The Jewish farm project at Hightstown, N.J. which was to have received aid from the subsistence homestead division of the Department of the Interior, will have that aid withdrawn unless work of colonization is placed under the management of that Division, the Association for Jewish Farm Settlements reports, following receipt of an order from Washington.
The government had previously agreed that the Hightstown colony was to be purely a Jewish cooperative venture, as submitted in the plans of the Association.
In direct contradiction to the previous understanding, the Washington order states that all colonies started or financed by the government must be under direct Federal control.
TERM CHANGE UNJUST
A special meeting of the association’s executive committee resolved that this change on the government’s part was not just, since, the association claims, the government had broken a promise, on the basis of which statements had been made to the press and to thousands who had applied for information regarding the proposed colony.
A second resolution stated that the selection of colonists will be made entirely without control by any organized Jewish body and may have an adverse influence upon the future existence of the colony and endanger the ideal.
The change on the part of the administration of the division may be part of the general policy in regard to all subsistence projects, the executive stated, by it does not think the Hightstown colony should have been included in the same category with other because of its specific nature.
TO SEEK ORIGINAL PLAN
A committee will be sent to Washington to explain to officials of the subsistence homestead division the viewpoint of the association and endeavor to return to the original plan.
Members of the advisory board at the meeting were requested by the executive body to resign and take no further part in activities until the question of registration had been settled to the association’s satisfaction.
Benjamin Brown, president of the association, resigned, stating he did not consider himself bound by the above resolution. His resignation was accepted and the action condemned.
The work of Jewish colonization in America will continue, the executive group decided, according to resolutions adopted at the last annual convention of the association.
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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.
