Plan United House to House Canvass for Palestine Funds

For the first time since 1921, when the gathering of funds for Palestine reconstruction was put on a systematic basis, all Zionist groups throughout the country will unite for a door to door canvass in order to secure the large sums necessary for the maintenance of Jewish reconstruction activities, according to a statement issued at the headquarters of the American Palestine Campaign.

A manifesto to young Jews, urging them to enroll as volunteers for the two days of the canvass, Sunday, October 11th and Sunday, October, 18th, has been issued together with a statement of the Jewish position in Palestine. This document, the first of its kind, is signed by the leaders of all groups in the United States devoted to the raising of funds for Palestine. They are Morris Rothenberg, national chairman of the American Palestine Campaign, for whose $2,500,000 drive the house to house canvass has been arranged; Robert Szold, chairman of administration of the Zionist Organization; Berl Locker, secretary of the Poale Zion, and Dr. David Rabelsky, chairman of the executive committee of the Zeire Zion.

The unusual measure of a door to door canvass is said to be dictated by the pressing need for funds for the upkeep of Jewish institutions in Palestine.

The manifesto reads, in part, as follows:

“The movement for the upbuilding of Palestine is a genuinely democratic movement. Born in the longing of the Jewish people to return to their ancient home, a longing that has found eloquent expression in their prayers and their literature, the democratic principle of this great Jewish ideal has always been in the foreground.

“It is the basis of the organization of the Zionist movement, in which every section and every shading of Jewish opinion-religious, social and economic-finds free play for the achievement of its particular viewpoint.

“It is on this democratic basis that our pioneers and all Jews of Palestine have consecrated themselves. They realize that their work is not for themselves alone, but that each of them, by the very hardships he is enduring, by the sacrifices he is making, is expressing the national consciousness of the Jewish people, is acting as an advance pioneer for a greater mass-action still to come.

“This democratic principle is emphasized in the fund-raising efforts for the basic Zionist institutions, which have always looked to and received their chief support from the masses. Without that support, regardless of how vast the sums might be that would be given by a few chosen individuals, the rebuilding of Palestine would not be an act of the Jewish people, demonstrating its national consciousness.

“The American Palestine Campaign of the Jewish Agency is based on the same democratic ideal that permeates every phase of the effort to rebuild Palestine. Its appeal is not to individual Jews; its appeal is to Jewry; and the response to its appeal must come from the masses of Jews. The American Palestine Campaign is therefore issuing this call for a host of volunteers who will assume the privilege and the honor of going directly to the masses-to their homes, from door to door-to give them the opportunity to make their contribution for the rebuilding of Palestine.”