Polish Minister Decides if Member of Jewish Community Must Keep Jewish Law

(Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)

The question of whether a Jew can be proceeded against by the law for refusing to circumcise his son has come up here following the refusal of M. Alter, a member of the Warsaw City Council and one of the leaders of the Jewish Socialist Party, Bund, to have his new-born son circumcised.

The City authorities have informed Mr. Alter that his refusal makes him liable to legal proceedings because the Russian laws providing for compulsory circumcision for members of the Jewish community have not yet been repealed in Poland. The difficulty of the situation lies in the fact that Mr. Alter has refused to make an official declaration of intention to leave the Jewish community, and while desiring to remain a member of the Jewish community refuses to carry out an act which it regards as essential and binding upon its members. The matter is to go to the Ministry of the Interior for decision.

Morris Sigman, President of the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union made public details of the agreement between the union and the Cloak Jobbers’ Association.

Mr. Sigman stated that according to the agreement the Jobbers’ Association “agrees that ail its members, who may hereafter produce all or part of their garments on their own premises, will maintain union shops, and that all of its members who have their garments produced or supplied by other manufacturers will deal only with such manufacturers as conduct union shops. No member of the association shall employ or continue to employ a manufacturer whose name is not included in the latest list of ‘union shops’ furnished by the union and shall not have garments produced or supplied by such manufacturers.

“No member of the association shall order or purchase garments from any manufacturer whose workers are on strike, nor shall any member of the association make or cause to be made any work for any person against whom the union has declared a strike, until such strike in each case has been fully settled.

“Each member of the association shall be responsible to the members of the union for the payment of their wages for work done by them on garments made by their employers for such association member, providing that such liability shall be limited to one full week’s wages in every instance.”