Jewish public opinion in Greater New York is divided on the proposal to amalgamate the Brooklyn and New York Federations of Jewish philanthropies into one Jewish Community Chest to include the five boroughs, as was recently advocated by James J. Brooke, member of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Federation.
An inquiry made by the “Jewish Daily Bulletin” among the trustees of the New York and Brooklyn Federations brought many enthusiastic replies favoring the plan, many opposing the plan and many counselling caution until the results of the Jewish communal survey in Greater New York are available. The findings of the survey, it was stated, are expected to be made public during March.
The questions asked in the inquiry were:
1. Are you in favor of an amalgamation of the New York and Brooklyn Federations of Jewish Charities to be merged into a city-wide Jewish Federation to provide for the handicapped, deficient and needy, and the establishment of a Board of Trustees, representative of the entire community?
2. Are you in favor of progressively adding those unaffiliated societies who are able to qualify, to the Federations of Brooklyn and New York, who today secure an existence by independent appeals to the community for support?
The intricacies of the proposal were outlined in the reply of Felix M. Warburg. “I cannot see any logical reason why that part of Greater New York which lies on the East River should be considered in a different way from that part of the city which is north of the Harlem River, but there are many complications and it would be foolish to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question.
“My hope is that in time the Brooklyn Federation will have such a large membership that the standards which prevail in Brooklyn and New York will be more nearly the same, and I hope also that the city-wide survey which is now being made will serve as a basis for a more serious discussion of the subject.”
The argument made by Mr. Brooke that the East River should not be a line of demarkation for Jewish social service in the city was supported by many, including Congressman Emanuel Celler, Oswald Schlockow, District Superintendent, Board of Education; Albert D. Schanzer, Bernard Semel, Robert Isaac, Hugh Grant Straus, Max Abelman, Frederick I. Ettlinger, Emil N. Zolla, B. C. Vladeck, Herbert Posner, Adolph Feldblum, Samuel Bayer, Stanley M. Isaacs, Morton H. Meinhard, George Boochever, Pincus Glickman, Dr. Alex L. Louria, Simon Newman, R. Sadowsky, Judge Mitchell May, Justice Edgar J. Lauer, Joseph M. May. Judge Otto A. Rosalsky, Herman Gabbe, Justice Harry E. Lewis, Meier Steinbrink, Manny Strauss, Roseman, Alex A. Bernstein, Jacob Neinkin, Frederick Brown, Ralph Jonas and Charles I. Mandel.
Among those who expressed themselves strongly against the proposal were Joseph Barondess, Leopold Plaut, president. Jewish Social Service Association and Mrs. Abraham N. Davis.
Dr. Lee K. Frankel stated the case for those who advise further consideration of the plan. Others who urged waiting for the results of the survey were H. G. Friedman, Benjamin Feiner and Morris Salzman.
Charles A. Levine and Miss Mabel Boll arrived at Camp Columbia Flying Field, Havana, Cuba, at 1:32 Tuesday afternoon (2.01 Eastern standard time) in the Bellanca monoplane Columbia, piloted by Wilmer Stultz. The 1,400 mile trip from Mitchel Field. L. I. had been made without stop or incident in 14 hours 25 minutes.
The Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies of New York will make public the budgetary allotments for 1928 to its ninety-one constituent societies., at a dinner meeting of the Federation’s Business Men’s Council at the Hotel Roosevelt, on Wednesday evening, March 21.
According to an announcement yesterday by Frederick Brown, treasurer of the committee in charge, the purpose of the dinner will be to welcome Dudley D. Sicher, newly-elected chairman of the Business Men’s Council and his associate officers, as well as to present a report of the 1927 expenditures of the affiliated societies and the report on the distribution of funds for the current year.
Justice Joseph M. Proskauer of the Supreme Court of the State of New York will preside, and Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the Federation board of trustees, will present the newly-elected officers.
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