Peace Committee, Appointed by Judges, Suggests Slate for New Zionist Administration

With Louis Lipsky, who held the leadership of the Zionist movement in the United States since 1921, eliminated by his own statement from any post in the Zionist Organization of America, a slate for the new administration was prepared and is being suggested by the Committee of Nine, appointed by the judges who probed the charges of the opposition against the administration.

The slate was agreed upon at a meeting of the Committee of Nine, in which the opposition, the administration and the Citizens Committee on Peace and Reconstruction, are represented. The Committee was in session Saturday evening until early Sunday morning at the house of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. No official statement was issued by the Committee as to the composition of the slate. It was, however, stated on good authority that the Committee agreed on a Board of Directors who, with an administrative committee of forty and an advisory council of 150, would direct the affairs of the Zionist Organization of America.

The following are the nominees to the Board of Directors whose names are to be suggested to the convention: Dr. Louis I. Harris. New York Health Commissioner; Judge William M. Lewis of Philadelphia, Abram Liebovitz, Judge Julian W. Mack, Israel Matz, Dr. Nathan Ratnoff, Samuel Rothenberg of the Brooklyn Jewish Center; Jacob Siegel and Dr. Israel S. Wechsler.

A meeting of the present Administrative Committee of the Zionist Organization of America was called for yesterday afternoon to ratify the slate. The was necessary, it was declared, before the judges committee renders its report as the result of its inquiry. As this issue goes to press the Committee is still in session.

Asserting that only the Zionist convention has “supreme authority” in matters pertaining to the Zionist movement and its administration, a group of New York delegates to the forthcoming Zionist convention, at a meeting held Monday night at the McAlpin Hotel, adopted a resolution expressing resentment “at any attempt to curtail is functions and usurp its authority.”

This resolution has reference to the suggestion of a slate by the Committee of Nine and declared that it was “a violation of the fundamental principles of democracy of the Zionist movement.”

Expressing renewed confidence in Louis Lipsky and protesting against a “campaign of slander and vilification,” the delegates went on record as opposing the commission form of administration. The meeting was presided over by Leo Wolfson. A “steering committee” of eleven headed by Mr. Wolfson was appointed to present the group’s views at the Pittsburgh convention. Among those who addressed the meeting were Abraham Spicehandler, Ephraim Caplan, Dr. I. Miller, Charles Cowen, William Edlin, Dr. Maurice Eisenberg and Mrs. Hymans.

Cable despatches from London declare that Dr. Chaim Weizmann has left London for the Continent and that before his departure he had expressed his amazement at the latest developments in the Zionist movement in the United States. Regret was expressed among British Zionists at the cable despatches anouncing Louis Lipsky’s statement withdrawing from leadership.