Twelfth Hour for Jewish Merchant Class in Poland Has Begun to Strike Jewish Deputy Declares at Confe

The twelfth hour has begun to strike for the Jewish merchant class in Poland, Deputy Ignaci Jaeger, the Jewish Deputy for Lemberg, complained in speaking at a Conference held at the Ministry of Trade under the chairmanship of the Minister of Commerce and Trade, M. Zaszicki, to consider possibilities for reviving Polish trade, which is at present in a very precarious position. The Minister of Finance, the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of Social Welfare, and delegations from the Chambers of Commerce, the merchants organisations, and other bodies took part in the Conference.

If the State does not come to the assistance of the merchant class, it will be completely wiped out, Deputy Jaeger said. And the result will be one fraught with very serious danger to the entire Polish State.

The Jewish merchants are engaged in a life and death struggle, he went on, and the Compulsory Sunday Closing Law which forces them to abstain from all activities for 2½ days in the week, but to pay taxes for the full working week, makes it a foregone conclusion what the end of the struggle will be. Whatever measures the Government takes to save Polish trade, it must include among them the alleviation of the hardships caused by the Compulsory Sunday Closing Law, so that Jews should be permitted to work and conduct their businesses on Sundays and Christian festivals from 7 till 10 in the morning and from 3 till 6 in the afternoon.

The Director of the Chamber of Commerce in Posen, M. Szikorski, delivered a speech in which he vigorously opposed Deputy Jaeger’s demand for a modification of the Compulsory Sunday Closing Law, and asserted that Christian opinion is firmly against any tampering with the law as it exists at present.