Joint Distribution Committee May Appeal to Non-jews if American Jewry Does Not Respond, Brown Tells

A new call to American Jewry to take immediate steps to make available a large sum to be sent abroad for relief in Central and Eastern Europe was issued yesterday by David A. Brown, National Chairman of the United Jewish Campaign. In a letter to the National Committee of the United Jewish Campaign, Mr. Brown stated:

“In view of the situation of the Jews of Eastern Europe, as it reveals itself to me in the great mass of cables, letters and petitions which pour into this office daily, I feel it to be my solemn duty to say to you and to the Jews of America that the effort we are making to raise a minimum of $15,000,000 for the relief of the suffering millions who look to us as their last hope, is and must be the only and sole activity of the Jews of this country until the entire sum has ben raised.

“With all of the solemnity and sincerity of one who is facing the truth, I say to you that this campaign transcends in importance any other movement, any other appeal that is now before the Jews of America for whatever purpose, collectively or locally.

“I am moved further to make this statement because of a meeting held a few days ago by the Joint Distribution Comittee. It was a meeting called for the purpose of passing the budget for April, May and June. It was a tragic meeting because there were brought to this meeting, in addition to the reports I have received, reports from hundreds of Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, which indicate that the tragedy of our people has assumed staggering proportions.

DESCRIBES J. D. C. MEETING

“I repeat that the meeting of the Joint Distribution Committee, which should have been a merely formal session, was a tragic meeting. This great organization, which only a few years ago stood out before the world as the savior of European Jewry, this organization which had disbursed $60,000,000 with which it rebuilt the lives of tens and tens of thousands of Jews, who had been stricken by the war; which had rebuilt hundreds of communities; which had re-established hundreds of schools; which had established hundreds of new schools; which had successfully combatted epidemics in a score of countries; which had made it possible for thousands of Jewish young men and young women to become self-supporting; which, in short, had kept the soul and the body of Israel alive during the ten terrible years beginning with 1914–saw, now, at this meeting the whole of that wonderful structure that it erected in Europe crumbling in the face of a terrific economic cyclone.

“And, this Committee, composed of leading bankers, great financiers, lawyers–the outstanding individuals in American Jewry–found itself helpless in this hour of crisis. This Committee found itself with an empty treasury–yes, with a deficit running over two million dollars. When the meeting was called to order it was brought face to face with its inability to pass the budget. It was brought face to face with its own indebtedness, with the fact that it had already borrowed for relief purposes to the uttermost limit of its resources–and that many members of the Joint Distribution Committee were personally obligated to the extent of personal notes which they had signed when over three months ago the Joint Distribution Committee borrowed a million dollars in order to rush help across the seas. And these men, face to face with the helplessness of the situation, with the inability to carry on, are looking to the Jews of America to quickly replenish their depleted treasury.

“To avert the necessity of appealing to the non-Jews of America–I must ask each of you the very promptest action in order that the largest sum of cash possible may be obtained for this campaign in the very shortest possible time. To do this it will be necessary:

BROWN OUTLINES PROGRAM

1. “That immediate steps be taken to organize drives in those communities where no action at all has been taken.

“There are many Jewish communities in America which, so far as this campaign is concerned, have until now been dead. Dead to the cry for help. Dead to the cry of tragedy which has stirred the rest of the world with horror and with sympathy. Rouse these dead communities. Rouse them into living action for the sake of those who cry out loud to the world for a chance to live. Make it your business to list the communities in your State where nothing has been done; where no steps whatever have been taken. List the communities, that are dead, go into these communities, galvanize them into action, shame them into action, if need be.

“They must come to life. They must swing into action. If all of the ‘dead’ communities in the United States–communities that are responding neither to this nor to any other appeal, are aroused, the total that can be rolled up for this campaign would treble the amount of our quota.

2. “That immediate steps be taken in those communities where drives are not under way, and that they be put on as speedily as possible.

“A great deal of time is being lost in organization. While all these preliminary steps are being taken, men, women and children are dying. A little more speed. A little more devotion. A little more sacrifice of comfort on the part of local leaders will speed up drives which, according to present schedules, are not to take place for some time to come. It is absurd to put drives off for a month or more when the need exists now.

3. “In those communities where campaigns are already under way, every effort must be made to secure the largest possible amount of cash at once.

“The pledges that have already been made in those campaigns–bona fide pledges which in due course will be translated into cash–already amount to millions of dollars, and undoubtedly in due course, these millions will come in. But, unfortunately, the Jews of Europe cannot wait. Hunger will not wait. Typhus will not wait. Death will not wait. Hunger, disease and death are threatening the Jews of Europe now. Hunger, disease and death are claiming thousands upon thousands of victims from the Jews of Europe now.

“If our campaign is to be a means of salvation for the lives of the Jews of Eastern Europe, we cannot content ourselves–we dare not content ourselves with pledges, just as we cannot content ourselves with the promise of action in the future. Action and cash are needed now, and the Jews of America must act now,” Mr. Brown’s letter concluded.