Reports of Social Discrimination in England Exaggerated, Otto Schiff Says on Arrival

Otto Schiff, prominent Jewish communal leader of London, arrived yesterday on the steamer Majestic on a visit to the United States.

Mr. Schiff, who is the president of the Jewish Migration Committee of London, played a prominent part in the solution of the problem of the Jewish refugees stranded in Eastleigh Camp. He obtained the permission of the British Home Secretary for the refugees in Eastleigh to remain in England temporarily.

Mr. Schiff stated that the London Migration Committee, which is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year, is suffering a financial deficit and he contemplates issuing an appeal by the committee on their way to the United States and who are now prosperous, to return at least a part of the funds advanced to them by the committee.

Commenting on the recent reports from London concerning social discrimination against Jews, Mr. Schiff declared that the incident in the Mid-Surrey Gold Club has been greatly exaggerated by the London press. The truth of the matter is that anti-Semitic tendencies prevail in that club, but there are hundreds of other aristocratic clubs which have a considerable number of Jewish members and no discrimination is made between Jews and non-Jews. At any rate, the anti-Semites in England are a small minority and their influence is insignificant.

Mr. Schiff is stopping with Mrs. Jacob Schiff in New York City. He will remain in the United States for three weeks.

Colonel Michael Friedsam. Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on School Finance and Administration, appointed last year by Governor Smith to investigate school financing, was the guest of honor Monday night at a dinner at the Waldorf, given by the other members of the commission.