An urgent appeal for cash payments on account of pledges made to the United Jewish Appeal was issued yesterday by Felix M. Warburg, who announced that the pledges made to that fund-raising effort for the benefit of the Jews of Germany total $1,675,000. The United Jewish Appeal, of which Mr. Warburg is chairman, is seeking to obtain $3,000,000 from the Jews of America for the economic relief of the Jews of Germany and other lands and the settlement of Jews in Palestine.
The organizations represented by the United Jewish Appeal are the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the American Palestine Campaign. Associated with Mr. Warburg as co-chairmen of the drive are Paul Baerwald, Louis Lipsky, Morris Rothenberg and Rabbi Jonah B. Wise.
ACHIEVEMENT CALLED SPLENDID
The total of $1,675,000 in pledges, Mr. Warburg stated, represents the response to the United Jewish Appeal by approximately 450 communities throughout the country, since the launching of the campaign last March.
“Taking into consideration the unsettled economic conditions prevalent here, that is a splendid achievement, and indicates how strongly the Jews of America sympathize with their afflicted German brethren,” he said. “With the end of the summer season, hundreds of additional Jewish communities in the United States and Canada will launch drives in behalf of the United Jewish Appeal, and I am convinced that the goal of $3,000,000 will be achieved, or at least, be in sight, before many months have elapsed.”
CASH PAYMENTS FALL SHORT
“Unfortunately, however, the cash payments thus far received from the various communities that have participated in the United Jewish Appeal have not kept pace with the urgent need for ready cash to enable the participating organizations to meet their commitments, whether in Germany or in the refugee countries or in Palestine. Our records show that the cash received at our headquarters, 100 East Forty-second street, from these communities amounts to about one-half of the sum represented by the pledges.
“On the other hand, the Joint Distribution Committee which is cooperating with the leaders of German Jewry and local relief committees in the refugee countries is about $500,000 behind in its commitments; and the American Palestine Campaign is behind in its commitments for the work of settling refugees from Germany and Jews from other countries in the Holy Land to an approximately equal amount.
VICTIMS DEPEND ON AID
“It is clear that unless these two bodies are speedily supplied with funds to carry out their work on all the ‘fronts’ involved, great hardships will be visited upon the hundreds of thousands whose only hope for a better life depends on the aid they receive from their American brethren.
“I am therefore urging the local campaign committees throughout the country to intensify their collection efforts for the sake of those whom we are endeavoring to aid.”
Mr. Warburg said, in conclusion, that about 100 local drives for the benefit of the United Jewish Appeal will be held within the next two months.
Among the major cities that will raise funds during that period are:
Atlanta, Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Des Moines, Milwaukee, New Orleans and Rochester.
Many of the local campaigns, he said, will begin simultaneously with the Jewish New Year and special pleas on behalf of the drive will be made in about 2,000 synagogues and temples during Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur.
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