Morgenthau Lauds Jewish Achievements in Palestine in Message to ZOA Convention

Secretary of Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., in a message to the 46th annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America which opens here tomorrow at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel, declared that the solution of the problem of Jewish homelessness in Europe is “a task which must engage the attention and the efforts of all men of good will, citizens and statesmen alike, until it is well accomplished.”

“The fine work,” the statement continues, “of reconstruction and rehabilitation that has been accomplished by the Jews of Palestine has aroused my sympathetic interest and admiration and I have been particularly struck by reports of the contributions Palestine has been able to make to the war to strike down the oppressors.”

More than 1,000 delegates, representing over 500 Zionist units throughout the country, are attending the three-day session of the Zionist convention. A review of the situation in Palestine and the Near East will be presented by Judge Louis E. Levinthal, president of the Zionist Organization of America.

Marked gains which have been achieved by the Zionist movement in the past year are reviewed in detail in the annual report submitted to the delegates by Simon Shetzer of Washington, D. C., executive director of the Z.O.A. He reports an organized Zionist membership of over 250,000, including the Zionist Organization of America and its affiliated and constituent organizations: Hadassah, Womens Zionist Organization, Order Sons of Zion and other Zionist groups. Mr. Shetzer announced that in the past year more than 60 outstanding congregations have enrolled en masse in the Zionist Organization of America.

Referring to the participation of America Zionists in the United States war effort, Mr. Shetzer in his annual report cited the raising of $20,000,000 in war bonds in a single month this year as a result of a campaign conducted by the Organization under the chairmanship of Judge Morris Rothenberg of New York.