Lehman Asks All U.S. to Aid Appeal Drive

An appeal to the men and women of America to contribute generously to the fund for the relief and rehabilitation of European Jewry was issued here yesterday by Governor Herbert H. Lehman in a message addressed to communities throughout the United States, who are cooperating to raise for the United Jewish Appeal the sum of $3,250,000 for the Jews of Germany and other lands and for their settlement in Palestine.

Pointing out that at all times “the suffering and privation of humanity stirred a responsive chord without regard of race or creed,” Governor Lehman said that the amount asked for by the United Jewish Appeal “is small in comparison with the immensity of the problem.”

MANY CITIES SET FOR DRIVES

In connection with the governor’s message, it was announced that more than two score cities and towns throughout the country have made preparations for campaigns during the balance of this month and the first two weeks in May.

New York City will launch its drive at a dinner to be held next Sunday at the Hotel Commodore, at which Jewish leaders of the five boroughs and the various industries and professions will attend. The Greater New York quota is $1,250,000 and the chairmen of the local effort are I. Edwin Goldwasser, Michael Schaap and Nathan Straus. Felix M. Warburg is national chairman and associated with him as co-chairmen are: Paul Baerwald, Louis Lipsky, William Rosenwald, Morris Rothenberg and Rabbi Jonah B. Wise.

In his message, Governor Lehman, who is an honorary chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, jointly with Dr. Cyrus Adler, Judge Julian W. Mack, Joseph M. Proskauer, and Dr. Stephen S. Wise, said:

“At a time when the world is disturbed by forces which seek to capitalize racial, religious and national differences, it is essential that men and women animated by good will and social purpose should combat intolerance and bigotry in whatever form it appears. To be indifferent to sinister influences which exploit prejudice is to give them encouragement and strength.

CITES REASONS FOR AID

“There are two ways in which Americans of all creeds may unite in resisting the inroads of the philosophies of hatred which are alien to our traditions and history. First, we must resist the introduction of principles which now wrack so many countries in Europe. Secondly, it is our duty as human beings to respond with sympathy and generosity to the appeal of those who have been made victims of policies which modern civilization has long disavowed.

“To Jews themselves the obligation to the United Jewish Appeal is a primary responsibility. To contribute to this imperative fund is not merely to acknowledge deep emotion at the fate of the Jewish people, but to recognize that the grounds upon which our fellow-Jews suffer are those which closely affect our own dignity, pride and physical existence.

“To Americans generally the United Jewish Appeal will seem an organized rehabilitation effort which must arouse esteem and cooperation. With the encouragement and the sympathy of the American public at large, the United Jewish Appeal will undoubtedly obtain that measure of response which is vital if tens of thousands of brave and helpless people are to be saved from spiritual demoralization and physical disaster.”

26 UNITS FORMED IN APPEAL DRIVE

Twenty-six units have already been formed by the Greater New York campaign of the United Jewish Appeal, it was announced yesterday. These groups include twenty trade committees and six borough divisions.

Borough divisions have been set up in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx with Register Aaron L. Jacoby as chairman of the first group, Magistrate Jonah J. Goldstein as head of the second, with Judge Otto A. Rosalsky as honorary chairman, and Abraham Krasne, food merchant, as leader of the third. A Staten Island group has already been formed, it was said, with Reuben Cantor as chairman.