Warburg Calls off Jewish Agency’s New York Meeting Scheduled for February 1

Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency, yesterday issued a notice to all members of the Administrative Committee, advising them that, in view of the omission of the London office to issue invitations in proper time, it was necessary to postpone the meeting which had been scheduled for February 1 at New York, according to a report to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The notice sent by Mr. Warburg to all the members of the Administrative Committee reads as follows:

“I have just been informed that, despite my request by cable of December 23 that the London office immediately issue invitations to all the European members of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency to attend a meeting of the Committee at New York February 1, the invitations were not issued until January 6, which rendered it impossible for many members to make the necessary arrangements. I am therefore compelled to withdraw the call until further notice. I regret the inconvenience to which you may have been put.”

In commenting further on this, Mr. Warburg stated: “As Chairman of the Administrative Committee, I have been keenly conscious of my responsibility and of the necessity for enlisting and organizing the strength of all the groups of the American Jewish public in behalf of the enlarged Agency for

Palestine. To that end I have been in constant consultation with the leaders, not alone of the so-called Joint Distribution Committee group, but also those who have in the past, whether within the ranks of the Zionist Organization or outside it, given their best efforts toward the rehabilitation and the development of the Holy Land.

“On November 24, 1929, after consulting with that great and devoted lover of Palestine, the Hon. Louis D. Brandeis, I called together a meeting of practical business men, who, in one form or other, had indicated their interest in Palestinian investment and business organization, and I have invited the following gentlemen to serve as a Committee which shall consider further the organization of an appropriate business corporation for Palestine: Dr. Lee K. Frankel, chairman; Messrs. Bernard Flexner, Israel B. Brodie, Edmund I. Kaufman of Washington, Aaron Straus, of Baltimore, and Judge Julian W. Mack. In addition to my other duties, I shall, of course, serve on this Committee and give it my best efforts.

“Many problems of Palestine press for solution. The program of constructive, concrete activity, to which I have been giving my attention, is in process of formulation.

“For that reason, and because no meeting of the Administrative Committee has been held since Zurich, I deemed it important to convene a meeting of the Administrative Committee on February 1. At this meeting it was also planned, in order to make possible, in an efficient smoothly-running fashion, the workings of the Agency, to define the functions and authority of the Administrative Committee. In a new organization such as the Agency, it is inevitable that at the outset many questions of function and respective relationship must be defined. I regret deeply that, owing to the foregoing circumstances, it has been found necessary to call off this meeting. Meantime, we are actively continuing our efforts to reach a workable and satisfactory agreement for a joint fund-raising campaign.”