
