Felin M. Warburg, chairman of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee ##sed Max D. Stauer for his recent churge against American Jewish relief funds which he made on his return from Zurich.
Mr. Warburg referred to the Steuer incident in an address he delivered to the students of the Training School for Jewish Social Work. Speaking of his experiences in Jewish communal life. He said that wherever there is service there is criticism.
Mr. Warburg spoke to the students in the Jewish colonies in Russia and Palestine which he visited recently. He expressed himself as very hopeful for the situation in Palestine. The spirit in Palestine is such as to invigorate and rejuvenate the people who come there. He hoped that in the future every rabbi will go there before he assumes active service, the spiritual significance of the country is so great.
The Jewish colonists in Russia are doing a great work, he said. The setalers are happy and contented. They are making a living and paying off their debts.
Mr. Warburg said that Mr. Steuer was a man of great ability, but that he failed to use his ability in this ease. He stated that Mr. Steuer in his legal practice would have been careful to ascertain the facts, but that in this case he had placed an exaggrated value on hearsay testimony ask tried his case in the newspapers.
Some of the authorities quoted by Mr. Stauer as the basis for his charge that relief funds for Jews in Poland had been misused and mismanaged before 1926 were unreliable, according to Mr. Warburg. He criticized the lawyer for accepting ex parte statements of disgrunuled men.
Mr. Warburg said that in his opinion far too much publicity had been given to charges which came from doubuful scurces, and related to matters which according to Mr. Steuer himself, had been corrected during the last two years. No good purpose has been served by the Steuer statement, which he said had about the same practical value at this date as a suggestion to Marshal Joffre that if he had only started the battle of the Marne two hours earlier, he might have saved two mules.
The work done by American social workers in Russia during the period of famine and suffering will stand to the everiasting glory of the Jewish people of the United States. Mr. Warburg said.
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