U.S. Called on to Intervene in Palestine Situation by Jewish Congress Because of Developments Arisi

The American government, being one of the powers having an interest in the Mandates, is called upon to intervene in the new situation which has been created by the publication today of Sir John Simpson’s report on Palestine, in a resolution adopted and submitted to the State Department at tonight’s session of the American Jewish Congress which has been meeting here since yesterday. The resolution characterizes Sir John’s report as a “violation of the conditions under which England received the Mandate” and as “a refutation of the agreement between the British government, the Jews and the League of Nations.”

Meanwhile President Hoover had received the delegates of the American Jewish Congress early this afternoon at the White House before the contents of the Simpson report on Palestine, the British government’s simultaneous statement on its future policy in Palestine and the statement of resignation of Dr. Chaim Weizman as President of the World Zionist Organisation became known. The President cordially shook hands with the Jewish delegates and nothing was said about Palestine. The report of the latest epochal developments in the Zionist movement came a few hours later, while the delegates were in the midst of their afternoon session.

DISCRIMINATION SERIOUS

Anti-Jewish discrimination in American colleges and in employment was the topic discussed at the afternoon session, at which Carl Sherman, former Attorney General of New York, presided. Reports on these subjects were prepared by Rabbi J. X. Cohen and Dr. Mordecai Soltes, both terming the discrimination as “quite serious.”

During the discussion on discrimination in colleges, which was led by Rabbi Louis I. Newman, it was pointed out that there have been many complaints concerning discrimination against Jews in various phases of academic life and that the lot of Jewish candidates for admission to medical schools has been particularly trying. Jewish students who attained enviable records in their collegiate work, said the speaker, found the door slammed in their faces when they tried to enter medical colleges, in consequence of which the student, disillusioned and humiliated, is forced to apply like a beggar to institutions located at a great distance from his home. In recent years, speakers claimed, many Jewish students have even been forced to cross the ocean for an opportunity to prepare themselves for their chosen vocations.

A similar pessimistic picture was drawn during the discussion on discrimination in employment. Rabbi Cohen stated that data collected in a preliminary survey made by the Jewish Congress indicated that anti-Jewish discrimination in this country, though it seeks to shun the light of public knowledge, has assumed dangerous proportions. “The facts which were gathered show that we are faced with a from of economic anti-Semitism which, if it is not opposed and checked in time, will spread to other industrial and professional fields and will threaten the very foundation of our welfare,” said Rabbi Cohen.

ABSENCE OF WISE REGRETTED

The absence of Dr. Stephen S. Wise, who was the founder of the American Jewish Congress, from this year’s sessions elicited expressions of regret from all the delegates. A prayer for the speedy recovery of Dr. Wise, who is now lying ill in New York, was offered at the morning session.

A resolution expressing heartiest wishes to President Hoover on behalf of American Jewry was introduced by Judge Gustave Hartmann of New York and adopted by the Congress. The delegates also paid tribute to the late Louis Marshall, American-Jewish leader who died more than a year ago, by rising.

Details on the Jewish situation in Roumania, in addition to Prof. Salo Baron’s report, were given by Rabbi Philip Bernstein of Rochester, who has recently returned from Roumania. Recent press reports on the Jewish situation in Roumania are not exaggerated, according to Rabbi Bernstein, who stated that the Roumanian government permits students to carry on an anti-Semitic agitation, that it fails to protect Jewish lives and property and that it doesn’t punish the guilty.

A picture of the Jewish situation in Russia was given the Congress by Mrs. Archibald Silverman of Providence, R. I., American Zionist leader who has just returned from a trip to Russia. Mrs. Silverman’s report on Russia came in addition to the report previously rendered by Leo Glassman on the same subject.