Felix M. Warburg submitted his official resignation as chairman of the administrative committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine in a letter addressed to the administrative committee which opened the first session of its meeting here yesterday afternoon under the chairmanship of Dr. Cyrus Adler, acting chairman of the Council of the Jewish Agency. The meeting is being attended by 35 of the 40 members of the committee as well as by the members of the Jewish Agency Executive.
Although Mr. Warburg had resigned as chairman of the administrative committee last October as a protest against the issuance of the White Paper by the British government, he had no opportunity until today of submitting his resignation officially to the administrative committee which has had no meeting since September, 1930.
In his letter, Mr. Warburg states that owing to the condition of his health he is compelled to request that his candidacy for the office which he held should not be considered. Mr. Warburg also submitted a detailed statement on the internal situation of the Jewish Agency.
WEIZMANN READS REPORT
Dr. Chaim Weizmann, president of the Jewish Agency, read a brief report on the political situation and Dr. Werner Senator, treasurer of the Jewish Agency, reported on the financial situation. Joseph C. Hyman, deputy member of the administrative committee and secretary of the provisional committee of four which has acted on behalf of the American members of the Jewish Agency since the resignation of Mr. Warburg, presented a report on the activities of the American members.
The administrative committee elected budget, financial and political committees, all of which will begin their deliberations today. Oscar Wasserman, director of the Deutsche Bank and chairman of the Jewish Agency’s finance committee, will not attend the sessions of the committee or of the Council, which follows it, because of the pressure of business. He was scheduled to address the meeting on the Agency’s finances.
EXECUTIVE ISSUES REPORT
In addition to the above-mentioned documents, the administrative committee had before it the report of the Executive of the Jewish Agency which will be submitted to the session of the Council Tuesday night. In this report the Executive recommends, among other things, that all avenues to a rap prochement between Jews and Arabs in Palestine should be explored and no step should be neglected which can lead towards that end.
At the same time the Executive points out that during the past two years the present Arab leadership in Palestine has consistently and persistently pursued a policy tending to perpetuate a state of affairs which is a constant danger to public security and a bar to social and economic and political cooperation.
AGENCY SPENT $2,017,891
The 250-page detailed report, covering every phase of the Executive’s activities since August, 1929, shows that the total expenditure of the Jewish Agency for the year October 1929, to September, 1930, was $2,017,891, which represents an excess of expenditure over income of $295,067 to cover its budget for the same year, and of $266,167 of other years.
In the same year the Agency’s income from various sources was $1,456,452, while its budget for that year was $1,742,000. The largest source of income was from the Keren Hayesod, the Agency’s chief financial instrument, which contributed $1,211,225 to the Agency’s budget.
The total receipts of the Keren Hayesod for the year under review was $1,836,465. The actual collections in countries other than the United States amounted to $1,042,020, instead of $1,500,000 due for the year on the basis of estimates made in Zurich in 1929. The collections in America, including Felix M. Warburg’s entire contribution to the Allied Jewish Campaign, and the balance of former collections of the United Palestine Appeal as well as the contributions to Hadassah amounted to about $637,935 instead of $2,250,000 for the year in accordance with the income estimated in Zurich.
JEWISH POPULATION 175,000
The immigration figures for the years 1929 and 1930 cited by the report show that 5,249 Jews were admitted in 1929 and 4,944 in 1930. During these same two years 3,425 Jews left the country leaving a net balance of 6,788 Jewish immigrants. Through this immigration together with the natural increase, the Jewish population is now set at about 175,000 or 20 percent of the total.
Of the 1929 immigrants, 3,585 were workers who were admitted under the Labor schedules, 810 persons of independent means and 854 relatives. In 1930, 3,436 workers arrived, 543 persons of independent means and 965 relatives. Over the two year period 4,383 or 48.9 percent of the total number of immigrants came from Poland, 782 from Russia, 668 from Roumania, 339 from Germany, 326 from Lithuania, 203 from Latvia, 189 from Austria, 146 from Czecho-Slovakia and 513 from the United States.
The report also includes the results of a census of Jewish workers in the towns and colonies. According to the census there are 48,000 Jewish workers, including their families. Of this number 16,095 are urban workers and 23,830 are laborers in the colonies.
Figures of the Agency’s department of agricultural colonization from October 1, 1929 to April 30, 1931 contained in the Executive’s report show that the settlements founded or supported by the Keren Hayesod comprised in April, 1931, 15 small holders’ settlements, 20 communal settlements, 9 supported settlements, 4 Yemenite quarters and 8 girls’ farms and experimental stations with a total population of 7,556 representing an investment of $5,458,710 as of September 30, 1930.
ASKS FUNDS FOR CONSOLIDATION
Explaining that out of the reduced budget of $488,250 for the department of agricultural colonization, only $128,250 was avaailable for the consolidation of the settlements, the cost of which is estimated at $1,282,660, the Executive strongly urges that the financial means to make this possible be put at the disposal of the department at the earliest moment.
Statistics of a census of Jewish industry and Jewish artisans taken early in 1930 incorporated in the Executive’s report indicate that there are 2,472 industrial establishments employing 11,063 people who received wages totaling $2,717,585 in 1929 (exclusive of Nesher Cement Co., Palestine Electric Corp., Palestine Potash, Ltd., and Silicate Co.) The goods produced by these establishments in 1929 were valued at $12,042,550 and the invested capital of these plants was estimated at $12,854,060.
URGES SCHOOL SYSTEM TRANSFER
The Executive recommends the transference of the Jewish Agency school system to the Jewish National Council during the year 1932-33 with a grantin-aid fixed for a specified number of years. The enrollment in these schools is now over 22,500. The Agency’s department of education had a budget for 1929-1930 of $638,870 to which the Agency itself contributed $381,335. For 1930-1931 the education department’s budget is $654,080 toward which the Agency has voted $378,625.
After stating that the present education budget does not permit of the maintenance of educational work even on a minimum standard of adequacy, including the development of schools in new settlements and the normal growth of present institutions, the Executive urges the approval of the educational budget for a period of two years instead of the present practice of a one year budget and recommends a number of important administrative reforms.
Vital statistics of the Jewish population in Palestine from May, 1929 to May, 1931 reveal that there was a marked decline in the death rate and that the general and infant mortality of Palestine is on a level comparable with the most advanced countries of Europe.
As a result of the Hadassah Medical Organization’s limited means in the last year, the Tiberias Hospital was closed, staff salaries reduced and a part of the staff dismissed while radical cuts are being made in the proposed budget for the coming year. The Hadassah Medical Organization spent $528,805 in the year 1929-1930.
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.
