Jewish labor organizations to the number of 136 responded to the call of the United Hebrew Trades for a conference on the proposed Johnson Immigration Bill, Sunday, at the Broadway Central Hotel. The gathering was the largest ever had by representatives of organize Jewish labor, leaders assert. The principal accomplishment of the meeting was a determination to wage a nationwide campaign to defeat the Johnson Immigration Bill, for which purpose the conference was made a permanent organization with an executive committee of 15 members, who will carry out the decision of the conference.
The meeting was opened by Max L. Pine, Secretary of the United Hebrew Trades, prime mover in the plan for a conference of all Jewish labor organizations. Other important speakers were B.C. Vladeck, manager of the Jewish Daily Forward, and Congressman F.H. LaGuardia.
Speaking of the Jews and the Italians, as two peoples who would be most affected by the Johnson Immigration Bull, Mr. Pine cited the fact that they have built up entire industries in this country and that they have enriched the country with their material as well as with cultural contributions.
Congressman LaGuardia attended the meeting to inform the conference what is being done in Washington with regard to the immigration measure. The Congressman said that the Johnson Bill, which is known in Washington as the official immigration program, might better be termed the “immigration pogrom”. Mr. LaGuardia severely criticized the proposed quotas on the basis of the census of 1890 and took the occasion to warn his audience against the plan to register all aliens, which he said would be proposed after the immigration bill will have been disposed of. He predicted that the immigration bill would pass the House of Representatives but would more than likely meet with still opposition in the Senate.
Mr. Vladeck of the Jewish Daily Forward delivered what was perhaps the most stirring address of the day. “We are American citizens”, he declared. “We have come to America and have become a part of the country. We have enriched and strengthened the coun-
-try; we have a right to make our voices heard, to voice our opinions, to demand what we think is right and urgent. Let, us begin a movement over the entire country and when there will come demages from Los Angeles, from Chicago, from Cleveland and Pittsburg, from Philadelphia and New Yorm, when there will be heard demands from every section of the country that the doors be not closed, that the quotas not be reduced, the legislators in Washington will have to hearken”.
Other speakers were Ossip Wolinsky, M. Murphy and S. Goldstein. The Committee of Fifteen which will carry out the decisions of the conference is as follows: Max Pine, M. Murphy, I. Fineber, P. Monnat, B.C. Vladeck, Max Zaritsky, M. Borenstein, I. Weinberg, S. Goldstein, S. F. Kramer, H. Hamlin, Mrs. Kroll, J. Goldstein, Ossip Wolinsky and M. Wolpert.
M. Bronstein of the Furriers Union was Chairman of the meeting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
